MERGED - New Cancellations/Changes Announced for QM2 2nd September

[Megabear2]

Can anyone give me the itinerary for the Christmas Caribbean cruise please? It is not showing on any websites even if I include sold out voyages. I am trying to compare the ports for that cruise with the 14th January sailing in an effort to see what testing may be required.  I have to pay my balance 22/9 which is before the supposed update on Caribbean port entry requirements and I do not want to commit until I can actually see what the tests will cost. My T/A has received the following which covers to 31/12/2021:

Our itineraries.

For your customer's peace of mind, we will not visit any country on the UK government's red list at the point of travel. We always do our best to visit all of the destinations on our itineraries but if for any reason we’re unable to visit, we will either spend an additional day in another port, add in a new port, or if neither is possible, your customer will get to enjoy an additional day at sea.

 

Updates to our Vaccination and Testing Policy
(For departures from 13 October up to and including 31 December 2021):

◆

We’ve changed the policy for guests under five years old. All guests 18 years old and above still need to be fully vaccinated. All guests aged between five and 17 years old will need to have completed their vaccination course a minimum of 14 days prior to sailing or will require a negative PCR test within 120 hours prior to travel. Guests aged four and younger will be allowed to travel providing their travelling parents/guardians meet the vaccination and testing policy requirements. All guests will also require a negative COVID-19 test at the terminal; the cost of both the COVID-19 test at the terminal and the PCR test will be complimentary.

◆

If guests are travelling with children aged between five and 17 years old who are not vaccinated, they can register with our service provider, Prenetics, and order a PCR pre-cruise testing kit for every unvaccinated guest aged between five and 17 on their booking. Registration opens five weeks before sailing and closes six days before the embarkation date.

◆

Proof of vaccination for guests from Wales has been updated to the following:
https://gov.wales/get-nhs-covid-pass-show-your-vaccination-status-travel
We will accept the digital or printed version of the NHS COVID-19 Pass accessed via the NHS website (nhs.uk)

◆

It is the responsibility of all guests to adhere to the local travel restrictions that apply – including all documentation, testing and vaccination requirements when travelling to their point of embarkation.

◆

Going ashore.

We will continue to offer a wide range of shore excursions and from 13 October 2021, guests will also have the option to go ashore independently. In doing so they must adhere to the specific Covid-19 protocols in each destination. As restrictions in each destination are changeable, and some destinations may only allow cruise line organised experiences ashore, we highly recommend guests purchase Cunard shore experiences prior to travel to ensure they always have the option to explore each destination.

During your customer’s holiday, destinations on their itinerary may have various documentation requirements. Guests will be responsible for meeting the entry requirements of each destination but we will be happy to guide them through all testing and documentation needs on board. Testing may also be required to go ashore in various destinations. These tests will be available to purchase on board, however, currently the majority of ports we will be visiting this year do not require entry testing. All requirements are subject to change.

 

Returning home - additional information.

◆

Guests will need to ensure they’re aware of, and have registered where needed, for all documentation required when returning home to their country of residence.

◆

UK guests must complete a Passenger Locator Form (PLF) in the 48 hours before arrival back into the UK. We recommend that they create an account and complete some of their details before they sail. They’ll need a data-enabled device (e.g. smart phone or tablet) on board to complete the form. We do have some facilities on board for those who do not own a suitable device.

◆

Guests are required to take a test prior to disembarkation. The test will be available to purchase on board.

◆

For UK resident guests aged five years and above, current requirements for any sailing visiting international ports are that a PCR test is taken two days after their return to the UK. Whilst all testing required for entry into the UK or country of disembarkation will be organised on board, guests must organise the ‘day two’ PCR test themselves. This is a requirement of the UK government and it is essential that they book it in advance as they will need to provide the booking reference on the Passenger Locator Form (PLF).  

◆

Entry requirements into the UK and other countries of residence or disembarkation may have different requirements and are subject to change. Guests should be compliant with the latest guidance. 

 

Thanks for your help.

 

[Host Hattie]

The Caribbean portion is here, the roundtrip from Southampton just has a Transatlantic crossing at each end.

https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/find-a-cruise/M201/M201

[Megabear2]

Thank you. That is very helpful

[Underwatr]

Reading https://www.visitbarbados.org/covid-19-travel-guidelines-2021 it appears that only "bubble tours" (pre-arranged, managed and monitored to ensure minimal exposure risk) will  be permitted during cruise ship transit calls to Barbados (one of the planned December QM2 stops).

 

"Travelers are strictly prohibited from disembarking the ship unless participating in a prearranged bubble tour." (Current as of August 20, 2021)

Edited September 10, 2021 by Underwatr

[bluemarble]

On 9/2/2021 at 6:34 PM, Underwatr said:

The excuse does beg the question - does QM2 have any "initial few voyages... closer to home" with the revised schedule?

 

I posted a short time ago on the "New Dec QM2 Cruise" thread which was started earlier today, but it's probably worth repeating this here as well. I'll add more context to my post here.

 

It would appear Cunard told their travel partners around the time of their general September 2nd announcement that QM2's schedule will resume November 28th. Here is a quote from an article found in Luxury Travel Advisor dated September 3rd titled "Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 Returns to Sailing November 28".

 

"Cunard has announced that Queen Mary 2 will return to sailing from November 28, 2021, with two new voyages—a three-night cruise break and a 12-night Canary Islands itinerary—both departing from Southampton."

 

It would appear the current plan for QM2 (of course still subject to change) is as follows.

 

Nov 28-Dec 1: Short Break cruise

Dec 1-Dec 13: Chartered "Canaries Sailcation" cruise

Dec 13-Jan 10: Christmas cruise

Edited September 11, 2021 by bluemarble

[ace2542]

On 9/10/2021 at 11:45 AM, Megabear2 said:

Can anyone give me the itinerary for the Christmas Caribbean cruise please? It is not showing on any websites even if I include sold out voyages. I am trying to compare the ports for that cruise with the 14th January sailing in an effort to see what testing may be required.  I have to pay my balance 22/9 which is before the supposed update on Caribbean port entry requirements and I do not want to commit until I can actually see what the tests will cost. My T/A has received the following which covers to 31/12/2021:

Our itineraries.

For your customer's peace of mind, we will not visit any country on the UK government's red list at the point of travel. We always do our best to visit all of the destinations on our itineraries but if for any reason we’re unable to visit, we will either spend an additional day in another port, add in a new port, or if neither is possible, your customer will get to enjoy an additional day at sea.

 

Updates to our Vaccination and Testing Policy
(For departures from 13 October up to and including 31 December 2021):

◆

We’ve changed the policy for guests under five years old. All guests 18 years old and above still need to be fully vaccinated. All guests aged between five and 17 years old will need to have completed their vaccination course a minimum of 14 days prior to sailing or will require a negative PCR test within 120 hours prior to travel. Guests aged four and younger will be allowed to travel providing their travelling parents/guardians meet the vaccination and testing policy requirements. All guests will also require a negative COVID-19 test at the terminal; the cost of both the COVID-19 test at the terminal and the PCR test will be complimentary.

◆

If guests are travelling with children aged between five and 17 years old who are not vaccinated, they can register with our service provider, Prenetics, and order a PCR pre-cruise testing kit for every unvaccinated guest aged between five and 17 on their booking. Registration opens five weeks before sailing and closes six days before the embarkation date.

◆

Proof of vaccination for guests from Wales has been updated to the following:
https://gov.wales/get-nhs-covid-pass-show-your-vaccination-status-travel
We will accept the digital or printed version of the NHS COVID-19 Pass accessed via the NHS website (nhs.uk)

◆

It is the responsibility of all guests to adhere to the local travel restrictions that apply – including all documentation, testing and vaccination requirements when travelling to their point of embarkation.

◆

Going ashore.

We will continue to offer a wide range of shore excursions and from 13 October 2021, guests will also have the option to go ashore independently. In doing so they must adhere to the specific Covid-19 protocols in each destination. As restrictions in each destination are changeable, and some destinations may only allow cruise line organised experiences ashore, we highly recommend guests purchase Cunard shore experiences prior to travel to ensure they always have the option to explore each destination.

During your customer’s holiday, destinations on their itinerary may have various documentation requirements. Guests will be responsible for meeting the entry requirements of each destination but we will be happy to guide them through all testing and documentation needs on board. Testing may also be required to go ashore in various destinations. These tests will be available to purchase on board, however, currently the majority of ports we will be visiting this year do not require entry testing. All requirements are subject to change.

 

Returning home - additional information.

◆

Guests will need to ensure they’re aware of, and have registered where needed, for all documentation required when returning home to their country of residence.

◆

UK guests must complete a Passenger Locator Form (PLF) in the 48 hours before arrival back into the UK. We recommend that they create an account and complete some of their details before they sail. They’ll need a data-enabled device (e.g. smart phone or tablet) on board to complete the form. We do have some facilities on board for those who do not own a suitable device.

◆

Guests are required to take a test prior to disembarkation. The test will be available to purchase on board.

◆

For UK resident guests aged five years and above, current requirements for any sailing visiting international ports are that a PCR test is taken two days after their return to the UK. Whilst all testing required for entry into the UK or country of disembarkation will be organised on board, guests must organise the ‘day two’ PCR test themselves. This is a requirement of the UK government and it is essential that they book it in advance as they will need to provide the booking reference on the Passenger Locator Form (PLF).  

◆

Entry requirements into the UK and other countries of residence or disembarkation may have different requirements and are subject to change. Guests should be compliant with the latest guidance. 

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Hopefully the travel ban will be lifted by the time you sail. You will get the full refund back if Cunard cancel. We got nearly the full refund back from our T/A for the 26 night 3 ship QM2 Anthem QM2 trip after Cunard cancelled and I was surprised we did considering Anthem has not yet cancelled. I will chase up outstanding deposits.

 

Hopefully everything goes off without a hitch for you.

Edited September 12, 2021 by ace2542

[Elephant1151]

The costs of the tests as per Cunard's website are:-

We also organise testing which will be required to disembark the ship in Southampton, as per UK government requirements, and testing that may also be required to go ashore in various destinations on your itinerary. These tests will be available to purchase on board (at a cost of £18/$25 per antigen test per person and £25/$35 per PCR test per person). Currently, the majority of ports we will be visiting this year do not require entry testing. During your holiday, destinations on your itinerary may have various documentation requirements. You are responsible for meeting the entry requirements of each destination but we will be happy to guide you through all testing and documentation needs on board.

All other Cunard voyages on sale do not currently require guests to be vaccinated.

This vaccination and testing policy is reviewed on a regular basis as the global situation continues to evolve.

At the time of travel, some ports of call may stipulate specific vaccine policies for guests going ashore that differ from this policy.

[tv24]

Elephant:  Good news.  Thanks for posting.

[sogne]

Southampton Cruise Schedule now appears to be in line with QM2's published schedule

[Elephant1151]

Just received the following from Cunard regarding our 14th January 2022 sailing:-

If you are having problems viewing this email click here.     0344 338 8633 Help & advice Dining Going ashore Spa Travel documents

Important information about your upcoming voyage. Dear Mrs Wade, after such a long time away, we’re delighted to be back at long last with Queen Elizabeth having resumed sailing in August. Our number one priority upon our return has always been, and remains, the well-being of everyone on board and in the destinations we visit.  In October this year, we will set sail on our first international itineraries since our pause in operations. We continue to work hand in hand with authorities and regional partners in the destinations we visit to ensure we comply with evolving local protocols. We are continually monitoring the entry requirements of the ports on our upcoming planned itineraries and following our latest review it has become necessary to make a change to our vaccination policy.  All guests of all ages will need to be fully vaccinated in order to travel on any voyage departing from 13 October 2021, up to and including 17 April 2022 for Queen Mary 2 and up to and including 17 May 2022 for Queen Elizabeth. The vaccine policy currently does not apply to sailings on Queen Victoria, who is scheduled to return to service on 22 April 2022. Our definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ is a minimum of 14 days following the second dose of the currently approved Covid-19 vaccines or 14 days following the approved single-dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine being administered. Please note, a single dose of any other vaccine will not be deemed 'fully vaccinated'. Further details of our vaccination and testing policy can be found on our website.  This is a change from our previous stated vaccination policy.  If any guests on your booking will be impacted by this change, you will be able to take advantage of our flexible transfer policy. For added peace of mind, our flexible transfer policy means you can move your booking, free of charge and as many times as you like, prior to the balance due date. Moreover, in order to provide booked guests with as much flexibility as possible we have taken the decision to relax our balance due payment terms on all holidays departing up to and including 31 March 2022, to 30 days prior to departure. You can find our latest booking terms here.  Thank you once again for your continued understanding and support.

[sogne]

so presumably no children under 12 or babies since they cant get vaccine?

[Elephant1151]

d to be back at long last with Queen Elizabeth having resumed sailing in August. Our number one priority upon our return has always been, and remains, the well-being of everyone on board and in the destinations we visit. 

In October this year, we will set sail on our first international itineraries since our pause in operations. We continue to work hand in hand with authorities and regional partners in the destinations we visit to ensure we comply with evolving local protocols. We are continually monitoring the entry requirements of the ports on our upcoming planned itineraries and following our latest review it has become necessary to make a change to our vaccination policy. 

All guests of all ages will need to be fully vaccinated in order to travel on any voyage departing from 13 October 2021, up to and including 17 April 2022 for Queen Mary 2 and up to and including 17 May 2022 for Queen Elizabeth. The vaccine policy currently does not apply to sailings on Queen Victoria, who is scheduled to return to service on 22 April 2022. Our definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ is a minimum of 14 days following the second dose of the currently approved Covid-19 vaccines or 14 days following the approved single-dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine being administered. Please note, a single dose of any other vaccine will not be deemed 'fully vaccinated'. Further details of our vaccination and testing policy can be found on our website. 

This is a change from our previous stated vaccination policy. 

If any guests on your booking will be impacted by this change, you will be able to take advantage of our flexible transfer policy. For added peace of mind, our flexible transfer policy means you can move your booking, free of charge and as many times as you like, prior to the balance due date. Moreover, in order to provide booked guests with as much flexibility as possible we have taken the decision to relax our balance due payment terms on all holidays departing up to and including 31 March 2022, to 30 days prior to departure. You can find our latest booking terms here. 

Thank you once again for your continued understanding and support.

[57eric]

Cunard has notified my TA about the revised vaccination policy but not the revised final payment date.  I feel sorry for non-CC readers trying to sort this out. 

[bluemarble]

23 minutes ago, kohl1957 said:

So there must be a different final payment policy in the US and the UK (of course!) so that in the US it is 120 days and in the UK 90 days.  So those of us in the US on, say, the 14 January 2022 West Indies Cruise from Southampton in QM2 had already paid, in full, for this BEFORE this change in vaccination policy.

 

That's correct. There are different standard final payment dates and cancellation schedules between the UK an US.

 

In the US, we have one schedule for voyages of 30 nights or less, with final payment and penalties at 120 days before departure, and another schedule for voyages of more than 30 nights, with final payment and penalties at 150 days before departure.

 

In the UK, the final payment date and cancellation penalty date are 90 days before departure on all voyages. One disadvantage the UK has though regrading cancellation penalties is that deposits are always non-refundable.

 

If I may digress to provide a little history, the switch from 90 days to 120 days in the US began with voyages after the 2017 the world voyages. At that time, the cancellation penalty date was moved to 30 days before the final payment date. For shorter voyages, that meant final payment was due 90 days before departure, but cancellation penalties began 120 days before departure.

 

Then beginning with voyages after the 2020 world voyages (which never sailed of course), those two dates were brought back into alignment in the US. The standard US final payment and cancellation penalty dates are now both 120 days out for shorter voyages and 150 days out for longer voyages.

[bbtablet]

2 hours ago, kohl1957 said:

So there must be a different final payment policy in the US and the UK (of course!) so that in the US it is 120 days and in the UK 90 days.  So those of us in the US on, say, the 14 January 2022 West Indies Cruise from Southampton in QM2 had already paid, in full, for this BEFORE this change in vaccination policy.

If it makes you feel any better, some UK TAs demand the final payment a week or two before Cunard do, and so some U.K. passengers are unlucky enough to have already paid for the Jan 14th 2022 Southampton departure cruise - I am one of them! - so the TA will have had my money for 3 full months before Cunard now want it from them (mid-Sept to mid-Dec).

[bbtablet]

Bombshell from my TA this morning:

 

"All guests (of all ages) will need to be fully vaccinated in order to travel on any voyage departing from 13 October 2021 up to and including 17 April 2022 for voyages on Queen Mary 2 and 17 May 2022 for voyages on Queen Elizabeth. The definition of “fully vaccinated” being having completed a vaccination course at least 14 days prior to travel. This can either be two doses of the currently approved Covid-19 vaccines or the approved single-dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine. Please note a single dose of any other vaccine will not be deemed ‘fully vaccinated’.

The vaccine policy currently does not apply to sailings beyond these dates, or on Queen Victoria, scheduled to return to service on 22 April 2022.

If all guests on the booking meet the criteria of Cunard's new vaccination policy, you will need to complete Cunard's online form by 6 October 2021 to confirm that guests of all ages will meet the vaccination policy and are able to travel. Completing this form will prevent the booking from being cancelled. A link to this online form has been directly emailed to you by Cunard.

After 6 October 2021, if you have not completed the Cunard online form to keep your booking, they will automatically cancel your booking. Due to the proximity of some of these sailings and the change of existing policy, you will then receive an enhanced Future Cruise Credit (FCC). The FCC will be worth 125% of monies paid to date on the booking."

 

This is the first I have seen about tomorrow's deadline. What about those who don't pick up their emails every day and will miss the deadline - their cruise is automatically cancelled, it seems!

 

Has anyone else received this information? - I cannot find anything about it on the Cunard web site.

Edited October 5, 2021 by bbtablet

[ShipFan13]

16 minutes ago, bbtablet said:

Has anyone else received this information? - I cannot find anything about it on the Cunard web site.

I'm booked to depart January 3rd with QM2 but haven't received any information regarding vaccines.

[bbtablet]

Have you looked at your My Cunard recently?  Once you log in at:

https://my.cunard.com/en-gb/mycruise/login

there is a lot of detail there.

 

The change to "all fully vaccinated", which seems to cut out all children from the cruises and dates it refers to, has been there for a couple of weeks but not the additional paragraphs in bold above that I received from my TA this morning. I still cannot find reference to that form or the deadlines for its completion on the Cunard site anywhere.

How odd!

[techteach]

2 minutes ago, bbtablet said:

Have you looked at your My Cunard recently?  Once you log in at:

https://my.cunard.com/en-gb/mycruise/login

there is a lot of detail there.

 

The change to "all fully vaccinated", which seems to cut out all children from the cruises and dates it refers to, has been there for a couple of weeks but not the additional paragraphs in bold above that I received from my TA this morning. I still cannot find reference to that form or the deadlines for its completion on the Cunard site anywhere.

How odd!

This could be a phishing email. I suggest you call your TA prior to clicking the link.

[Elephant1151]

Please contact your TA ASAP as this could be so misleading if incorrect.

[Elephant1151]

I contacted our TA

 

Part of the message was omitted:-

 What does this mean for my customers?

As this is a change to our existing policy that ran until 31 December 2021, guests who are sailing before 31 December 2021, and have members of their travelling party aged 17 and under, have the following options:

· Keep the booking.
If all guests on the booking will meet the criteria of our vaccination policy, they will need to complete a web form by 6 October 2021 to confirm that guests of all ages will meet the vaccination policy and are able to travel. Completing this form will prevent the booking being cancelled. A link to this form has been directly emailed to them. Please note, we will only be asking customers to complete this form if a member of their travelling party are aged 17 and under.

 

 

This shows the importance of checking before posting to make sure the information is complete and correct.

 

[bbtablet]

I don't understand your last sentence, Elephant1151 - are you saying I did not post the full document that I received from my TA?? I assure you I did!

Is you quote from Cunard to TAs? If so, no wonder my TA interpreted it differently to yours - the paragraph under "Keep the booking" contradicts itself. The first sentence says that if all guests meet the criteria they will have to complete the form. The rest of it says only complete the form if a passenger is under 18.

This does explain why I did not get the email from Cunard as we have no-one under 18 in our party.

It also explains why my TA decided to "fail safe" and tell all its customers to fill in the form and will panic my TA's customers coming late to their email inbox.

 

Hopefully if they read this thread they will be reassured - I hope we may have helped them by posting what we have, which was the whole objective of my original accurate post.

[bbtablet]

Another unresolved difference with your post, Elephant, is that your quote refers to up to December 31st. I am on the QM2 leaving January 14th 2022 and the email I received correctly quoted the up-to-date period into 2022 as follows (from the TA email above):

"All guests (of all ages) will need to be fully vaccinated in order to travel on any voyage departing from 13 October 2021 up to and including 17 April 2022 for voyages on Queen Mary 2 and 17 May 2022 for voyages on Queen Elizabeth."

[O Neptuna]

Hello All

I hope this finds you well. 🙂

I was wondering if I could get your thoughts on this please…

I received notification from Cunard that my Queen Mary 2 Dutch Christmas Markets trip in December 2021 had to be cancelled. I was very sad not to see Queen Mary 2, but I understood Mr Palethorpe was being careful, especially in view of his comment “we would like the initial few voyages to be closer to home”.

However, I have since learnt that an agent has chartered QM2 and is selling spaces onboard from 1 December 2021 for 12 nights sailing to the Canary Islands. It appears that the statement was just an excuse to cancel the cruise which I think is rather cheeky!

[Host Hattie]

QM2's cancelled cruises included transatlantic crossings and a Caribbean cruise so compared to that the Canaries charter is close to home !

Unfortunately the short cruise had to go to allow her to sail earlier for her Christmas cruise. There is a new short cruise to Cherbourg sailing at the end of November.