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QM2 skipping Alesund today


bluemarble
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For those who like to follow the progress of the Cunard fleet, QM2 will be missing the call at Alesund, Norway today. The captain has determined that the weather conditions make it unsafe to attempt to dock in Alesund, so we will be enjoying a sea day today instead.

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For those who like to follow the progress of the Cunard fleet, QM2 will be missing the call at Alesund, Norway today. The captain has determined that the weather conditions make it unsafe to attempt to dock in Alesund, so we will be enjoying a sea day today instead.

 

I am sorry that we will be missing our tour up the fjords, but having stepped outside for a minute, maybe it will be better to have a sea/fjord day instead. It's nasty out there :)

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I've been lucky enough to do 4 fjords' cruises in recent years and we have never missed a port - I haven't read any reviews or posts on here either where that has happened, so this might be a case of extreme bad luck due to very adverse wind conditions.

 

Having read Safarigal's blog for the first few days of this voyage it appears that the weather is not being at all kind. Fortunately, aside from a very wet time in Olden last July, we always seem to have reasonable, even very good weather - even in Bergen.

 

Alesund is a very attractive little town, with excellent views to be had of the port from various viewpoints: I hope that everyone who misses out today gets another opportunity in future to experience this Art Noveau gem.

 

Finger crossed that the sun comes out for your stop in Flam!

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Naturally, we would have preferred to have made our port call at Alesund today. But in the spirit of making lemonade from lemons, our insight speakers presented an additional round of lectures today. Of particular interest to me were Eric Flounder's talk on 'QE2: Fifty Years Famous' and Bill Miller's talk on 'Cunard 175'.

 

During today's noon announcement, Captain Wells indicated another ship (Costa Pacifica?) did not make it into Alesund yesterday and another ship (P&O Aurora?) did not make it into Flam. He indicated the forecast looked reasonably hopeful for us to make our call at Flam tomorrow, so fingers crossed about that.

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What a shame. I just posted some lovely pictures of Alesund, Norway on our roll call to follow the QM2's travels until she arrives in Brooklyn next week.

 

Well, here's an old picture of QM2 in Alesund

QM2Alesunde_zps792zny5j.jpg

 

 

Alesunde_zpsnfeno5em.jpg

 

 

Jonathan

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Does anyone know if this happens very often in the Fjords?

 

The weather has been exceptionally cold, windy, and rainy for this time of the year. I doubt if any cruise line would schedule calls in Norway if missing ports was the norm rather than the exception. Passengers get disappointed and rightfully so.

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Then 'out of the blue', the sun has made a brilliant appearance this afternoon/early evening. The air temperature is still chilly (feels like it's about 60°F at best), but we have the sun shining directly on our faces as we sit on our starboard sheltered balcony with the ship on a southerly course. It feels more like a glorious 75°-80°F on our balcony right now. Things are looking up!

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  • 4 weeks later...

DW and I each just received separate checks for $9.42 in today's mail from "Bottomline Technologies, Paymode-X For Carnival plc". The paper work included with the checks state they are for Queen Mary 2, voyage M822, sail date 06/17/2018, 7 days. That's our recent QM2 voyage to Norway.

 

There are "Reference" fields on the paper work stating "TF&PE REFxxx". Therefore I assume these checks are refunds related to the Taxes, Fees, and Port Expenses for our call at Alesund that was cancelled. Never received refunds like this before even though we have had a few ports cancelled on previous Cunard voyages. Glad to see these checks this time around.

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DW and I each just received separate checks for $9.42 in today's mail from "Bottomline Technologies, Paymode-X For Carnival plc". The paper work included with the checks state they are for Queen Mary 2, voyage M822, sail date 06/17/2018, 7 days. That's our recent QM2 voyage to Norway.

There are "Reference" fields on the paper work stating "TF&PE REFxxx". Therefore I assume these checks are refunds related to the Taxes, Fees, and Port Expenses for our call at Alesund that was cancelled. Never received refunds like this before even though we have had a few ports cancelled on previous Cunard voyages. Glad to see these checks this time around.

 

 

We we’re also on that cruise and recieved these credits on our final bill on the following

crossing back to NY.

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DW and I each just received separate checks for $9.42 in today's mail from "Bottomline Technologies, Paymode-X For Carnival plc". The paper work included with the checks state they are for Queen Mary 2, voyage M822, sail date 06/17/2018, 7 days. That's our recent QM2 voyage to Norway.

 

There are "Reference" fields on the paper work stating "TF&PE REFxxx". Therefore I assume these checks are refunds related to the Taxes, Fees, and Port Expenses for our call at Alesund that was cancelled. Never received refunds like this before even though we have had a few ports cancelled on previous Cunard voyages. Glad to see these checks this time around.

Thanks for posting this. I also received a check and thought it might be for Alesund, but in the past the refunds have been posted to my credit card, now it makes sense.

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According to Cunard, who as we all know don’t ever fib, they do NOT ever refund port fees, because they don’t charge them!

 

Make of that what you will.

 

This may be a difference between US and UK bookings. I know the fares you are quoted in the UK already include all the additonal taxes and fees. In the US we are always quoted a base fare and then taxes, fees and port expenses are an additonal charge on top of that base fare. In the case of voyage M822, the June 17, 2018 QM2 7-day cruise to Norway, we were both charged $91.14 for "Taxes, Fees & and Port Expenses" in addition to the per-person "Fare" for the cabin. That's how it's listed as a separate line item on the booking confirmation I received from Cunard.

 

Do any of you that book under the UK terms and conditions ever see a separate line item for "Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses" on the booking confirmations you receive from Cunard?

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Do any of you that book under the UK terms and conditions ever see a separate line item for "Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses" on the booking confirmations you receive from Cunard?

 

I have always found this extremely annoying, cruise lines quote a huge lump sum and you have no idea what that is for or if it is correct. Every time I buy an airline ticket, taxes and charges are listed in great detail. No, I don't enjoy paying them but I do see what they are. I have cruised with seven different cruise lines. Not once have I seen any breakdown of their taxes and fees. Why not? Anybody had better luck than me?

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