Departure times

[amygol]

Hi! My husband and have just booked to board CMA CGM Utrillo departing May 2010 from Tilbury and we will be sailing to Melbourne.

We have cruised before but never on a freighter and my only worry is the sailing date. Living in Australia we will have to book our airfares early and it wouldn't be a problem if we have to wait around for a couple of days but if the ship leaves earlier we could be in a fix!!

Has anyone got any thoughts on this for me please?:)

[Abarb]

Hi, my husband and I sailed from Tilbury to Sydney last September on CMA CGM's Matisse (sister ship to Utrillo) and if you go to the thread about 12 down the list from yours you will see at the end of page one, that I have posted some details of our voyage.

There was a drastic change to our departure date from Tilbury with the ship departing two weeks earlier than scheduled. We booked at least 12 months before and it was only because I kept a close eye on the Matisse during that time that I found out (a month before we were to leave Australia) that this change of schedule had taken place.

We received no notice from the Company nor from the woman at Leggett Travel Sydney, nor any explaination or reason. It was fortunate that I was able to re-arrange our independant travel in Europe.

I would recommend that you log onto CMA CGM's homepage and go to Line services, as this will allow you to follow the progress of Utrillo.

Our ship was also re-routed just days out of arriving in Tlbury and we missed the ports of Rotterdam and Dunkerk.

With all of the hassles and faults I am still glad that we did the voyage.

If you have any further questions I will endeavour to help.

FLEXABILITY IS THE KEY WORD

Abarb

[amygol]

Dear Abarb,

Thank you for your help, this flexible departure date really worries me. We are due to pay The Cruise People whom I found on the internet, they are in London, the deposit within the next couple of days. If we have our flights booked as we would need to do it might be very difficult to change them if we needed to, how did you manage?..Regards..Amygol

[Abarb]

Hello Amygol,

I'm not sure that I can give you a definative answer to the problem of changing departure dates, it was a worry for me and my worst nightmare came to be when I discovered the change of 2 weeks earlier departure from Tilbury.

The Sydney AGENT WAS OF NO HELP AT ALL. I had spoken to the London Agenty earlier in the planning stage and regret that we didnt use them.

We were fortunate that we were flying first class to London with Emirates and were able to alter our flight without any penalty. I had to change our reservations in Dubai and London and were able to do so without too much stress.

We did pay a penalty with Insight ($375) for changing one of our trips but luckily we are retired so changing timing was no real problem for us.

A couple from Brisbane who were due to sail from Tilbury on our ship, (and who could not alter depature and return dates because they both worked) were fortunate that their agent in NZ was able to transfer them from "Matisse" to "Utrillo", keeping them pretty much on track with their plans.

The best advice I can give you is to have a good talk with the Agents in London and ask them what they could do for you should timetables go drastically astray.

It may be that they can reassure you that the situation that we faced is most unusual and that normally there is only a change of a couple of days or so.

I am pleased for you that you are not making arrangements through the Sydney Agent!

My husband and I did enjoy the journey, even though some aspects did not live up to expectations we had from reading about what CMA CGM offered. It was a wonderful experience and a great way to unwind after touring Europe and Britain.

I am happy to answer your questions.

Best regards.

Abarb

[amygol]

Thank you again Abarb.

 

I have talked to Dessy of The Cruise People in London who has been very helpful and suggested we arrive five days earlier than the due sailing date so hopefully we can catch up with family and friends and be on standby! I just hope I'm not a nervous wreck when the time comes! Once again thank you for your input...Judith