sandancer

We have been doing this for years and have never been able to make that journey without taking a connecting flight. Not sure about Manchester so you might investigate that.

Both guests have to purchase the same package. We would have been very happy if we could have bought different ones but no go I’m afraid.

If you would prefer to book before you go and want to pay in sterling, you can book through Booking.com. We did this earlier this year and it all worked fine.

Are you flying in the same day as you sail? If you are you need a definite reservation for a transfer rather than rely on an Uber. You are probably looking at a minimum of $100 for a private transfer. That is what we are paying in a couple of weeks.

Thanks Charles. Very reassuring.

Anyone from the UK successfully applied for the Bermuda TA? Our vaccination cards don’t look like the N American type so concerned they may be rejected.

DH and applied this morning. I have had an email acknowledgment, he has not. I am a little concerned that they may not like our UK vaccination cards as they don’t look like the ones issued in N America. All we could do was take photos of the cards and attach them to the application and hope for the best.

There is a testing site in the West Quay Shopping Centre in Southampton called The Regenerative Clinic. We used them back in December. You are best to book an appointment online if possible. We felt more comfortable visiting a clinic rather than self testing. They will email the result to you. Time span is dependent on which test you choose.

Ah well. We’ll just have to pay to have laundry done. Not going to stress about it.

Well the choice has been taken out of our hands with our decision to travel with cabin baggage only for our 2 week cruise on QE in August. We are flying with BA via Heathrow and with looming strikes and a mountain of luggage at present we have taken the line of least resistance and think to have less clothes than we would normally take is better than none at all. Had some excellent advice here on CC and have taken it all on board (pardon the pun). Thank goodness for Cunard self service laundries. You never know, this might be the future of our luggage choice but I doubt it. I do love my shoes/bags.

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to use obc to book speciality dining before the start of a cruise. Celebrity allow you to do this but I know not all cruise lines do. Would like to get some nice dinners arranged in advance of our November cruise.

I’m sure you won’t be turned away from wherever you decide to eat either if you’re wearing formal clothes. Don’t bother about what other people are wearing in there. Regardless of where we eat, if it’s a formal night we dress up.

Get transfer.com

Never stayed at Claridges, nor have we graced Butlins with our presence but have cruised over 75 times and can assure you that all cruise lines, including Cunard have things you will like a lot or not so much. Personally we now love Cunard but our first experience was not great. We are now about to take our fourth cruise with Cunard as we thought we should try again and so glad we did. As for P&O, we were quite reluctant to try but after taking a Seacation on Britannia last year we have now booked Arvia for a transatlantic next year. Fortunately we didn’t have the same experience as Big Mac.

Exactly Hattie. As I read it the OP was asking for comparisons with Celebrity. Comparing Cunard and Seabourn isn’t helping the OP.

Afternoon tea as a starter. We are also long time Celebrity cruisers and we’re disappointed that afternoon tea had disappeared on our recent cruise. Full room service menu at no extra charge. Real, proper formal nights, not chic nights where “designer” jeans are allowed. Our 4th Cunard cruise coming up and can’t see us going back to Celebrity, Elite plus or not.

Thanks. That’s reassuring. We’ve been in touch with the cruise line and they can’t help. Going to travel as planned and hope for the best.

Other way round for us. We are flying to Miami in August for a cruise from Fort Lauderdale. Now BA threatening strikes. We planned a 5 night stay before the cruise and I’m very glad now we did that.

10/11 hour flight. Don’t think so. We’ll have to think of some other way.

I can see how that could work but there are 3 gala evenings so my DH definitely needs at the very least a dark suit if not a DJ. We will have to accommodate his needs and I’m going to take very, very lightweight dresses. The beaded and sequinned dress for “roaring 20’s gala night will be staying behind however.

I didn’t realise that. We have 5 days in between flight and cruise so as long as they get us there before sail date we can live with it.

Thanks for all the advice. Unless things change in the next few weeks we will definitely be travelling with one cabin bag each, def not weighing 23kg and a couple of fold up holdalls which can be used as cabin bags on the return. The others can go in the hold on the return flight. If they get delayed it’s no biggie. I usually buy all the sun lotion etc from Walgreens or CVS so no change there and we are very happy with the toiletries provided by Cunard. Called Cunard to ask about booking flights through them. The flights offered are the same ones we are on so still have the BA problem except that we would have more security if booked with Cunard. However, the sum they are asking for is over double what we paid for the cruise. Not happening.

Sorry Victoria, Sandancer is a 5ft 2in, non exercising female, whose biceps are definitely not in prime condition for lifting 23kg above the head haha. I’m definitely leaning towards going on a shopping spree (if only the £ would pull itself together against the $). To be honest given the awful problems travellers are having right now I think we’ll be past caring, as you say least of our problems. Just under 6 weeks until we fly. Hopefully all parties will get round the table and work things out in that time 🤞

Flights booked direct with BA so no help can be anticipated from Cunard and we wouldn’t expect any. Worse case scenario we will travel with cabin bags and buy more when we arrive. Just hope the strikes don’t go ahead.

Thought about that. If we are able to travel as planned we will have 5 days before we cruise. Maybe an Uber to Sawgrass Mills would work.