Taking a bicycle aboard Cunard

[Yorkshire Mike]

OK, a bit niche, but it might be of interest to someone else.

 

Back in 2019 we visited Norway and Iceland with Cunard and I had a day's scuba diving booked in Reykjavik that fell through on the day and left me dockside twiddling my thumbs.  Then I spotted our sommelier, in his civvies, cycling away from Queen Vic and he stopped to say hello.  Turns out Cunard have (Had, post covid?) bikes aboard for crew use so I went to the Purser's desk to see if I could borrow one.  No, crew use only.  So I went into town and hired a half-decent little Trek hybrid and had a lovely morning pottering around.  As I was freezing my toes on a paddle in the wrong bay, the geothermally heated water is in the next bay along, I wondered if I could take my own bike next cruise.

 

Yes, says the Cunard website, provided it's a folding bike, or a bike that can be disassembled, that bikes can be used on land only (No hooning around Deck 3!) and that I had to take it on and off the ship myself.  A folding bike was obviously going to be the most practical solution, so I bought a folding bike off ebay, £44, and a carry bag, £18, and for less than the cost of a standard sightseeing trip I was set.

 

Our cruise this year was also Norway and Iceland, and the bike went on board in its carry-bag with the rest of the luggage.  I simply dropped it off with the cases and it was delivered to the cabin door.  Sorry, stateroom door.  We were in Queen's this time, so had a space where it sat all fortnight without getting in the way.  It would fit in any cabin, it's no bigger than a standard suitcase when folded.  And no it isn't a Brompton, which would fold even smaller but would be way more expensive to buy.

 

Getting the bike off the ship to ride was easy.  Take bike out of bag, still folded, carry downstairs and wheel/carry down gangway.  The security staff didn't bat an eyelid.  Then unfold dockside and ride away.

 

I'd done a bit of pre-cruise research to sort out where I wanted to visit, but that was fun in itself.  The only thing I'd forgotten was somewhere on the bike to stow a bottle of water, I like to visit more remote spots that tend to be cafe free, but I can sort that before the next cruise.

 

I thought getting back aboard might be less straightforward, but it was actually very simple.  I folded the bike dockside and wheeled it up the gangway, where a pleasant security man held out a hand and pulled it under the security tapes whilst I went through security checks as normal, then he handed it back to me to take to the stateroom.  Note that I had a tool bag strapped behind the saddle for a mini-pump, a couple of spare inner tubes, tyre-levers, spanner to get the wheels off and a chain tool, all the basic stuff, but wasn't asked about them at all.

 

As the lifts were quiet I took the bike back up in the lift and then put it back in the bag until next time. 

 

Come disembarkation I put a luggage tag on the bike bag as I had coming aboard, put it out with the cases and collected land-side with the rest of the luggage   

 

Overall, a totally stress-free experience.  Well done Cunard.  

 

 

 

 

[exlondoner]

I can't ride a bike, but this sounds a brilliant (and green) way of enjoying ports.

[Yorkshire Mike]

7 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I can't ride a bike, but this sounds a brilliant (and green) way of enjoying ports.

It's both - but from looking around the net it seems very few lines allow bikes aboard, kudos to Cunard for doing so.

[exlondoner]

6 minutes ago, Yorkshire Mike said:

It's both - but from looking around the net it seems very few lines allow bikes aboard, kudos to Cunard for doing so.

 

Perhaps they could even promote the idea? 

[Yorkshire Mike]

I'd be happy to do a cruise so they could take pics for the promotion, obviously the longer the cruise the better to increase the range of snaps available.  Except I'm probably not sufficiently photogenic....

[exlondoner]

12 minutes ago, Yorkshire Mike said:

I'd be happy to do a cruise so they could take pics for the promotion, obviously the longer the cruise the better to increase the range of snaps available.  Except I'm probably not sufficiently photogenic....

 

But is the bike?

[Yorkshire Mike]

25 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

But is the bike?

It came from ebay, what do you think?

 

(Actually, it's very nice but definitely not new enough or upmarket enough for Cunard promotional literature)

[exlondoner]

6 minutes ago, Yorkshire Mike said:

 

 

(Actually, it's very nice but definitely not new enough or upmarket enough for Cunard promotional literature)

 

Sounds like me and most of the other passengers. 

[Victoria2]

40 minutes ago, Yorkshire Mike said:

...

 

(Actually, it's very nice but definitely not new enough or upmarket enough for Cunard promotional literature)

 

33 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

Sounds like me and most of the other passengers. 

Oh how I can identify with this which  HAS to be one of the best riposts I've read for many a comment.😄

 

Thx for the giggle Yorkshire and exlondon.

[frankp01]

5 hours ago, Yorkshire Mike said:

it seems very few lines allow bikes aboard, kudos to Cunard for doing so.

Granted, this was several hundred years ago: but we took our Bromptons on an NCL cruise to Bermuda. It was great, because there is quite an extensive bike path in Bermuda. It was long enough ago that I've forgotten, but I think we carried the bikes on board, rather than risk them with the stevedores. I've considered bringing them on board for some of our more recent trips, but the destinations didn't warrant a bike as much (mostly trans-Atlantics).

[Windsurfboy]

very interesting,  but why are Cunard insisting on a folding bike. 

 

I would have thought as long as it could go through doors and fit in cabin or on your balcony then what's the problem 

[Yorkshire Mike]

They also allow disassembled (Their word from the FAQs) bikes, so with a decent toolkit you can indeed take any bike, they don’t specify a disassembled size.  I have bikes that I could disassemble but didn’t have a folding bike, so had the perfect excuse to buy a new bike.  Not a new, new bike, as previously noted, where’s the fun in that?

[exlondoner]

On 8/3/2022 at 5:13 PM, Windsurfboy said:

very interesting,  but why are Cunard insisting on a folding bike. 

 

I would have thought as long as it could go through doors and fit in cabin or on your balcony then what's the problem 

 

Perhaps the daunting effect on other passengers of encountering a couple of them coming in the opposite direction in a passageway.

[PORT ROYAL]

Know that a Captain does bring aboard a full size Mountain Bike, along with the de rigueur kit.

Could it be that the bike, plus apparel, were top end, so allowed on Cunard?

Edited August 6, 2022 by PORT ROYAL
Typo

[Dorset cruise fan]

We watched an Aida ship docking in Oslo once and a whole rack full of bikes was unloaded. We were up at the ski jump later in the day and met all the passengers cycling through the woods on these bikes. They looked very fit. 

[Yorkshire Mike]

As a newbie to folding bikes I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the on and off-road capabilities of my ten year old and low-end-of-the-market-even-when-it-was-new Falcon Nimbus.  In Akureyri it rode happily on smooth tarmac, loose gravel, grass tracks and a 20% uphill to the church. 

[Windsurfboy]

On 8/6/2022 at 10:08 AM, exlondoner said:

 

Perhaps the daunting effect on other passengers of encountering a couple of them coming in the opposite direction in a passageway.

 

Only if they were doing wheelies and riding two abreast

[elmsliebev]

Great idea. I know Marella have bike tours from the ship, with bikes onboard. Never understood why Cunard don’t do the same.