Anyone booking any of the new sailings today ?

[alc13]

We booked the QA Northern Lights itinerary, October 2024.  We’ve never planned so far in advance before!

[MylesS]

Managed to book M440 (December 15th Transatlantic Crossing) to attempt to keep my new pre-Christmas Transatlantic tradition going.

After seing @bluemarble mention the posibility of the July 21st Westbound crossing being QM2's 400th, I took the opportunity to put a deposit on that too - just in case! (Either way, still a lovely holiday)

Glad to see so many people get what they wanted 🙂

[Selbourne]

I do hope that those who are high loyalty tiers with Cunard managed to get their bookings secured as soon as bookings opened today, as the supposed 24 hour exclusivity period lasted a maximum of an hour! We are first timers on Cunard and had our first choice cabin confirmed and deposit paid within 90 minutes of bookings opening today, even though we shouldn’t have been able to book until 24 hours later. Whether this was universal or just selected TA’s I don’t know, but our TA was geared up for this as they say it happened last time as well.

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, MylesS said:

After seing @bluemarble mention the posibility of the July 21st Westbound crossing being QM2's 400th, I took the opportunity to put a deposit on that too - just in case! (Either way, still a lovely holiday)

 

I do hope that July 21st westbound crossing turns out to be counted as QM2's 400th crossing. I can tell you my counts match up to Cunard's through her 300th crossing which was the June 3-10, 2018 westbound crossing as noted on their facebook page. I never saw QM2's 350th crossing noted anywhere. I figure that was the February 15-22, 2022 westbound crossing earlier this year.

 

One item I mentioned in another thread is that I think Cunard's counts are actually off by one since they apparently don't count a segment of QM2's 2010 world voyage from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro. In my view that should be considered a transatlantic crossing, albeit a crossing of the South Atlantic. But enough of that minutia. Enjoy your crossing however it's counted!

Edited December 7, 2022 by bluemarble

[IB2]

8 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I do hope that those who are high loyalty tiers with Cunard managed to get their bookings secured as soon as bookings opened today, as the supposed 24 hour exclusivity period lasted a maximum of an hour! We are first timers on Cunard and had our first choice cabin confirmed and deposit paid within 90 minutes of bookings opening today, even though we shouldn’t have been able to book until 24 hours later. Whether this was universal or just selected TA’s I don’t know, but our TA was geared up for this as they say it happened last time as well.

They can’t afford to turn anyone away nowadays - they just advertised the different dates to the respective audiences, but if you went into the website you could book whether you were logged in or simply checked through as a guest.

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, IB2 said:

They can’t afford to turn anyone away nowadays - they just advertised the different dates to the respective audiences, but if you went into the website you could book whether you were logged in or simply checked through as a guest.

Interesting. With the cost of living crisis, it has been speculated that cruises will be harder to sell (being the ultimate discretionary purchase), but the launch prices seemed steep to us! Maybe they will reduce closer to sailing, but we need an accessible balcony cabin and there are only two of those in Britannia Club, so we couldn’t risk waiting. 
 

P.S. We love Ventnor. Lunch in the Spyglass Inn followed by a walk along the wheelchair friendly promenade to Bonchurch. The planetary facts on the ‘Space Walk’ never cease to amaze me, even though I’ve read them all countless times!

[IB2]

14 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Interesting. With the cost of living crisis, it has been speculated that cruises will be harder to sell (being the ultimate discretionary purchase), but the launch prices seemed steep to us! Maybe they will reduce closer to sailing, but we need an accessible balcony cabin and there are only two of those in Britannia Club, so we couldn’t risk waiting. 
 

P.S. We love Ventnor. Lunch in the Spyglass Inn followed by a walk along the wheelchair friendly promenade to Bonchurch. The planetary facts on the ‘Space Walk’ never cease to amaze me, even though I’ve read them all countless times!

Sadly the promenade to Bonchurch is recently closed because cracks and some big voids have been identified under the sea wall, which is going to take some years and many £millions to repair, to protect the land behind and homes up the hill.  
 

The cruise lines didn’t receive any support during the pandemic - having all been careful to place themselves outside of UK, US or EU jurisdiction previously - and have taken on huge debts to cover their immense losses since 2020.  Now, interest rates are rising, pushing up the cost of that debt.  And they are still constrained operationally by the residual covid restrictions and the still present risk of further outbreaks.  
 

Their financial situation is perilous (at least one is already bankrupt) and it is going to be touch and go whether they can recover to profitability.  So we aren’t likely to see bargain prices or a better offering for the same money, any time soon.

Edited December 7, 2022 by IB2

[Victoria2]

9 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I do hope that those who are high loyalty tiers with Cunard managed to get their bookings secured as soon as bookings opened today, as the supposed 24 hour exclusivity period lasted a maximum of an hour! We are first timers on Cunard and had our first choice cabin confirmed and deposit paid within 90 minutes of bookings opening today, even though we shouldn’t have been able to book until 24 hours later. Whether this was universal or just selected TA’s I don’t know, but our TA was geared up for this as they say it happened last time as well.

 

👍

Edited December 7, 2022 by Victoria2
incorrect comment quoted

[Victoria2]

18 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Interesting. With the cost of living crisis, it has been speculated that cruises will be harder to sell (being the ultimate discretionary purchase), but the launch prices seemed steep to us! Maybe they will reduce closer to sailing, but we need an accessible balcony cabin and there are only two of those in Britannia Club, so we couldn’t risk waiting. 
 

 

 Those of us who want specific cabins, have to book asap and settling for ''second best'' doesn't work which is why we never have the opportunity to wait for a price reduction.

 

The plus side is, the cabins we choose often rocket up in price so that's kind of satisfying! 👍

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Those of us who want specific cabins, have to book asap and settling for ''second best'' doesn't work which is why we never have the opportunity to wait for a price reduction.

 

The plus side is, the cabins we choose often rocket up in price so that's kind of satisfying! 👍

Yes, we wanted an accessible Britannia Club balcony cabin. There are only two of them and we had managed our expectations, assuming that they would both go on release days to high loyalty tier customers. I was therefore extremely surprised, as a first timer with Cunard, to receive a call within 90 minutes to say that we were all booked and had secured our first choice cabin! 

[IB2]

12 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Yes, we wanted an accessible Britannia Club balcony cabin. There are only two of them and we had managed our expectations, assuming that they would both go on release days to high loyalty tier customers. I was therefore extremely surprised, as a first timer with Cunard, to receive a call within 90 minutes to say that we were all booked and had secured our first choice cabin! 

The popular cabins will go quickly and they are then left with the marketing task of filling up the ship and all the less popular ones.

 

When the QM2 was being designed, the owner of Cunard was adamant that he wanted the ship to have half its cabins with balconies - which was a challenging goal leading the ship to be designed higher (requiring some clever work with the funnel to still be able to get under that New York bridge) and wider (which meant abandoning the original goal of being able to fit through the Panama Canal) than originally intended, the length already constrained by the turning circle in Southampton docks.  
 

But the Cunard boss surely knew his business in terms of getting a balance of cabin types that would sell!

[buchanan101]

16 hours ago, 8611202 said:

I forgot to ask when I booked QA today whether any complimentary OBC is being applied for any of her 2024 voyages. My booking confirmation doesn’t show any, which it would normally, so just wanted to check other guests experience. I booked a 4 day voyage in Q4, and have previously always had some OBC on the other ships. regardless of length of voyage. Thanks. 

$260 OBC on mine. Parking at Southampton is cheaper than that, and I don't think they do Cambridge coaches (will travel down night before anyway...way too risky same day)

[buchanan101]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Interesting. With the cost of living crisis, it has been speculated that cruises will be harder to sell (being the ultimate discretionary purchase), but the launch prices seemed steep to us! Maybe they will reduce closer to sailing, but we need an accessible balcony cabin and there are only two of those in Britannia Club, so we couldn’t risk waiting. 
 

P.S. We love Ventnor. Lunch in the Spyglass Inn followed by a walk along the wheelchair friendly promenade to Bonchurch. The planetary facts on the ‘Space Walk’ never cease to amaze me, even though I’ve read them all countless times!

Prices seemed OK  compared with 2023 sailings and our recent 7 night crossing. And if there's ~10%pa inflation between now and then they are  effectively fair bit cheaper

[buchanan101]

18 hours ago, BrisbaneR said:

I was delighted and relieved to get through on the phone and book QA for a Norwegian Fjords cruise in June 2024.  There had been a problem with my credit card authorisation  meaning that I couldn't book on line - cue  intense frustration and a feeling that I would miss out.  But the woman on the phone at Cunard was extremely helpful and patient (especially considering the volume of calls they must have had today) and it worked out. My cruise will be shortly after QA's  delayed maiden voyage and  everything will still be very new.  Something to look forward to.

Same trip 😉  Looking forward to QA

[IB2]

1 hour ago, buchanan101 said:

Prices seemed OK  compared with 2023 sailings and our recent 7 night crossing. And if there's ~10%pa inflation between now and then they are  effectively fair bit cheaper

Yes, I just checked mine as well, and mine for 2024 are actually cheaper than for 2022 - but in my case I don't take the flights. For this year's travel they took £200 off each of mine because I didn't take a flight - I now see that the prices are quoted ex-flight and you have to add the flights on - and they all cost a lot more than £200!  Clearly the £200 refund being given in the past was a bad deal!

[Selbourne]

2 hours ago, buchanan101 said:

Prices seemed OK  compared with 2023 sailings and our recent 7 night crossing. And if there's ~10%pa inflation between now and then they are  effectively fair bit cheaper

Having not cruised with Cunard before, my comment was in comparison to P&O. The price that we are paying for a Britannia Club cabin on Cunard is the same as we have paid for a Suite with P&O. However, the suite benefits on P&O are very poor. We already get priority boarding with them due to our loyalty tier and the only enhanced dining experience is at breakfast. Other than the larger cabin, none of the other P&O suite ‘benefits’ are worth anything to us, and as we have to have an accessible cabin, even our BC one on Queen Anne will be a decent size. 
 

Your point about inflation is well made though. As my wife keeps telling me, “everything is getting a lot more expensive”!

[buchanan101]

3 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Having not cruised with Cunard before, my comment was in comparison to P&O. The price that we are paying for a Britannia Club cabin on Cunard is the same as we have paid for a Suite with P&O. However, the suite benefits on P&O are very poor. We already get priority boarding with them due to our loyalty tier and the only enhanced dining experience is at breakfast. Other than the larger cabin, none of the other P&O suite ‘benefits’ are worth anything to us, and as we have to have an accessible cabin, even our BC one on Queen Anne will be a decent size. 
 

Your point about inflation is well made though. As my wife keeps telling me, “everything is getting a lot more expensive”!

Ah yes, found them.  1.5 x normal size.  There aren't that many accessible cabins in any grade - seems to be the bare minimum.

 

6129 has a bigger balcony - if the plan is right

 

[buchanan101]

Looking at the QA cruise I've booked I can see dynamic pricing working already for QGs...they are going up in price...(judging by the cheapest Q6)

 

PGs same prices...I note port side sells first but can only think that's because they are numerically a bit lower (no, it's not just odds directly opposite evens).

 

There's no reason why to Norway port is preferable is there?

[BigMac1953]

Their name fot it is "fluid" pricing.

[IB2]

1 hour ago, buchanan101 said:

Looking at the QA cruise I've booked I can see dynamic pricing working already for QGs...they are going up in price...(judging by the cheapest Q6)

 

PGs same prices...I note port side sells first but can only think that's because they are numerically a bit lower (no, it's not just odds directly opposite evens).

 

There's no reason why to Norway port is preferable is there?

Are you sure that isn’t simply that the website advertised prices don’t include the 5% early bird discount?

[Victoria2]

25 minutes ago, IB2 said:

Are you sure that isn’t simply that the website advertised prices don’t include the 5% early bird discount?

buchanan101 is quite correct.

I know at least one instance where the price has gone up by thousands.

Edit,

I know because I'm tracking three cruises as I registered our interest and the launch price is held for us until the 15th so we must decide by then if we want the launch price.

Edited December 7, 2022 by Victoria2

[IB2]

6 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

buchanan101 is quite correct.

I know at least one instance where the price has gone up by thousands.

Edit,

I know because I'm tracking three cruises as I registered our interest and the launch price is held for us until the 15th so we must decide by then if we want the launch price.

OK, fair enough,

 

I checked the two crossings I booked yesterday myself online, and my first thought was, ‘wow’, the prices have gone up already…but it was simply that I’d been billed with the 5% early bird discount.

[Victoria2]

7 minutes ago, IB2 said:

OK, fair enough,

 

I checked the two crossings I booked yesterday myself online, and my first thought was, ‘wow’, the prices have gone up already…but it was simply that I’d been billed with the 5% early bird discount.

To be clear ''thousands'' refers to the cabin price, not fare pp.

[buchanan101]

14 hours ago, IB2 said:

OK, fair enough,

 

I checked the two crossings I booked yesterday myself online, and my first thought was, ‘wow’, the prices have gone up already…but it was simply that I’d been billed with the 5% early bird discount.

The PG prices are the same now and then; the QG prices have gone up so I think I’m comparing correctly. 
 

Anyway puts paid to second thoughts about changing to the cheapest Q6s…

[Victoria2]

15 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

To be clear ''thousands'' refers to the cabin price, not fare pp.

Fluid pricing is getting very fluid.

The fare is up by thousands, per person now and that's including any early booking discount.

 

It will be very interesting to see what happens when the pre launch interest period of grace is over.

 

Al a bit of a gamble isn't it! 🙂