Segment of World Cruise 2016

Hi I'm new to this forum. Went on our first Cunard cruise last September, a 4 night taster cruise on QM2, absolutely loved it!

Now looking at booking a 10 day cruise to from Hong Kong to Tokyo next March on Queen Elizabeth.

I'm 47 and my DH is 51.

What can we expect, will there be plenty of passengers doing short segments of the world cruise. Would love to do longer but work commitments won't allow that at the moment.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

We're doing this, but as you get off, we will get on board as we're only doing the Tokyo to Hong Kong sector.

I'm of a similar age but hubby is a bit younger and we love cruising with Cunard.

I've scheduled our outbound flight using Cunard (BA) and have paid the upgrade fee as it's a long flight to do in economy! I've done this as we'll be flying out on the Saturday (overnight) from LHR and joining the ship on the Sunday and don't want to have the issue of delayed flights if organising them ourselves and missing the ship. At least if we're using their flights, they will arrange for us to meet the ship somewhere if there's a delay.

I am now waiting for the return flights to become available from Hong Kong to enable us to use frequent flyer miles as we're staying a couple of nights extra whilst there and haven't got to worry about any delay issues.

I anticipate there will be a lot of Japanese people on board, either for one or both of these segments as they love Cunard and are the nicest people we have come across when on board - well certainly the ones we met on last year's world cruise segment were between Dubai and Southampton.

Lynne - am I reading you right and you have booked only one way with Cunard? We have VA miles but can't use them oncertain routes and so would need Cunard to arrange that way, but could use our miles for the other way - that would work, would it?

I have done a couple of segments. Very fun. Lots of sea days. There will be a area of one of the lounges block off for full world cruisers, but besides that and maybe a before dinner get together in the Queens room the ship is yours. Have done large tables in the mdr and there has been a mix of full world cruisers and segment dinners so lots of different stories. Enjoy

We have done quite a few World Cruise segments and would do more but can't at the moment because of my mum's health. We find them so much nicer than European cruises, far more relaxed and nicer ports.

There are far more passengers doing segments, than the whole world, so you'll be in good company.

Hi Gill

We originally booked the segment as cruise only as were advised that we could add the flights on if needed.

I called them when the outbound flights had been released by all airlines (after checking fares and frequent flyer availability) to Narita. The economy price for return using Cunard was around £850 on BA (the price difference between cruise only and cruise with flights on Cunard's website).

Cunard confirmed I could use an outbound flight only and booked it for me at slightly more than half price at £520 for the ecomony seat and I just had to add the upgrade on for the one way journey £299pp for WT+ or £1529 for Club.

I've checked frequent flyer miles on BA from HK as theirs have been released and no direct flight available but Cathay have some. I haven't got as many FF miles with Avios and am now waiting to get a flight with VS as have more with them. Weirdly though, I checked online and it was offering flights a couple of weeks before which was acceptable and now cannot do it online as it's greyed out and said cannot do it online. I phoned VS today and they have said that's incorrect and they will report it to their IT dept, so hopefully it's rectified soon.

Hope this helps.

Lynne

Hi Gill

 

We originally booked the segment as cruise only as were advised that we could add the flights on if needed.

 

I called them when the outbound flights had been released by all airlines (after checking fares and frequent flyer availability) to Narita. The economy price for return using Cunard was around £850 on BA (the price difference between cruise only and cruise with flights on Cunard's website).

 

Cunard confirmed I could use an outbound flight only and booked it for me at slightly more than half price at £520 for the ecomony seat and I just had to add the upgrade on for the one way journey £299pp for WT+ or £1529 for Club.

 

I've checked frequent flyer miles on BA from HK as theirs have been released and no direct flight available but Cathay have some. I haven't got as many FF miles with Avios and am now waiting to get a flight with VS as have more with them. Weirdly though, I checked online and it was offering flights a couple of weeks before which was acceptable and now cannot do it online as it's greyed out and said cannot do it online. I phoned VS today and they have said that's incorrect and they will report it to their IT dept, so hopefully it's rectified soon.

 

Hope this helps.

Lynne

Hi Lynne, thanks for clarifying this. We are pretty new to Cunard and are looking at doing the full world on the Queen Victoria in 2016, we have already paid the deposit but we are travelling from NZ and the Biz airfare quoted so far on average is $11000.00 per person...thats $22,000 for a couple! It has added an astronomical amount to the end figure but I dont think that we could do that distance economy anymore. I will contact Cunard and see what they can offer but I have a horrible feeling we wont get far!

Lynne

That was indeed very helpful, and when we are able to book long haul again, is something we will be able to do.

Many thanks.

We have thus far done four Cunard cruises. The first was on the Queen Mary to Canada from New York and back again. That cruise was made up primarily of Brits and people from New Jersey, which was quite a switch from our Pacific Coastals which are populated primarily by Chinese from Vancouver.

Our next Cunard cruise was on the QV to the Baltic and on that cruise almost all of the passengers were Brits, as were those on our Med cruise on the QE last November.

This winter, we did a 21-day segment of the World Cruise, again on the QV. Most of the passengers on this one were Canadians and Australians. Those folks who were doing the whole world cruise were primarily Brits.

Longer cruises seem more relaxed and offer different activities, but, other than that, they all feel about the same to us.

Except for the fact that you will be feeling jealous when you have to get off the ship early, there won't be any difference between you and the world cruisers. :p:p

We have only been retired for less than two years, so we are still building up our cruise-length tolerance. We were a little concerned that maybe 21 days might be a little long, but we loved it and are ready to stretch our cruises out to even longer segments.

Our biggest problem is that I won't take long cruises in the summer because of my garden, and DH is reluctant to take long cruises in the winter because it interferes with his skiing so we have to work around that.

We have thus far done four Cunard cruises. The first was on the Queen Mary to Canada from New York and back again. That cruise was made up primarily of Brits and people from New Jersey, which was quite a switch from our Pacific Coastals which are populated primarily by Chinese from Vancouver.

 

Our next Cunard cruise was on the QV to the Baltic and on that cruise almost all of the passengers were Brits, as were those on our Med cruise on the QE last November.

 

This winter, we did a 21-day segment of the World Cruise, again on the QV. Most of the passengers on this one were Canadians and Australians. Those folks who were doing the whole world cruise were primarily Brits.

 

Longer cruises seem more relaxed and offer different activities, but, other than that, they all feel about the same to us.

 

Except for the fact that you will be feeling jealous when you have to get off the ship early, there won't be any difference between you and the world cruisers. :p:p

 

We have only been retired for less than two years, so we are still building up our cruise-length tolerance. We were a little concerned that maybe 21 days might be a little long, but we loved it and are ready to stretch our cruises out to even longer segments.

 

Our biggest problem is that I won't take long cruises in the summer because of my garden, and DH is reluctant to take long cruises in the winter because it interferes with his skiing so we have to work around that.

this will be the longest we have done, 120 days is a bit daunting but we are hoping that there will be enough onboard to keep us interested. We like the QV one because there was an average of 3 days between ports and gives us a chance to experience the formal nights and the old world cruising experience. Do people dress us fully or is it just a percentage of people and are dinner suits prevalent or do most men just wear a dark suit? What sectors of the WC did you do this last year?

this will be the longest we have done, 120 days is a bit daunting but we are hoping that there will be enough onboard to keep us interested. We like the QV one because there was an average of 3 days between ports and gives us a chance to experience the formal nights and the old world cruising experience. Do people dress us fully or is it just a percentage of people and are dinner suits prevalent or do most men just wear a dark suit? What sectors of the WC did you do this last year?

Hi Fourstacker.

I have done quite a few world cruises and lots of segments of world cruises mainly on Cunard. I love world cruising and I also love the segments. Japan is a very impressive Country to visit and often you get to call at three different ports there. I have so much information on world cruises. Read some of my blogs from last year and get an idea of life on board. You have will have an amazing time for sure.

http://www.cruise.co.uk/cruise-guides/maggiemou/?utm_campaign=MAGGIE290414&utm_medium=email&utm_source=MAGGIE290414

Hi I'm new to this forum. Went on our first Cunard cruise last September, a 4 night taster cruise on QM2, absolutely loved it!

Now looking at booking a 10 day cruise to from Hong Kong to Tokyo next March on Queen Elizabeth.

I'm 47 and my DH is 51.

 

What can we expect, will there be plenty of passengers doing short segments of the world cruise. Would love to do longer but work commitments won't allow that at the moment.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Hi Paphoslady. Are you a Cyprus lover by any chance? ;) I am here on the island of Aphrodite. :)

I have done many world segments and six world cruises. I love Cunard for world cruises. You will get a good mix of people on your segment and often in Asia you well find many Japanese are on board an maybe a few Indian ladies all beautifully dressed in the National dress on formal night. There will be many younger people on board as well people around the age of 45 years average age and some younger, and some older of course. On a world cruise you get a many as forty different Nationalities so a good mix of people. It is fabulous. You will have a super time I am sure. I will be on QE but will be leaving in Sydney. I have done Japan a few times and I love it, but this next year we are doing different things. Read my blog about Japan last year on QE.

http://www.cruise.co.uk/forum/109-cruise-news/40549-maggiemous-adventures-turning-japanese-i-really-think-so.html

this will be the longest we have done, 120 days is a bit daunting but we are hoping that there will be enough onboard to keep us interested. We like the QV one because there was an average of 3 days between ports and gives us a chance to experience the formal nights and the old world cruising experience. Do people dress us fully or is it just a percentage of people and are dinner suits prevalent or do most men just wear a dark suit? What sectors of the WC did you do this last year?

We did the segment from Los Angeles to Sydney and it was really wonderful. We want to circumnavigate the globe in segments. I am not ready to do it all in one sail. We still need to sail from Sydney to Rome, and we will be done with that challenge. We also hope to sail on all oceans and visit all continents and 100 countries. We didn't start traveling for fun until we were older, so we still have a lot of places to go. During out working years we would travel over 150,000 miles a year, but it was to really boring place like Las Vegas (which I truly hate), Chicago and Orlando-- your typical trade show venues.

Our next Cunard cruise will be from Istanbul to Rome next fall. That doesn't add anything to ou circumnavigation goal, but we want to go to Istanbul and we found a really good deal on the QV. We also wanted to go back to Athens when it was cooler. On our last visit it was so hot that walking outside was unthinkable.

Most of the men wore dinner suits on formal nights although a few wore dark suits. Of course these days with the tendency to wear a regular tie with a tuxedo, it is sometimes hard to tell the difference. DH loves tying bow ties so that is what he almost always wears when he dresses formally. On normal nights he often wears a colored T-shirt with his sports jacket, ala Miami Vice. It is a look that he pulls off very nicely.

If anyone is looking to use miles to book flights, my advice is to keep looking. The inventory changes frequently so don't become discouraged if you can't find what you want right away. As a result of all of the years that we spent flying a lot to boring places, we have accumulated quite a large stash of miles and, in the end are always able to find business class award flights to wherever we want to go. Be patient and persistent.

Dear All many thanks for your comments and experiences, very helpful thanks. Lynne we may well book the same segment as you I like the Tokyo to Hong Kong itinerary too, but only have enough holiday to do 1 segment. Maggiemou we are indeed very fond of Cyprus too, we have our 2nd home in Paphos and visit as many time as work commitments allow. World cruises sound great, definitely will be booking 1 of the segments that includes Japan.

Thanks all

We were the same and wanted to do HK to HK but struggled with annual leave so had to choose. The factor that swayed us was the first part stopped in China and we weren't really that bothered about it, and with the additional hassle of getting the visa, our decision was made. Only you can make that decision - both parts will be very nice regardless.

Hi

 

Cunard confirmed I could use an outbound flight only and booked it for me at slightly more than half price at £520 for the ecomony seat and I just had to add the upgrade on for the one way journey £299pp for WT+ or £1529 for Club.

 

 

Lynne

Hi Lynn, the extra amount on top of cattle class at £299 doesn't seem to be very much and I am wondering if you really get a great deal of extra comfort for it.

What are the real advantages.

David.

On BA's WT+, it's a smaller quieter cabin, and either 2 4 2 or 2 3 2 seating against the 3 4 3 that's usually in economy so nicer if travelling as a couple. There's the extra legroom at 38" against 31" ish. You get a Club class main course. It does differ from PE on Virgin in that Virgin give you your own check in, priority boarding and a drink when boarding. BA are also mean in the higher cabins in that you have to pay to pre-book your seat, on Virgin you only pay to pre-book your seat if in economy.

It's not a bad price (don't forget that's for 1 leg only, not return) for a little bit of extra comfort on long haul if Club class is out of reach, it's definitely a better option that economy.

And it usually means more baggage allowance.

Hi Lynn, the extra amount on top of cattle class at £299 doesn't seem to be very much and I am wondering if you really get a great deal of extra comfort for it.

 

What are the real advantages.

 

David.

The difference between coach and business is a lot more than "a little" extra comfort on most airlines. Generally biz class comes with a lay-flat bed, free drinks and passable food, and, as cruiseluvva pointed out, an extra baggage allowance, not to mention early boarding , club access and priority luggage delivery.

I don't like BA or fly them often for a whole bunch of reasons, but IIRC, the last I flew them they already had lay-flat beds in biz. BA's policy of requiring passengers to pay to reserve a biz class seat, as well as their totally outrageous fees and taxes on award tickets, really turn me off. So, if I can avoid BA, I always do. I did however love the Comcorde. :)

The difference between coach and business is a lot more than "a little" extra comfort on most airlines. Generally biz class comes with a lay-flat bed, free drinks and passable food, and, as cruiseluvva pointed out, an extra baggage allowance, not to mention early boarding , club access and priority luggage delivery.

 

I don't like BA or fly them often for a whole bunch of reasons, but IIRC, the last I flew them they already had lay-flat beds in biz. BA's policy of requiring passengers to pay to reserve a biz class seat, as well as their totally outrageous fees and taxes on award tickets, really turn me off. So, if I can avoid BA, I always do. I did however love the Comcorde. :)

Lynn was talking about Premium Economy.

Lynn was talking about Premium Economy.

Yes, she was. Most would pay £299 for lay flat beds long haul.

David.

Lynn was talking about Premium Economy.

Oh, my bad. I didn't know they had such a thing as premium economy, although once whe we were caught in horrible traffic and missed a first-class direct flight from Seattle to London on Delta, we were forced to fly Seattle to New York City is first on Delta and the fly Virgin America in Premium Economy and found it very similar to business class without lie flat beds. We did, however, have bolsters for our feet so it wasn't too bad.

So far I have never flow internationally in coach and hope to avoid it for the rest of my life if possible.

So far I have never flow internationally in coach and hope to avoid it for the rest of my life if possible.

Me too on the latter. Come on lottery numbers.....

Yes, she was. Most would pay £299 for lay flat beds long haul.

 

David.

If only such a price were to be found for business class!

Living in Australia I have to fly to Europe or North America when I want to cruise Cunard (I do not have time yet to cruise around the world or even out of Australia as I work during the months the Queens visit annually).

With the exception of two times in economy class, I've always flown business or first. It makes a huge difference not arriving and returning half comatose! That said, it means I book Britannia grade when I sail rather than Grills (except for one short cruise). No matter the grade, the service on board QM2 and QE (haven't sailed QV) is impeccable.

It's a sacrifice I'm prepared to make, plus half the fun is getting there as Cunard's post war advertising stated. That includes the flights these days. Being able to fine dine, socialise at the on board lounge and shower before settling in for sleep is fantastic. The fast track security and added car service at destinations also takes out some of the hassle and stress.

120 days around the world is a dream. I'd love to do it on two Queens. Maybe sail Southampton to Sydney, then spend a couple of days at home before embarking on a different Queen to Southampton. Or perhaps try a half world cruise depending on the itinerary.

But for now it's 3 cruises totalling 32 nights on the cards - QE and then the start of the WC on QM2 to NYC. It's still so far away, but I know it will be upon me soon enough. Time seems to fly by faster every year!