Cunard Covid changes

[Yorky67]

Good point Lissie. It would also be reassuring for passengers and crew, if the crew was fully vaccinated. Cunard emphasise rigorous protocols, which seem to be working well, but still don’t state that crew are fully vaccinated.. unless I’ve missed it somewhere. 

Its just another layer of protection and a step in the direction for getting back to international cruising, especially if crew want to go ashore in the USA and Caribbean… just as important for crew as it is for passengers. 

[ace2542]

On 9/12/2021 at 5:06 PM, Harvey2442 said:

As the policy is currently written Cunard seem to be taking bookings for sailings commencing on and after 1st January 2022 where no vaccination is required. Thus if they change the policy to vaccinations being required they may losse some of those already booked and if they don't require vaccinations they will also loose bookings. It will be interesting to see how this plays out when the balance of the fare falls due

I think they are waiting to see what happens with the upcoming booster shots for the over 50s the majority of their client age before committing.

 

They also need to bring the back the afternoon tea in the queens room one of the big reasons people go.

[lissie]

11 hours ago, ace2542 said:

 

They also need to bring the back the afternoon tea in the queens room one of the big reasons people go.

Well if they bring back the Lido then the same  items as the afternoon tea are available there - minus the queueing to sit around in the Queens Room. Once we discovered that we didn't bother with the queens room again 

[bbtablet]

On 9/11/2021 at 4:13 PM, bbtablet said:

We are on the Jan 14th 2022 Southampton to the Caribbean on QM2 and have asked for (and expect to get, as we booked within 5 minutes of the booking opening) a table for two in first sitting.

 

I think I have read that one of the changes to the old pre-COVID routines is that your reserved table in Brittania is reserved for all meals now, including breakfast and lunch, as opposed to the old system of being herded into the next available spaces by the waiters at these times.

 

Can anyone confirm this please? It sounds like a very sensible COVID move as otherwise there would be a lot of mixing of people every day who of course will not be masked during the meals.

Thanks to those who have replied to this.

I have now found where I had read it. It is on the page about the Queen Mary 2 (cruise-ships/queen-mary-2) at cunard.com:

Main dining.

• PriceIncluded

Your table is reserved for breakfast, lunch and dinner in one of the sophisticated main restaurants aboard.

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, bbtablet said:

Thanks to those who have replied to this.

I have now found where I had read it. It is on the page about the Queen Mary 2 (cruise-ships/queen-mary-2) at cunard.com:

Main dining.

• PriceIncluded

Your table is reserved for breakfast, lunch and dinner in one of the sophisticated main restaurants aboard.

 

Oh yes, I'm afraid that unfortunate wording on the Cunard website predates the pause in operations. This thread from June 2019 discusses that misleading verbiage found on the Cunard website.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2668134-dining-assignments-on-world-cruise/

[bbtablet]

Many thanks for that, bluemarble.

[Underwatr]

Apologies for what probably constitutes a cross-post, but what's the current situation with Britannia dining? Specifically,

• Is Cunard still seating larger tables in Britannia with unrelated traveling groups (if requested)? I'm interested in dinner table assignments as well as breakfast & lunch. 
• Is second seating still being given over to anytime dining? Assuming two seatings of traditional dining we requested a larger table in second seating as recently as August and nothing was mentioned to indicate that a new dining concept was being introduced.

Lots of changes afoot in access to Caribbean ports (in a bad way) so I'm trying to determine how much the onboard experience has changed before final payment comes due in November.

[rrunner]

On 10/24/2021 at 4:12 PM, Underwatr said:

Apologies for what probably constitutes a cross-post, but what's the current situation with Britannia dining? Specifically,

• Is Cunard still seating larger tables in Britannia with unrelated traveling groups (if requested)? I'm interested in dinner table assignments as well as breakfast & lunch. 
• Is second seating still being given over to anytime dining? Assuming two seatings of traditional dining we requested a larger table in second seating as recently as August and nothing was mentioned to indicate that a new dining concept was being introduced.

Lots of changes afoot in access to Caribbean ports (in a bad way) so I'm trying to determine how much the onboard experience has changed before final payment comes due in November.

We are on this cruise also.      Can you explain the "bad" changes to the Caribbean ports.    I have booked a couple of excursions.  Did not notice anything different   -     there appears to be plenty to choose from.     I don't remember having assigned tables for breakfast or lunch in Britannia in the past. Is this something new due to Covid?        

[Underwatr]

21 hours ago, rrunner said:

We are on this cruise also.      Can you explain the "bad" changes to the Caribbean ports.    I have booked a couple of excursions.  Did not notice anything different   -     there appears to be plenty to choose from.     I don't remember having assigned tables for breakfast or lunch in Britannia in the past. Is this something new due to Covid?        

 

With the exception of Tortola and St Maarten, you will not be permitted off the ship unless you've booked a ship's excursion (and you won't be allowed to explore independently even with an excursion).

In Tortola you can tour independently but you'll need to test negative on an Antigen test (purchased onboard for $25) to get off the ship.
In Barbados, you will be required to test negative on a PCR Covid test ($35) to get off the ship, and again only getting off the ship if you're going on an excursion.

In Dominica and St. Kitts you do not need to be tested but you must be on a ship's excursion.
No restrictions on getting off the ship in St. Maarten, neither a COVID test nor a booked excursion is required.

 

Port requirements are compiled in this Cunard document. I'm not faulting the line for this policy, it's just how it is. Many of the Caribbean islands have very low levels of vaccination among their residents, and it's really more for their protection not to allow daytrippers free access to the islands.

 

I don't expect assigned tables at breakfast & lunch, but usually I request to share a table with someone when I have breakfast or lunch in the Britannia dining room. I don't believe they will be doing this in December due to distancing policies, particularly now that the US CDC has extended the conditional sailing rules into January. Since the trip boards passengers in New York, the CDC restrictions will apply at a minimum.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Underwatr

[57eric]

16 hours ago, Underwatr said:

 

With the exception of Tortola and St Maarten, you will not be permitted off the ship unless you've booked a ship's excursion (and you won't be allowed to explore independently even with an excursion).

In Tortola you can tour independently but you'll need to test negative on an Antigen test (purchased onboard for $25) to get off the ship.
In Barbados, you will be required to test negative on a PCR Covid test ($35) to get off the ship, and again only getting off the ship if you're going on an excursion.

In Dominica and St. Kitts you do not need to be tested but you must be on a ship's excursion.
No restrictions on getting off the ship in St. Maarten, neither a COVID test nor a booked excursion is required.

 

Port requirements are compiled in this Cunard document. I'm not faulting the line for this policy, it's just how it is. Many of the Caribbean islands have very low levels of vaccination among their residents, and it's really more for their protection not to allow daytrippers free access to the islands.

 

I don't expect assigned tables at breakfast & lunch, but usually I request to share a table with someone when I have breakfast or lunch in the Britannia dining room. I don't believe they will be doing this in December due to distancing policies, particularly now that the US CDC has extended the conditional sailing rules into January. Since the trip boards passengers in New York, the CDC restrictions will apply at a minimum.

Great info, but does anyone have a link to a site that's more comprehensive and more timely?  This affects all cruise lines, and I've go to believe someone is keeping track.

[Underwatr]

21 hours ago, 57eric said:

Great info, but does anyone have a link to a site that's more comprehensive and more timely?  This affects all cruise lines, and I've go to believe someone is keeping track.

Consolidated in one source? The closest I've seen is the Cunard doc, which only addresses their upcoming ports of call.  Each island/country has its own information on a fairly easy to google web page but I haven't seen a pan-regional summary. Recommendations about whether a vaccinated or unvaccinated person should visit a given place is another story.