Coathanger

There is a wonderful selection of books in the QM2 library, including quite a few about ocean liners and Cunard. Really enjoyed ‘The Only Way to Cross’ which covered the golden age of Transatlantic express liners. 

Transport also gets good coverage with whole sections on trains, planes (Concorde, Spitfire et al) and automobiles. 
 

There is also a beautiful hardcover edition of Paddington. 
 

2 hours ago, Pushpit said:

There's an onboard App that gives this information. It's not really an app, they try to make look like one, it's really a locally hosted intranet link to your account. It's free to use and available on laptops, tablets and smartphones.

I thought My Voyage was actually pretty good and used it daily on QM2 recently. 

Great to be able to book a dinner time when on Open Seating, lock in Shore Excursions and even book planetarium tickets. 
 

Account was up to date and reflected things like onboard credit and World Club discounts for things like wifi. 
 

If you follow the ‘Add to Home Screen’ steps, it’ll pretty much work like an any other app including remembering your login details. 
 

https://myvoyage.cunard.com

Go for it. 
 

My first two experiences on QM2 were Southampton to Hamburg, and then in reverse a few years later. 
 

By then I knew I loved the ship and had the time to do an Eastbound Transatlantic in 2018.  
 

Just finished a wonderful 16 nights on the Sydney to Hong Kong leg of the QM2 World Voyage. 

I was actually pleased with the selection of films on the QM2 Sydney to Hong Kong leg with Hidden Figures (African-American women who made significant contributions to the NASA space program), Golda (covering the Yom Kippur War from the perspective of Prime Minister Golda Meir) and Mao’s Last Dancer (the story of Li Cunxin and his journey from rural China to ballet school and Houston Ballet).

Li Cunxin and his wife Mary, both former principal dancers with the Australian Ballet, were aboard as keynote speakers and watched the film from the back. Illuminations was close to capacity so I stood at the back to watch. 
 

The other thirteen or so nights had less interesting films, but there is some quality to the programming. 

Cruised solo on Odyssey in December and had a great time. 
 

You’ll be invited to a hosted table of 6-8 each night with a senior member of crew or entertainment team. Exception will be the first night aboard (where I had dinner at the TK Grill). 
 

There was also an invitation to a solo guest cocktail party, though I didn’t attend. 

Received the email survey within 24 hours of disembarking Odyssey last week.

The survey is run by Medallia and is sent from Seabourn@express.medallia.com for the avoidance of doubt.

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

I'm curious if the winery at Cloudy Bay is a very special experience? Many wine tasting experiences are pretty similar — nice grounds/gardens, some background on the winery, tanks and barrels and bottles, and of course tasting several wines. In the case of Cloudy Bay, many of us have undoubtedly tasted their wine, and anyone can do so in most of the world (including aboard a Seabourn ship). So my question is what's extra special about visiting this winery which would make deciding on a$300/per person excursions a go versus no-go decision. (Just to be clear; I'm not critiquing/criticizing/disagreeing in any way; I'm genuinely interested, because we will make it to New Zealand one of these years!)

Fair question. I was keen to see Cloudy Bay specifically given the history in establishing the wine industry in New Zealand.
 

Typically look to book a more in-depth or behind the scenes tour where possible to go beyond a standard tasting, which I agree are mostly the same.

Had a great experience at Mont Rochelle in Franschhoek staying at the hotel, which is part of the Virgin Collection, and getting a behind the scenes tour of the working vineyard on site and learning the importance of canopy management from their winemaker. 
 

Will look at something like the First Taste tour for a future trip:

https://www.cloudybay.com/en-au/visit-us/marlborough-first-taste-tour/

1 hour ago, frantic36 said:

We were also supposed to have a tasting at Cloudy Bay but CB cancelled the day before. The substitute winery was a reasonable and lots of others enjoyed it. This time I made sure I booked Cloudy Bay privately and well in advance. I had to book two tables of four as they don't do big tables. 

 

I think Cloudy Bay as much as Seabourn might try is not ever likely.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Seems like Cloudy Bay is one you have to book direct with, rather than through a shore excursion. 
 

I mentioned to the sommelier in The Restaurant last night that it’s an opportunity to create a wine enthusiast version of ‘Shopping With The Chef’ given they seem to have some relationship with CB already. 
 

He did also mention that Peter Gago from Penfolds was aboard another Seabourn ship last year, with BIN 707 being particularly memorable. 

Review of two shore excursions in Australia / New Zealand given Odyssey is doing the itinerary a few times in the coming months. 
 

Port: Philip Island, Australia

Excursion: Philip Island’s Famous Penguins 

Duration: 4 Hours

Price (USD): $139

Recommended: Yes 

A solid excursion with scenic drive across Philips Island to Summerlands, where the fairy penguins return to shore. 
 

Plenty of wallaby and Cape Barren Geese to be seen. 
 

Our guide Peter was great with a balance of facts and stories. 
 

New visitors centre has a cafe with hot meals for dinner, useful as the excursion departs around 6:30PM and finishes four hours later. The vegetable green curry was quite good. 
 

Naturally the highlight was seeing the penguins return to shore, and that alone was worth the price of admission. 
 

Port: Picton, New Zealand

Excursion: Wine & Garden

Duration: 5 Hours

Price (USD): $300

Recommended: No

Draw card of this excursion is the visit to two iconic wineries of the Marlborough wine region. 
 

Prologue is the communications manager from Cloudy Bay, by far the most iconic winemaker In Marlborough, was onboard to give an afternoon talk and host a speciality dinner. Asked if any of the shore excursions would include a visit to CB and she indicated that one would. 
 

Asked at the Destination Services desk the following morning and was told they weren’t sure so I didn’t book. Received a call at around 5PM advising the tour would be visiting  CB. Appreciated the follow up so booked the shore excursion. 
 

Departing the ship at 9AM our first stop was Woodend Garden, which is a lovely space but about the size of a football field so an hour here felt excessive. 
 

Second stop was Hunter Wines, which had a nice garden setting out the back of the founders original home now used as the cellar door. Nice wines but a standard tasting which retails for NZ$15. 
 

Third and final stop was a boutique winery Fromm, which focussed on red wines like Pinot Noir rather than the white wines like Sauvignon Blanc that Marlborough is famous for. Being a smaller outfit, the experience here was good and the Pinot was excellent. 
 

Then it was a drive back to the ship by about 1:30PM, so just over 4.5 hours total. 
 

Putting aside the Cloudy Bay issue (we actually drove past…) there was nothing unique or special about this shore excursion to justify the price. If you enjoy wine, you’ll probably get more value putting that $300 toward a wine dinner aboard. 

2 minutes ago, 2SailingNomads said:

I'd be glad to assist you, please send me an email to SailingNomads@outlook.com and I will be happy to refer you.

Great, thank you @2SailingNomads. Is my email address sufficient or do we need additional details?

Usually a Cunarder, but am sailing Seabourn for the first time in December 2023 (i.e. next month). 

Booked via an Online Travel Agent (OTA) without any OBC.

Assume I'll be eligible for the Referral credit so if a fellow member has a referral please let me know.

The refund for a May 9 cruise appeared on my Westpac credit card this morning.

• Direct booking with Cunard Australia
• Refund requested 30 March
• Followed up via phone 2 June, refund request escalated to 'finance'
• Refund received 18 June

Total of 79 days between refund request and receipt.

29 minutes ago, Edithclara said:

Thanks. What is your cruise date? Did you book direct? 

Cruise date 9 May.

Booked direct via the Cunard Australia website. 

An Australian data point.

• Requested refund 30 March (same day my cruise was cancelled)
• 60 days passed at the end of May
• Called Cunard today and the lovely team member advised request was processed by Cunard 23 April (i.e. three weeks to action)
• Advised to expect a refund at the end of June or early July
• I advised this was beyond the 60 days promised so requested to escalate
• My refund request has been sent to the finance team

3 minutes ago, Dahani said:

We had this from our TA in the UK last week. Like everyone else we were promised 60 days. 

So they now want to keep my money til possibly January, so I have put in a Section 75 claim with my credit card company. Hopefully it will take no more than 6 weeks from now.  I hope Cunard don't make everybody wait that long.   Also   Carnival Corp put this out to the stock market........    https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/CCL/14540739.html     Last month the company completed a successful financing effort with a heavily oversubscribed offering of senior secured notes, senior convertible notes and common stock, netting $6.4 billion of additional liquidity   the majority of guests affected by our schedule changes want to sail with us at a later date, with fewer than 38 percent requesting refunds to date. Our booking trends for the first half of 2021, which remain within historical ranges, demonstrate the resilience of our brands and the strength of our loyal recurring customer base, of which 66% are repeat cruisers.  In addition, we plan to stagger fleet reentry to optimize demand and operating performance over time.

Difficult situation for the travel agents. Hopefully the chargeback (Section 75) avenue bears fruit.

While a 38% refund rate is good for liquidity, it's worth noting the heavily oversubscribed offering reportedly comes with an 11.5% interest rate.

6 minutes ago, shippmates said:

We also were waiting for our credit card credit for a cruise canceled in March. I found a cruise I wanted to book for next year so I called them and had my credit moved to the new booking.  It was simple to do and Cunard was helpful.

 

Glad to hear of your positive experience. 

Presumably the call centre staff were able to answer your call within a reasonable period of time, indicating that sufficient resources are now on hand. 

Which returns to my previous point that processing refunds appears to be a lower priority for Cunard by choice. 

39 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

2. Other than Simon pale thorpe appearing on an individuals doorstep with a fist full of dollars/pounds, I'm of the opinion few on here would be satisfied.

I'd personally prefer Mr Palethorpe not appear on my doorstep.

I can only speak for myself, but I accept the need for Cunard to manage their cashflow and delay the drawing down of loans. As stated above, I have no doubt in my mind that refunds could be bulk processed if there was the corporate will. 

I also accept their preference for Future Cruise Credit instead of a cash refund from a business perspective, though did not appreciate the latter being framed as a 'forfeiture'.

What I do not accept is the lack of transparency around the progress of refunds.

If a company tells me to expect to wait 60 days in this current situation, fair enough. But if it is likely this timeframe won't be met, the minimum I'd accept is being informed of progress.

31 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

1. Updates, by their very nature would probably distract yet another member of an already depleted staff from their principle roll in the office

It is reasonable to expect that the shoreside team know exactly where the refunds are up to right now, the finance team in particular. Given your history with the Royal Navy, I'd be surprised if you would accept anything less were you in charge.

A well worded Tweet and Facebook update should take all of 15 minutes total per day. 

Compare this to the numerous emails, calls and social media responses the teams are having to action at present, and we have a net saving in time.

Which would allow the depleted staff to return to processing refunds.

There are two things Cunard could do to improve the situation.

1. Provide clear updates on which date they are up to in terms of refunds. It's clear that we are going to be waiting more than 60 days so if they said 'we have processed all refunds requested on X date' I would be less likely to follow up.
2. Use bulk payment files and credit card reversals. For the former, you could create a bulk payment file with all the payments into the Cunard accounts (obviously there will be differences by country of booking, agent vs direct). For the latter, you can take a sailing (e.g. Q15N) then look at all the booking references attached to that cruise and then filter by those made with a credit card payment. The vendor would be able to reverse those specific transactions.

While the latter will impact cashflow (and in my view the 60 days is about cashflow, not logistics), the former costs nothing and would reassure Cunarders (and cut down on the amount of follow ups they are getting).

On 3/17/2020 at 4:38 AM, Windsurfboy said:

Thanks for the link to the form.

 

Filled in

 

Response says your refund will be processed in 45 days , unacceptably slow. When I get back to UK will get on the phone

19 minutes ago, Edithclara said:

45 days? Their website says "refunds may take up to 60 days to be processed." As long as we receive it!

45 days was for the first round of cancellations until 11 April. 60 days is the current waiting period since the second round of cancellations until mid-May were announced yesterday. 

2 hours ago, Clagmeister said:

I have been promised it by Cunard but still waiting for the cash.

I'd imagine they'll keep you waiting for almost the full 45 days to manage their cashflow.

It's also worth noting the language on the Travel Advisory page has been updated to make clear that a 100% refund is available, rather than hiding it as a 'forfeit of 125% FCC'. 

I've requested my refund, which will now take up to 60 days to processed. 

Key item is the option to request a full refund via: https://www.cunard.com/en-au/request

Relevant FAQ below.

And now Singapore has announced it has halted docking of cruise ships.