Venice itinerary changes

[Annabel50]

Just spent over an hour on the phone to Cunard having received a change in itinerary from them for our Med Cruise Venice has been removed which was one of the reasons we had booked this for September two years ago. We were unable to get off last time when sailed with Cunard to Venice. We obtained a full refund as they realised they had made a mistake with some earlier monies rolled over and apologised. Be sure to check your future bookings as two further bookings were found to have financial errors in them. All straight now and looking forward to the next one to the Fjords next time. Its challenging times, you need to be flexible :-), wouldnt consider ever taking legal action.

[exlondoner]

15 minutes ago, Annabel50 said:

Just spent over an hour on the phone to Cunard having received a change in itinerary from them for our Med Cruise Venice has been removed which was one of the reasons we had booked this for September two years ago. We were unable to get off last time when sailed with Cunard to Venice. We obtained a full refund as they realised they had made a mistake with some earlier monies rolled over and apologised. Be sure to check your future bookings as two further bookings were found to have financial errors in them. All straight now and looking forward to the next one to the Fjords next time. Its challenging times, you need to be flexible :-), wouldnt consider ever taking legal action.

 

Have I understood this correctly? They let you cancel a cruise because of a one-port change of itinerary??

[Annabel50]

It is a bit more complicated, it was advertised as a Cruise to Venice, it is no longer that so they are selling what they can not provide. Ideally they would have liked me to book a new voyage and suggested Queen Anne. I have no interest in booking for Queen Anne as I already have two further bookings, my husband is disabled and can not tavel without an adapted cabin which are few and far between, usually we have to book well in advance and they quickly sell out. Sadly we are not personally in a situation where we can plan years ahead, we live day to day knowing that time for us is short. I dont need a further booking, when they looked into the cruise credits they had applied these were all wrong and they had also refunded and credited one of them which they have only just picked up on. So I think they were very embarassed apologies and refunded all the money paid back to us. If we get cancelled again will definitely take the full refund, it has become too complicated with multiple cancellations and the cunard system doesnt seem able to cope with that. Enjoy life while you can as it is precious 😉

[Windsurfboy]

I wonder if Cunard and other lines will choose their cruise names more ambiguously, so it does become a one port change.  Not a cruise to X that doesn't go to X.

[exlondoner]

18 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

I wonder if Cunard and other lines will choose their cruise names more ambiguously, so it does become a one port change.  Not a cruise to X that doesn't go to X.

 

Most of their names are pretty imprecise, things like Mediterranean Wonders or the like. But there are those Atlantic crossings that go to London, supposedly.

 

[bluemarble]

This situation with Venice could get a bit tricky for Cunard since it was not only going to be a port of call for "Venice And The Adriatic, 19 Nights (V224)" (Southampton-Southampton), but also the disembarkation port for "Venice And The Adriatic, 10 Nights (V224A)" (Southampton-Venice), and the embarkation port for "Venice And The Adriatic, 9 Nights (V224B)" (Venice-Southampton).

 

My understanding is QV will now be calling at Trieste instead of Venice.

Edited May 19, 2022 by bluemarble

[Host Hattie]

I've moved the last few posts to their own thread.

 

[BrianI]

Just to inform any future travellers, it’s the Italian government that has banned cruise ships in Venice so all cruise companies are scrambling around to find alternative ports.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-cruise-ship-ban-government/index.html

Brian

[Camgirl]

1 hour ago, BrianI said:

Just to inform any future travellers, it’s the Italian government that has banned cruise ships in Venice so all cruise companies are scrambling around to find alternative ports.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-cruise-ship-ban-government/index.html

Brian

Isn't this article about last year? It is dated July 2021.

[Annabel50]

This was the reason given by Cunard Quote We have recently been advised that the berth in Venice for Queen Victoria’s scheduled call on 14^th September 2022 is no longer available.
                                         

[Host Hattie]

1 hour ago, Camgirl said:

Isn't this article about last year? It is dated July 2021.

I think the situation is still the same though, looking at the other line's boards most ships have moved to Marghera, Ravenna or Trieste

[bluemarble]

I see Cunard has changed the names of those September cruises formerly named "Venice And The Adriatic" which are now starting, ending or calling at Trieste instead of Venice. Those cruises now have the more generic name "Italy And The Adriatic".

[BigMac1953]

The QE2 was too big for Venice so used Trieste instead. They even used her in their tourist brochures, so there's a connection already. A train journey is about an hour to Venice.

 

We were on board when QE2 made her last visit to Trieste and it was a big event with marquees on the quayside with free food and wine and the town band playing. Hundreds of locals turned out.

 

When we sailed away, a police car did donuts at the end of the pier with all the fairy lights on and sirens screaming.

 

Therefore my guess is that Cunard will return to Trieste.

[exlondoner]

10 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

The QE2 was too big for Venice so used Trieste instead. They even used her in their tourist brochures, so there's a connection already. A train journey is about an hour to Venice.

 

We were on board when QE2 made her last visit to Trieste and it was a big event with marquees on the quayside with free food and wine and the town band playing. Hundreds of locals turned out.

 

When we sailed away, a police car did donuts at the end of the pier with all the fairy lights on and sirens screaming.

 

Therefore my guess is that Cunard will return to Trieste.

 

Trieste is somewhere I haven't been, but would very much like to visit, as it has an interesting history.  However, if I had booked the cruise to visit Venice, I might feel very differently.