QE cancellations

[elmsliebev]

It seems as well as QV and QM2, on some of the shorter legs on QE to Alaska some passengers have had their bookings cancelled. We are booked on her from 11th July so watching this with interest!

Someone currently on board is reporting as follows "I've just been to reception and was told anyone booking in segments are being cancelled, a whole trip is not.  

 

 

[2Oldpeopleinlove]

I don’t understand this. Is a round trip Vancouver-Vancouver a complete trip or a shorter leg of a longer trip?

[bluemarble]

46 minutes ago, 2Oldpeopleinlove said:

I don’t understand this. Is a round trip Vancouver-Vancouver a complete trip or a shorter leg of a longer trip?

 

I think this mention of segments mostly has to do with those who booked QE's first Alaska voyage as part of a longer cruise from Southampton, Fort Lauderdale, San Francisco or Los Angeles. If you booked the entire voyage (including the Alaska portion) under a single booking reference number, it sounds like you are safe. If you booked that first Alaska cruise from Vancouver under a separate booking reference from the first portion of the cruise to Vancouver, it sounds like you could be vulnerable to have that second Alaska cruise booking canceled.

 

I read elsewhere that this is what happened to a guest who had booked Fort Lauderdale-Vancouver (14 May-4 Jun) and Vancouver-Vancouver (4 Jun-14 Jun) under separate bookings. His first Fort Lauderdale-Vancouver cruise is still a go but he has been informed that his separate booking for the subsequent Vancouver-Vancouver cruise has been canceled.

Edited May 11, 2022 by bluemarble

[sfo-john]

Yes, we had our San Francisco to Vancouver 4 day segment for June 1st canceled this morning, which we had purchased using FCC from a previous crossing that had been canceled in Nov. 2021.  Oh well, third time a charm?  I won't try another booking till 2023 at this point.  The COVID numbers are so unstable and I'm tired of the cancelations. At least we live in San Francisco, so we can fly up to Vancouver easily enough and add a night or two to our hotel reservations in Vancouver.  Not what we were planning but could be worse.

[2Oldpeopleinlove]

Thank you. But we are booked for Vancouver-Vancouver only. We stand to lose some very expensive plane tickets and hotel reservations if we are thrown off. 

[Alslc]

4 minutes ago, sfo-john said:

Yes, we had our San Francisco to Vancouver 4 day segment for June 1st canceled this morning, which we had purchased using FCC from a previous crossing that had been canceled in Nov. 2021.  Oh well, third time a charm?  I won't try another booking till 2023 at this point.  The COVID numbers are so unstable and I'm tired of the cancelations. At least we live in San Francisco, so we can fly up to Vancouver easily enough and add a night or two to our hotel reservations in Vancouver.  Not what we were planning but could be worse.

What grade were you booked on, if I may ask ?

[sfo-john]

8 minutes ago, Alslc said:

What grade were you booked on, if I may ask ?

Brittania Balcony.  

[TBfrPH]

Does anyone have experience with being on a wait list?  What is the realistic chance of actually getting offered to sail, or is the wait list just a tactic to make cancelled people feel better for the moment?

 

(I posted a similar question on the Cunard Roll Call.  So thank you if you've already answered there.)

Edited May 12, 2022 by TBfrPH

[david,Mississauga]

Last week for no particular reason I was checking availability on our booked cruise (14 to 24 June) and a few other Alaska cruises. There was ample accommodation available on every voyage I checked. For our cruise there were about seven in each of the Grills and a considerable number of Britannia Balcony staterooms.

 

From what I have read the quarantine areas have either been far forward or aft to make it easier to isolate them.  It should be possible for Cunard to re-assign most passengers when there are plenty of unsold rooms.  It makes sense that as of last Friday all Alaska cruises for this year were marked as sold out. Perhaps when this is sorted the remaining accommodations, if any, will be put back on sale.

 

We don't travel in the the Grills very often but I am glad we booked PG for this cruise. With all PG staterooms being midships I think this area is unlikely to be turned into a quarantine zone. But I will never say never.

[3rdGenCunarder]

9 hours ago, TBfrPH said:

Does anyone have experience with being on a wait list?  What is the realistic chance of actually getting offered to sail, or is the wait list just a tactic to make cancelled people feel better for the moment?

 

(I posted a similar question on the Cunard Roll Call.  So thank you if you've already answered there.)

 

I've never been on a waitlist, but I've seen comments here that they don't always follow it. So keep calling.

 

3 minutes ago, david,Mississauga said:

Last week for no particular reason I was checking availability on our booked cruise (14 to 24 June) and a few other Alaska cruises. There was ample accommodation available on every voyage I checked. For our cruise there were about seven in each of the Grills and a considerable number of Britannia Balcony staterooms.

 

From what I have read the quarantine areas have either been far forward or aft to make it easier to isolate them.  It should be possible for Cunard to re-assign most passengers when there are plenty of unsold rooms.  It makes sense that as of last Friday all Alaska cruises for this year were marked as sold out. Perhaps when this is sorted the remaining accommodations, if any, will be put back on sale.

 

We don't travel in the the Grills very often but I am glad we booked PG for this cruise. With all PG staterooms being midships I think this area is unlikely to be turned into a quarantine zone. But I will never say never.

 

Like you, I don't travel in the Grills often, but I had the same thought about the PG staterooms being midships. Glad I upgraded. 

 

If they are shifting passengers around, it will take a few days for them to contact people, wait to see who accepts the move and who doesn't. It will be interesting to see what  happens after that. It's hard to know what availability is like, as the cabin search function on the website is terrible. It shows 10 cabins at most, so you never know what's really available.

 

 

 

 

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

... It's hard to know what availability is like, as the cabin search function on the website is terrible. It shows 10 cabins at most, so you never know what's really available.

 

Imagine my surprise a few days ago when I noticed the Cunard US website is now showing availability for more than 10 cabins in any requested combination of cabin type, section and deck. The limit appears to have been increased from 10 to 30 cabins. Here is a screen shot of the availability the room selector is showing for Britannia balcony cabins forward on deck 4 for one of QE's Alaska cruises next year. I'm seeing the same limit of 30 cabins being shown for the other ships as well.

[3rdGenCunarder]

34 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

 

Imagine my surprise a few days ago when I noticed the Cunard US website is now showing availability for more than 10 cabins in any requested combination of cabin type, section and deck. The limit appears to have been increased from 10 to 30 cabins. Here is a screen shot of the availability the room selector is showing for Britannia balcony cabins forward on deck 4 for one of QE's Alaska cruises next year. I'm seeing the same limit of 30 cabins being shown for the other ships as well.

 

That's an improvement! I always wondered if they limited it to 10 so people would think the cruise was almost sold out.

[JaneGrey]

I have said this on other threads, and it may bear repeating here: The QE Alaska cancellations have nothing to do with expanding "quarantine zones." Cunard is operating the QE at levels significantly (double-digit percentages) below maximum capacity, and DOZENS of cabins are deliberately remaining unsold simply because they cannot get enough staff in from Asia and the South Pacific (the main geographic sources for staff) who are fully documented as COVID vaccinated and who test negative within a day or so of joining the ship. The QE has ample quarantine space ... they just do not have enough bodies to operate at even the limited capacity, so they have reduced capacity still further. It is a personnel issue, not a quarantine issue. Per the CDC website, the QE is currently reporting less than 0.3% COVID rate, which means fewer than ten cases among both passengers and crew. Why would Cunard "expand the quarantine zones" if so few people on board require quarantine? Do they expect a mass outbreak that will require dozens of cabins for quarantine purposes? No! 

Edited May 12, 2022 by JaneGrey

[bluemarble]

29 minutes ago, JaneGrey said:

Per the CDC website, the QE is currently reporting less than 0.3% COVID rate, which means fewer than ten cases among both passengers and crew.

 

Just one correction I'd like to offer, @JaneGrey. Per my reading of the the CDC website, QE is currently reporting a COVID rate of 0.3% or more. QE entered the CDC's Cruise Ship Status Dashboard for the first time yesterday at an "Orange" status and remains at that same status today. About all we can deduce from that though is the number of cases among the passengers and crew was at least seven based on the reduced capacity she was operating at between Southampton and Fort Lauderdale.

Edited May 12, 2022 by bluemarble

[Alslc]

The fact only shorter voyages are impacted is not true. On QV they cancelled booking on V214 and V215, yet they are still selling now V214C and V215A. So I think they are picking and choosing based on all sorts of criteria. 

One Cunard customer service agent from the UK said to me they are not touching last minute booking but they were looking at the earliest ones. Again, they are giving out all sort of different info so I wouldn’t read much into it.

 

[JaneGrey]

4 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

Just one correction I'd like to offer, @JaneGrey. Per my reading of the the CDC website, QE is currently reporting a COVID rate of 0.3% or more. QE entered the CDC's Cruise Ship Status Dashboard for the first time yesterday at an "Orange" status and remains at that same status today. About all we can deduce from that though is the number of cases among the passengers and crew was at least seven based on the reduced capacity she was operating at between Southampton and Fort Lauderdale.

 

Thank you for the clarification. But any way you slice it, I cannot imagine that they need DOZENS of cabins for quarantine purposes. And if they DO, I do NOT want to be on that ship! Reminds me of "plague ships" of the pre-modern period! I will wait until the color status drops back to Green, thank you very much!

[2Oldpeopleinlove]

A final (for us) note we hope is accurate: on a call with a Cunard rep to straighten out the usefulness of doing a PCR test before flying cross country, we were assured our trip to Alaska (Vancouver-Vancouver) was in no danger as they were “finished with that ship,” referring to cancellations. 
 

One can only hope.

[sandancer]

We are on the QE transatlantic in August, Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona. I called Cunard UK this week to check if we could upgrade our cabin. The agent told me that they are not selling any more cabins on this cruise even though there is availability, the cruise is showing as fully sold out. They will sail with reduced capacity. I hope this means there will be no cancellations on this particular cruise.  Along with many other people we booked our own flights, hotels in both Fort Lauderdale and Barcelona although both hotels  can be cancelled without penalty. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

10 hours ago, sandancer said:

We are on the QE transatlantic in August, Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona. I called Cunard UK this week to check if we could upgrade our cabin. The agent told me that they are not selling any more cabins on this cruise even though there is availability, the cruise is showing as fully sold out. They will sail with reduced capacity. I hope this means there will be no cancellations on this particular cruise.  Along with many other people we booked our own flights, hotels in both Fort Lauderdale and Barcelona although both hotels  can be cancelled without penalty. 

 

Keep checking the website. IF the covid situation improves (I don't think it will, but we can hope), they MIGHT open more cabins and an upgraded one MIGHT be available. Very long shot, but it only takes a minute to check.

[seacruise9]

Hi, 

 

I am booked on the Queen Elizabeth's short five-day cruise from Vancouver to Los Angeles from July 21 - 26, 2022. Do you think my booking is in danger of being canceled? I am sailing solo in a standard Britannia Balcony stateroom on Deck 6 forward.

 

Thanks,

 

Chuck

[lissie]

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Keep checking the website. IF the covid situation improves (I don't think it will, but we can hope), they MIGHT open more cabins and an upgraded one MIGHT be available. Very long shot, but it only takes a minute to check.

Its not Covid directly - its staffing - if they can get more staff quickly then it will improve 

[lissie]

4 minutes ago, seacruise9 said:

Hi, 

 

I am booked on the Queen Elizabeth's short five-day cruise from Vancouver to Los Angeles from July 21 - 26, 2022. Do you think my booking is in danger of being canceled? I am sailing solo in a standard Britannia Balcony stateroom on Deck 6 forward.

 

Thanks,

 

Chuck

I'm on a much longer cruise which includes part of your cruise - I haven't yet seen anyone report being cancelled from it - but  they have withdrawn the sectors upto Florida from sale