ballroom-cruisers

It would not be unreasonable to presume that Cunard may try to satisfy whichever opinions they get as the majority view. Who knows how many they have sent out - yes I had one too - but my humble opinion and responses will count as only one opinion of the possibly many thousand that they sent out. I also noted that the survey was designed for auto-analysis. So Cunard will get percentages of each answer - if there is a high percentage of respondents saying that they like formal dress and Gala nights, then they will likely do more of that, but on the other hand if the majority opinion is for casual dress and not Gala nights then we may see such things being weakened. Many more passengers will likely be respondents to the survey than who post on this forum, and it is that data that Cunard will likely formulate their policy around for planning how they manage future cruises. We love the more formal dress and Gala nights - so what happens in 2024 may well depend on the answers they get to this survey.

True!

The insurer will likely want to see some evidence that you were in a position where you were unable to travel on your booked cruise, and if it is for a medical reason (Covid or anything else) they will likely take time to assess the validity of the cancellation, and that it is a reason covered by the policy taken out. How long the insurer will take before the cheque for lost deposit, lost full balance or fraction of that depending on how long before departure the cancellation was made, will be different for different insurance companies. If they are dealing with a lot of claims under the current Covid wave of claims, may mean waiting a little longer than similar claims a few years ago. Nevertheless Cunard will likely only return money according to their cancellation policy and any loss consequential to that will need to be claimed from the travel policy. Anyone without a travel insurance policy would have to cover that loss themselves. Cunard's cancellation charges are in the section "Cancelling your voyage" at: https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/contact-us/travel-health-advisories/flexible-cancellation-policy

Clearly in the ideal world very few people would get ill on holiday and only a handful out of the 2k or so passengers would be ill - however if people are infectious on board then more will succumb to becoming unwell. The situation around the start of the pandemic with ships unable to dock, and significant numbers of people ill, is one I am sure Cunard, as well as other lines would wish not to be repeated. It is also clear from past posts here as well as on other forums/groups, that if the situation during a voyage deteriorates with a rising number of Covid cases on board, then the ship's management has no hesitation in bringing in tighter controls and prevention of transmission measures. But it is much better to avoid that in the first place - so if the cruise line can fill the required number of rooms to operate in profit and minimise the number of passengers and crew who become ill with Covid then keeping control measures in place makes sense - on the other hand easing back on requirements would make those who will not or cannot have the vaccines, happy and give them more opportunities to get aboard, but those who are fully and recently vaccinated would wish to have their risk reduced to the lowest possible, so that group of passengers would in quite a few cases not be happy if more risk increasing passengers are permitted on board, increasing their chance of becoming infected. So it is a balance of the limitations on people coming onto the ship against the number of people who as a consequence will not be able to enjoy their holiday in full health, whether in isolation or not - being unwell with a fever, and coughing non-stop is no fun even if not isolating!

Just a point of fact about the three doses for over 12s - that is referring to having had the spring (3rd dose) booster, but those take up figures do not relate to the latest autumn bivalent booster that people need to protect more fully against the current BA.5 (and newer BQ.1) variant that is increasing rapidly as a percentage of current cases, with the latter in the UK now passing around 50% of all tested cases with sequenced tests). In the UK for over 70s at present around 75% have had the latest bivalent autumn booster, with only around half of over 50s and much lower percentages of under 50s. So protection against the latest variants in the UK is at a lower level than during previous surges - the latest data from ONS shows that we currently have around a million people infected with BA.5/BQ.1 in the UK. The data shows that about 1 in 60 people across all age ranges currently has a Covid infection. So I would imagine Cunard managers are likely to take note of these figures, and also try to assess the risk of infection for potential passengers from other countries if coming aboard, taking their current case rates, and vaccination rates for the new bivalent vaccines that protect at a much higher level for the currently circulating variants compared to those who have only had the earlier Covid jabs or who are unvaccinated. It is a constantly evolving puzzle to act the right way, not only to maximise revenue for the cruise line but also to maximise enjoyment of passengers and minimise the wrecking of people's holidays if they get to be isolated during a cruise!

This sounds like a very welcome change in policy by US Customs and Border Protection - and a very significant departure from the previous policy for many years of 'zeroing' any ship that arrives at a US port. I, and no doubt many others, will be very interested in hearing how this works out in the real situation when passengers who don't wish to step on American soil on a back to back voyage (or onward to non-US countries), when arriving in New York, actually works out. If it is as many would hope, then Cunard may well end up with a useful increase in the numbers being prepared to book TA voyages, and particularly those who want to enjoy westbound then eastbound crossings.

I agree though whether Cunard would agree to it is a different matter!

Having spoken to the Entertainment Director on board on this kind of occasion, sadly it would appear that they are more sympathetic to the ensuing income from those groups who are 'more valuable' than one couple, than the request from one or even two individuals to help with their loss of amenity on the dance floor.

Whether or not an insurance company will cover someone with a known existing condition is decided on a case by case basis usually, and the insurance agent setting up the negotiation with a potential insurance customer will need to refer to company policy, or if not already in writing for the particular situation, then the agents will refer up to higher management to assess whether the actuarial probability means that the company is most likely to lose money by providing the cover, or not. In such cases if it is decided that an assessment can be made, and if cover can be offered but with additional premium cost, then the company will do so. For sure though if you purchase insurance without declaring existing or known medical conditions then the policy will be void in the event of a claim, and buying the policy under that situation will be a waste of money.

It was certainly the case that vaccination documentation was checked in Southampton prior to check-in on the voyages I was on earlier in the year. Making sure passengers didn't bypass that check was a procedure that would likely have led to less incidences of infection during the voyage that followed that departure. If checking documents was bypassed as in the post quoted, and people knew in advance then it was going to be more likely to have larger numbers on the voyage that followed succumbing to Covid. No doubt Cunard will have their own records of the outcome for cruises where vaccination documents were enforced compared to those where it was not. In addition forum reports both here and in other private cruise groups will relate passenger experiences and some idea of whether more were affected in cruises departing Brooklyn compared to Southampton, and other departure points could give an indication too.

It is clear from the experiences of the past few years, that an unvaccinated passenger will represent an increased risk of being infected relative to a vaccinated passenger with up to date booster jabs, and therefore consequentially an increased of passing the virus to other people on board, both passengers and crew. So to minimise the risk it is easy to see that Cunard would not wish to offer exemptions, no matter what the reason is. Also anyone unvaccinated on board who contracts Covid during a voyage would have a greater chance of being more seriously ill and then need more intensive medical care. Given the number of incidences of some percentage of personnel on board testing positive on most voyages, then anyone who is unvaccinated may require a level of care that is only possible in intensive care wards in a hospital, should they contract Covid, and that is not something available in the medical centres on board, and would likely need a medevac transfer to a facility on land in order to treat anyone who needed to be on a ventilator for example. So it would be surprising if anyone who is unvaccinated, even if for for good medical reasons, to put themselves at risk in a cruise environment in that kind of way.

BklynBoy8: The experience we had as 'normal ballroom dancers' on that one QM2 cruise some years ago was sufficiently impacted that we have made sure we are not on the ship at the same time as such a group ever again, so continue to plan to avoid them on any voyage we take in the future. The group concerned on that occasion not only 'took over' the floor in the Queen's Room every evening, but also block booked G32 in the daytime for their private use - one afternoon I went in to G32 to use the normally empty floor for a bit of my own dance practice, and although nobody else was on the floor either, one of the 'group members' was in the room with a laptop and told me directly that the room was booked for the use of 'group members' only as a private reserved area! In addition upon arriving in the Queens Room in the evening around 7.30pm an array of tables nearest the dance floor had jackets, sweatshirts, and glasses of drinks placed to 'reserve' those tables for group members, some of whom then were in dinner until up to two hours later to take their reserved chairs, which meant no normal passenger could then sit there whilst it was unoccupied - when this was brought to the attention of crew, no action was taken. I am also sorry for any other normal dance passengers who experience these kinds of issues, and hope you can work out something for your planned July cruise. Although it is against forum rules to name the groups concerned or give any details, perhaps one of the Facebook private groups can share that information if anyone can't find it by searching on the net.

Some years back we had a pretty much similar experience on QM2 when there was a dance group of about 50 who were inconsiderate and aggressive and took over rooms much the same as you experienced. We have made sure we check no such groups are booked on any voyage we may want to book. It's easy enough to find the websites of the dance organisations that book large cruise dance group cruises. They usually let their members know a year or more ahead.

I guess most of us have had the latest Cunard email with more information about Queen Anne, with the latest linking to info about the "Bright Lights Society" which looks like a cabaret bar - with suggestions indicating people getting high on champagne, and live music to entertain, but also I note the section saying "When the performances are over and the applause dies down, the music kicks back in and everyone rises to their feet. The floor is yours, and your evening has only just begun." Looking at the picture there doesn't look like a lot of room to dance, and even disco dancing will be close and cosy between people! It is also interesting that they are making a big push for this venue as a highlight, and not pushing the Queens Room! It is also an unanswered question as to whether this Bright Lights Society might be a paid venue?

You get to bypass some of the queues with the Priority stamp, particularly, for the initial check-in, but it does not get any priority through the long queues for security checks just before boarding, and that can take some time if you happen to be there when a lot of people are arriving to check-in when queues can mean half an hour or more to go through the scanner with luggage through the x-ray machines.

We had the same view as others - very little choice of non-fly voyages. Very disappointing. Perhaps Cunard are hoping that people in Turkey will be more likely to book than Brits! With the current state of airport service, and lack of reliability or certainty with flights, a fly-cruise is not an exciting option, at least for us - maybe others are still keen and excited about fly-cruises!

I will miss the Christmas spirit on board this year, though in the past it was on one or other of the Queens! Spirit covers not only the atmosphere no doubt! I hope everyone on board as the festive atmosphere grows will have a lovely time especially over Christmas and New Year. Let's hope 2023 sees a better year for all than 2022.

I guess Cunard will never be able to satisfy all its passengers, but at least it should have a reasonable percentage of them happy on any one voyage!

Queuing for long periods to get to dinner is not a way that we would find acceptable for dinner on holiday. Dinner every evening is an occasion for us, not merely a time to shovel food down our throats and re-fuel for the next 6 hours. In order to be an 'occasion' for us it has to be enjoying time with interaction with our waiter(s), and taking time to have enjoyable conversations along with enjoying the flavours and presentation of each dish from starter through main to dessert and taking time for a coffee and petit fours. Not everyone wants that, but we are certainly not alone in wanting to enjoy dinner in particular as a special event, and not just on Gala nights.

So it would seem that keeping fixed dining will please those who want it - good. Time will tell whether people are largely now content, on both sides of that passenger desire, or if the grumbles in the forum will continue concerning dining service and satisfaction. After all dining is a very key, and high priority, factor for most on a cruise.

If it is to please customers why are there so many complaints about the service in Britannia Dining Room?

So now the situation is that in the attempt to change things to satisfy the demand from the freedom diners there are probably many more dissatisfied guests than there dissatisfied freedom diners in the original system. The road to progress can be a problematic one if not considered with due attention to potential bad side effects!

Plenty of people, us included, are very happy with dinner fixed at 6pm, especially if we want to dance from around 7.30pm in the Queens Room. By all means give some the option to queue for 'flexible' dining and all that it entails, but please leave the things that some of us like as they are. If too many things that were in the list of those we and others enjoyed for years are removed, we may well also become removed from continuing to book with Cunard. Already in the past year we, and quite a few friends, have been enjoying land based holidays that we have found as pleasurable as a cruise - it is not the same as being at sea, and it is not the same as arriving in port in the morning at a new location multiple times in a voyage, but at least there is a large dance floor, ballroom dancing that we like, and nobody trying to say the ballroom should be used for non-ballroom events, and we do have nice meals in the hotel dining rooms. Yes we would love to continue cruises but only if we can retain a reasonable fraction of the things we like about cruises with Cunard. If Cunard becomes the same as the many other cruise lines offering voyages on similar itineraries, then what is it that would make Cunard special, and a cruise of choice over other lines?

Nice one - or even perhaps Cunard Critiquers (by the way 'critiquer' in French translates to 'criticise' in English! So the CC brigade lives on!

If you want to receive them then perhaps phone Cunard and ask the agent to make sure that the settings at their end on the server are indeed set so that you will get the post-voyage questionnaires. There was a time a few years ago when they did an 'update' and one cruise I remember not getting the survey - the phone call led to the agent conforming that for future voyages I would get them - and indeed that was the case.