QE February 13th itinerary change

[Selkie74]

Our original itinerary was to have given us an 0900 arrival in Lisbon, the remainder of that day in port, overnight, and departing at 1700 the following day. We’ve had a message from Cunard telling us that our arrival in Lisbon is now put back to 1700. Which is fine, these things happen. But my question is, what happens during the hours we should have been in Lisbon? Does the ship just steam very, very slowly from Vigo? 
And do Cunard give passengers any recompense for a change like this? I’m not thinking financially, more on the lines of a free glass of wine! 

[Ray66]

33 minutes ago, Selkie74 said:

And do Cunard give passengers any recompense for a change like this? I’m not thinking financially, more on the lines of a free glass of wine! 

 

Short answer is No. I've done 20 cruises with Cunard and I reckon at least half of those have had a change of itinerary. The only time we got compensation is on the QE 4 day "cruise to nowhere" in December 2014. We should have gone to Amsterdam but it was too windy and we ended up going nowhere.

[bluemarble]

43 minutes ago, Selkie74 said:

Our original itinerary was to have given us an 0900 arrival in Lisbon, the remainder of that day in port, overnight, and departing at 1700 the following day. We’ve had a message from Cunard telling us that our arrival in Lisbon is now put back to 1700. Which is fine, these things happen. But my question is, what happens during the hours we should have been in Lisbon? Does the ship just steam very, very slowly from Vigo?

 

There seem to be quite a few itinerary changes involving Lisbon lately.

 

QM2 called at Lisbon on 17 Jan instead of Funchal on 18 Jan because of the weather forecast for Madeira.

 

On QE's 18-30 Jan cruise, the call to Lisbon was moved from the first port of call on 21 Jan to the last port of call on 27 Jan.

 

I've just learned that QE's planned call to Lisbon on 3 Mar has been canceled. Instead of doing Cadiz/Lisbon, that itinerary will be doing Gibraltar/Cadiz on 2-3 Mar.

 

For this change delaying your arrival until 1700, I would indeed expect QE to simply slow down. The port of Lisbon website is still showing your arrival the morning of 16 Feb (at 0700). To make that original schedule, after departing Vigo on 15 Feb at 1700, I figure QE would have sailed an average speed of about 17-18 knots. For the new schedule, she will only need to sail an average speed of about 10-11 knots.

[barriedavis]

I was on the QE18-30 Jan cruise.  I think the Lisbon changes may be in part due to the Portugese requirements for Covid testing for those going ashore.  With Lisbon as the first port of call, there was speculation that very few were going ashore as a positive Covid test at the start of the cruise would lead to offloading.  That meant that the number of excursions being sold etc. would not have sunstantiated the mooring fees.  With Lisbon being changed to the last port, there was more likelihood of more people wanting to go ashore and more cash for Cunard.

[Stu UK]

P&O also now cancelling Lisbon and substituted Gibraltar. 

[kinshasa]

on our port call to Lisbon 4 days ago on QE only Canadian and American passport holders required testing, none needed for UK or EU passports.

 

Not sure why this was the case.  No one even looked at the printed results when we walked off the ship for the visit

[Matelot70]

3 hours ago, kinshasa said:

on our port call to Lisbon 4 days ago on QE only Canadian and American passport holders required testing, none needed for UK or EU passports.

 

Not sure why this was the case.  No one even looked at the printed results when we walked off the ship for the visit

Portugal dropped the need for UK citizens to have a test last week so that is why that was the case. We went to Lisbon twice during the restrictions and on neither occasion was the Carnival certificate inspected. However  the test was linked to our boarding card so I assume if we tried to disembark it would flag in a similar way to norovirus used to if a test was not recorded. I guess the port authorities were satisfied with Cunard security.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Matelot70

[ovccruiser]

Does seem strange, we are booked on the cruise to the Canaries due to sail on 20th February and we have had Lisbon cancelled and are now going to Gibraltar instead.

[RJChatsworth]

Just been talking to friends who were on QE which arrived back on Sunday from the Canaries.  They went to Lisbon and had to fill in a Portuguese PLF to disembark, but no LFT. They stayed on the ship.  There was no similar form filling or any tests at any other port including Portuguese Madeira.

 

On the P&O CC site there is a suggestion that there is an insurance problem visiting Lisbon.  If I’ve got it right, if you go down with COVID on the ship the Lisbon authorities insist you disembark even though Cunard is happy for you to stay onboard.  If Cunard put you off you are covered by insurance but you are not covered if the Lisbon authorities demand that you disembark.

[bluemarble]

I posted about this on the "Queen Elizabeth Position" thread, but it's probably worth posting here as well.

 

QE is skipping Vigo today. She got a late start out of Southampton Sunday evening because of the weather. As a result her scheduled arrival time at Vigo today (as reported by AIS) had been adjusted to 13:15. But now it's well past that time and she is sailing past Vigo.

 

I wonder if QE will now be arriving at Lisbon tomorrow closer to her originally scheduled time of 0900 rather than the altered time of 1700. She is currently sailing at close to 18 knots which ought to get her to Lisbon tomorrow morning.

[bluemarble]

QE has arrived at Lisbon this morning, alongside at approximately 7:45am. I suppose they are making up for the missed day at Vigo yesterday by reinstating two full days at Lisbon to the schedule instead of cutting the first day short.

[white_bear]

We are on QE. Lisbon today, but we leave at 4pm, heading for Vigo tomorrow.

Anyone's guess what impact the storms forecast for the weekend will have!

[bluemarble]

I see QE ended up spending about a day and a half at Vigo. Looks like she departed around 1:00pm today. Here's hoping everything goes well for an on-time arrival back in Southampton Sunday morning.