Bedruthen

We got off QM2 on 15th, after a very calm crossing and a medical diversion to Halifax. In terms of our experience, we have taken 8 transatlantics ( a dislike of flying does that to you!) and this was our third trip on QM2 in the last 12 months. We had just, in November, taken the Sky Princess repositioning cruise. The one thing that really struck us was the decline in the food offering onboard. The Kings Court buffet was sparse and the main dining room food was often of lesser quality. I don’t recall ever sending food back on Cunard before, but did so twice over the 7 days. The duck a l'orange was a very dry leg, which was a struggle to separate from the bone and the steak was too tough to cut. The fact that we had recently enjoyed exceptional food on Sky Princess perhaps only served to highlight the decline, but nevertheless we were underwhelmed with the food and that was an unusual experience for us. It has made us question our future cruise plans, so I will be interested to hear whether others notice a similar decline. We also contracted Covid, as did a lot of others and given the amount of coughing onboard before we caught it, it would seem that not everyone is testing and reporting.

Is you see the earlier poster, this was not the norm. They received $600 fcc because of the disturbance

Loyalty level is meaningless. 900 elites on our Sky Princess cruise. Embarkation lounge so crowded we didn’t bother. Three days in to the cruise before our minibar was set up. Didn’t even bother with laundry as we spoke to so many still waiting for it to be returned. Pointless.

Yes same amount. It verges on an insult!

Met a couple last night on their very first cruise and boy were they unhappy. They have a forward cabin and have barely slept because of the noise in their cabin, which a previous poster has already documented. They have been to guest services and asked if they could be moved, but told no other cabin available. They booked it 18 months ago for an anniversary and it has put them off ever cruising again. That’s the trouble when you are new to cruising, you don’t know about the importance of cabin choice.

Why does it take so long for the most simple task? Is it really that difficult to calculate the refund due and then credit it? Guest services also told me that they were waiting for the figure from Head Office, but when I said that some passengers have already received a port fees refund, the story changed. Yes, some people have received it, but there is only one person onboard dealing with it. So what are they doing? Visiting each cabin in turn with a brown envelope with cash inside? Oh and while they claimed it was still being calculated by Head Office, they were able to say that it won’t be very much. Even though it’s still being calculated by Head Office.. Ever get the feeling that someone is just making it up, instead of actually checking the facts.

We are on Sky Princess and the food is the one thing that we have considered to be very good. As to the rest of the cruise, not for us.

Has anyone received their port fees refund yet? Two days gone by and there is nothing showing on our onboard account.

That’s not the issue here though. We had a survey yesterday in our cabin saying Princess want to exceed their passengers expectations. Well they need to manage them first. They could have let us know, well in advance, that there was a possibility that we may have to miss The Azores. Then the announcement today would not have been unexpected. Instead the Captain announced that they had just learnt of the strike action, which is simply not true. Celebrity changed their planned call to Lisbon and went in yesterday instead of today. So clearly it was known by the Cruise Lines.

So the strike dates were known before we even boarded? We were never going to dock today.

So the strike dates were known before we even embarked

We have also been to the Azores. It the opportunity to get off the ship, and properly stretch our legs that hurts. We are not massive fans of continuous sea days and needed that break to face the next 5 days before we hit the Caribbean.

The captain said that they had only just learnt of the strike. So how could they have been giving out refunds for port fees on some accounts yesterday? That does not make sense given the announcement. I very much doubt that they will add a port to the itinerary. They will just pocket the fuel saving by going slower. He confirmed that port fees will be refunded but that is little consolation for now having to face 6 sea days on top of the 3 already gone.

So we are off the Azores and the Captain has announced that our call has been cancelled. They have learnt in the last 30 minutes that there is to be a national pilots strike in Portugal today. We can see the coastline of the Azores close by. The strange thing is that yesterday a couple of people on this cruise reported on this very forum, that their onboard portfolio was showing a $20 refund for port fees and they had no idea wide. Did Princess know yesterday that there was a problem or is that just a strange coincidence that they made some random refunds ?

You do not have to book directly with Princess to get an upgrade offer. However we didn’t get an offer. On querying it directly with Princess and our agent, eventually we got an answer. You have to have booked the 'right' sort of fare. Unknown to us, our agent had booked a Net Fare and that fare does not qualify. Live and learn.

Insurance is interesting. If you show signs of Covid during boarding, you may be required to take a lateral flow test. If positive, you will not be allowed to board. However several insurance policies will only accept a claim if there has been a positive PCR test. So imagine you are denied boarding and then have to source a PCR test, which, in the U.K. are no longer easily available. And then imagine you take said PCR test and it comes back as negative for Covid. By which time the ship has sailed…

Do you factor in port days versus sea days? If you have a port intensive cruise and are off the ship on tours etc, can you still fit in the drinking?!

Not according to Princess. I didn’t get any bid upgrade offers despite everyone else on the roll call receiving them. I have had a number of explanations from Princess, but this is the conclusion. Seems the TA is involved.

That’s the bit that is missing from the email. It doesn’t differentiate on how room service is ordered, just states ' a $5 fees for ALL room service orders.

The last I recall from discussion on here, was that you paid your $14.99 medallion room service charge and provided you used the app and not the phone, delivery would be free. However we received an email from Princess which seems to say differently. Can anyone confirm definitively, if each delivery does indeed incur a $5 charge?

I have today been caught with the same problem. Not happy. A refusal by Cunard to add OBC. The travel agent made no mention of my booking not being valid, in fact, they gave me the email address information to submit the obc application, so they clearly expected it to be paid. I suspect this is a clampdown by Cunard, probably always in their terms but only recently being applied. I will certainly question the rates in the future, because the obc shareholder credit may well outweigh any discount given by agent. As an aside, one for the travel agents, how are customers supposed to know what fare rate they have been sold …

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply. I agree that aft cabins would be best, but unfortunately a few other people had the same idea and they are all sold! We currently have an aft side cabin on deck 10, where all the available cabins seem to be. Why is that, what have I missed? The equivalent cabin on starboard is also available so I could switch. Things to think about!

This is the cruise map

We have booked the 11 day Alaska cruise going next May ex San Francisco. I read that the best side for the glacier would be port. But looking more closely at the sailing, the ship goes North via the Inside passage and returns in the open sea. Should I change to starboard? Never sailed Alaska before and unlikely to do so again so trying to get the best experience. We booked direct so will Princess allow a change of cabin number if it’s the same grade ?

Just to add the cruises are round trip from San Francisco, as we fly in there and will be doing a National Parks roadtrip after the cruise.