Poole Boy

QE is in Egypt tomorrow, why would there be changes, conflict is in Isreal, no Cunard ship is planned to stop there. Jordan's Red Sea coast, Oman and Dubai are not involved or any where close to the conflict.

Yes, it is a long drive, but the coach will have toilets and so do the temples. Karnack is all outside so no tunnels. Valley of the kings, has tunnels for the main tombs, from the entrance to the tomb, you can see how wide the tunnels are make a decision if you want to go in. PS don't pay for the toilets at the main entrance to valley of the kings, they are free, regardless of what the man collecting money will say, just say you don't have any money you will be let in

There is likely to be a repeat of the production shows, for the general entertainers, you should have a different show each night, the artist may repeat, but the show will be different.

But looking at some of the prices for QA next year, they appear to be having difficulty selling cabins, I have seen 14 day cruise's for £799 pp in an inside cabin, and the general inside cabin price is sub £100 per night.

But if you are in the Grills, you are going to have been allocated an early boarding time regardless of your CWC status, as you say one of the perks of booking a grills cabin

Priority boarding is exactly that, it means at your allocated time you have priority boarding. It does not mean early boarding. All ports can handle so many passengers at one time, allocating boarding time allows the port to manage the flow of people and prevent overcrowding. If every one turns up early all you end up with is chaos and people moaning because they have to wait in a port building not designed to be a waiting room.

Interesting decision, I would have thought that the Caribbean being almost at saturation point from a cruise ship perspective Cunard would have a hard time selling QE at premium prices for 6 months of the year.

I would have thought they would not be allowed to embark at all.

-I would have thought that if an ETA was not granted, then the next step would be a visa. If some one had neither and the ship ( they) was going to Australia, then in all likely hood they would be denied boarding

Why should they, the ships are not UK registered, why should I as a UK tax payer bail out a non UK company

Interesting you say the Cruise lines received little bail out money, you are correct, but this was due to many cruise lines being registered in Tax havens, so why should the US or UK governments bail them out, when they don't pay US or UK tax on the majority of their previous profits

You should do what you can ahead of time, eg Australia, rather than wait until you are on the ship ( Its valid for a year). Jordan and Indonesia will be arranged by Cunard on the ship and charge the cost to you on board account.

Yes, at the start, and during the cruise.

Glad it worked out for you

Barcelona, - There is a duty free shop at the port, good selection of beer and spirits and more importantly tonic water. Also a couple of supermarkets at within walking distance of the shuttle bus drop off if you would like a wider selection ( assuming you don't buy at Airport duty free on the way to Barcelona)

Look at something like the packaged account with Nationwide or Virgin, as they include travel insurance, that you can customise the cover to take into account length of trip , age and pre existing medical coverage, from experience Nationwide allow you to check prices etc on line, I believe virgin requires a phone call. Saying that I suspect that your husbands age and duration of the trip will not help you in getting affordable cover

Couple of more points this time related to QV from July this year Service in MDR can be inconsistent, some time it will be efficient and attentive, other time you just sit there and wait, this is across all 3 meals ( B,L and D). Purser and Tour office, instantly go on the defensive if you even try to raise a complaint, attitude is very much , well that the way it is. Almost if you don't like go somewhere else. Quality of the food in the lido , in my opinion was not as good as I remember it pre covid and also not as varied. New Gym equipment, certainly better that last year on both QE and QV.

I would always book on board, no need to give Cunard your money in advance

Left QV on Sunday, and some tables on the lower level of the MDR were used for the first sitting of fixed dining, presumably due to more people wanting early fixed dining that could be accomadated on the upper level, so some accommodations can be made

the problem with the generic "Smart Attire" is it is open to interpretation, some one may believe $500 jeans and a expensive brand of Polo shirt is smart attire, others will have the opposite view. Who is right and how do Cunard police and enforce it. in the days of the QE2 it was a lot easier, dress code was Formal ( black tie) or semi Formal (Suit and tie), no vagaries like casual or smart, easy to enforce, no tie = no entry to the MDR, simpler times.

You have priority boarding at you alloted boarding time, the CWC benefit does not say you have an early boarding time. Boarding times are staggered for a reason, to reduce the scrum at the terminal when every one turns up at the same time

Not wanting to take this off topic, but I notice you mention portable oxygen concentrators as part of your carry on luggage, from what I understand passengers who need oxygen concentrators are not currently allowed to travel on the Cunard ships, I would suggest you investigate with Cunard or your TA

Do you visibility of the QV itinerary for early 25 ?

I would have thought once you leave the ship, what you do is your decision. If there is no state mandate to isolate, no one can force you to isolate.

Thanks for the update, sounds exactly the same as a couple of weeks ago when we were in tier 3 after Darwin and our cancelled call to Bali. inconsistencies were every where , especially the Golden Lion, Cunard says can’t go to the laundrette, but you can have a couple of hundred people crammed into the Golden Lion for a sing a long or a quiz, so frustrating. on you point about no information, what would you like to know, knowing the number of positive cases is a nice to have , but in the real world useless information. Bearing in mind if some one is positive they are in isolation , so out of circulation , so the absolute number is just a number , you can’t change anything, based on knowing the number . Tier 3 is defined as at lease 10% of all onboard so about 250 cases, this number will change daily as people go into or come out of isolation. Giving a number of cases will have one of two effects in some cases it will satisfy and reassure, in other cases it will just ramp up the anxiety levels. From Cunard perspective damned if they do damned if they don’t. having lives through life onboard through tier 3 my advise would be , keep wearing the mask, maintain social distancing as much as you can and try to get on with life and try no to let Covid spoil you holiday . as a side note I have spent 56 days on the ship since it left Barcelona in October , and will rejoin in Melbourne later this week , so far with simple precaution remained Covid free. After a week travelling around Australia and seeing how people are behaving on dry land , in regards to the increasing Covid rate in NSW and Victoria , I will be glad to be back on the ship.