Getting off for excursions

[oranah]

Cunard obviously don't like you booking excursions with outside companies. We booked a two-day excursion in St. Perersburg with DenRus, who provided an almost identical excursion to that offered by Cunard, but for £100 per person less. On both days we were told that we would be the last people allowed off, which would have pus us over an hour behind schedule.

 

Our little party went to the exit point determined to do battle only to find that we were four of over a hundred people with similar plans. No attempt was made by Queen Victoria staff to prevent us leaving straight away. We had also been told that this arrangement - us getting off last - was at the insistance of the Russian authorities. This, too was a load of tosh. On checking with immigration they didn't care less who got off first.

 

So don't feel obliged to obey the dictates of Cunard. They only want to sell you the excursions themselves, at highly inflated prices.

[balf]

On all the many cruises we have taken on numerous cruise lines, when the gangway is down and the ship cleared by port authorities anyone is free to leave. Probably Cunard did not want the independent tour passengers slowing down the ship tours leaving the ship.

 

You don't say whether this was a tender disembarkation which would be a different case.

 

David.

[oranah]

No tender, just walk on and walk off. And there was no queue from other excursions. We were warned by DenRus that this would happen and to ignor the instructions. The real drawback to going independently, though, is that the ship will not wait for you if you are late back - unlike excursions booked through the ship. But that's the chance you take.

[radiomike]

So don't feel obliged to obey the dictates of Cunard. They only want to sell you the excursions themselves, at highly inflated prices.

 

In many cases DIY is the way to go and save 50% plus over what the cruiseline charges, a group of 4 hiring a taxi with a local English speaking driver is often a good way to go.

As you have just added, if your DIY tour returns late there is no obligation for the ship to wait or for the cruiseline to make arrangements for you to catch up at the next point of call.

For obvious reasons tender ports have to be treated differently and unless you are in Q4 or above there is a ticket system which gives priority to the official tours.

[violetta58]

This doesn't always happen as we were recently on aBaltic tour on th QV and had a 2 day tours booked in St Petersburg with Alla tours.We were off by 8.30 to meet our guide and with the ticket provided by Alla we were through immigration in 5 mins ,not many people seemed to get off that early.Cunard didn't stop us getting off.

Marvellous city and worth a visit

[Cruachan]

On all the many cruises we have taken on numerous cruise lines, when the gangway is down and the ship cleared by port authorities anyone is free to leave. Probably Cunard did not want the independent tour passengers slowing down the ship tours leaving the ship.

 

You don't say whether this was a tender disembarkation which would be a different case.

 

David.

 

In all the ports I've visited with Cunard, whether they involve tendering or whether disembarkation is simply down the brow and onto the quayside, Cunard have always given disembarkation priority to passengers taking Cunard excursions. They normally make a PA announcement once the initial shore excursions have gone telling everyone going ashore under their own arrangements that they can now disembark. I found St P to be just about the busiest port in terms of excursions that I have visited to date - not only that but, because many of the excursions are of a long duration, the initial rush to get excursion passengers off the ship can be extreme. Given that there could be something of the order of 2,000 pax wanting to get off the ship in a relatively short timeframe, I have to say that I do not find this prioritisation at all unreasonable - I can just imagine the volume of complaints if pax who had booked private tours were given priority over those on Cunard tours.

 

J

[balf]

In all the ports I've visited with Cunard, whether they involve tendering or whether disembarkation is simply down the brow and onto the quayside, Cunard have always given disembarkation priority to passengers taking Cunard excursions. They normally make a PA announcement once the initial shore excursions have gone telling everyone going ashore under their own arrangements that they can now disembark. I found St P to be just about the busiest port in terms of excursions that I have visited to date - not only that but, because many of the excursions are of a long duration, the initial rush to get excursion passengers off the ship can be extreme. Given that there could be something of the order of 2,000 pax wanting to get off the ship in a relatively short timeframe, I have to say that I do not find this prioritisation at all unreasonable - I can just imagine the volume of complaints if pax who had booked private tours were given priority over those on Cunard tours.

 

J

 

Of course they never would be. However, we have left the ship early (in St Petersberg)and never had any problem getting off. Tours are always phased anyway and with two check out people there isn't any reason why anyone who wants to can't leave at any time, though there may be a small delay if a tour is disembarking at the time. Basically this was the experience of the OP.

 

David

[Cruachan]

...there isn't any reason why anyone who wants to can't leave at any time, though there may be a small delay if a tour is disembarking at the time...

 

David

 

I didn't say they couldn't. All I'm saying is that Cunard do try to give priority to their own tours and that I don't find that unreasonable.

 

J