QM2 Eastbnd. Sth America Compensation Offer!

[Emu]

After three days of phone calls I have been sent an official "Emergency Notification" fax which I will copy out below word for word:-

 

Due to operational reasons, Queen Mary 2 will depart Los Angeles at 4.00pm, and the port calls to Salvador and Ft. Lauderdale have been cancelled.

In addition, please note the following changes:

Puerto Caldera March 13 from 10.00am to 10.00pm

Esmeraldas March 17 from 6.00am to 4.00pm

Callao March 19 from 8.00am to 6.00pm

Valparaiso March 22 from 6.00am to 5.00pm

Puerto Montt March 24 from 8.00am to 7.00pm

Montevideo March 31 from 12.00pm to 11.00pm, the overnight stay scheduled for March 31 has been cancelled. The ship will spend April 1 at sea.

Barbados April 10 from 7.00am to 6.00pm

St. Kitts April 11 from 8.00am to 6.00pm

St. Thimas Added port call on April 12 from 6.00am to 5.00pm.

 

IN RECOGNITION OF ANY DISAPPOINTMENT THESE CHANGES MAY CAUSE, WE ARE PLEASED TO PROVIDE YOUR CLIENTS WITH A $150 PER PERSON NON-REFUNDABLE ONBOARD CREDIT.

 

So thats it.

 

Also was informed verbally the Iguazu Falls excursion from Montevideo will almost certainly be cancelled, due to lack of time.

 

Well, forgive me............. after spending a small fortune and planning this trip for almost 12 months, I don't really find $150 much in the way of compensation.

 

Maybe because it is a South American voyage .............. it is like bartering in reverse.............. that is the first offer then see how loud the complaints get before upping the compensation. (Please don't bother quoting the "fine print"......... Cunard themselves set the preceedent)

 

So much for learning any lessons from the Westbound crisis.

[Bollinge]

I agree that $150 compensation offer is piss-poor or derisory to be polite. I just paid my final instalment a fortnight ago after receiving assurances from Cunard via my travel agent that my voyage, Rio-NY would proceed broadly as scheduled.

[mufi]

Unfotunately you will not have the world media behind you this time. Big bussiness never seems to get it and what an insulting offer.

 

They are not giving you what you paid for and should compensate you fairly, though I would not hold my breath.

 

David.

[Emu]

I would think that there will be alot of passengers (sorry "guests") joining in LA that will not be informed before boarding as tickets have already been issued and Cunard simply won't get to everyone.

 

As Iguazu Falls was a prime reason for going on this whole voyage........... to say I am unimpressed is an understatement!

 

I was told that they could offer us a place on a "shopping excursion"........ so instead of seeing one of the wonders of the world................. I have been granted the honour of a trip to some dingy lane to buy beads and trinkets!!!! Shove that offer where the sun don't shine!!!!!

 

Does anyone actually know the name and phone number of anyone at Cunard who deals with complaints???? I used to contact Frank Sansone, but he seems to now be attached to a different area.

 

So far the organisation of this trip has been a disaster from the start, since November, 5 (yes 5) letters sent to the Australian office, the UK office, the US office, Carol Marlow personally (by courier)............ Not one has been answered or even recieved the courtesy of an acknowledgement. I am not joking. The letters have all been polite and courteous and I have copies of them all.

 

Anyone with any suggestions for a point of contact, please feel free to send them to me........... because I can't find anyone to help.

[Bollinge]

Hi,

 

After you have had a night's sleep to think on it, you might like to contact:

"The following information is for media representatives only.

Cunard Line Public Relations

Jackie Matthews

Public Relations Manager

Phone: (USA) 1-661-753-1035

 

He or she will certainly know what's going on.

[tumeroll]

I would think that there will be alot of passengers (sorry "guests") joining in LA that will not be informed before boarding as tickets have already been issued and Cunard simply won't get to everyone.

 

As Iguazu Falls was a prime reason for going on this whole voyage........... to say I am unimpressed is an understatement!

 

I was told that they could offer us a place on a "shopping excursion"........ so instead of seeing one of the wonders of the world................. I have been granted the honour of a trip to some dingy lane to buy beads and trinkets!!!! Shove that offer where the sun don't shine!!!!!

 

Does anyone actually know the name and phone number of anyone at Cunard who deals with complaints???? I used to contact Frank Sansone, but he seems to now be attached to a different area.

 

So far the organisation of this trip has been a disaster from the start, since November, 5 (yes 5) letters sent to the Australian office, the UK office, the US office, Carol Marlow personally (by courier)............ Not one has been answered or even recieved the courtesy of an acknowledgement. I am not joking. The letters have all been polite and courteous and I have copies of them all.

 

Anyone with any suggestions for a point of contact, please feel free to send them to me........... because I can't find anyone to help.

 

Would a public flogging of everyone from the captain on up the chain be sufficient to satisfy you? Unfortunately in life things happen that are beyond the control of even the most powerful of people. Cunard it would appear has more than bent over forward and backwards on this voyage. Maybe they should just have tossed everyone onto the first available wharf and sailed back to England and gotten the POD repaired. I am sure that would have been welcome - right?

[Emu]

For your information............

None of my complaints relate to the problems of the amended ports or schedule........ rather problems making the actual bookings and the general lack of information provided and are specific to the Australian operation.

 

Anyway............... Any company who cant even be bothered to reply to a loyal customer who has spent over $70,000.00 in the past 12 months....... deserves nothing but contempt.

I have never sought compensation only an explanation of the poor processes involved here......... which from my research are entirely different to those in the USA and UK office.

 

Courtesy costs nothing............

[bobby1119]

Well, forgive me............. after spending a small fortune and planning this trip for almost 12 months, I don't really find $150 much in the way of compensation.

Emu, there is nothing to forgive! Cunard is reprehensible and smug. The entire situation is outrageous. $150 as compensation!?! If I were on board, I would be livid and would not let it go. They have a disaster on their hands, and the way they are handling it is making it worse. They have NO - read zero - regard for the passengers. Good luck. Go for the corporate jugular...it is located in the vicinity of the PUBLIC RELATIONS ARTERY!

 

Keep us all posted.

[travel-to-go]

Sorry, folks, I am on Emu's side on this one.

 

As many people here have said, worrying about the 3 day Ensenada trip from LA, the Hawaii trip, the return Around the Horn and more. It has become increasingly obvious that Cunard is not being upfront with the passengers. It appears that repeatedly, they have given patently wrong information out to people when they KNEW or should have known it to be incorrect. When press releases have already been sent out, or SOME folks have already been notified of changes, and someone calls them up, citing their sources, well, if I were a res agent, and someone called me and said- "I heard from a travel agent who got a fax," or Someone was told, or it's on such-and such web site. Well, I certainly wouldn't stick to my guns, mindlessly. I would at least say, "Gee, I hadn't heard that. Let me check on it and get back to you!" Or "can I put you on hold and check further?" I would want, as a representative of Cunard being told by their public that word is already out on something, to know what the source was, and to verify it! When I called to ask who had replaced John Maxtone Graham as a lecturer, after someone here contacted him by e-mail, and I told the res agent that someone had emailed him directly and he confirmed he would be on the QE2 , not the QM2, they still insisted he would be on the QM2! TWICE! That is just plain poor communications and poor customer service. While it is true that for some people this is the sort of trip one saves up forever for (I know it certainly won't be in MY budget unless I have a rich uncle who dies that I did not know I had) sometimes, disclaimer or not, you book a particular trip for a specific itinerary. Why else would you market it that way, if you didn't think people were booking it for those reasons! And to patently ignore a customer who still has the option of saying, "Never mind. Cancel my (very expensive) trip." It's just plain foolish. Cunard is appearing arrogant now. They are appearing to play their customers (Excuse me, GUESTS) for fools! "Hey! If we don't tell them, they won't notice!" They do not appear to be learning from their mistakes. I cannot believe after what has to be hundreds of calls from concerned passengers that they "DON'T GET IT"! Keep the customer informed! In light of all of their repeated denials and misinformation, I am not sure I WANT to book another trip soon. (I was SERIOUSLY considering the Labor Day trip) In light of the Nov cruise being cancelled- What if they get the pod fixed sooner and decide to cancel the Labor day trip and get it in sooner? What if they make the Labor day trip into a crossing, to get the ship back to the East side of the pond to put the pod back on? Who knows! I'm not sure I trust them now! They have not been honest with people. Perhaps even their own people! At the very least they are responsible for greivous communications failures within their own organization! The right hand certainly doesn't know what the left hand is doing, and I'm not sure the left one does either! I think they are flying blind!

 

I am very disappointed in Cunard at the moment.

And BTW, who wouldn't want to bet if the media thought they could sniff out another continuing saga, they wouldn't be right there, fangs bared, drooling for more corporate blood, and (to mix metaphors) stirring up the waters a bit? (And getting more ratings coups)

 

Karie,

Who is not looking very kindly on her beloved Cunard's back office management right now.