Cruise cancellation QM2

[lemon tree]

We  were due to sail on the New England cruise in July followed by the crossing back to UK. Today we had the following e mail from Cunard:-

 

We are contacting your regarding your upcoming voyage on board Queen Mary 2 as we have an important update that affects your holiday. Due to our framework of protocols to protect the health and wellbeing of all crew and guests we are currently operating at a reduced guest capacity and we need to take an approved number of staterooms out of service. As a result, we need to move some guests into an alternative stateroom from the one initially confirmed. Unfortunately there are no available staterooms remaining for this voyage, meaning the holiday you had booked will not be able to go ahead as planned. We are so sorry for the disappointment that this will cause.

 

After a long telephone conversation with a Cunard rep, she confirmed that staterooms are being used for Covid isolation and as we need an accessible room, there is nothing available for us. We explained that we had booked this cruise to meet up with friends who were joining us for the New England segment, said that we had booked our hotel in New York prior to the cruise, had a concert booked in New York that we would miss, all to no avail. We had already been cancelled and our refund was being processed. 

 

We are Diamond members, we have cruised exclusively with Cunard since our first cruise in 2008 and recommended the cruiseline to friends and relatives. We have always defended Cunard when people have said standards are slipping, and remained loyal to them. That is now at an end. We have completely lost confidence in booking a cruise, how can we ever book again, knowing that it could be cancelled at any time. Of course we understand about covid but surely they must have known which staterooms would be needed to be shut off when we paid our final balance. 

 

My husband has MS, he has to use a mobility scooter as he can no longer walk. We understand that we need an accessible room, we book it well in advance and we know we will never get an upgrade. We know that most of the excursions are inaccessible to us and we may have difficulty even getting ashore at some ports but I think this is now the final straw and regretfully concede that our cruising days may be over.

 

I feel very strongly that people with disabilities are discriminated against and I am completely disillusioned with Cunard. 

 

 

[lissie]

Unfortunately loyalty is a one-way thing with large companies - including Cunard.  Iagree that it sounds like you're paying the price for poor planning on their part. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, lemon tree said:

We  were due to sail on the New England cruise in July followed by the crossing back to UK. Today we had the following e mail from Cunard:-

 

We are contacting your regarding your upcoming voyage on board Queen Mary 2 as we have an important update that affects your holiday. Due to our framework of protocols to protect the health and wellbeing of all crew and guests we are currently operating at a reduced guest capacity and we need to take an approved number of staterooms out of service. As a result, we need to move some guests into an alternative stateroom from the one initially confirmed. Unfortunately there are no available staterooms remaining for this voyage, meaning the holiday you had booked will not be able to go ahead as planned. We are so sorry for the disappointment that this will cause.

 

After a long telephone conversation with a Cunard rep, she confirmed that staterooms are being used for Covid isolation and as we need an accessible room, there is nothing available for us. We explained that we had booked this cruise to meet up with friends who were joining us for the New England segment, said that we had booked our hotel in New York prior to the cruise, had a concert booked in New York that we would miss, all to no avail. We had already been cancelled and our refund was being processed. 

 

We are Diamond members, we have cruised exclusively with Cunard since our first cruise in 2008 and recommended the cruiseline to friends and relatives. We have always defended Cunard when people have said standards are slipping, and remained loyal to them. That is now at an end. We have completely lost confidence in booking a cruise, how can we ever book again, knowing that it could be cancelled at any time. Of course we understand about covid but surely they must have known which staterooms would be needed to be shut off when we paid our final balance. 

 

My husband has MS, he has to use a mobility scooter as he can no longer walk. We understand that we need an accessible room, we book it well in advance and we know we will never get an upgrade. We know that most of the excursions are inaccessible to us and we may have difficulty even getting ashore at some ports but I think this is now the final straw and regretfully concede that our cruising days may be over.

 

I feel very strongly that people with disabilities are discriminated against and I am completely disillusioned with Cunard. 

 

 

 

That's terrible! So is this because there are no accessible rooms in the block that are being held for isolation? (In which case, they would have to cancel all accessible bookings?) Or is the one you booked in that block and they need it empty just in case? 

 

Very poor planning on Cunard's part.

 

 

[bluemarble]

That must be devastating for you, @lemon tree. I can't truly appreciate what it must mean to have all your plans go up in smoke like this.

 

If you don't mind me asking, did you have one of the accessible cabins forward on decks 4, 5 or 6?

 

We had a report here Sunday from one of our members on the July 1st QM2 voyage that they had just been moved from a forward cabin on deck 6 to an aft cabin even though they had requested "do not upgrade". Further investigation through their travel agent revealed Cunard had just removed all the forward cabins on decks 4, 5 and 6 from inventory on the July 1st QM2 voyage. The theory was that Cunard was now reserving all those cabins for possible COVID quarantine use. This sounds like what might have happened to your booking if you had a forward cabin on one of those decks.

 

I know that doesn't help alleviate any of your frustration, but perhaps it does provide some additional context for what might have been going on. This may not have been something Cunard was certain they were going to need to do until quite recently. Whether they should have known they were going to need to do this is another matter entirely.

[8611202]

I really feel for you. I am also at the end of my tether with Cunard for various reasons relating to my need for an accessible cabin. One reason being that last year, we and our travel agent spent many days attempting to book accessible cabins, to then find out, that 'owing to Covid', Cunard had removed all from sale and not bothered to update the website to inform affected customers of this. The majority of crew onboard are exemplary, but I have experienced too many occasions now when I have been treated dreadfully, including being told (not asked if I could) by the maitre d that I would need to get out of my wheelchair to sit at my reserved QG table - if only I could. And many other examples. 

We tried Celebrity last year and found them very good with ships easy to navigate. I will probably cash in all my Cunard FCC and FCD in the next few months as the uncertainty with Cunard is too much to bear when we should be able to look forward to holidays without Cunard  cancelling them for reasons that are completely in their control.

[moses0]

14 hours ago, lemon tree said:

We  were due to sail on the New England cruise in July followed by the crossing back to UK. Today we had the following e mail from Cunard:-

 

We are contacting your regarding your upcoming voyage on board Queen Mary 2 as we have an important update that affects your holiday. Due to our framework of protocols to protect the health and wellbeing of all crew and guests we are currently operating at a reduced guest capacity and we need to take an approved number of staterooms out of service. As a result, we need to move some guests into an alternative stateroom from the one initially confirmed. Unfortunately there are no available staterooms remaining for this voyage, meaning the holiday you had booked will not be able to go ahead as planned. We are so sorry for the disappointment that this will cause.

 

After a long telephone conversation with a Cunard rep, she confirmed that staterooms are being used for Covid isolation and as we need an accessible room, there is nothing available for us. We explained that we had booked this cruise to meet up with friends who were joining us for the New England segment, said that we had booked our hotel in New York prior to the cruise, had a concert booked in New York that we would miss, all to no avail. We had already been cancelled and our refund was being processed. 

 

We are Diamond members, we have cruised exclusively with Cunard since our first cruise in 2008 and recommended the cruiseline to friends and relatives. We have always defended Cunard when people have said standards are slipping, and remained loyal to them. That is now at an end. We have completely lost confidence in booking a cruise, how can we ever book again, knowing that it could be cancelled at any time. Of course we understand about covid but surely they must have known which staterooms would be needed to be shut off when we paid our final balance. 

 

My husband has MS, he has to use a mobility scooter as he can no longer walk. We understand that we need an accessible room, we book it well in advance and we know we will never get an upgrade. We know that most of the excursions are inaccessible to us and we may have difficulty even getting ashore at some ports but I think this is now the final straw and regretfully concede that our cruising days may be over.

 

I feel very strongly that people with disabilities are discriminated against and I am completely disillusioned with Cunard. 

 

 

That is terrible. So sorry you have been treated in such a way. We have so enjoyed Cunard in the past. Not so much last time.  We found the people on the pursers desk abrupt and even rude for the most part. Don't want to bore anyone with all the details but I think the Covid situation has become somewhat over whelming for them.  That was our impression last trip. As others have noted there is a terrible lack of communication. We are due to cruise from New York July 8th. If we were offered a refund I would seriously consider cancelling our cruise. 

[paulco]

Just had my three night SF to Vancouver canceled. Same blah blah. Full refund and a 25 percent FCC til end of 24. I was using her for transpo to get to my Carnival Alaska cruise!  Would have been first time on QE and first time as platinum. Oh well!  I’ll use it on the Mary my fave!

[Megabear2]

I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you.  This is an exact mirror of how P&O handled the situation earlier this year.  At that point it was indicated the requirements for Covid quarantine are left to the very last minute to try not to cause too much upheaval.  It is a mute point whether this is actually what occurs as of course last minute cancellation is very distressing.  With P&O there were guests downgraded from suites to much lower cabins, hopefully Cunard will not start playing that game.

[lemon tree]

21 hours ago, bluemarble said:

That must be devastating for you, @lemon tree. I can't truly appreciate what it must mean to have all your plans go up in smoke like this.

 

If you don't mind me asking, did you have one of the accessible cabins forward on decks 4, 5 or 6?

 

We had a report here Sunday from one of our members on the July 1st QM2 voyage that they had just been moved from a forward cabin on deck 6 to an aft cabin even though they had requested "do not upgrade". Further investigation through their travel agent revealed Cunard had just removed all the forward cabins on decks 4, 5 and 6 from inventory on the July 1st QM2 voyage. The theory was that Cunard was now reserving all those cabins for possible COVID quarantine use. This sounds like what might have happened to your booking if you had a forward cabin on one of those decks.

 

I know that doesn't help alleviate any of your frustration, but perhaps it does provide some additional context for what might have been going on. This may not have been something Cunard was certain they were going to need to do until quite recently. Whether they should have known they were going to need to do this is another matter entirely.

That's interesting and I would agree with that theory. We were booked into 5057 so that fits. I have e mailed Cunard so I'll see if I get any response. 

[Covepointcruiser]

I wonder if you said to Cunard that you would be happy to keep your accessible stateroom even if it was in the middle of COVID quarantine cabins.    Those testing positive for COVID in accessible cabins can just stay in their original cabins.    Their travel companions will have to be content to remain in the cabin and be exposed to COVID.   

[BLFinn]

Lemon tree,

We were moved to isolation in 5059 the last night of our QM2 Caribbean for the last 12 hours of our trip due to positive test. So that may indeed answer why you were cancelled as 5057 was right next door.  So sorry for that.  It sucks.

I can tell you, we saw the deck plan of deck 5’s isolation area and it consists of 90 staterooms.  Deck 4 and 6 had similar areas. Some for confirmed positive tests and some for close contacts. There are also isolation suites on the upper decks. These areas have fire doors closed with no access and when you go to isolation, you don’t have a stateroom key.  You must stay in your room.

 

Completely my own speculation, but I suspect Cunard was hoping to be able to open up more of the ship and can’t now due to the need for those isolation rooms because of continuing numbers of cases.  I think they’re doing what they can.  

[LibertyBella]

I am on the New England cruise in July and I am sorry you will miss it.  Did Cunard cancel both of your cruises? I am guessing you would not wish to fly internationally to pick up the U.S. component, which could still be an option.

 

Unfortunately, I do not think the cruise lines were necessarily expecting the ongoing covid infection rates and the high need for isolation rooms when they created all these itineraries.  Naturally they would prefer paying customers, but they also do not want to have the ships denied entry if they do not take every precaution.

 

Cruising is still a somewhat precarious endeavor to undertake, due to ongoing cancellations, itinerary changes, infection rates, etc., etc.  The Cunard line is one of the few that offers the regular transatlantic crossings, and I am not sure if that would make it  more difficult to deal with Covid issues/severe illnesses, as the only medical services offered would be what is available on the ship.

 

I certainly understand the additional challenges of physical limitations, as my mother is in a similar position. Perhaps this is a silver lining in the gray cloud--plan a cruise or tour that has a more local itinerary, and then consider international cruising in the future when things are more normal.  At least, that is what I have been doing--I have pets at home and I cannot risk a quarantine in a foreign country, so these past two years I have been traveling domestically only.

 

Best wishes for future travel adventures!

[ak1004]

This is unfortunate and unacceptable, but I'm not sure what is has to do with loyalty. Cunard like any other cruise line is running a business. The ONLY thing that matters to them is their bottom line. They would do the same to any passenger, no matter how many cruises they did with them and how much they defended them. Trust me, they couldn't care less.

 

The only ones you should be loyal to are your family and friends. Everyone else should be treated based on your best interests. Unfortunately people learn it the hard way.

 

Personally I could never understand people who cruise on one line only, but that's a different topic.

[Victoria2]

57 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

This is unfortunate and unacceptable, but I'm not sure what is has to do with loyalty. Cunard like any other cruise line is running a business. The ONLY thing that matters to them is their bottom line. They would do the same to any passenger, no matter how many cruises they did with them and how much they defended them. Trust me, they couldn't care less.

 

The only ones you should be loyal to are your family and friends. Everyone else should be treated based on your best interests. Unfortunately people learn it the hard way.

 

Personally I could never understand people who cruise on one line only, but that's a different topic.

We cruise with one line, Cunard, as the product suits in every way.

 

We have had countless cruises cancelled, two of them the cruise just before the ships go back to their schedules [last August Seacation and this May Round Britain] so, so near and yet so far but have built up quite a war chest of FCC. We are philosophical about any changes to our schedules and understand how precarious life is for travel companies in these unprecedented times.

 

We go with the flow, don't book anything which which can't be incorporated into a Cunard booking and thus be protected under their T&Cs and be happy if  our holidays come to fruition.

 

[lemon tree]

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

We cruise with one line, Cunard, as the product suits in every way.

 

We have had countless cruises cancelled, two of them the cruise just before the ships go back to their schedules [last August Seacation and this May Round Britain] so, so near and yet so far but have built up quite a war chest of FCC. We are philosophical about any changes to our schedules and understand how precarious life is for travel companies in these unprecedented times.

 

We go with the flow, don't book anything which which can't be incorporated into a Cunard booking and thus be protected under their T&Cs and be happy if  our holidays come to fruition.

 

We too have saved and used our FCC from covid cancelled cruises but this seems different to us. The actual cruise hasn't been cancelled, just us. I am more upset for our friends who will still be cruising but obviously it won't be the same experience without us. Unless things change, we won't be booking another cruise. 

[lemon tree]

6 hours ago, LibertyBella said:

I am on the New England cruise in July and I am sorry you will miss it.  Did Cunard cancel both of your cruises? I am guessing you would not wish to fly internationally to pick up the U.S. component, which could still be an option.

 

Unfortunately, I do not think the cruise lines were necessarily expecting the ongoing covid infection rates and the high need for isolation rooms when they created all these itineraries.  Naturally they would prefer paying customers, but they also do not want to have the ships denied entry if they do not take every precaution.

 

Cruising is still a somewhat precarious endeavor to undertake, due to ongoing cancellations, itinerary changes, infection rates, etc., etc.  The Cunard line is one of the few that offers the regular transatlantic crossings, and I am not sure if that would make it  more difficult to deal with Covid issues/severe illnesses, as the only medical services offered would be what is available on the ship.

 

I certainly understand the additional challenges of physical limitations, as my mother is in a similar position. Perhaps this is a silver lining in the gray cloud--plan a cruise or tour that has a more local itinerary, and then consider international cruising in the future when things are more normal.  At least, that is what I have been doing--I have pets at home and I cannot risk a quarantine in a foreign country, so these past two years I have been traveling domestically only.

 

Best wishes for future travel adventures!

We weren't given any options at all, no discussion with us, just the e mail as above. When we phoned and spoke to Cunard the cruise and our flight to NY had already been cancelled. I understand the issues around Covid and cruising but I really think it could have been handled better. 

 

We will definitely not be booking any more cruises at the moment but we have now rebooked a flight to New York so at least we can see our friends before they go off on the cruise! 

 

Thanks 

[lemon tree]

7 hours ago, BLFinn said:

Lemon tree,

We were moved to isolation in 5059 the last night of our QM2 Caribbean for the last 12 hours of our trip due to positive test. So that may indeed answer why you were cancelled as 5057 was right next door.  So sorry for that.  It sucks.

I can tell you, we saw the deck plan of deck 5’s isolation area and it consists of 90 staterooms.  Deck 4 and 6 had similar areas. Some for confirmed positive tests and some for close contacts. There are also isolation suites on the upper decks. These areas have fire doors closed with no access and when you go to isolation, you don’t have a stateroom key.  You must stay in your room.

 

Completely my own speculation, but I suspect Cunard was hoping to be able to open up more of the ship and can’t now due to the need for those isolation rooms because of continuing numbers of cases.  I think they’re doing what they can.  

This sounds awful if you have to be quarantined. Thanks for the info, it does shed some light on the situation for us but would be nice if Cunard themselves were a bit more open about it. 

[Victoria2]

16 minutes ago, lemon tree said:

We too have saved and used our FCC from covid cancelled cruises but this seems different to us. The actual cruise hasn't been cancelled, just us. I am more upset for our friends who will still be cruising but obviously it won't be the same experience without us. Unless things change, we won't be booking another cruise. 

You're right, it is  different but it's a slant  on an ongoing problem. Cunard can never be certain how many cabins to have in reserve and you, unfortunately, have fallen foul of their Covid precautions along with many others. We haven't. Yet.

 

 We had, and still have,  no faith in this ''situation'' being resolved any time soon but still wanted to be aboard a Cunard ship, hence our decision to cruise from Southampton and forgo anything long haul over the next near two years.

 

I hope you manage to have a decent break and meet up with your friends and maybe book another Cunard cruise one day when/if you feel confident to do so.

 

[lemon tree]

19 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

You're right, it is  different but it's a slant  on an ongoing problem. Cunard can never be certain how many cabins to have in reserve and you, unfortunately, have fallen foul of their Covid precautions along with many others. We haven't. Yet.

 

 We had, and still have,  no faith in this ''situation'' being resolved any time soon but still wanted to be aboard a Cunard ship, hence our decision to cruise from Southampton and forgo anything long haul over the next near two years.

 

I hope you manage to have a decent break and meet up with your friends and maybe book another Cunard cruise one day when/if you feel confident to do so.

 

 

21 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

You're right, it is  different but it's a slant  on an ongoing problem. Cunard can never be certain how many cabins to have in reserve and you, unfortunately, have fallen foul of their Covid precautions along with many others. We haven't. Yet.

 

 We had, and still have,  no faith in this ''situation'' being resolved any time soon but still wanted to be aboard a Cunard ship, hence our decision to cruise from Southampton and forgo anything long haul over the next near two years.

 

I hope you manage to have a decent break and meet up with your friends and maybe book another Cunard cruise one day when/if you feel confident to do so.

 

Thanks, that has made me wonder if this situation would occur on European cruises as it may just be due to USA regulations. 

 

There may be hope yet! 

 

 

[Victoria2]

1 minute ago, lemon tree said:

 

Thanks, that has made me wonder if this situation would occur on European cruises as it may just be due to USA regulations. 

 

There may be hope yet! 

 

 

I assume, reading another thread about QV, all schedules are vulnerable to passengers being bumped off their itineraries if space is needed for Covid cabins. 

 

 

[frankp01]

On 5/10/2022 at 9:18 PM, bluemarble said:

Cunard had just removed all the forward cabins on decks 4, 5 and 6 from inventory on the July 1st QM2 voyage.

That's consistent with our experience in December. The entire range of cabins on decks 4, 5 & 6 between stairways A and B were closed off with fire doors. 

[ak1004]

8 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

We cruise with one line, Cunard, as the product suits in every way.

 

 

 

We sailed on 10 different lines.. We believe in variety, not loyalty. Each line has something unique to offer. Change is good. We have friends who have sailed exclusively on Celebrity.. after 20+ cruises they got one free drink per day and 30% discount on the Internet. But now drinks and Internet are included in price for everyone.. 

 

Cunard is nice, but the itineraries are limited. Every line has itineraries that are unique to that line. There is a whole new world out there.

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

We sailed on 10 different lines.. We believe in variety, not loyalty. Each line has something unique to offer. Change is good. We have friends who have sailed exclusively on Celebrity.. after 20+ cruises they got one free drink per day and 30% discount on the Internet. But now drinks and Internet are included in price for everyone.. 

 

Cunard is nice, but the itineraries are limited. Every line has itineraries that are unique to that line. There is a whole new world out there.

I can only muster four lines. You're right, there is a whole world out there, new and old and we have seen a heck of a lot of it over the years, more than most.

We are considered loyal Cunard clients [Cunard think we are so we must be] and we always choose QE or QV but there is more to  Cunard for us than the odd  drinks occasion and  Diamond World Club benefits which to be honest, apart from the internet allowance and the occasional pop up meal with friends, we don't use.

 

Change might be good for some but we thoroughly enjoy what we're used to so no need to change. 🙂

 

 

 

 

[shippmates]

I have sailed on many different cruise lines and have cruises cancelled on them due to the covid shutdown.  It really did not make any difference in our loyalty level as they were still cancelled.

 

[57eric]

17 minutes ago, shippmates said:

I have sailed on many different cruise lines and have cruises cancelled on them due to the covid shutdown.  It really did not make any difference in our loyalty level as they were still cancelled.

 

There's a substantial difference between having a cruise cancelled and being kicked off one that wasn't, as has happened to the OP.