T5LHR

I mean, airlines and hotels have been doing this for ages... Was only a matter of time before it became more popular for cruise lines. I have made use of it on airlines, best one managing an upgrade from Johannesburg to London from Economy to Business for £400, which was the minimum bid. Sadly, it was on Virgin Atlantic, shockingly bad seat and woeful service, but at least I managed a little sleep and could elevate my feet. I don't think it is something that I would consider for a cruise. I put a lot of effort into finding a stateroom that is where I want it, including sometimes paying a higher price within the grade to secure one in the right place. I don't want to end up somewhere that will annoy me for the sailing, and especially having paid more to do it.

I always like to unpack properly (if cases are there, which they have never not been...) and get myself settled and sorted in my stateroom. My friends I am travelling with this time, I know, prefer to start drinking straight away, but I will take my time to make sure all is hung properly, away in the drawers and cases away out of sight under the bed. I can't stand a messy stateroom... I like it to be sharp as a pin. Then, if I haven't ordered flowers before hand, I will go and see if there is a flower order desk/table somewhere off of the grand lobby selling arrangements and order one or two for the stateroom. Then a walk around the deck and a tipple to start the departure across the Atlantic off properly.

ok

But when the agent tell you they can't guarantee you will be booked either, then what's someone to do? Either way, hope those who got on enjoy it. I will spend my birthday on dry land.

What an absolute cluster flip that was... Website is a shambles. TWICE I had a booking, once for Queens Grill and once for Princess Grill, and by the time I got through the payment screen, "Sorry, no rooms in that grade available" DESPITE having an actual room number on my booking summary on the screen in front of me. 58 minutes to speak to someone on the phone, and by the time I got to that stage, the best he could offer was a deck 8 lifeboat obstructed cabin. I declined. What an absolute waste of time. Will be my last attempt at booking with Cunard for some time. Will do my September B2B and think that will be it. I note, they soon deleted their Facebook post promoting the sailing as it was just a litany of people telling them how shocking the booking process was and how many people were disappointed they couldn't get to book because of their poor planning.

The agent I spoke to this evening is just taking booking details, they won't have access to inventory till everyone else does at 13:00 tomorrow. She did say to me that there is a possibility that if I make a pre-registered booking with them, it might not go through. So I am not going to risk it, and try and book myself.

I just spoke to two cruise TAs and both say they can't book it yet, not till tomorrow.

How can it be on sale with TAs but not with Cunard yet?

I don't tend to suffer from sea sickness, but on my second crossing some years ago, we had some particularly bad weather off of the south coast of Ireland. So, I went and got the Dramamine tablets from the ship, took one, had a sleep for two hours and was fine for the rest of the journey. Now, I take them for every sailing, starting the night before boarding and one a night when I go to bed for the rest of the trip. Haven't had anything else ever. I think prevention is a safer route if there is ever the possibility of something happening. I am onboard in September for 14 nights Southampton-New York-Southampton and will be doing the same again.

I intend to go by myself a little happy in Manhattan on turnaround day, have a spot of brunch in a favourite hotel and then come back to board the ship again... If you leave the terminal and come back during normal boarding, as a "transit" passenger, is there.a queue jump? Or only if you chose to remain in the terminal and re-board when the ship is cleared?

And also, I think it helps if people approach them with the right attitude. I wasn't demanding or saying "you MUST change this for me free of charge!"... I was polite, friendly and asked if there was a possibility.

Just to finish this one... I was very fortunate to get a very helpful person on the phone, who after speaking to their manager, was able to change the booking for me as a "change" instead of a "cancel and re-book", so I didn't have to pay any cancellation fee. So, I am back in my comfort zone of Sheltered Balcony on deck 5 for the trip which makes me a lot happier, both in myself and my wallet.

Hey, thanks for that... Yeah, so its not going to work... Best bet to try and appeal to them to let me change cabin grade on the current booking instead and hope I get someone willing to do it.

Hi All, Been some time since I have been on here, life got busy as it always seems to, and pleasurable things like cruises took a bit of a back seat. I had a big chunk of FCC from Covid cancelations (40th birthday B2B on QM2 in 2020), which, through elements of availability and my schedule for work, was used to re-book for September 2023. When I re-booked for that one, I went for a Balcony on 11, glass front and all that jazz, and meant paying another £2k plus, on top of the over £3k of FCC. Things have changed a little now and it is going be a bit of a stretch to justify nearly £5.5k for that cabin. There are sheltered balcony cabins available for just over the FCC amount, and I want to move to one of those... But... I am not sure, having read through T&Cs if I will be able to do that... I "was" going to ring, use the FCC change clause to move to something completely different that I don't actually want, then ring straight back and change back to my original sailing, but in the lower category sheltered balcony. It is the only way I can see that will make it "work"... Unless I am completely missing another option? Any nuggets of advice would be welcome... Or just a thumbs up on the call, book something else, then call back and book back to original sailing plan...? I hope all are well 🙂 T5