Not the same company since new management took over. 

6 hours ago, Red Ray said:

I'd like to see Cunard introduce a 'refer an enemy' system whereby you can get $100 onboard credit on one of the Queens for referring someone you don't like to Virgin or Marella.

Diabolical 

On 9/7/2024 at 5:59 PM, edgee said:

More like 30 years useful life for any kind of an upper premium or higher market ship. Crystal is trying for an exception to that rule and results are mixed. Oceania senior leadership has stated that R ships' complete renovation done between 3 and 5 years ago is the last. Perhaps Azamara will make theirs last longer...who knows? I find the ridulously small bathrooms below PH level and fewer specialty restaurants a deal breaker. Others disagree.

Marina, Riviera and Vista were all made in this century, since 2011, with another Allura-class to be delivered within a few years. 

1 hour ago, alc13 said:

And who is going to remember all that?  I expect a goodly number of "advocates" will never claim their credits.

Most likely written by a team of lawyers.

As a follow-up to my post, I wrote to Cunard and received a response the same day. The only issue I had was that the link to the form to generate the referral wasn’t visible regardless of the device I used.

Following is the response I received from Cunard:

Dear Mr. Triller:

Thank you for your email, and apologize for the continued trouble you have experienced trying to refer your friend. I see by the notes in the history of your booking that one of my colleagues helped with completing the referral on your behalf.

Please check with your friend to see fi the invitation was received and completed. If the process was completed before the booking was made they will receive the referral credit posted to their booking no earlier than 89 days from sailing.

Most Sincerely,

David Winslow
Cunard Line. Est. 1840
North America Customer Service,
Help Desk, General Inquiries & Groups Dept.
24305 Town Center Drive
Suite 130
Valencia, CA 91355-0908
T:  1.800.728.6273
E:  generalinquiries@cunard.com

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

 

Very curious indeed. I get the prompt on every device I try. I wish I didn't since I have to dismiss it to get the cruise search function to work. It's a real nuisance.

 

Here is what the Cunard US home page looks like on my phone.

 

I even tried using a different browser. It still didn’t work. I reached out to Cunard, in writing, so we shall see.

25 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

I'm not sure if this will help any, but I've been curious about this "Refer a friend" promotion since it's been a nuisance with its prompts that pop up while I attempt to search for cruises on the website.

 

First of all, here is what the home page on the Cunard US website looks like with the "Refer a friend" prompt at the bottom right.

 

 

When I click on that prompt here is what it looks like.

 

 

When I complete that form and submit it, I am given a URL to send to my friends to use to book their cruises. In my case, with a first name of John, that URL begins with "https://refer.cunard.com/John...".

 

When someone uses that URL, they get this screen. I have blurred out the XID= value in the URL since I figure that might be specific to me. I assume anyone I refer as a friend has to book their cruise on the Cunard website using that URL to record the booking as a referral from me.

 

 

Now I have no idea how the process works from this point. Perhaps it's broken from this point on. I doubt I will actually find anyone who might want to take advantage of this promotion. Just saying this is what I'm seeing for the start of the process if that's any different from what you and your travel agent have been attempting.

Thank you but I don’t get the prompt and I tried on numerous devices. 

In the past month or so I received a flyer from Cunard which mentioned the "refer a Friend" program. Basically, if a Cunarder refers a friend that hasn't sailed with Cunard in the past and that friend books a Cunard cruise with the referring friend then both the Cunarder and the friend receive $100 of OBC. Well, I tried to do this for our 26 night 2025 cruise with a friend of ours. It didn't work.

First, I couldn't find the link to fill out the necessary form. When I contacted Cunard they told me where the link was located. I looked at that spot but it wasn't visible. Cunard told me to refresh the page. I did and it still wasn't visible. Cunard told me that the link "comes and goes," and to try again at a different time. I did so, no go. Then I when to my local library and tried to find the link on one of its computers. Nope. Then I reached out to my travel agent. He found a way to fill out the form and send our friend the link. Didn't work.

Today I received word from my travel agent. "The referral program with Cunard is impossible to take advantage of. We could not get it to work no matter what we did."

Customers come and go, too.

On 9/6/2024 at 2:30 PM, edgee said:

Hard to get excited about a cruise line that operates with zero ships built in this century.

What’s lacking? Well made ships have service lives of 40+ years. The R-class are midlife and new ships will run about $500 million. The customers foot that bill.

5 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

I think the excursion credit has been one huge nightmare for Oceania. There have been so many complaints about tours being full and no others offered but even more of a headache I think has been when Oceania have cancelled a port, for whatever reason, and people were feeling very aggrieved that nothing was offered in ‘compensation’ for missed tours.

 

I think Oceania will be glad to see the back of the headache causing ‘included excursion credit’!

We liked the "Your world, your way" options prior to "Simply More." Frank jr. needed to make his mark...

5 minutes ago, Harters said:

So, we have our probably last Oceania cruise next June but it's now time to be looking for an alternative line if, indeed, we decide to continue cruising (definitely not a given, bearing in mind how expensive a holiday it already is). There are certainly lines out there that portray a similar ambiance and appear to value an inclusive approach.  

Simply More was the end of O for us.

Oceania Cruises Includes Gratuities For All Guests As It Unveils Your World Included New Value Promise

Released September 5, 2024

Oceania Cruises Includes Gratuities For All Guests As It Unveils Your World Included New Value Promise

Released September 5, 2024

The emblematic merchandise varies but the Cunard logo is fairly common on shirts, jackets, cups and assorted other sundries.

You may cancel up to 24 hours in advance and get a full refund. I believe if you cancel within 24 hours you may reschedule your reservation.

15 hours ago, Clewgarnet said:

They had one alcohol-free cider on offer in the Golden Lion. I didn't look anywhere else.

Thatcher’s Zero

19 hours ago, Catchum said:

Don't fall for my favorite trick of remembering the bow tie but forgetting to pack the instructions on how to tie it. 

Easy as pie. YouTube has many (short) videos on how to do so.

9 hours ago, babs135 said:

Thanks Hattie.  I'm pretty sure that I knew that but my mind just went blank! 🤣

You’re far from alone, happens to the best of us.

1 minute ago, BigMac1953 said:

 

That's not actually true.

 

Many people leave on the "Hotel Charge" and tip a bit extra here and there.

 

We do, and I know we're not alone.

Is an additional tip "...on top go gratuities..." expected? No, it is not. This is actually true.

And tipping/hotel charges are at the sole discretion of the passenger.  

Just now, cariad1000 said:

Is it expected to tip on top of gratuities on Cunard please?

No. Your money, your business.

On 7/16/2024 at 8:13 PM, Belle1990 said:

I hate the Cunard site’s functionality!

What functionality?

21 hours ago, We_like_to_cruise said:

We were on the June 9 TA and due to "power problems" were 4 hours late to Brooklyn.  Cunard decided to put us on an 11:30 am shuttle for our 2 pm flight out of LGA.  Hmm, let's see, wait on the queue to disembark at 11:30 am, find our luggage, go through immigration/customs, locate the bus, wait for all of the passengers to get their luggage and themselves on the bus, drive 30+ minutes to LGA, wait for passengers to get off the bus, wait for luggage to be offloaded, check-in and find our gate.  NO WAY this will work out.  And of course the airline recommends that you be at the airport two hours before your flight!   

We were on the same cruise and we, too, had a 2:00PM flight out of LaGuardia and we also had booked the Cunard transfer. I'm happy to say it all worked and we did make our flight but just barely.

I agree with some points made by the OP. After the QM2's mechanical problems we should have been able to get into Brooklyn on time if the ship had utilized the gas turbine engines, brining the speed up to 30 knots. Cunard didn't, either because they didn't want the high fuel burn or the gas turbines were not working properly.

With regard to complaints in Britannia, I think reviewers should specify if they had fixed seating or "anytime dining." We were also in Britannia and found the food to be good to very good, occasionally excellent. We had first seating and had about the best waiter we've ever had after around 30 Cunard cruises.

Disappointingly, the ship still has a fair amount of rust, particularly compared to pre-COVID cruises. I suspect maintenance has been cut back in an effort to reduce debt. However, the ship looks far better than it did last October prior to its overhaul.

We're still happy with Cunard and have two more lengthy cruises booked on QM2.

On 7/1/2024 at 1:27 PM, Kordy said:

- for the gala night the 2nd day of cruise, too many people tried to come for the 6pm open seating and there was line well beyond the Golden Lion pub and they started turning people away, asking to come back at 8pm. It was disappointing for some who waited in line all dressed up. The cruise is 100% full and so it's interesting to experience that. 
 

Over the years Cunard added more “Britannia class” and “Britannia Club”cabins on the QM2 thus increasing the number of passengers onboard. Additional space within the Britannia Restaurant on deck 2 was set aside for Britannia Club passengers. These changes have added seating pressure to the restaurant.

On 7/4/2024 at 8:38 PM, Jim_Iain said:

I noticed on my recently applied shareholder credit was split equally between both guest.   I had expected to book a solo excursion but it would only allow me to use 1/2 of it.   I decided--- why bother... so Oceania lost my excursion booking.    I will just let it be applied to our gratuities instead.

This kind of nonsense by O is why we’ve moved on from O.

On 7/1/2024 at 10:35 AM, exlondoner said:

Demand a bookshop…please. 😀

Ditto. We miss Ocean Books, please bring them back.