nzstuart51

We currently have a booking in a Club Class mini suite on Majestic Princess and we have purchased the  Princess Premier Package. All of this would be great and would meet our expectations BUT we now find that, on this particular cruise we could book an S5 Suite with balcony for not a great deal more, on the basic cruise fare.

Some obvious questions are:

> It seems the S5 suites are situated at the front of the ship, is this an issue for voyages into Asia?

>It seems that Club Class dining is available for S5 Suite guests, is that so?

>S5 Suite guests seem to have access to a separate lounge. Is that so, and do we need to add a Princess Premier Package to our booking. Further, are beverages automatically included in the S5 Suite package or whilst in this dedicated lounge?

Your views would be appreciated.

Cheers

nzstuart51

The one and only time I have booked a CC mini suite, it happened to be on Coral Princess, the booking was in M1 category. In recent times when looking to make another Club Class booking, category M1 has been fully booked but some travel agency websites seem to be suggesting that category M6 is also for Club Class Mini Suites.

Is anyone able to throw some light on this? Are both M1 and M6 categories for one and the same category of mini suite? And, if there is a difference, what is it?

nzstuart51

We are booked on Seabourn Odyssey to arrive in Papeete (Tahiti) at 7.00 am. The only flight to New Zealand or Australia is scheduled to depart Papeete at 9.10am on the same day. After that flight, the next flight is not for another 2 days.

Accordingly, I am very keen for us to get on the same day flight. I feel confident we could organise expedited disembarkation and would ensure we had all of our luggage with us when leaving the ship. Despite all this, the connecting time is extremely tight.

The cruise we are on visits three Tahitian islands before arriving in the capital Papeete. Those stopovers are in Raiatea, Moorea and Huahine. Question: will all customs and immigration formalities be completed before we get to Papeete thus meaning we can avoid any formalities in Papeete? Secondly, are taxis readily available at the cruise berth in Papeete and what is the travel time between town and the airport?

Any other guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

nzstuart51

We have a cruise booked for March/April 2023 which terminates in Papeete. Scheduled arrival time is 7.00am. The one and only flight to New Zealand and Australia, this day is scheduled to depart at 9.00am. The next flight is two days later! We would dearly love to book the same day connection but we are very conscious of the tight time frame involved.

I am presuming we will not need to clear customs and immigration when we debark in Papeete as we would already have entered French Polynesian territory with visits to Raiatea, Moorea and Huahini in the three days immediately before arriving in Papeete, and if my presumption is correct, this would be one major stumbling block out of the way. Further, we would willingly debark the ship with all of our luggage.

From previous experience, I believe the taxi travel time from the port to the airport is less than 30 minutes.

Do any experienced travellers have any comments on the above scenario?

Cheers

nzstuart51

We are due to board Odyssey in just over 5 weeks and in the past week I have been diagnosed as positive for Covid. Already my symptoms are fading and in a few days I expect to be asymptomatic but all my reading suggests that I could still test positive for a number of weeks, and maybe even longer. The Seabourn website states that in such circumstances "exceptions may apply."

Has any reader experienced this situation themselves, or are aware of a Seabourn passenger in a similar situation, and are able to share with us Seabourn's actual willingness to apply an exception.

I should add that I am fully vacinated.

jimbo1683

Are you able to point to the specific Cunard webpage that actually says this?

Cheers nzstuart51

I fully realise this subject has been raised many, many times in the past but I would really welcome an update, based on recent experience.

In the past, and despite Cunard's own published rules,  at time of boarding the Cunard staff/representatives turned a blind eye in situations where boarding passengers were bringing reasonable amounts of alcohol on board. This situation seemed to apply at time of boarding and following visits at intermediate ports.

In a previous post on this website, several years ago, one contributor made the point that "Cunard treats it's passengers as adults."

Does anyone have recent experience?

Cheers all

In the past, on our 3 previous Cunard voyages we were able to take a modest amount of alcohol on board, with Cunard treating it's passengers as adults. Up until the time when all sailings were cancelled, was this still Cunard's  policy/attitude and if so, is there any indication that they may have changed their stance during the lockdown?

Roll on the resumption of sailing!!!

QM2 is scheduled to arrive Singapore early morning on 10 March. We are scheduled to disembark the following morning. In order to catch our booked flight back to Australia we would really need to be off the ship and through customs and immigration formalities by no later than 8.00am.

I recognise that this will be tight but is it doable and what would we need to do to have the best chance of catching our flight?

What do you experts out there suggest please?

Stuart

When we did a number of sectors on a QM2 world voyage last year there were one or two days when guests were able to purchase duty free alcohol from the onboard store and were permitted to immediately take the bottle for consumption in their suite during the remainder of the voyage.

We are booked to do a somewhat similar itinerary this year and was wondering if the same practice is likely to be repeated.

Cheers

Stuart

We are booked on Voyage M905D which arrives in Singpore at 8am on Sunday 10 March. After spending that night onboard QM2 in Singapore we are scheduled to disembark on Monday 11 March.

In order to enable us to plan flights home to Australia is anyone able to give us guidance on when disembarkation will likely begin. I totally realise that Singapore Customs and Immigration could frustrate best made plans.

Any help would be appreciated.

Stuart

I started this thread, totally oblivious to the side issues which would arise. I must stress we would NEVER ever take our own supply of alcohol outside of our cabin. Further, when in a bar, lounge or restaurant we will certainly only ever buy the Cunard supplied alcohol and that will certainly comprise spirits, wines and liqueurs.

It would seem from the on-topic posts on this thread that there has been no change to the Cunard policy in respect of taking alcohol onboard and therefore our plan is still doable.

Thank you to contributors.

Last time we sailed on QM2, and also at the time we bookedour latest March 2018 cruise, Cunard had a very liberal policy on taking liquor onboard. In fact, up until a relatively short while ago, the Cunard website speltout the (very liberal) limitations and then said “it is not our intention toinvoke this policy as matter of course and we will only implement on occasionswhere we consider it likely that the health, comfort, safety and enjoyment ofpassengers may otherwise be compromised.”

That general qualification seems to have been deleted now.Does that mean the policy has changed in recent times?

For our March 2018 cruise we certainly don’t intend takinglarge volumes of alcohol on board but we do have a favourite spirit which isnot available on any cruise line. It would be our intention to take a supply of this spirit for our 20 nights on board to have a drink or two on the balcony at sunset each evening.