Accessible Grills staterooms removed from sale

[8611202]

After many lengthy phone calls directly to Cunard in an attempt to book one of the various QE voyages as soon as they have gone on sale over the last few months, and to be constantly disappointed that none of the three accessible Grills staterooms were available, Cunard have finally admitted to me that they removed all accessible Grills staterooms for sale and only offered 2 accessible staterooms for sale on the entire ship. This in their words was so they could quarantine guests in these rooms in the event of a covid outbreak. Their only solution is to wait list in case they change their policy.

Of course Cunard did not advertise the fact that guests requiring an accessible room were no longer welcome on board their ships upon resumption of service.

Has anyone else been as disappointed as me, especially when Cunard are holding quite significant amounts of my money in credit (I know I can have it refunded)? I can't help feeling I am being discriminated against. I would be keen to know if anyone else has had this experience.

[majortom10]

I dont think it is a case of no longer welcome onboard or discrimination but if you had paid for an accessible suite and then had to be isolated I think it is more reasonable that they isolated you in another accessible suite than anywhere else. I dont suppose you would have been happy after paying for a suite if they had to isolate you and put you in an inside or balcony stateroom.

[8611202]

As with other cruise lines operating in the current situation, I would expect my close contact and I to be quarantining in our booked stateroom and if that was not possible, I would not mind which stateroom it was. I am less happy at being denied the opportunity to sail again.

[majortom10]

Just now, 8611202 said:

As with other cruise lines operating in the current situation, I would expect my close contact and I to be quarantining in our booked stateroom and if that was not possible, I would not mind which stateroom it was. I am less happy at being denied the opportunity to sail again.

But having just returned from QE that is not what is happening there are certain stateroom areas of the ship which are closed off so they can be used for isolation. If any one needs to be isolated due to covid you are not isolated in your original cabin you are moved to this area. They obviously had an area of grill suites for isolation purposes.

[8611202]

Has anyone else had the same experience as me?

[Victoria2]

30 minutes ago, 8611202 said:

As with other cruise lines operating in the current situation, I would expect my close contact and I to be quarantining in our booked stateroom and if that was not possible, I would not mind which stateroom it was. I am less happy at being denied the opportunity to sail again.

I too would expect to be isolated in our booked cabin. Unfortunately, expectations and the reality about many things, travel being the point in this case, are often quite different and no more so than at the moment during Covid. Can you adapt/ manage with a cabin which will accommodate wheelchairs/scooters or is it the wet room and non step which is non negotiable?

 

[Windsurfboy]

I don't understand this. OK they could perhaps keep one accessible room free in case they need to move people.

 

But don't  use any doesn't make sense.

[majortom10]

I think you will find all ships sailing from Southampton have been allowed to sail on the condition of adhering to certain Covid regulations set by the government. I dont think the policy if a person catches Covid or is in close contact with somebody who has and has to be isolated  not in their staterooms all over the ship just in pre determined set areas for plainly obvious reasons of trying to contain the spread. Everyone would be contained in a certain area of the ship that is why QE has certain deck areas at the aft of the ship closed and no general access.

[Windsurfboy]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

I think you will find all ships sailing from Southampton have been allowed to sail on the condition of adhering to certain Covid regulations set by the government. I dont think the policy if a person catches Covid or is in close contact with somebody who has and has to be isolated  not in their staterooms all over the ship just in pre determined set areas for plainly obvious reasons of trying to contain the spread. Everyone would be contained in a certain area of the ship that is why QE has certain deck areas at the aft of the ship closed and no general access.

 

This makes sense , but couldnt they reserve an area for isolation that contained an accessible cabin. It doesn't have to be a grills cabin. People would understand if they were to be isolated in a different cabin type. As long as it was not inside as some people are  claustrophobic and that woild be torture.

[majortom10]

3 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

This makes sense , but couldnt they reserve an area for isolation that contained an accessible cabin. It doesn't have to be a grills cabin. People would understand if they were to be isolated in a different cabin type. As long as it was not inside as some people are  claustrophobic and that woild be torture.

I am sure they will have taken all situations into account in case they had a Covid outbreak onboard. Personally I wouldnt mind if I was in a Grill suite and caught Covid and had to be isolated I wouldnt mind it being in a balcony cabins but we all know some would then complain that they have paid fora Grill suite so I shouldnt be isolated in a lower category that is why I am sure they didnt sell every Grill suite whether ordinary or accessible for that very reason.

[bluemarble]

What has me a bit puzzled is the three accessible Grill staterooms on QE are not in any one particular section of the ship. There's the Q6 stateroom 7030 port side forward on deck 7 and the two P2 staterooms 4095 and 4097 starboard side midships on deck 4. That doesn't seem to fit with the strategy of restricting access to aft sections of the ship we discussed on another thread. But then mine is not to question why. Just making an observation.

[Covepointcruiser]

Are they allowing passengers onboard with lung or heart conditions requiring an accessible cabin?   I thought the other lines were not permitting passengers with health conditions making them more likely to be adversely impacted by COVID.

[bluemarble]

7 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Are they allowing passengers onboard with lung or heart conditions requiring an accessible cabin?   I thought the other lines were not permitting passengers with health conditions making them more likely to be adversely impacted by COVID.

 

Here is a partial quote from the "Pre-existing medical conditions" section of Cunard's "Sailing with confidence" webpage.

 

Unfortunately, we are unable to accept guests who have the following medical requirements:

• Supplementary oxygen (including via oxygen concentrator)
• Mechanical ventilatory support (except for overnight CPAP for sleep apnea)
• Dialysis

[lissie]

On 9/4/2021 at 12:38 AM, majortom10 said:

I think you will find all ships sailing from Southampton have been allowed to sail on the condition of adhering to certain Covid regulations set by the government. I dont think the policy if a person catches Covid or is in close contact with somebody who has and has to be isolated  not in their staterooms all over the ship just in pre determined set areas for plainly obvious reasons of trying to contain the spread. Everyone would be contained in a certain area of the ship that is why QE has certain deck areas at the aft of the ship closed and no general access.

 

You would certainly expect that. There is no way they could isolate passengers in random cabins all over the ship. Delta variant is so infectious that people have caught it from 1 room to the next just by having the room open for long enough to receive a food delivery. This  has happened in isolation hotels and has been tracked through extensive testing and genome sequencing. 

[ToxM]

This doesn’t look to be a fleet wide decision, as I have just booked an accessible PG for 28th Nov sailing on QM2. 

 

I was very very surprised to be able to nab that cabin though!