Booked with Cunard! Infant sails free :-)

[cruisincarly]

Hey all.

 

I asked before about infant rates for Cunard, and just wanted to update saying that we've booked with Cunard (July 13th 2010 Westbound Transatlantic -- we're using the QM2 to come home from a year of research abroad instead of flying :-) ) What we paid for our son, who will be 18 months at the time of sailing?

 

Taxes and fees, i.e. $34.81

 

Despite the fact that doesn't say so anywhere on Cunard's website, this doesn't seem to be a "special offer," but rather that under-2s always sail for free on Cunard. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

 

We're very excited about the cruise. We've cruised a bit before -- on Disney & on Radisson (now Regent) Seven Seas (very different, I know, lol) -- but never with a kid, so this will be a new experience. We chose Cunard because they have childcare for under 2s so we can enjoy an "adult dinner" here and there. My parents & aunt have unexpectedly (but happily!) decided to come along, too. Despite the fact that the cruise is a whole year away, we're already super super excited!

[jfhandel]

Gosh, looks like you got ripped off there. We've paid absolutely zilch for our 18 month old on QV this summer ;).

 

So it looks as if this is quite a common thing for Cunard...childcare facilities are supposed to be excellent, we're looking forward our cruise!

[calikak]

I think this may be new--we booked a November 2008 sailing on QM2 (before the sailing was cancelled when the ship went into dry dock) with our then-17-month-old and were charged the regular adult 3rd person rate. So this would be a really fantastic change for families with kids under 2, since Cunard has one of the most comprehensive programs for kids under 2 at sea!

[mumoftwo]

Our 6 and 7 year olds are free on QM2 next year.

[globalhoneymooning]

Hi, I know these are older threads but I was interested to hear feedback on those that sailed with infants/toddlers on Cunard as we're going with 2 kids (3 yr and 23 mos) this fall to the Med. Thanks.

[cruisincarly]

We were very pleased with our transatlantic cruise. The nannies in the nursery were excellent with our super-active 18 month old, and he loved going! The staff and large majority of the other passengers were friendly towards us, and even those who weren't actively happy to see kids onboard seemed tolerant of it. Granted, we never took our son into the MDR...he was in a stage where he just couldn't handle a long dinner, but the excellent childcare meant that we could enjoy adult meals :-)

 

We have been talking about doing another Cunard cruise sometime in the near future, and one of the main reasons is that we loved how good they were with kids!

[globalhoneymooning]

Thx CruisinCarly, appreciate the feedback and even more excited for our sailing.

[jac1976]

We went several years ago on a transatlantic sailing with my then 23 month old son and we all had a fabulous time. We took him to the MDR every night and once he was finished, one of us (we were traveling with my ILs) would take him to the nursery. They were fabulous with him, even though at that time he was completely non-verbal. (He's on the autism spectrum.) The staff doted on him - gave me the feeling they must not see a lot of children. During the day we'd just explore the ship- he loved playing with the shuffleboard items and on the basketball court. There was even a little plastic climbing structure in the back of one deck which we took him to play on every day.

[boulders]

I have a TA cruise with Cunard booked for next summer. Unfortunately, my 6 year old is being charged full 3rd person rate. I just rechecked the fares, and they have gone up about 20% from when I booked in the spring.