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Cunard announces reduced passenger numbers due to staff shortages. - Transatlantic crossings not effected at this time.

999andretired

By 999andretired,
in Cunard Line

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999andretired

999andretired

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Just seen this from two independent sources. It appears that some passengers on Cunard cruises departing June through to August may have their cruises cancelled due to staff shortages being experienced by Cunard. Affected guests will be contacted in due course. 

 

 

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PORT ROYAL

PORT ROYAL

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, 999andretired said:

Just seen this from two independent sources. It appears that some passengers on Cunard cruises departing June through to August may have their cruises cancelled due to staff shortages being experienced by Cunard. Affected guests will be contacted in due course. 

 

 

Think the axe will fall on “irregulars” and early savers.  Leaving the voyages to Grills and Cunard Fare payers.  Just my bean counter thoughts.

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cook68

cook68

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2 hours ago, ace2542 said:

Why can't they just hire more people?

It is a problem with paper work and visas, don't forget the staff are from all around the world. You would think Cunard had this in hand but I believe other lines are also having problems and covid is still causing problems too. 
 

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elmsliebev Great Review Rare

elmsliebev

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1 hour ago, PORT ROYAL said:

Think the axe will fall on “irregulars” and early savers.  Leaving the voyages to Grills and Cunard Fare payers.  Just my bean counter thoughts.

We're early savers but have been a few times with Cunard, so where does that leave us! We don't know what the criteria are. We are on for 29 nights and it seems those who've been bumped are on shorter trips. 

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2Oldpeopleinlove

2Oldpeopleinlove

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How much notice are people getting? We’re due to fly to Vancouver in three weeks, and we don’t know whether we’ll be going, which,given the logistics of pet care, garden care, transportation across the country, hotel stays and COVID procedures, seems really inexcusable.

 

If we’re getting thrown off, we’d like plenty of notice.

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alc13

alc13

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Is some of this also due to Cunard reclaiming cabin space for possible quarantines?  

 

My sympathies to all those affected.  Rotten news to get so close to sailing.

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lissie

lissie

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2 hours ago, elmsliebev said:

We're early savers but have been a few times with Cunard, so where does that leave us! We don't know what the criteria are. We are on for 29 nights and it seems those who've been bumped are on shorter trips. 

The video quoted above specifically said Alaska season for QE and QV Europe season Jun-Aug . I think  those of us on the repositioning cruise will escape the axe. If they are going to  cancel anyone it will be the short 3 day sectors I should think. 

 

We may be early savers but we are on for 36 days. Plus if the issues are  things like staffing in the kitchens  Grills guests involve a lot more work than those of us in steeerage 

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lissie

lissie

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48 minutes ago, 2Oldpeopleinlove said:

How much notice are people getting? We’re due to fly to Vancouver in three weeks, and we don’t know whether we’ll be going, which,given the logistics of pet care, garden care, transportation across the country, hotel stays and COVID procedures, seems really inexcusable.

 

If we’re getting thrown off, we’d like plenty of notice.

Well we're coming from New Zealand and are away for nearly 4 months. I'd need a month to be comfortable reorganzing an alternative cruise/travel  I should think.  I certainly wouldn't cancel travelling 

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JaneGrey

JaneGrey

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Yes, it does appear that money counts. I bought my passage on the June 1 sailing of the QE out of San Francisco just 3 weeks ago as part of a "Sailing Soon" super-discounted deal, and I got canceled. Apparently the fact that I was paying double as a solo passenger did not make up for the difference. 

 

I got my notice yesterday, three weeks or 21 days before my scheduled sailing date.

 

As for crewing the ships, I can see where Cunard would be having issues. The vast majority of the crews are from Asia and the South Pacific (India, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia). And because crew contracts are for six months, it is likely that many of the crew are rotating in June. And I am sure that it cannot be easy to get all of the necessary vaccination and testing documentation in those points of origin. Heck, it is difficult enough in the US and Canada! Imagine doing it in Asia! So I am not sure that it is an issue of finding personnel so much as it is an issue of getting them properly documented. 

 

I am convinced that the issue is based in very poor planning on Cunard's part for the normal crew rotations as 6-month contracts end. 

 

I don't think it has anything at all to do with "reclaiming cabin space for possible quarantines." The ships are already limiting capacity by double-digit percentages. How many quarantine cabins do they need if the ships are already deliberately operating 20%-30% below maximum? That's dozens of empty cabins! The QE is currently reporting Orange condition, or less than 0.3% of passengers and crew testing positive for COVID. That roughly correlates to less than 10 people (passengers and crew) who have tested positive. 

 

The reality is that Cunard is simply unable right now to get enough crew onto the ships to be able to operate even at limited capacity, so they have had to reduce the limitation to an even lower level or lower number of passengers.

 

Nonetheless, I continue to maintain that this is an issue that Cunard should have anticipated and should have been prepared to handle more efficiently. Cunard has really screwed the pooch on this one, in my opinion!

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penlady

penlady

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Well, if they cancel this one it will be my third cruise cancelled in a row. On a happy note they emailed me a couple days ago reminding me that they need Emergency contact info and passport info that i have not filled summitted as yet, so it is looking hopeful.

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PORT ROYAL

PORT ROYAL

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6 hours ago, penlady said:

Well, if they cancel this one it will be my third cruise cancelled in a row. On a happy note they emailed me a couple days ago reminding me that they need Emergency contact info and passport info that i have not filled summitted as yet, so it is looking hopeful.

Think this was just a computer program under ‘if”.

When it come to where the axe falls, keep in one’s mind that a Carnival computer program has no conscience…..

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P2l

P2l

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On 5/12/2022 at 11:33 PM, JaneGrey said:

And because crew contracts are for six months...

Our (excellent) cabin steward on the QM2 in March told us his contract had been extended by 2 months.

This may be unrelated, or a one-off, or it may be that Cunard have been experiencing crew shortages for awhile and have been extending contracts to try to cover it.

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bluemarble

bluemarble

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1 hour ago, 57eric said:

The news was that TAs were not affected.  For a QM2 cancellation, see https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2851490-cruise-cancellation-qm2/.

 

The provided link is indeed for a cancellation on a QM2 voyage including a transatlantic crossing. However I think it's important to point out that particular cancellation was not for the reasons stated in the title of this thread and in various new articles: staffing issues.

 

lemon tree's cancellation was because their cabin is being allocated for covid isolation purposes. Others in that situation on that voyage have been moved to different cabins. Unfortunately lemon tree requires an accessible cabin and there are no other available accessible cabins for them to be moved to.

 

Further highlighting this is lemon tree's voyage is still currently available to book on the Cunard US website. Plenty of availability showing, just no accessible cabins are available.

 

Now I'm not saying there won't be any QM2 cancellations because of staff shortages. Perhaps that shoe is about to drop. Just saying I haven't read about any such QM2 cancellations yet.

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Queenvee

Queenvee

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Just got off the QM2 (May 1 TA) and was told by member of entertainment staff that they are facing serious staff shortages since many people in the hospitality industry (a) got other jobs while cruise ships were idled; (b) don't want to deal with the hassle of wearing masks and weekly COVID testing; and (c) can get higher paying jobs in other fields.  

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PORT ROYAL

PORT ROYAL

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2 hours ago, Queenvee said:

Just got off the QM2 (May 1 TA) and was told by member of entertainment staff that they are facing serious staff shortages since many people in the hospitality industry (a) got other jobs while cruise ships were idled; (b) don't want to deal with the hassle of wearing masks and weekly COVID testing; and (c) can get higher paying jobs in other fields.  

Know of 2 MDs plus a HW who have left Cunard, taking very senior position with major hotel brands, plus 1 has bought, refitted and re-opened a large noted restaurant.

It appears your statement (c) is substantiated.

The loss of experienced, log service Cunard senior maestro conductors people can’t be replaced overnight.  

 

 

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