Cunard Covid changes

[Bandy Matelot]

I am considering booking the QE Med cruise 15 November. Can someone please tell me the main differences of cruising now to that of pre-covid? Cunard's website is not particularly helpful in that regard. Thank you.

[rakkor]

Have a  look at my blog about our Aug 20th Sun Voyage for an indication. https://blog.rakkor.uk That may give you a taste of what is on offer, I'm also on the Nov 15th Cruise which I've booked since, so it obviously isn't that bad.

 

Main things are :

 

Britannia - First Sitting if fixed dining, Socond sitting is Anytime dining (bookable by app) different table and waiting staff every session

 

Lido Buffet, not a buffet anymore, but table service off a menu. My cake levels were severely depleted compared to previous cruises

 

Inside, Masks everywhere except in bars and diniing, theatre is the biggest pain as mask required there which is poiliced with vigour.

 

Outside Masks not required

 

Afternoon Tea in MDR and bookable

 

The biggest issue for me was Anytime Dining, and different waiting staff and somelllier every night. I really didn't like that as I like to build a rapport witht the waiters, and explaining to a different somellier every night about my wine package plus getting left over bottles from storage took a while, we quite often were onto the starter before our wine had arrived.

 

Everyting else was a bit of a faf, but not a real problem

 

Also it's still 70 days away and things will probably change before we depart on this one.

 

Edited September 7, 2021 by rakkor

[majortom10]

Cunard have already changed things since the first cruise on 13th August i.e. dining times so it is changing all the time and might be a different in November than what it is now.

[kazzie]

We were on the QE last week.  Really missed the buffet.  Weird that you shared a dining table with different people every night considering covid.  As mentioned, people had trouble getting their wine quickly.  

[lissie]

8 hours ago, kazzie said:

We were on the QE last week.  Really missed the buffet.  Weird that you shared a dining table with different people every night considering covid.  As mentioned, people had trouble getting their wine quickly.  

I suspect we'll book next year's cruises if they don't reinstate the buffet - I like the MDR and the pub - but I don't want to have to sit down to a formal meal 3x a day for a 36 day cruise! 

[exlondoner]

I assume the expensive but fascinating ship's tours have been ditched for now?

[Bandy Matelot]

Thanks for your responses. A couple of questions:

 

1. Is the gym open?

2. Is the sauna in the changing room open?

3. Is the Queens Room holding afternoon concerts?

4. Is Cafe Carinthia operating normally? Are they serving those delicious blueberry cheesecakes?

 

If anyone can advise any facilities not operating as "normal" please post. Thanks.

[Bell Boy]

2 hours ago, Bandy Matelot said:

Thanks for your responses. A couple of questions:

 

1. Is the gym open?

2. Is the sauna in the changing room open?

3. Is the Queens Room holding afternoon concerts?

4. Is Cafe Carinthia operating normally? Are they serving those delicious blueberry cheesecakes?

 

If anyone can advise any facilities not operating as "normal" please post. Thanks.

Everything you have mentioned above is operating as normal, there are one or two temporary restrictions for example ; There is no Disco Dancing in the Yacht club, however the club is open earlier than normal, it is being used as an additional Bar venue to cope with extra social distancing procedures. There is live music and a DJ until the early hours of the morning, the dance floor has additional seating and side tables on it. The reason that there is no dancing at the moment , this venue is considered small and there is no proper air circulating.  Contrary to popular belief the yacht club can get very crowded, hot and sweaty during the late evenings.  

 

The service of Afternoon tea is served in the Britannia restaurant ( social distancing procedures again)

 

Mask must be worn at all times in the Theatre !  The reason being - If no masks are worn then Cunard would have had to introduce a 'booking system' , also, the use of the Theatre for insight lectures and the two performances per evening would have to be limited.

 

Many of the former restrictions since the first cruise on the 13th August have been slowly lifted.

If you are considering booking a future cruise I would suggest you go ahead, there are very little restrictions onboard which will affect the enjoyment of your cruise , considering the present climate we are all experiencing . 

 

Worry more about you are going to pack, rather than these temporary changes to the onboard product .

   

[david,Mississauga]

36 minutes ago, Bell Boy said:

...

 

Mask must be worn at all times in the Theatre !  The reason being - If no masks are worn then Cunard would have had to introduce a 'booking system' , also, the use of the Theatre for insight lectures and the two performances per evening would have to be limited.

 

...

   

 

The wearing of masks in the theatre shouldn't be a problem for most people. Are the performances still short - barely an hour?

 

We attended a live play at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake last  week - our first play in about two years. The theatre was allowed to have half capacity although it was nowhere near that. Masks were worn by everyone. It was a 2 1/2 hour play with one interval.  I heard no grumbling.

[Bell Boy]

Yes, the evening performances ( including the daily insight lectures) are 45 mins ...with the exception of a new big evening production show  'Top Hat'  which is about hour. 

[Bandy Matelot]

Todays update from Cunard official site:

 

"From 13 October 2021, guests will be able to go ashore independently but must adhere to the specific Covid-19 protocols in each destination. However, as restrictions in each destination are changeable, and some destinations may only allow cruise line organised experiences ashore, we highly recommend you purchase Cunard shore experiences prior to travel to ensure you always have the option to explore each destination.

Testing may also be required to go ashore in various destinations on your itinerary. These tests will be available to purchase on board, however currently the majority of ports we will be visiting this year do not require entry testing."

 

 

So official Cunard excursions, although recommended, are unnecessary.

 

[LadyL1]

On 9/8/2021 at 11:00 AM, exlondoner said:

I assume the expensive but fascinating ship's tours have been ditched for now?

Still going shoreside with tours only, as of today.

[LadyL1]

17 hours ago, Bell Boy said:

Yes, the evening performances ( including the daily insight lectures) are 45 mins ...with the exception of a new big evening production show  'Top Hat'  which is about hour. 

The entertainment personnel were strict re mask wearing. They would walk up to passengers and ask them to wear masks, both during lectures and in the evening!

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, LadyL1 said:

Still going shoreside with tours only, as of today.

 

Sorry, I meant tours of the ship, not from the ship.

[bbtablet]

We are on the Jan 14th 2022 Southampton to the Caribbean on QM2 and have asked for (and expect to get, as we booked within 5 minutes of the booking opening) a table for two in first sitting.

 

I think I have read that one of the changes to the old pre-COVID routines is that your reserved table in Brittania is reserved for all meals now, including breakfast and lunch, as opposed to the old system of being herded into the next available spaces by the waiters at these times.

 

Can anyone confirm this please? It sounds like a very sensible COVID move as otherwise there would be a lot of mixing of people every day who of course will not be masked during the meals.

[Photo Andy]

As written on the Cunard website from 10 Sept 2021, Sailing with confidence, Your Cunard Experience then Vaccination and Testing for voyages departing after 1st January 2022 "all other Cunard voyages on sale do not currently require guests to be vaccinated" is this a mistake or has Cunard just said anybody can buy and sail on their vessels and potentially infect people with Sars Covid 19 from the start of 2022? Or have I misunderstood the policy? 

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, bbtablet said:

 

 

I think I have read that one of the changes to the old pre-COVID routines is that your reserved table in Brittania is reserved for all meals now, including breakfast and lunch, as opposed to the old system of being herded into the next available spaces by the waiters at these times.

 

If this were the case, where and when would the people on second sitting for dinner, which is open seating, be able to eat their breakfast and lunch?

[Host Hattie]

1 hour ago, bbtablet said:

Can anyone confirm this please? It sounds like a very sensible COVID move as otherwise there would be a lot of mixing of people every day who of course will not be masked during the meals.

That's not been mentioned by any of those who have sailed so far. The opposite in fact, those on late dining didn't even have the same table for dinner.

[Host Hattie]

34 minutes ago, Photo Andy said:

As written on the Cunard website from 10 Sept 2021, Sailing with confidence, Your Cunard Experience then Vaccination and Testing for voyages departing after 1st January 2022 "all other Cunard voyages on sale do not currently require guests to be vaccinated" is this a mistake or has Cunard just said anybody can buy and sail on their vessels and potentially infect people with Sars Covid 19 from the start of 2022? Or have I misunderstood the policy? 

The protocols are being updated all the time, a lot can happen between now and January.

[Underwatr]

On 9/10/2021 at 8:46 AM, Bandy Matelot said:

Todays update from Cunard official site:

 

"From 13 October 2021, guests will be able to go ashore independently but must adhere to the specific Covid-19 protocols in each destination. However, as restrictions in each destination are changeable, and some destinations may only allow cruise line organised experiences ashore, we highly recommend you purchase Cunard shore experiences prior to travel to ensure you always have the option to explore each destination.

Testing may also be required to go ashore in various destinations on your itinerary. These tests will be available to purchase on board, however currently the majority of ports we will be visiting this year do not require entry testing."

 

 

So official Cunard excursions, although recommended, are unnecessary.

 

 

On the other hand, reading the Barbados website concerning cruise ship transit visitors (defined as a one-day port call, not a passenger embarking or disembarking in Barbados), their current rules stipulate that only "bubble tours"  (excursions pre-arranged, managed and monitored in the port of call to enure that no COVID exposure hazard occurs) are permitted by visiting cruise ship passengers. Barbados is a scheduled QM2 stop on 28 December, so either Barbados' rules will change, Cunard will cancel that port visit, or passengers will be on bubble tours.

 

In your quoted section, note: 
some destinations may only allow cruise line organised experiences ashore, we highly recommend you purchase Cunard shore experiences prior to travel to ensure you always have the option to explore each destination.

 

Barbados also currently requires a negative COVID test within three days of the port visit for all passengers exiting the ship for shore excursions; that seems consistent with Cunard's guidance. 

Edited September 12, 2021 by Underwatr

[ace2542]

17 hours ago, Photo Andy said:

As written on the Cunard website from 10 Sept 2021, Sailing with confidence, Your Cunard Experience then Vaccination and Testing for voyages departing after 1st January 2022 "all other Cunard voyages on sale do not currently require guests to be vaccinated" is this a mistake or has Cunard just said anybody can buy and sail on their vessels and potentially infect people with Sars Covid 19 from the start of 2022? Or have I misunderstood the policy? 

Perhaps Cunard intend to operate from a standpoint of mask wearing onboard their fleet permanently from the new year and scrapping the vaccine requirement is the way to introduce that?. Or maybe they are now realising that all passengers will not be able to get the upcoming third dose due for approvals any day now so insisting on vaccination when not possible is moot?  Or alternatively it could be an issue of what percent of Cunard customers don't want to get vaccinated and their loss could hurt their bottom line in the long run. Or maybe they know something the rest of us don't.

[exlondoner]

Or maybe they just haven't got round to deciding yet? Or to promulgating their decision. I should think the number of passengers who would object to being jabbed is considerably lower than those who dislike wearing masks.

[Harvey2442]

As the policy is currently written Cunard seem to be taking bookings for sailings commencing on and after 1st January 2022 where no vaccination is required. Thus if they change the policy to vaccinations being required they may losse some of those already booked and if they don't require vaccinations they will also loose bookings. It will be interesting to see how this plays out when the balance of the fare falls due

[mcloaked]

It is important to note that the sentence says: "All other Cunard voyages on sale do not currently require guests to be vaccinated." regarding those from the New Year 2022 onwards - and that important phrase 'not currently' - but that can change depending on how government policy concerning vaccinations changes as we go through the autumn and into the winter and will depend on any new surge in cases and the emergence of new variants of concern. Aside from any policy, it makes huge sense to be vaccinated for your own benefit. The statistics show repeatedly that more than three quarters of those in hospital with covid are not fully vaccinated - and of those who are hospitalised very tiny numbers die who are vaccinated, and the overwhelming majority who now die from covid are not fully vaccinated. So by not taking up the offer to be vaccinated you are putting your life at risk - though some small minority have medical reasons that contraindicate getting the vaccination. 

 

The uk sailings seem to have been hugely successful since the restart with life on board not too much different from what it was before the pandemic - but it seems the rules are not too much of a burden and people have largely had a fabulous experience of the round Britain voyages. Hopefully the restrictions will continue to ease as we go into next year. Of course shore excursions will depend on the rules imposed by the countries where the various ports of call are, and Cunard will have to abide by whatever local rules are in place at the time - which currently cannot be forecast for next year. Like most people we hope that the cruises next year will not be more restrictive than at present, but being realistic we should not be surprised if the vaccination requirement changes once we get towards January 2022.

 

[lissie]

On 9/13/2021 at 4:06 AM, Harvey2442 said:

As the policy is currently written Cunard seem to be taking bookings for sailings commencing on and after 1st January 2022 where no vaccination is required. Thus if they change the policy to vaccinations being required they may losse some of those already booked and if they don't require vaccinations they will also loose bookings. It will be interesting to see how this plays out when the balance of the fare falls due

I booked two sailings with them in 2022 one in Nov 20, one in Apr 20 - if they don't require all on board to be vaccinated I'll be cancelling because I'd be stupid not to. Why risk an outbreak on board which could see us denied port stops? 

Edited September 14, 2021 by lissie