Chunky2219

Firsty, huge sympathy on your wife's condition and fingers crossed that she can get back to, or close to, her previous self. Now - the practical stuff as far as I understand it. Being in the UK not the US, it's highly likely that Cunard will pocket your deposit if you wish to cancel, regardless of reason. Their argument would be that you should have had insurance from the date of booking. We've long had worse conditions regarding deposits than our chums across the pond. However, if you want to switch to an alternative, later voyage they might be sympathetic. I've had a similar conversation with another upscale cruise line only this week. That was for a previously re-arranged voyage we were originally due to take last year but ...... Covid; we now don't really want to take the voyage we hasitly re-booked when it all blew up. Some lines seem to be being very flexible at present and of course, they'll probably now be able to sell the room at a higher price than your original booking. Also, you'll likely pay more for your replacement booking so it's win, win, win for them. You could ask for a long-dated credit note rather than a specific sailing but unless things have changed recently I suspect you will draw a blank on that one. I'm long term disabled myself and Cunard can accept many health problems, so long as you are not going to be relying on them in any way for support or care. They are very good at accomodating people with difficulties and will ensure they have a plan for individual support in the case of things like a ship wide emergency. There may be some restrictions at individual ports, for example tender ports or those with a big tidal range where the angle of the gang plank can change a lot whilst in port. You will still need to have travel/health insurance cover and this will be more expensive than it would have been before your wife's event but in principle, if you can get insurance you can probably cruise. So just ask. If you have a good travel agent this will be a major help and and of course, it all depends on the current medical advice and prognosis from your own doctor(s). I can't speak specifically about stroke but with many neurological events they often advise that you won't know the full extent of recovery for 24 months. Good luck. .

How times change! Some years ago we did a 23 day TA to New York (2 days), New England, Canada and return on QV. Clearing immigration at New York on day 1 was purgatory - very regimented, deck by deck, every single soul had to get off the ship even if not entering the city, a 90 minute queue and at the end of this you inevitably feel like a criminal, including having fingerprints scanned. Further up the coast at our first stop in Canada I was stopped very briefly and very politely by an immigration officer who had noticed that my shoelace had come un-tied. .