mdavid17

I thank those of you who offered advice and sympathy. I do not post on Internet forums because I find them full of unhelpful people who like to argue for the sake of being argumentative.

I will take my leave of your community and bid you all safe and happy travels.

17 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Not being able to fly is a major problem.   If you are on a voyage and have a serious health issue do you just remain in the nearest port until a ship comes by?   At least you won’t need to pay for medical insurance.

Indeed. I was hoping to use this trip as a proof-of-concept that my mother could do a cruise without my assistance (albeit something closer to home--like a St. Lawrence cruise or the Caribbean). This experience has taught me that this is not an option. 

1 minute ago, lissie said:

Surely you got an email?  Cunard has every one's email - and just like with airlines I keep a close eye on my email prior to departure. I don't give them my phone number if I can help it because I don't know whether I'll have a mobile connection or not. 

You've clearly not read my posts. Good day.

11 minutes ago, lissie said:

I suspect the difference is that the customers already on board have had a a journey curtailed that was part-way through.  Others have not yet embarked so that is a different class.

That differentiation is hardly reasonable from any practical viewpoint, and most certainly not for elderly travelers with health and mobility issues.

21 minutes ago, Joe33472 said:

I guess for me, it was at first it seemed like Cunard was just not providing assistance to get people home and that the "assistance" was the 20% FCC.   But a current report is that folks are on board, Cunard is soliciting air travel requests, and presumably will be helping international folks find their way home.   Given that, I think that the 20% is okay. 

For those who didn't make it on board, it is a different story. Not everybody is being treated the same way. Many international travelers were not informed as to how Cunard would help us. If they had reached out and informed us as to how they would help, I'd be more than happy to take the FCC and assistance. That is what they should have done for all international travelers, not just those who showed up at the port. 

8 minutes ago, tv24 said:

We at home have talked about this.  Our conclusion, unfortunately, is because of Carnival Corp.'s huge debt, they really cannot afford to offer more than this.  Sad but possibly true.

20% would be fair if they had communicated this better. All they had to do was give us a phone call out of courtesy and told us what they'd be willing to do in order to assist us. If they had been proactive and told us we could still come and enjoy the vessel at port while helping us to sort out a flight to the US would have gone a *long* way to smoothing this over. It's not the money, it's the lack of courtesy and respect for customers that upsets me the most. I'm glad they are willing to accommodate and help some people, the lack of consistency and communication is most problematic.

16 minutes ago, delondin said:

But the refund won’t be immediate. What if finances don’t allow for that. 

Indeed. I have sufficient credit to not worry about *when* the refund will occur but the suggestion that a few thousand dollars is enough to book a last-minute international flight home for two people *and* somehow tour England for a week is laughable. I have no idea when the refund will hit my account, if I needed that money I'd be up a certain creek without a paddle.

I feel really bad for those who can't afford to improvise a trip (or who aren't savvy enough to do so).

15 minutes ago, safarigal said:

For those of us on Queen Mary 2 trying to get back to the US, we have filled out a form stating our preferences for flights home and we are waiting to hear back. Meanwhile on board it is almost surreal as nothing seems to have changed - the musicians play, the entertainment continues, so all in all we are having a good, if not uncertain time. This evening we received a typical Daily Program for tomorrow, but no mention of when our flights home will be. It's a gala night tomorrow - black and white, and the insight speakers sound great, so I hope we will still be on board. Interesting times 🙂

That only makes it more frustrating. If they're willing to help you find a way home they should be contacting their other customers and helping them as well. It's not like they don't know our nationality, or how to reach us. Reaching out to find out if they could help would have gone a long way to making this more palatable, even if it was only a token effort. It is the right thing to do.

Hence why I am lukewarm to cruising in the first place... Self-regulation rarely ends well. 

50 minutes ago, Omax4 said:

Unfortunately most of the time I hear about canceled cruises, 20% FCC is the standard. I don’t think the cruise company takes into consideration when you book the cruise or when they cancel it.  Hopefully Cunard will do more to help but I dunno if they will.

Speaking as a thirty-something who was lukewarm to cruising in the first place, they will have to do better than that to make me consider giving them another shot. I get cruising is about the voyage getting there, but at least if an airline cancels my flight same-say due to technical issues they will at least *attempt* to get me to my destination promptly, not leave me to my own devices with a single form letter. 

As far as I'm concerned they can take their 20% and pump it into the ballast tanks.

31 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Solent Richard mentioned a charter flight.In my naivety, I would have thought that's the least Cunard could do for those sailing onto New York who would be grateful for this facility. If nothing else, it would generate slight compensatory PR for the company.

There has been zero communication from Cunard besides the form letter I received this morning. Maybe people already in Southampton had a different experience, but I have heard absolutely *nothing* else. We're on our own to make arrangements back to the US (which we can afford to do, thankfully).

I've gotten better customer service from Amtrak. That says a lot.

Cunard isn't chartering anything. We are stuck in the UK trying to find last-minute arrangements to get back home to the US. 

This was our way home from vacation, it is going to be an expensive pain to find another way back.