sandancer

I understand that breakfast is not included if booked through ValueTrips and costs $11 pp. How is the breakfast? If it is the usual buffet offering, like say the Holiday Inn Express we will probably pass and go to Joe’s Diner in the Harbour shopping center.

We are also booked with ValueTrips. I assume the room rate indicated does not include taxes. Anyone able to give me some idea of what this will be. In the UK the VAT is included in the room rate.

We were in Toulon end of April and quite enjoyed it. Took a little road train around the town and out to the beach. Then coffee and a snack. A little shopping, a walk along the marina and back to the ship. We’ve stopped at worse places.

Excuse me if I am being really dim here, how about if you decided not to get off the ship in Port? Do you still need to apply for the approval.

Cunard have confirmed that it is indeed an accessible cabin. If the cabin is needed by another guest then they will move us. That is acceptable to us as we certainly would not want to prevent anyone with a disability from using the cabin. As we have paid the upcharge we would be allocated another cabin in the same category (BA) if one is available. If not we would be upgraded.

Ah. Right. That makes sense although the legend does not show the cabin as wheelchair accessible (little black triangle). Will call them to confirm. Although I have had a recent knee replacement I certainly would not have booked a cabin specified as for cruisers with a disability. Would they move us if someone who really needs this type of cabin wanted it?

Has anyone stayed in this cabin? On the deck plan it looks like a larger cabin and balcony. It’s a paid upgrade from our standard balcony so it would be nice to know that it was worth the extra cost. Thanks for any advice.

That’s it. We used them in March. No appointment needed and it takes around 15 mins for results. Cost was $49 each. I think they will still be operating after Covid tests are not required as they appeared to be carrying out other medical tests (blood tests etc) also. We plan to use them again in August. No worries there but we would be overjoyed if the US relaxed the rules regarding pre-flight testing for fully vaccinated travellers.

How you arrive may have some influence on boarding times. If you arrive by taxi/coach etc it seems you can board ok. If you are leaving your car with CPS and have to go to the testing station then you need to stick to your arrival time as when we did that they would only allow you to go to the drive through at your allocated time. Bear in mind that this was in December and things may be much more relaxed now.

Well that’s a happy coincidence. We are staying fairly close to a Total Wine. That’ll do. Cheers

I’m wondering if the staff at Southampton are more flexible. Our cruise departs from Fort Lauderdale and we have never been able to carry on more than 2 bottles of wine when embarking there (not Cunard however). Is it the ship staff who check or port security? We have never tried to carry on more than the allowance but still had our bags searched.

Our travel agent said they could not give us the BLC obc but reduced the cost of the cruise by the same amount we would have received.

My other piece of advice is to pace yourself. On our first cruise we were like kids in a sweet shop. We never missed a meal, and this was in the days of ubiquitous midnight buffet. We went to every show, took part in all the deck activities (limbo dancing anyone?) and took a tour at every port. Wonderful. 32 years later we still love to cruise but are way more selective. Some days we can just about be prised from the balcony to go for dinner.

She’s not been there since Thursday unless she crept back in last night.

Arcadia is no longer berthed at the Port of Tyne.

The only thing I can think of is to ask your credit card provider if this situation is something they can help with.

It just goes to show that it depends who you talk to when you are looking for information. Last week I was informed by an agent in the Cunard UK office that although they are still sticking with traditional first and second sittings, if you are late seating you can arrive at any time between 7.45 and 8.30. I think I’ll take the word of Castro and Millie, nothing like getting it right from someone who actually knows.

Actually it was someone on our rollcall for the cruise we took when we used them to get back to MIA who recommended them. We use Uber a lot when we are in Florida but only for short journeys. I’m a little reluctant to take a chance on getting one after a 10 hour flight. I would prefer to have something pre-arranged, especially at MIA.

Has anyone used this service recently. We need to get from MIA to a Fort Lauderdale hotel. We used them 2 years ago but that was picking from a hotel going to MIA. We were happy with the service then but that’s a lot less complicated than an airport pick up. We will be arriving on an International flight and sometimes it’s a very long process just getting through the formalities.

I can access mine. Just checked.

No boredom here Sarah. Really enjoying your posts. Our first cruise was in 1990 and we were totally overwhelmed by all the food, the entertainment and the service. Way down the line we still get excited every time we board but pace ourselves now. Enjoy.

For a Transatlantic in December we would always go for mid-ships and a lower deck. We prefer an aft cabin but know from experience that you do feel the motion more.

Unfortunately it applies to all standard Flex Accounts. If you want insurance cover included you need to upgrade to a Flex Plus Account.

We also have Flex Account travel insurance. It covers cruise travel. For an extra £20 each we were able to purchase additional cruise cover. You can claim for various situations such as missing the ship following an excursion. Unfortunately Nationwide will only offer cover to Flex Plus accounts after the end of September.

We are on the QE transatlantic in August, Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona. I called Cunard UK this week to check if we could upgrade our cabin. The agent told me that they are not selling any more cabins on this cruise even though there is availability, the cruise is showing as fully sold out. They will sail with reduced capacity. I hope this means there will be no cancellations on this particular cruise. Along with many other people we booked our own flights, hotels in both Fort Lauderdale and Barcelona although both hotels can be cancelled without penalty.