Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

QM2 Cancellation 23rd & 30th April

avalon1025

By avalon1025,
in Cunard Line

 Share

Recommended Posts

majortom10

majortom10

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, kpcg1 said:

QM2's May 2023 cruises are no longer listed on Cunard's (UK) website. Next cruise showing is 2 June to the Fjords

They never show if sold out of you go to filter and tick show sold out voyages they will appear. This is normal practice and we are on 18-5 to 2-6 and has been sold out for a while and has not shown  unless  you do what I said above even before current problems.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tv24

tv24

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, wftjm89 said:

I'm probably not supposed to share this but Queen Mary is expected to be out of service for around two months. The technical issue is quite serious and requires considerable work to sort out. Whether that work will be done in situ is unlikely; last I heard from friends at CUK is that she is likely to be towed to a drydock for repair. 

 

I say this merely in case persons who are currently expecting to sail in the coming weeks might be forewarned. I do not envy the small team of people at Carnival House who are employed to respond to these kind of emergencies!

Thanks for this warning.  We sail on May 18, so we are actively working on Plan B and may soon make some reservations that can be cancelled.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
zak477

zak477

Posted
Posted

Got home last night from the cancelled Southampton to NYC cruise. Had no time to review Cruise Critic because we were busy trying to rebook, for an additional night, our overnight stay in Southampton, then get a flight. We could not fly home on 23 April because we only found out about the cancellation as we tried to check out of the hotel. NO communication from Cunard at all. At 11:00 a.m. no flights available. to book home. So we booked the next day,  24 April. Oh at  an outrageous price too. Several people at the hotel were emailed of the cancellation so why not us?  We then need to  book at transfer to London. This transfer was in a small sedan, not the larger ones we requested. We had a piece of luggage between us in the back seat. Our driver stated that all companies were fully booked with several hundred transfers due to the cancellation. We had to cancel our transfer in NYC and rebook for 24 April at a much higher price. 

 

Of course we have travel insurance and will call them today. My only call on the 23red I was told to have all receipts and documents. But Cunard has not sent me any notification as of this writing. The insurance company will not accept news paper articles or facebook notes. We don't know yet if we are insured for all expenses. 

 

We find in irresponsible, unprofessional and totally unacceptable that Cunard did not notify us or our travel agent at all.  They had no emergency plans in place for the Victoria guests, already in dock, that were to transfer to the QM2. They transferred their luggage over but then cancelled?? Or the world cruise guests with no final leg home? Or us who did transatlantic  on Oceania to Barcelona, only to book Cunard because we didn't want to fly home.

 

Oh and to offer 20% off next cruise is insulting at best.  Who would book another cruise on Cunard that has no customer service available for emergencies. Their website phone numbers, no surprising, did not work on the morning of the 23rd. We got "call back during normal business hours"!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Joe33472 "Live from...." Rare

Joe33472

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Not sure what you wish me to comment on, there is very little information.  If you are asking what I think the problem is ('cause I don't do customer service questions, not my engine room), if the mention of 22 knots on the way to Southampton, and a tug escort into harbor is correct, then I suspect they have had a failure of one of the two outboard azipods (not really azipods, Merlin propulsion pods).  QM2 has four pods, so three could still give a top speed of 22 knots easily.  Since the two inboard pods are "fixed" (they don't rotate to steer), loss of one steerable pod means the ship has no redundancy in steering (hence the tug escort in case the other steerable pod fails).  This is a typical regulatory response to a ship that has azipods, and only has one steerable one.  Redundancy in steering is required for entry into most ports, certainly NYC.  Also, with steering only on one side of the ship, holding course at sea becomes more difficult for the one pod, and speed and fuel consumption would suffer.

 

As to what has failed on the pod, given the wide variance of time frames mentioned above, I won't even start to speculate, but the Mermaid pods have had thrust bearing problems from their inception (huge lawsuit brought by Princess), and that requires a docking to repair.


Thank you!  This is really interesting.   After some googling, I now know more about pod propulsion and it’s fascinating.  Did you happen to see the post about the ash being shoveled off the pool deck?  And the pools being drained?  Is this related to a possible pod issue or is this related to something else?  Thanks again!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
exlondoner

exlondoner

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Joe33472 said:


Thank you!  This is really interesting.   After some googling, I now know more about pod propulsion and it’s fascinating.  Did you happen to see the post about the ash being shoveled off the pool deck?  And the pools being drained?  Is this related to a possible pod issue or is this related to something else?  Thanks again!

One thing I did wonder was whether the tug was significant, or just precautionary. I’m not sure how windy it was on Sunday night, but sometimes it can be difficult getting into the Ocean Terminal if it’s gusty. Or could it just be welcoming her back after her world cruise?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
chengkp75

chengkp75

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, Joe33472 said:


Thank you!  This is really interesting.   After some googling, I now know more about pod propulsion and it’s fascinating.  Did you happen to see the post about the ash being shoveled off the pool deck?  And the pools being drained?  Is this related to a possible pod issue or is this related to something else?  Thanks again!

That would be more related to either an engine or boiler issue.  An engine could have a problem with the fuel injection system, causing billows of black, sooty smoke, which if there was no wind, would land on deck.  But, even with a possible engine failure, the ship should not require time out of service, nor a tug escort.  Ship's diesel engines are routinely torn down completely for a 3-4 week overhaul roughly every 2-3 years, so the ship can normally sail its itinerary with one engine down for overhaul, especially as the QM2 could fire up a gas turbine to make up speed if needed.  I don't think this is a "funnel" problem.  Not even sure what the "funnel system" is.  It is merely large pipes carrying the exhaust gas to the highest point to be let out to the atmosphere.  Even a complete rotting through of the exhaust pipe, would not create large amounts of soot, it is the engine that would create this.

 

15 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

One thing I did wonder was whether the tug was significant, or just precautionary. I’m not sure how windy it was on Sunday night, but sometimes it can be difficult getting into the Ocean Terminal if it’s gusty. Or could it just be welcoming her back after her world cruise?

Regardless of the weather, SOLAS requires, though some countries will grant exemptions, two separate systems of steering the ship when in "controlled waters" (under pilotage, in restricted waterways like entering port), where loss of steering could cause a grounding or collision.  With only one pod capable of steering, it is required to have a tug for backup steering.  In the US, the USCG requires a ship with only one steerable azipod working to have a tug escort from the berth all the way to the sea buoy. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
chengkp75

chengkp75

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I'm not sure if the Chief Engineer had read the whole thread before diagnosing a pod problem in addition to the Funnel problem. 

Well, since most of the thread deals with the customer service aspects of the cancellations, there wasn't much about technical, but I did read it all, looking for nuggets, just didn't attach much importance to the "funnel" thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
fisky

fisky

Posted
Posted

Hi, we lodged a claim for the out of pocket expenses we incurred with Cunard yesterday. They have already responded stating we should claim from our insurers. Of course that will involve the deduction of an excess etc.

 

Does anyone have contact details of someone at Carnival that is interested in the companies reputation and will look a bit more sympathically at the costs their customers have incurred for no benefit.

From what I am reading I start to wonder how long it will take Cunard to recover from this farce. You almost wonder if the cost to repair a 30 year old ship is worthwhile. Clearly a lot more people are going to be impacted but at least sufficient notice should be given to avoid too much unnecessary expense 

 

I will listen out with interest

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
eroller Great Review Rare

eroller

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

That would be more related to either an engine or boiler issue.  An engine could have a problem with the fuel injection system, causing billows of black, sooty smoke, which if there was no wind, would land on deck.  But, even with a possible engine failure, the ship should not require time out of service, nor a tug escort.  Ship's diesel engines are routinely torn down completely for a 3-4 week overhaul roughly every 2-3 years, so the ship can normally sail its itinerary with one engine down for overhaul, especially as the QM2 could fire up a gas turbine to make up speed if needed.  I don't think this is a "funnel" problem.  Not even sure what the "funnel system" is.  It is merely large pipes carrying the exhaust gas to the highest point to be let out to the atmosphere.  Even a complete rotting through of the exhaust pipe, would not create large amounts of soot, it is the engine that would create this.

 

 


 

Scrubber issue?   

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Joe33472 "Live from...." Rare

Joe33472

Posted
Posted (edited)
42 minutes ago, fisky said:

Does anyone have contact details of someone at Carnival that is interested in the companies reputation and will look a bit more sympathically at the costs their customers have incurred for no benefit.

 

 

I usually try to work out details with companies lower ranks (while requesting higher and higher supervisors) and document that fully and when all else fails, I usually email corporate executives.  Most corporations have "executive" response teams that handle these types of things.  Those folks are usually more adept at seeing the "big picture".   Many times it's the subsequent customer service that fails miserably and is the focus of my complaints to executives.   When I have to involve executive response teams, here is where I usually get that contact info:

 

https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/carnival-cruise-lines/

 

 

Edited by Joe33472
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Victoria2 Great Review Rare

Victoria2

Posted
Posted
27 minutes ago, fisky said:

Hi, we lodged a claim for the out of pocket expenses we incurred with Cunard yesterday. They have already responded stating we should claim from our insurers. Of course that will involve the deduction of an excess etc.

 

Does anyone have contact details of someone at Carnival that is interested in the companies reputation and will look a bit more sympathically at the costs their customers have incurred for no benefit.

From what I am reading I start to wonder how long it will take Cunard to recover from this farce. You almost wonder if the cost to repair a 30 year old ship is worthwhile. Clearly a lot more people are going to be impacted but at least sufficient notice should be given to avoid too much unnecessary expense 

 

I will listen out with interest

Unfortunately, the shortcomings of some insurance policies, or lack of will help fuel the ire felt by many and I would imagine  the small print, often ignored,  which lays out  Cunard T&Cs might  come under closer scrutiny in future.

 

Good PR is always preferable to indifferent or bad, but Cunard will weather this. QV's drydock sojourn is but a distant memory now, as will this be for all those who weren't impacted negatively or like me, are armchair interested onlookers.

 

Their communication skills might need honing although the eight  or nine, I've lost count, trips we've had cancelled over the last three years [four if you count Anne next April] were communicated to us reasonably  well, and at least one, was last relatively minute.

Luckily for us, all our costs were covered due to cancellation terms.

 

Good luck with your expenses claim 👍. It will be interesting to see how you and others get on as it could set a precedent for the future if claims are met.

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...