kentchris

Viking have four ships specifically built for the Seine which dock at Port de Grenelle, not far from the Eiffel Tower, which remove concerns about being out of town in Le Pecq. They are Viking Kari, Viking Radgrid, Viking Skaga, and Viking Fjorgyn. 

9 hours ago, nosapphire said:

Two cruises on the Saga Discovery, and I have never been so bored in my life.

That's a shame. We don't do daytime activities apart from attend port talks and other lectures, there's enough to do on board without being organised into doing things so we never get bored.

Although we nearly reshelved the library one day. My wife is a librarian and the eccentric and arbitrary way it's been arranged began to get to her.

Viking haven't let on what they're considering in any detail apart from mentioning 'exploring' a couple of times which suggests more than just sail-pasts.

Saga's first purpose built river ship is now in the water which is some good news in these trying times. I can't see any press release yet but it was announced this morning on social media.

5 hours ago, nosapphire said:

Still all just speculation and guesswork.

It's definitely on the cards, Viking are surveying existing/past customers to gauge interest in British Isles cruises. While I'd love to sail on a Viking Ocean ship I'm not usually keen on the idea of port-intensive cruising, I enjoy sea days too much, but I can see the attraction of exploring Britain with a port call practically every day.

1 hour ago, bazzaw said:

I am overwhelmed!!!  Two reports of refunds out of how many thousands of passengers on QE alone? 

 

So you accept that AUS customers are actually getting fare (not excursion etc) refunds which is promising. You didn't believe it at all when I told you a couple of days ago so you're making some progress.

On 6/4/2020 at 10:20 PM, bazzaw said:

It would be wonderful if what you say is true - however I do not believe you. ... I would be delighted to hear that any AUS/NZ passengers have received a refund of their fares.

@bazzaw: I think you have your answer in post 525 quoted below. Do you believe that?

12 hours ago, Edithclara said:

Great news Aussies - today I saw two social media posts from Australian customers who booked through TAs who have both received their fare refunds for their 9 March Sydney Yokohama QE cruise. 

2 hours ago, bazzaw said:

We were also booked on that one - as far as I know NOBODY in AUS or NZ has received a cent back from Cunard so far-

You're mistaken - people from your end of the world are mentioning refunds arriving on one or two Cunard groups on social media. You're a member of about the only one that's not clogged up with discussions about refunds so try looking around a bit. 

On 5/26/2020 at 9:27 PM, bluemarble said:

 

Ah, I see now. Dover apparently was just an indication of an intermediate point on QV's route. QV turned around a few hours ago after sailing east about as far as Dover and is now heading back west showing Portland as her destination.

Heading into the choke point of the busiest shipping lane in the world while showing your destination as somewhere roughly 200 miles west of your position would presumably be regarded as at least careless. Her destination as I write is Southampton so the musical chairs are continuing...

7 hours ago, exlondoner said:

No, though you can use it to upgrade an existing booking.

And/or add another cabin in case one isn't enough...

Have your tried calling them and asking? Their web site is fine for straightforward bookings but I get the impression they're more geared up for phone bookings so that they can discuss what their prospective customers want. We've sailed with them twice, booking once online and once by phone, and found they have all the time in the world to discuss the finer details of bookings over the phone.

2 hours ago, nosapphire said:

I've asked the question, should get a reply next week, and I'll come back with their answer.

I am hoping that it is a mistake created by their useless computer system - fingers crossed.

Good luck - their insurance is a bit hit and miss. Last year my wife declared a probably insignificant condition awaiting diagnosis a few days before our cruise, something our GP considered not to be of any concern. Saga promptly cancelled her cover without explanation, while admitting on the phone that many people in the same situation simply don't admit such conditions in order to keep their cover. The travel insurance bundled with our bank account simply doesn't cover conditions awaiting diagnosis rather than refusing any cover at all.

34 minutes ago, MCC retired said:

Question for you UK posters?

Who the heck was Queen Ann and why would she deserve recognition of name a ship after her ?

I like Mauritania myself .

Anne was one of the few queens to reign in her own right rather than being the king’s wife. Just like Victoria and both Elizabeths.
 

BTW the ship’s name is Mauretania (which Carnival have registered as a trade mark), ignore what autocorrect is telling you. 

Carnival have registered Queen Anne, Queen Isabella, Aquitania, Mauretania, Caronia, Aurelia, Sirona, and King James as trademarks in the last few months, most of which were noted recently in another thread.

The schedule of intellectual property mortgaged at the beginning of April by Carnival makes interesting reading, even if terribly lengthy and repetitive because they have a lot of trade marks each registered in a lot of countries. 

1 hour ago, Shimo said:

Am I being reasonable in expecting to pay less for next years cruise, not more?

•  

Have you checked prices for your voyage on Cunard's web site to see what the going rate is? There's plenty of anecdotal evidence of people transferring bookings to next year, or rebooking to use their FCC, so if demand is strong prices will have risen.

As a complete novice you could do a lot worse than browse the sticky threads at the top of the forum - there are links to lots of useful articles about individual river cruise lines on Cruise Critic, plus objective comparisons between different lines. 

On 4/1/2020 at 5:07 PM, beaujolais said:

Still awaiting our refund

ABTA suggests that the process will take up to a month  https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak

ABTA now doesn't give a suggested timescale, they only say that it's impossible for many companies to issue refunds within 14 days as they'd go bust.

Interestingly ABTA seem to be unilaterally implementing a financially protected credit note along the lines of what they were proposing to the Government last month, they've presumably worked out a way of doing it without the need to change the law. Details in the FAQ in the link above: 'What is a Refund Credit Note (RCN)?'. It'll be interesting to see whether companies will be willing to start issuing them or whether they'll continue to refuse refunds outright like KLM/Air France, or just make things overly difficult like BA and easyJet.

1 hour ago, charlesspinney said:

Thanks for the credit card information.  I know I'll be able to get this information from my bank, but like other call centers,  they're only taking urgent calls. I'm still 55 days away from a refund.  I'm looking forward to the refund thread.  Great idea!

Remember that sogne is in the U.K. where it’s normal for credit card companies to transfer credit balances to bank accounts without charge. Things may be different where you are, depending on consumer law and/or usage and practice. 

12 minutes ago, JMyrtle said:

It is most annoying that the refund for cruise two has not arrived as I was expecting to use it to pay the balance on cruise three when it becomes due on my card next week, now I seem to be using " good money to follow bad" 

The ABTA rules say refunds must be processed within seven to fourteen days but I have been waiting over a month now. 

At least Saga along with most if not all of the cruise industry are offering and processing refunds, unlike some package tour operators and airlines which are completely ignoring ABTA rules by only offering vouchers.  

6 minutes ago, babs135 said:

Is it possible to transfer our deposit to a new booking and therefore bypassing the need to pay the balance which is due in June for our cruise in October?  

Scroll down to 'All bookings departing after 31 August 2020': https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/contact-us/travel-health-advisories/flexible-cancellation-policy

1 hour ago, jimdee3636 said:

For some reason, I can't quite grasp the 125% FCC concept. My wife and I just had our September QE Vancouver-to-Yokohama cruise cancelled. Not including taxes and port charges, the price we booked it for was about $4,000 per person (actually a little less, but it's easier to do the math using this figure). Because we had booked it while on the QM2 this past summer, we only had to put down a $300 pp deposit. Does this mean that if, say, we find a future cruise we like that costs $5,000 per person we would have to pay only $4,000 pp?

 

You get a credit note for the total amount you paid plus 25% so in your example $5000pp: if you then book a $5000pp cruise it's 'free', if you book a more expensive cruise you get $5000pp off the price. If you book a cruise for less than $5000pp it's 'free' and the balance of the credit is held against your account and can be used towards another booking. If you already have a booking you can use your credit towards a paid upgrade but you can't otherwise use it as part payment for that cruise.

T&Cs may differ according to where you booked your cruise, and changed for UK customers yesterday when the extension of cancellations was announced.

8 hours ago, rattanchair said:

Years ago we sailed to Antarctica on the 800 passenger Marco Polo, which they had to limit to 400 for these sailings. Higher prices, less passengers, ease of zodiac landings made it the most memorable cruise of our life time, and guest lecturer Sir Edmond Hillory on board for the circumnavigation cruise. Just saying there are 'ways' to attract and price and still make money in the process.

That's not a fair comparison if you think about it. European river cruising is a mass market operation, particularly for providers like Viking which is the point I was specifically responding to, unlike expedition style ocean cruising to remote parts of the globe which are otherwise extremely difficult to visit, so can attract customers even at premium prices. I'm not sure I'd travel on CMV at any price, but that's another thing...

9 hours ago, Squawkman said:

Viking river longships have a max of 181 guests. Keep a few cabins vacant and it can be done. Douro ships definitely make it.

Just out of interest where did you get the figure of 181? The 135m length longships can carry 190.

Even with half occupancy it would be extremely difficult to maintain distancing in the lounge and dining room, and it wouldn't be viable to run cruises with so many empty cabins.

3 hours ago, IB2 said:

In mitigation, the company has had one or two more pressing matters to deal with meantime.

 

Some posters seem to assume that, although we are all confined at home, the companies that they deal with are somehow magical entities that keep on running regardless - rather than consisting of real people most of whom are also confined at home. 

Add into the mix the fact that across the travel industry finance departments are being asked to perform in bulk a function they're not usually resourced to do in any great volume at the best of times, and it's quite understandable that they're struggling to meet their normal customer service levels.

2 hours ago, Coral said:

I have never sailed Viking and don't have first hand opinions about them - though I think they are one of  the lines that will weather the storm better due to paying for their ships in cash.

 

As they're a private company details of things like their financing and debt aren't all that visible, but it seems they didn't use all their own money to pay for at least one of their ocean fleet - it's not a coincidence that Viking Sun was named in Shanghai.

 http://staging.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/china-merchants-closes-500m-financing-deal-for-two-viking-newbuilds.html

1 hour ago, ace2542 said:

Liverpool might be a home port for the QM2. That might be a closer to new york than Southampton and also that would be tying in with Cunard history.

Not very attractive for US pax travelling to/from TAs though - Southampton is much better placed being comparatively close to Heathrow.