ovccruiser

Private tours or otherwise IMO depends on the port of call. I have visited Rome and booked a tour through the cruise line and IMO the trip we had could not be done privately. On the coach we had 2 couriers, one stayed with us and guided us to the sites, the other went ahead and bought all the entry tickets to the various sites. The queues at each venue was horrendous and no way could a private individual queue jump like we did. Visited Borabudur Temple in Indonesia, again we traveled to the temple, stop for coffee on the way, had lunch a full tour of the temple time for souvenir purchases and travelled back to the ship in plenty of time. 4 people on our dinner table did it themselves and just about had an hour at the temple, no other stops. Other sites on our cruises, would not entertain paying for a trip, sort my own usually through a local taxi.

Haven't read all the thread, but big problem with drinks packages is that my wife doesn't drink and I cannot buy a drinks package for one. Why? I don't know. Cruise lines usually mark the boarding card for those who have a drinks package, why that can't just be for one and not both in a cabin seems like hard work for the cruise lines.

Never been asked to produce insurance documents boarding a cruise, only asked for details on passenger information prior to boarding, filled in online.

Ask the wine waiter onboard, there may be a choice of house wines available. They are not normally sdvertised on wine lists as such, just house wine.

Finally completed the survey, as suggested moved the survey from my computer to phone, got past the frozen issue and completed the survey. Just one point I found amusing, lots of questions re discounts and gratuities, why not just sell the cruise at the best price instead of massive reductions near sailing time, there must be lots of people like me who will wait and book the cheapest fare, I am quite happy with an inside cabin.

There used to be some secret 3 pin UK sockets where the bedside lights are plugged in, but you need to move the bed, if they are still there.

Received it, started completing it but as soon as it got to Cunard only section it froze at 73% 😞 so could not complete.

Something I forgot to mention, do not expect to see everything on one cruise you will only see glimpses of what is there wherever there is. I live in Bristol and have yet to visit SS Great Britain, The Roman Baths in Bath and many more sights. As an example, the Vatican Museum if you spend, from memory, 3 seconds at each item it would take you several months to view everything. Cruises are nice but I look at them as a snapshot of somewhere I would like to spend more time.

If you plan on visiting Rome, I would certainly recommend using Cunard tour. My experience is long queues for everything which the Cunard tour guides, yes there are usually 2, will manage to bypass. If visiting Barcelona do it yourself and buy HOHO tickets and you will see many sites quite cheaply.

Agree with most, we have done 2 cruises on QE last year and although not a make or break deal, nice to have something given by Carnival instead of take, hope they reinstate them all soon when the profits return after covid.

Bought my shares many years ago for I think about the current price, may have been as high as £15. We have done at least 10 cruises on QM2, 3 on Queen Elizabeth, 3 on Queen Victoria, 2 on P & O Oceana, 1 on Artimiss, a couple on Princess cruise line so have had approx 4 time back in OBC than I paid for the shares. I was tempted to sell when the were well over £30 but resisted. I am sure they will reach those prices again especially when Carnival start paying dividends. Like many on here, shares were purchased for OBC only not for investment, you will never make a lot of money from a £1500 outlay unless you are lucky with the horsed or Lottery 😉

Just looked on their web site at a cruise to the North Cape, freedom fare £1899 saver fare £899 and a banner ad giving £100 off if you quote July saver the catch, no fares available at £899. Well done Fred!!!

Can't be good for the cruise company either, planning must go out of the window faced a few weeks prior to cruising to have little or no bookings, do they sail or not?

I have had the benefit of cruising on QM2 on many occasion, but, one has to bear in mind that refits are usually major works yet most of the maintenance type work is carried out while at sea by the crew onboard ship. They were obviously missing during lockdown so the works were effectively deferred for about 2 years and have taken about the same time to catch up, IMO hence the "rusty" patches mentioned by some cruisers. Probably most cruise ships suffered the same over the last few years.

Only on sale of faulty goods. If your debit card is hacked they can get the money from your current account, if the credit card is hacked they can max out your credit card. Most credit card have a much higher limit than most hold in their current account.

I have used both debit and credit cards on cruises and have had no problem with either being accepted. In these modern times debit cards, which the funds come straight out of your bank account, is accepted in most countries as payment. I travel to Luxembourg and have paid by debit card and the funds taken from my account show in £'s within seconds of paying in Euros. The beauty with credit cards are if you want to make a sizeable purchase, jewellery etc, pay by credit card and when home easily transfer from your savings to pay the bill, saves having to hold large cash in the current account.

Not sure if there is enough room, maybe the OP is thinking of L shape with the beds to give more space? If you really want space, you could try a deluxe inside, it is one and a half cabins so lots of space, but obviously no balcony or window.

Not on the QM but have done it on a 14 day cruise on QE last year. Dined in the Lido every night with my wife and the staff were excellent. There is far more variety of food and if you want salad with anything or even gravy on your salad (?) you can. One point, on formal nights I think you will be expected to dress appropriately visiting other venues on the ship, smart attire we found was ok, jeans or shorts probably not.

Check the exchange rate when buying OBC, there may be a premium.

That who I use, the L owns Bristol City Football Club to not hard to find who the H is. Unfortunately CC does frown on advertising so can't give the full name.

Just as an addition to all of the above, depending the broker you buy your shares through may help when applying for OBC. My first broker I had to take a screen shot of my share certificate and email it to the relevant cruise company, my current broker I just send an email detailing cruise company, date and booking reference and they organise it all for me. So before you buy your shares check out how they deal with requests for OBC etc.

Interestingly, P & O UK https://www.pocruises.com/service no tipping required. Also part of the Carnival group why can one cruise line increase charges and the other not charge at all? I can see long queues at the Pursur's desk 😁

Filled out my survey and pushed formal nights and timed dining, I am not into the anytime dining of the Club, or Grills. I did also push the all inclusive having been on many all inclusive cruises and holidays in the past and have yet to find anyone drink to excess. No different to the purchase of the drinks package really, just added to your bill 😅

That wasn't entirely dow to Fred, the Avonmouth "cruise terminal" was in fact the warehouse used for fruit and veg and our great local authority was not willing to improve the facilities. I cruised out of Avonmouth on a 28 day cruise to Venice, it was a fabulous cruise and would have done it again had the local authority had the foresight to spend a little money to bring regular cruising to Bristol.

We too were on the, what turned out to be, the last cruise of Boudicca and the atmosphere on the ship was great. Since the pandemic has "eased" we have done 2 cruises both with Cunard both cruises were run at maximum 66% capacity I believe to allow cabins for quarantine. We looked at Fred, but the prices shown appeared high, certainly higher than Cunard at the time. The itineraries could not be compared, many areas of the world were still shut down because of the pandemic. My wife has said, and I had to agree, that it would be doubtful we will look at Fred again, their prices seem to have risen alarmingly since, or because of, the "new ships" arriving. I. still look on the web site, but rather than offering on board spend, would much prefer to see lower prices.