ak1004

I completely agree with you that every line offers a different experience, and you need to know what to expect from each line. We don't expect great entertainment and activities when we sail with Oceania, and we would not sail TA with them. I'm sure that Cunard PG offers great experience and there is huge difference between PG and Britannia. I'm curious why you think that comparing Cunard TA with Silverseas repositioning cruise is not comparing apples with apples (although I was comparing Cunard PG in terms of pricing).

Please don't forget that there is less staff but also less passengers. Our sailing was at 70% capacity. Some sailings are even less. For some people Covid is a blessing. They can use it as an excuse for their incompetence and laziness. I always prefer to use email instead of phone. This way everything is documented. Don't trust anyone those days. As for being patient, i was very patient waiting for refunds from Crystal.. it didn't end up well.. Thank you everyone for your feedback.

I checked few other cruises on SS website and none of them shows now excursions in the port description. I checked at least 10 cruises sailing in Oct-Dec.2022. I'm pretty sure that most cruises showed the excursions previously. I'm referring to SS website, not MySilversea. Do others see the same thing?

Because it's obviously their mistake, so why I should waste my time on phone to fix it? They should resolve it by email, and if not, then I cause their BBB rating to go down and dispute with my credit card. Companies should be held accountable for their actions, and in this case, it seems like there is a pattern. Charge a customer credit card, majority will not notice anyway. A nice stream of an extra income for Cunard. As for things being hard for everyone right now, I really don't see how this is related to Covid, but it seems like everyone is using Covid as an excuse for the incompetence and laziness.

Which sailing is it?

Nothing wrong being a loyal customer who wouldn't even consider a different product. In fact, I'm happy that many Cunard fans won't even consider true luxury lines, otherwise they would become too popular, prices will rise and it will be difficult to book my favorite cabins. Just booked European cruise on Oceania at $230 USD per night and Middle East cruise on SS at $350 USD per night. Shhh.. don't tell anyone.. Signing off.

Suites cost significantly more on all midstream lines, and you get excellent food and service inside your bubble, but you are still on a big ship, with all the lines and the crowds. When comparing suite prices on those lines to entry level cabins on Silversea or other luxury lines, they can be comparable or in many cases even more expensive. One of the biggest differences between midstream lines and luxury lines is that on a luxury line, everyone is treated the same outside your cabin, regardless of your cabin category. You just get a bigger cabin, but the food and the service are the same for everyone. I'm not sure why it matters how you call it. You still go from North America to Europe (or vice versa). And SS has some other sailings in the same price range. It's easy to blame Covid on everything, but our embarkation on Oceania in December took 20 minutes, including a Covid test. And during those 20 minutes cold water and other drinks were freely available and served, while on QM2 we were standing almost an hour outside without any water. And suite passengers were treated the same way. Apparently Cunard believes that your cruise starts only at check in, even if you paid for a suite. Speaking of luxury..

Their TA crossings are between 9 and 35 days. Most of them include few ports, which to me is an added bonus (and all excursions in the ports are included). For longer crossings, the price per day can be even cheaper. For example, this one is $370 CAD per day - 50% cheaper than Cunard Grills. All suites, 8 restaurants (all included in the price), butler in every suite, unlimited black caviar, no lines etc. We are trying them first time in December. Not trying to convince anyone, just trying to understand.

Agree 100%. We hated seeing so many people wearing jeans and t-shirts for dinner on Celebrity.

Agree 10% about polo shirts and jeans. But I did see some men wearing jackets that didn't look so "smart" - although it was definitely not the majority. My point is that jacket itself doesn't necessarily makes you look smart, so I'm not sure why some people are so obsessed about jackets.

Speaking of comparing Cunard Grills to other lines: On this sailing Cunard Princess grills was $780 CAD per night. A typical TA crossing on Silversea is around $400-450 CAD per night. That's for all inclusive experience (all drinks, gratuities, internet, excursions etc). And Silversea is also very formal, Why would anyone book the Cunard Grills at those prices?

Smart casual according to Cunard: "a dress shirt and trousers, jacket and tie optional". And yet some people are surprised and sometimes shocked that about 50% of the gentleman did not wear jackets. Does a jacket automatically makes you look smart? Do you look smarter if you wear a cheap jacket from Walmart, compared to someone wearing a nice dress shirt from Hugo Boss? Or you wear a cheap rented Tuxedo compared to someone wearing a $2,000 suit?

And it aas absolutely amazing!!

Exactly. Why i should call them to fix their mistake??

I don't disagree. At the end of the day the only opinion that matters is yours. If you like the product, you shouldn't really care what others say. Yes, we were in Britannia balcony. Just couldn't justify paying $4k USD for a 7 nights cruise. But I agree that Grills experience is completely different (although it would not make a difference for internet, and very little difference on embarkation). I agree that comparing Oceania to Cunard Britannia is not apples to apples - this is exactly why I mentioned that we came with proper expectations. However, price wise, you would be surprised how small the difference could be. On a typical 10-14 days European cruise, Oceania veranda is around $450-500 CAD per night while Cunard Britannia balcony is around $350-400 CAD. When you consider all the inclusions (Oceania price includes complimentary specialty restaurants, Internet, still and sparkling waters, soft drinks, specialty coffees and teas, and in many cases gratuities), the price difference is really negligible. To me, the dress code is not what defines luxury. Silversea has the most formal dress code, Regent the least formal, but they are both in the top 5 luxury lines. Of course I strongly object people coming to dinner in shorts and t-shirts like you often see on RCI ships, but you won't see it on Oceania or Azamara.

Actually it's exactly the opposite. https://tabitha-whiting.medium.com/should-you-swap-to-soap-bars-to-reduce-your-environmental-impact-d9b4e5f77209 https://www.greenmatters.com/p/soap-bad-for-environment "Bar soap is generally considered the most sustainable soap option, with 10 times less of an environmental impact than liquid soap. "

After almost a week, finally got a reply on Facebook PM. Instead of actually looking into this, they want me to call their customer service. I reminded them that this is 2022, and things are usually resolved via email. Obviously Cunard lives in the past.. I filed an official complaint with BBB and I will dispute the charges with my credit card company.

Waiting 2 hours to embark the ship are "my facts"? Having the most slow and unstable internet are "my facts"? Not having soap bars, conditioner, robes etc are "my facts"?

Please remember that $20/day is for one device only, so if you want to communicate on WhatsApp, it will be double. On our last TA sailing, the internet was almost unusable. It worked only in the certain areas and the connection was very bad. Since my mom is 87 with hearing problems, it was very frustrating.

I'm not trying to convince anyone. I couldn't care less which lines people sail. I'm just presenting the facts. And as I said, if it works for you, you couldn't care less if it's a luxury line or not. Many people drive a Toyota for their whole live and are very happy with it, don't feel the need to try a Mercedes. It's perfectly fine.

Yes, luxury is subjective, but there are still some objective factors that most experts agree on them. But as you said, if it works for you, what do you care if it's called luxury or not? People who like Carnival know it's not a luxury line, but they don't really care. And yes, completely agree that we are lucky to be able to sail of any of those lines, luxury or not. When you are talking about zip lines and buckets of beer, you are talking about lines like Royal Caribbean, NCL etc. I agree that Cunard is in a different league, but they are not Cunard competitors. Cunard competitors are Celebrity, Princess and Holland America. Personally I would rank Cunard slightly above those lines (mostly because of entertainment and enrichment), but below Oceania and Azamara (not to mention Silversea or Seabourn). Dressing up for dinner is not equal luxury. But I agree that Cunard is special and unique. Agree. But I'm sure you would agree that being on Britannia and on Grills is like being on two different ships. The price point of the Grills is also completely different - you are paying significantly more than veranda on Oceania or Azamara, but you are still on a large ship, with all the cons of a large ship (but also some pros of course).

If you read my initial post, I mentioned many things that we liked on Cunard, along with many things we didn't like. As much as I like Oceania, Cunard beats it easily in the entertainment and enrichment department. In fact, I would not take TA on Oceania, exactly for those reasons (unless I wanted just relax and finish few books). I also mentioned that I came with proper expectations, knowing that Cunard is not Oceania. My main issue is that Cunard is marketing itself as a luxury line, which is far from the reality. Many people might love Cunard, for different reasons. Many people also love Carnival and Royal Caribbean - it doesn't make them luxury lines, and they don't pretend to be. Cunard is in the same category as Celebrity, Princess and Holland America, and should be compared to those lines. It's easy to blame everything on Covid, but how Covid impacted the chaotic and inefficient embarkation? According to several reviews, it was exactly the same pre-Covid. How Covid impacted the food? I know it didn't on Oceania, why would it on Cunard? I do agree that Cunard is different from most lines and provides a special and unique experience. For some people it's enough to compensate for other deficiencies. For me it's not. As you mentioned, luckily we have some choices. That said, I won't say that we will never return to Cunard. There are few lines that we can say with 100% certainty that we will not be sailing on them again - Cunard is not one of them. I believe that constructive criticism is always good, it helps all of us to improve.

You can definitely believe what you want, but we were not the only ones who felt the excessive movement. We spoke to many passengers who felt the same way, and also heard few who asked for help at the reception desk. My apologies for "insulting" your baby! I don't know. I think we heard the captain mentioning rough sea on the first or second day, but I'm not 100% sure. From my experience, weather conditions are much more important that the ship. We have experienced very smooth sailings on ships like Azamara and Oceania, and some rough sailings on ships like Allure of the Seas. And yes, I'm well aware that the captain was not asleep for 5 days.. I thought Brits have good sense of humor. 🙂

I agree with you 100%. After being locked down for 2 years, I would sail even on Royal Caribbean or Carnival. That dais, our cruise in December 2021 on Oceania was hardly impacted by Covid. In fact, I don't think that the Cunard deficiencies I described have anything to do with Covid.

One more interesting observation that was unique to TA crossing. In the first 2-3 days, the ship movement was really strong. QM2 might be the only ocean liner, but this was one the worst we experienced in our cruising history. The next 2 days it improved a bit. Then 2 days before the end, the captain made an announcement that he is going to reduce speed significantly, otherwise we will arrive early. It was almost like he put the ship on autopilot at high speed, went to sleep, then woke up after 5 day - "ooops, we are too close, have to reduce the speed". After that the movement was almost not noticeable. This was very strangle, not sure if it's like this on every TA crossing, but it greatly impacted our experience and the first 2-3 days (and we are not sea sick usually).