Cunard Flights

[D&N]

9 hours ago, rmsEtruria said:

and where we live, I doubt I could find a travel agent who really knows how to deal with Cunard.

We live in France. We use an agent in the English Midlands. We've never met. We communicate mainly be email and by phone when it comes to booking/paying or if there's a problem. We do know lots about them as they were recommended by a friend that was a prolific cruiser and I follow their Facebook and Instagram pages.

 

There appear to be some good US based agents based on the wet luggage thread.

[Victoria2]

11 hours ago, rmsEtruria said:

Many thanks, @Host Hattie (#21) and @Pushpit (#24), for throwing light on the package deal mystery I’ve lately read so much about; it puzzled me just as it did @ex-koelner (#20). In short, for those over here it’s not an option. (Not a problem; I am used to making all our travel arrangements directly with airlines, hotels, etc., and where we live, I doubt I could find a travel agent who really knows how to deal with Cunard.)

There are poor and excellent agents in every country. The luck is in finding the excellent ones.

 

Most agents worth their salt have 'connections' and it's how proactive agents are to help, which count. bitob  obviously has  a great one, as have we.

[ex-koelner]

Thanks everybody for the explanation. I understand the concept of a package tour and the responsibility the tour operator has to take if anything in the chain goes wrong.

What confuses me - because I never heard of that option - is a statement like this:

On 10/8/2023 at 9:05 PM, Victoria2 said:

you can book your own flights and have them bundled with a hotel into a Cunard package

In my situation, I have the cruise booked, I have my own flight booked, I still need a hotel in NYC for 4 nights. Can I call Cunard and ask them to bundle all this? Again, I don't see why they should do that with a flight that was not booked through them and they most likely won't get access to the reservation details in their booking system. At least, it might be worth to call Cunard about the hotel and have only that added to the cruise, who knows, maybe they can offer a rate that is better than what I find online (which was not the case with the flight though)

[david63]

1 hour ago, ex-koelner said:

maybe they can offer a rate that is better than what I find online

In my experience anyone who offers a rate is making something from it and the hotel rate that is quite often quoted is for the lowest grade of room - which may, or may not, be what you want.

 

Also with some hotels rooms that are not booked direct with the hotel are, how shall I phrase it, the less desirable.

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, ex-koelner said:

Thanks everybody for the explanation. I understand the concept of a package tour and the responsibility the tour operator has to take if anything in the chain goes wrong.

What confuses me - because I never heard of that option - is a statement like this:

In my situation, I have the cruise booked, I have my own flight booked, I still need a hotel in NYC for 4 nights. Can I call Cunard and ask them to bundle all this? Again, I don't see why they should do that with a flight that was not booked through them and they most likely won't get access to the reservation details in their booking system. At least, it might be worth to call Cunard about the hotel and have only that added to the cruise, who knows, maybe they can offer a rate that is better than what I find online (which was not the case with the flight though)

If you look at #12, I mentioned from a UK perspective and this thread was addressing a UK member's questions. I have no idea what happens in any other country.  I suggest you approach your own agent to obtain any further clarification.

 

Our flight, cruise and hotel are all on one booking through Cunard via our agent and we are prepared to take the hit the flight will be more expensive through Cunard in order to obtain the protection a [UK] package gives. As for hotel, it was part of our package and I agree with david63 on run of house issues which is why we  take the cheapest hotel Cunard have to offer and then book our own, again, as mentioned in #12.