I'm hoping the bad service was a fluke!

[Peckishpixie]

We just got back from Queen Elizabeth. From beginning to end the customer service was just terrible. It was comically terrible. Things like no avocado onboard but they left avocado toast on the menu and brought me dry toast with garnishes. They didn't file the right immigration paperwork so everyone had to leave the ship and redo us customs. They lost tons of luggage. They gave them a voucher for clothes but the dining room was full of folks in pajamas and tshirts, even on formal nights. 

One terrible example, the Golden Lion was crowded and we offered to share our table with a couple. We had already ordered. The waiter took the new couples order right when they sat down, about 1:00. Our food came and the waiter said they wpukd check on the couples food. 10 minutes later they brought her burger but not his fish and chips. She waited to eat snacking on the fries. They asked 3 times where the fish and chips were. Each time they were told they would check. About 7 orders of fish and chips went out in this time. At 10 minutes to 2 I went and asked for assistance. We waited with the couple until the dining manager came. He told the couple the kitchen was closed and they would have to come tomorrow. Not only did I raise an objection but several other tables did. One offered her fish and chips to the husband and the manager said "there! Good neighbors! It all turned out okay" 

That happened! On Cunard!! 

It is only one example. 

I haven't been on Cunard since QE2 and I still have hope for them. I am a platinum member. I loved cunard. Please tell me this was a crazy fluke of a week! 

Is this normal?

[cpc3639]

I can honestly say you must have been on a different cruise to me, although I have just disembarked too! Our service was great. Cunard didn’t loose luggage, airlines did!  I had avocado on two occasions and as for pyjamas in restaurant, really?  At the very least folk had the ‘clothes’ they traveled in and as you say were given vouchers.  

[safarigal]

I was also on this voyage. A lot of what happened wasn't under Cunard's control. The folks on BA whose luggage was delayed had very little with them in terms of clothing, and they were told that they didn't have to conform with the dress code. They really had no choice, most only had the clothes they had travelled in. A lesson learned - do not travel in your PJs! Also, it was not Cunard's fault that we had to go through immigration twice. Luckily immigration in San Francisco was quick.However, I do think we should have been warned that the Marathon was going on, we were not delayed by it, but I imagine it could have caused some problems for folks disembarking.

 

I do agree that service in the Golden Lion was slow on some days, but what you experienced was extremely bad, and very unfortunate. Staffing is not up to the usual level as yet, and this does show at times. However, we were fortunate that this did not impact on our enjoyment of the cruise. Jaime Paiko, the Cunard Vice President of Sales was on board from Vancouver to Los Angeles. It would be interesting to hear what she thought of the voyage.

[Victoria2]

 

I want to hear about the good and also the Cunard warts and whilst it's good to have outside agency warts included as it adds  to the whole picture, to have those warts foisted on Cunard as their warts is most unfair so thank you for putting the record straight Safari Girl.

[carlmm]

5 hours ago, Peckishpixie said:

We just got back from Queen Elizabeth. From beginning to end the customer service was just terrible. It was comically terrible. Things like no avocado onboard but they left avocado toast on the menu and brought me dry toast with garnishes. They didn't file the right immigration paperwork so everyone had to leave the ship and redo us customs. They lost tons of luggage. They gave them a voucher for clothes but the dining room was full of folks in pajamas and tshirts, even on formal nights. 

One terrible example, the Golden Lion was crowded and we offered to share our table with a couple. We had already ordered. The waiter took the new couples order right when they sat down, about 1:00. Our food came and the waiter said they wpukd check on the couples food. 10 minutes later they brought her burger but not his fish and chips. She waited to eat snacking on the fries. They asked 3 times where the fish and chips were. Each time they were told they would check. About 7 orders of fish and chips went out in this time. At 10 minutes to 2 I went and asked for assistance. We waited with the couple until the dining manager came. He told the couple the kitchen was closed and they would have to come tomorrow. Not only did I raise an objection but several other tables did. One offered her fish and chips to the husband and the manager said "there! Good neighbors! It all turned out okay" 

That happened! On Cunard!! 

It is only one example. 

I haven't been on Cunard since QE2 and I still have hope for them. I am a platinum member. I loved cunard. Please tell me this was a crazy fluke of a week! 

Is this normal?

Thank you for posting.

Even if others had a better experience, some of this should certainly not happen to anybody on Cunard. Especially the managers attitude is terrible.

I hope you send your issues also to Cunard to make them aware of the shortcomings and give them the chance to improve.

[majortom10]

5 hours ago, Peckishpixie said:

We just got back from Queen Elizabeth. From beginning to end the customer service was just terrible. It was comically terrible. Things like no avocado onboard but they left avocado toast on the menu and brought me dry toast with garnishes. They didn't file the right immigration paperwork so everyone had to leave the ship and redo us customs. They lost tons of luggage. They gave them a voucher for clothes but the dining room was full of folks in pajamas and tshirts, even on formal nights. 

One terrible example, the Golden Lion was crowded and we offered to share our table with a couple. We had already ordered. The waiter took the new couples order right when they sat down, about 1:00. Our food came and the waiter said they wpukd check on the couples food. 10 minutes later they brought her burger but not his fish and chips. She waited to eat snacking on the fries. They asked 3 times where the fish and chips were. Each time they were told they would check. About 7 orders of fish and chips went out in this time. At 10 minutes to 2 I went and asked for assistance. We waited with the couple until the dining manager came. He told the couple the kitchen was closed and they would have to come tomorrow. Not only did I raise an objection but several other tables did. One offered her fish and chips to the husband and the manager said "there! Good neighbors! It all turned out okay" 

That happened! On Cunard!! 

It is only one example. 

I haven't been on Cunard since QE2 and I still have hope for them. I am a platinum member. I loved cunard. Please tell me this was a crazy fluke of a week! 

Is this normal?

Not what you would expect and certainly not White Star Service that Cunard keep on pushing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Victoria2]

If some passengers' expectations are not being met  they are rightly letting others know and it's quite obvious Cunard's service still has quite a few holes in it, but were the glitches ongoing day after day and were they throughout the ship thus spoiling a holiday for many passengers?

 

We will just be so darned glad to get back to sea, we will take the occasional indifferent service and possible glitches on the chin as a post Covid problem which will eventually get sorted because we have the attitude any booking at the moment has the potential to be disrupted by Covid, be it the indifferent occasional service glitch or worse, quarantining! 

 

If however, these warts and glitches continued day after day and throughout the ship then I think we would be making an appointment with the Hotel Manager, to discuss the problems.

[Host Hattie]

Thanks for reporting back on your experience. Luggage seems to be a challenge for lots of airports and airlines at the moment. I saw that Frankfurt airport asked passengers not to travel with black cases ! I hope Cunard aren't losing luggage once it gets to them but passengers are suffering because of the general chaos and lack of staff in the whole travel industry.

 

 

[Peckishpixie]

Well, the luggage issue was with Cunards service, not the airline. They shipped their luggage with cunard. The 7 folks who had their luggage lost in UK all at least tried to dress appropriately. I sat at dinner with a couple who somehow manged to get a collared shirt and dress with their money. Why a guy was allowed in the dining room with drawstring pants and a Yale shirt even ok formal nights is beyond me. On the black and white night he even wore a torn baseball cap the whole time. His partner wore her bathing suit and cover up. The woman laughed about spending all the money at Sephora. 

The avocado toest thing happened on the day we arrived in San Fran. I'm so glad you got avocado. I got dry toast with egg and tomatoes.

The San Francisco thing was in fact cunards fault. They didn't file the proper paperwork in Vancouver. I talked to US customs for over an hour while I waited to get back onboard.

The folks who went on excursions had them cut short due to the marathon. The Sausalito folks got less than a half hour in Sausalito. They weren't refunded their money. Cunard surely could have seen a problem with the marathon that had been scheduled for 18 months. My room steward never refilled my tea despite multiple notes and requests. The room service line was always busy or would ring and ring but never pick up. We only got our breakfast in room card once the whole trip. Our bed was not made mosr mornings despute the please make up room card in the door. We got turn down service twice. We had early dining at 6 but waited in the hall one day until 6:20 for them to open the doors. They met with me about my food allergies the nights before. When they made a slight change in the menu they served my plate with something I'm allergic to. My food took 45 minutes to arrive. Everyone else had already eaten. My room key had to be re-coded 4 times. I finally gave up and just used my partners. At my breakfast table on the first sea day one of the folks hadn't had her luggage delivered yet. One of my dinnermates had her card declined for wine but she was using an Amex with no limit. I could go on. Everytime I sat down with people I heard all the problems they were having 

I'm really sad that my trip on Princess last year was 100% more luxurious with better customer service. 

[escrick]

My goodness!   The account sounds like a very bad sit-com.  I find it hard to imagine that there were so many problems on one cruise.  It sounds like the very old “Fawlty Towers” at sea.

[RJChatsworth]

Peckishpixie - I don’t like to dispute your facts because it might put doubts in one’s mind about other things.  But why was someone trying to buy wine in the restaurant with an Amex card?  Everyone knows you have to use your keycard and then the cost is automatically charged to the card you registered at check-in.

 

We have just completed our 50th Cunard cruise and have never been disappointed so I don’t know how to take your post.  We even lost our luggage for the duration of a voyage but didn’t blame Cunard as it was BA’s issue even though we were on a Cunard package.

[Victoria2]

25 minutes ago, escrick said:

My goodness!   The account sounds like a very bad sit-com.  I find it hard to imagine that there were so many problems on one cruise.  It sounds like the very old “Fawlty Towers” at sea.

Well. to be fair, I've had cruise card issues too. My  card was replaced more than four times on one cruise until I finally clocked I'd been putting it next to my iPad. After that cruise, an RFID sleeve stopped the problem unless I forgot to use the sleeve. 

 

We've also had occasions in the past when the cabin wasn't attended to until late morning and yes it was a bit miffed making but someone had to be 'later'. It wasn't a huge issue as it did get attended to eventually but if the cabin in question wasn't attended to at all,   and it does sound suspiciously as if that happened judging by the level of annoyance, that's an appointment with the Head of Housekeeping issue. I wonder if it was reported? 

I must admit, I don't know what happened with Amex as all our bills were debited to our cabin and I'm sure Amex were delighted to have been able to facilitate our final payment.

 

It seems to me, Peckishp  had a very poor holiday. Luckily, nothing like that level of awfulness has ever happened to us and hopefully, it was an anomaly. 

[MCC retired]

Table mate tried to purchase wine onboard  with a "credit card" ?????

Then complained about it ????????

[Host Hattie]

I have a nightmare with cruise cards, it's the magnetic fastenings on handbags, I think the record was not being able to get in the cabin after muster drill. Pre-covid obviously.

Sorry you had such a terrible trip @Peckishpixie.

[Bell Boy]

How do we contact Hattie the Moderator  & will be get a reply privately . 

 

[Bell Boy]

1 hour ago, MCC retired said:

Table mate tried to purchase wine onboard  with a "credit card" ?????

Then complained about it ????????

Exactly .   

[North West Newbie]

1 hour ago, MCC retired said:

Table mate tried to purchase wine onboard  with a "credit card" ?????

Then complained about it ????????

 

12 minutes ago, Bell Boy said:

Exactly .   

 

In an attempt to introduce some objectiveness, perhaps the OP’s dinner mate was using their room card to purchase the wine and the Amex was the card they used to set up the onboard credit account.

 

There have been reports of onboard accounts not set up correctly at check-in resulting in purchases being declined necessitating a visit to the pursers desk to resolve the issue.

[High C's]

Just a guess here, but I think at the OP referenced the "unlimited Amex card" in an effort to explain that it wasn't lack of credit that caused her attempted purchase to be declined.  If you think about it, the staff would not have accepted the credit card in the first place, so it would never have reached the "declined" status in the first place.

 

And I'm all for understanding that cruise lines are currently under staffed and that we all have to be more patient than perhaps some may usually be, but for a Manager to knowingly close the kitchen while a customer still had not received their food is not a matter of being "understaffed" - it is incompetence.

 

Just my opinion.

[Host Hattie]

1 hour ago, Bell Boy said:

How do we contact Hattie the Moderator  & will be get a reply privately . 

 

From my signature

Email - hosthattie@gmail.com

 

 

 

If contacting me via email, please include your Cruise Critic user name and be patient, I do not have full time access to this mailbox and I am in a different time zone to many of you !

 

If you have comments about moderation contact community@cruisecritic.com.

 

 

[WestonOne]

5 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

Well. to be fair, I've had cruise card issues too. My  card was replaced more than four times on one cruise until I finally clocked I'd been putting it next to my iPad. After that cruise, an RFID sleeve stopped the problem unless I forgot to use the sleeve. 

Just be be clear about this.  Most ships use  magnetic stripes on the key cards, so I would not have expected an RFID sleeve to do much, but if it does it is worth knowing.  It was a magnetic strip card and nothing particularly special about sleeve?

[Lakesregion]

16 hours ago, safarigal said:

I was also on this voyage. A lot of what happened wasn't under Cunard's control. The folks on BA whose luggage was delayed had very little with them in terms of clothing, and they were told that they didn't have to conform with the dress code. They really had no choice, most only had the clothes they had travelled in. A lesson learned - do not travel in your PJs! Also, it was not Cunard's fault that we had to go through immigration twice. Luckily immigration in San Francisco was quick.However, I do think we should have been warned that the Marathon was going on, we were not delayed by it, but I imagine it could have caused some problems for folks disembarking.

 

I do agree that service in the Golden Lion was slow on some days, but what you experienced was extremely bad, and very unfortunate. Staffing is not up to the usual level as yet, and this does show at times. However, we were fortunate that this did not impact on our enjoyment of the cruise. Jaime Paiko, the Cunard Vice President of Sales was on board from Vancouver to Los Angeles. It would be interesting to hear what she thought of the voyage.

I am willing to bet the farm that service in Jaime Paiko's stateroom and at her tables were outstanding. Just a guess.

[Peckishpixie]

7 hours ago, North West Newbie said:

 

 

In an attempt to introduce some objectiveness, perhaps the OP’s dinner mate was using their room card to purchase the wine and the Amex was the card they used to set up the onboard credit account.

 

There have been reports of onboard accounts not set up correctly at check-in resulting in purchases being declined necessitating a visit to the pursers desk to resolve the issue.

Yes, they were using the room card and the "card they had on file was declined" it was resolved once they went to the pursers desk but the purser said it had a 400 limit, which is impossible.

[Peckishpixie]

7 hours ago, Bell Boy said:

Exactly .   

It was her card on file. They said it had a 200 dollar limit on it. Apparently the purser put a 200 limit on it accidentally 

[Peckishpixie]

Sorry, I checked with my table mate. The onboqrd account had a 200 per person limit on it. She doesn't know why. It was fixed, but I don't think she was the only one with the problem. 

You can certainly ask the moderator to take down my post, but I kept notes and have the dates, times and locations of each incident. 

I really wish this was made up. Every time I sat down people and made small talk people told me the problems they were having. It didn't all happen to me, but it happened and watching it happen to other people is really awful too. I kept thinking "this can't very happening"

Was my personal experience awful? Not really. But it certainly wasn't Cunard level. 

[Victoria2]

9 hours ago, WestonOne said:

Just be be clear about this.  Most ships use  magnetic stripes on the key cards, so I would not have expected an RFID sleeve to do much, but if it does it is worth knowing.  It was a magnetic strip card and nothing particularly special about sleeve?

Card on iPad and also, like Hattie, next to bag clasp, meant multiple trips to the concierge or Front Desk.

Card in sleeve, no trips. Is it just the sleeve or is it the RFID component? Can't help with any technicalities as I have no idea of these things but I gave it a go and it seems to work.