Itinerary Change

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

We are booked on the three night cruise on Queen Mary 2 that departs on the 1st of November. It will be the first time we have been back since the remaster. With less than 48 hours to boarding I have had an email from my Cunard through my travel. Apparemtly Cumard are delighted to announce an itinerary change. The old itinerary was Zebrugge and Sea Day. Now it is Zebrugge and Zebrugge.  

 

I wonder what the reason for this change was.  To reduce fuel cost (though port fees will go up), bad weather expected, tide time, to give passengers more time in Zebrugge or to sell more excursions (though shop and casino revenue will be reduced).  Whatever it is less than 48 hours notice is very short notice. I wonder if they will run the sea day activities (eg lectures) on the second day in Zebrugge. 

 

In my many cruises it is only my third ever itinerary change so I have not done badly. 

 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

[hihilo]

The one time I experienced a itinerary change, it was to eliminate Tunis, Tunisia. This was about 4 yrs ago on the QE.  And they made it clear it was due to political unrest. Was there no explanation, no reason given when you were given this information?  

It Will be interesting to read the follow-ups on this.

[Highly Sociable]

3 hours ago, hihilo said:

The one time I experienced a itinerary change, it was to eliminate Tunis, Tunisia. This was about 4 yrs ago on the QE.  And they made it clear it was due to political unrest.

 I think I was on the same cruise as you and we had a very interesting day in Albania instead. We were travelling with our family from Texas on that trip and they were quite relieved not to be going into Tunis.

 

Stephen - make sure that you bring the QM2 back to Southampton in good shape on Sunday, as we will be embarking on that day for a B2B - and counting down the hours :)

[Ray66]

The change in itinerary might be due to Storm Adrian which is due to hit the UK from Europe.

 

We've had lots of itinerary changes, some due to bad weather.

[Camgirl]

I have also just received an itinery change email for our cruise leaving tomorrow on QE.  In our case two ports are just swoped over, so no real difference, although some tours are affected. Apparently it is because of berth unavailability. Surely they should have know about that earlier than this?

 

We have had many itinery changes over the years, mainly at very short notice or even once on board. It has resulted in some interesting cruises! But I suppose that is the risk with cruising.

[ToadOfToadHall]

1 hour ago, Ray66 said:

The change in itinerary might be due to Storm Adrian which is due to hit the UK from Europe.

 

 

Finally I get a storm named after me !

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

12 hours ago, Highly Sociable said:

 I think I was on the same cruise as you and we had a very interesting day in Albania instead. We were travelling with our family from Texas on that trip and they were quite relieved not to be going into Tunis.

 

Stephen - make sure that you bring the QM2 back to Southampton in good shape on Sunday, as we will be embarking on that day for a B2B - and counting down the hours :)

 

I will try not to break her. 

 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

[ddgarner1]

It’s due to the current weather pattern.  The channel is likely to be rough.  Talk on the ship yesterday was that the day programs will not change much.  There might even be extra room in the royal theatre for the lecture presentations. 

[speedwell]

The official reason, according to Cunard, was that the change was made as a result of customer survey results that suggested that passengers preferred an extra day in port instead of a sea day.

 

I find this a very strange explanation for a very late change of itinerary, especially since I did not hear of the change until the daily newsletter was received on board.