Back to Back Question

[napria]

We’ve booked an Eastbound TA on Queen Mary 2, New York to Southampton (sorry if the origination/destination are obvious), and then a “cruise” from Southampton to Belgium, Norway, Iceland and back to NY.  This is our first time on Cunard and first back to back cruise.

 

Would it be better to stay on the ship in Southampton? Is it difficult to get back on if we decide to get off and explore?  We’re in a sheltered balcony (Britannia class), as I thought low and central would be best for me. I’ve been seasick on my last two cruises, which were small, Silversea ships.  But better safe than sorry.

 

I appreciate your kind thoughts, advice and patience with this question from a newbie.

[Bell Boy]

The first procedure you'll need to do 'on the morning of arrival into Southampton' will be to collect NEW replacement stateroom keys ( even if you are still occupying your original stateroom)

If you decide to disembark in Southampton to explore you will Swipe OUT at the gangway with the old card, and swipe IN on your return with your new key card. You will be able to embark back on the ship only when the embarkation procedures are underway ( You by-pass the check-in desks and show your key card to the terminal agent - you mention you are In -Transit.

 

Re your concerns about seasickness , Queen Mary 2 is poles apart from a cruise ship Silversea, you are sailing on a Transatlantic  Ocean Liner, built for the itinerary you have chosen .    

[exlondoner]

But it is a difficult decision. Southampton is a genuinely interesting town, despite what some say. On the other hand, being almost alone on an empty ship is a wondrous experience, much to be enjoyed. Very difficult to decide. Certainly, if it is a wet day, as it nearly always is at the moment, I should stay on board.

[TheOldBear]

53 minutes ago, napria said:

We’ve booked an Eastbound TA on Queen Mary 2, New York to Southampton (sorry if the origination/destination are obvious), and then a “cruise” from Southampton to Belgium, Norway, Iceland and back to NY.  This is our first time on Cunard and first back to back cruise.

 

Would it be better to stay on the ship in Southampton? Is it difficult to get back on if we decide to get off and explore?  We’re in a sheltered balcony (Britannia class), as I thought low and central would be best for me. I’ve been seasick on my last two cruises, which were small, Silversea ships.  But better safe than sorry.

 

I appreciate your kind thoughts, advice and patience with this question from a newbie.

If you have booked this as a single 'voyage' for the eastbound crossing, cruise and westbound crossing - you only need to unpack once, and you will be issued a cruise card [red on top as it's your first time] valid for the entire sailing.

 

There will be an immigration check with an officer of the UK Border Force - these days it's an electronic passport stamp - so when the ship arrives in Southampton you can just walk off. [And when you want to get back on, your card identifies you as 'in transit' so you can walk past the folks waiting to embark]

 

Cunard provides a shuttle bus to near the 'West Quay' shopping center, or you can take a taxi or Uber. [I plan on visiting the Solent Sky museum this October]. If rain is in the forecast, there are usually umbrellas available to borrow at the gangway.

There _may_ be shore excursions for your visit [check on my.cunard.com] , there are none posted for our sailing. We have met with some of Mrs Bear's facebook friends for lunches at the Dancing Man or Duke of Wellington pubs for a pleasant afternoon.

There are posts on this forum and the British Isles / Western Europe forum about some do it yourself tours - e.g. a rail excursion to Salisbury and Stonehenge. Look for postings by "John Bull" for local knowledge. 

That is also the forum for Bruge [and its port city Zeebruge] for your visit to Belgium.

 

Norway is covered by the Northern Europe forum - and Iceland has been moved to a new forum.

 

 

[NE John]

We enjoyed our visit to Southhampton the day before last year’s TA. I recommend a visit to the maritime museum located pretty close to the docks. There is also a very good Jamaican restaurant on the Main Street of Southhampton that will give your palette a change of pace from Cunard’s food offerings (not that the is much wrong with the food onboard). In other words, I wouldn’t eat at a British pub that day, keep that for the ship. 
Plus, it’s good to take a land break after seven nights at sea.  

Edited April 29 by NE John

[napria]

Thank you all.  This is very helpful.  I should have thought about wanting (needing) to disembark after 7 days at sea. 
 

Our travel agent booked both trips. First the Southampton to NY, then when I realized that flying and all associated costs (booking a hotel for the pre pre-cruise day, meals, transatlantic airfare vs.airfare to NY) would be slightly under the cost of booking the same class/stateroom over… well we didn’t think too hard about it.

 

Should we do something to “link” two trips together? I’ve read conflicting things. Some have advised that we turn in our room keys at Southampton and get new before disembarking for sightseeing, some have said that our room keys will remain the same for the entire voyage as long as it’s booked as one trip. 🤔

[TheOldBear]

We explicitly book round trips - single cruise card for the Brooklyn to Brooklyn sailing. 

 

If it's booked as two separate 'voyages' - you will have two different six character 'booking reference' strings that you use to login to the 'voyage personalizer' [ my.cunard.com ]. 

If you have only been provided with a single 'booking reference' try logging in to my.cunard.com and see what it shows in the booking summary - if the booking is for the complete round trip, that should show in the summary page. [you will need to login anyway to complete cruise paperwork]

 

If it only shows part of your vacation [like just the eastbound crossing], and you only have a single booking reference, get in touch with the travel agent - they should have received a confirmation for each booking.

 

[bluemarble]

2 hours ago, napria said:

Thank you all.  This is very helpful.  I should have thought about wanting (needing) to disembark after 7 days at sea. 
 

Our travel agent booked both trips. First the Southampton to NY, then when I realized that flying and all associated costs (booking a hotel for the pre pre-cruise day, meals, transatlantic airfare vs.airfare to NY) would be slightly under the cost of booking the same class/stateroom over… well we didn’t think too hard about it.

 

Should we do something to “link” two trips together? I’ve read conflicting things. Some have advised that we turn in our room keys at Southampton and get new before disembarking for sightseeing, some have said that our room keys will remain the same for the entire voyage as long as it’s booked as one trip. 🤔

 

It sounds like you have separate bookings then. If that is indeed the case, the first keycard you receive will only be for the first part of your voyage. You will need to collect a new keycard for the second part of your voyage on the morning of your turnaround day as @Bell Boy described. Sometimes when I have back-to-back bookings in the same cabin, I've been able to receive the second keycard the evening before turnaround day, so that might be a possibility for you.

 

I'd suggest you do request your bookings be linked and have your bookings marked "Do Not Upgrade" if you want to eliminate the possibility of receiving a complimentary upgrade on one of the segments which would mean you would change cabins. It's not a big deal to change cabins, but since you've booked the same cabin for the entire journey, you'd probably prefer not to move to a different cabin on turnaround day.

Edited April 30 by bluemarble