[Anonymous]

[BAdboys]

Having got totally fed up with flying on business and spending my life in aircraft with all the nasties that it entails, we decided to do a bit of cruising. We decided that Cunard and its nice big boats, and its reputation, would satisfy our needs. So two years ago we took a short cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it. The service in Princess Grill cabins and restaurants was almost second to none. We have now been on several Cunard cruises and we are now Gold card holders, on our way to Platinum.

We have always sailed in Premium cabins, but it has been very noticeable recently that the service standards are dropping, sadly.
On our latest, last week, I asked the hotel manager if he could help us with a problem (with our disabled wheelchair guest) …his reply was ”What do you expect me to do about it”. I was flabergasted….the most senior accommodation officer said that! He then said ”I am too busy” and very arrogantly walked off! I gather from other senior officers, to whom I related the incident, that this is not the first time a passenger has had this bad experience.

In the Premium restaurants the standards are falling. The restaurant staff are not so attentive, and although there is a reasonable daily tipping rate, on the last night it is almost as though they have their begging bowl out.

Things that are part of the Premium cabin experience are missing…no dressing gowns, no slippers, no welcoming petit-fours, no fresh fruit changed each day…you have to ask for everything now. And beware of the staterooms near the lifts…the ping-pong of the bell is quite loud and can be heard, irritatingly, from your bed.

I was advised that I would always get a better deal if we booked onboard through the Cunard Travel office. So we did. We got home and found that they are selling our cabins at a much cheaper price…so be warned! They arrogantly refuse to adjust our fare to the lower level.

There are plenty of other cruise lines who would be glad of our business.
Cunard needs to take a long look at itself if it wishes to keep the Premium passengers…or are they too arrogant!?
Have any other BT types found this to be the case?

[EdinaMonsoon]

Cunard can’t fill their ships, especially on the QM2 transatlantics, and the yields are withering away. Can you really expect 5* service when the lead in (widely available) fare, including air/transfers for £569 for the 7 night voyage??? (or around the £400 mark if you are travel industry staff).

I’ve travelled in Queens Grill twice, I was slightly disillusioned the first time, but gave the QM2 another go & came away feeling very short changed. Cunard is all about nickel & diming its customers in all grades now. The QM2 was designed to cross the Atlantic in 5 nights, but went into service on 6 night crossings, and now for the last year or so 7 nights, to save fuel and to maximise the on board spend of passengers.

I doubt the gas turbines that give the QM2 her 30 kt capability have been used in some time. I also find the hygeine & maintenance shortfalls highlighted by US CDC & coastguard inspections of concern. I also find their loyalty programme an insult, with my 18 nights spent in QG at a cost of just over £11,000, worth the same as 18 nights in a heavily discounted D8 Inside cabin.

[Binman62]

I have never been on a cruise for 2 reasons really.

1. The idea that I would stop daily to be dumped in some grubby port and have to pay for exhorbitant tours does nothing for me. If I were to cruise it would be with days at sea otherwise I do not see the point. Consequently I have been looking at TransAtlantic for some time now.

2. The other reason I have always avoided it is this tipping nonsense. I hate tipping at the best of times as I can never be sure it is enough or too much. Why cant service industries just pay people properly and end this reliance on what is effectively extortion or begging depending on how you look at it and when it is expected to be given?.

The comments above have put me right off Cunard but I would like to here from those who may have tried Silver Seas recently or some of the other upmarket all inclusives ships.

[VintageKrug]

I’ve been on a couple; full of people wearing grey leather shoes.

Cunard has some excellent offers right now:

http://www.cunard.co.uk/Cunard-Offers/

[NTarrant]

I have not been on any Cunard ships, but have on P&O, which of course the parent is Carnival and there lies the problem. Carnival have a monopoly and do what they wish. Since the Costa Concordia incident cruising has taken taken a bash which is why there are so many deals at the moment.

Cruising is great fun providing you are not treated like children which is how we felt on our last P&O cruise. I made a complaint when I returned and was not satisfied with the response so wrote to the MD and I got a response… from the person who had responded to the first letter!

I agree with Binman about tipping particularly on cruises. P&O now add to your onboard account something like £4.00 per person per night which is wrong. Before they made a suggestion and envolopes were handed out so if I wanted to give £5.00 I could. This is all to do with supplimenting the Indian crew who are paid 77p an hour, but its okay because they would have earned less in India!

[dutchyankee]

@Binman, My better half and I do one cruise a year, and only started about 6 years ago. We love it, however, we have only ever done Silver Sea (Whisper 3 times, Spirit 2 times) and most recently Seabourn (in the Carnival family as Cunard and Costa).

These are elite cruises, on very small ships where everything is included, amazing staterooms, wines, champagne, shows, etc. Being smaller ships, we have been able to dock or anchor off of some of the more remote and more intimate ports, so not like the giant ghetto ships expelling 6000 tourists at once. I could never fathom going on such a large ship, but i can whole heartedly recommend the smaller, more exclusive ships.

We have now been converted to Seabourn as they are more modern, less fussy than SilverSea with far superior food, but both lines have served us very well, and taking the transatlantic crossings to position their ships in the Carib or Med (time of year) are a brilliantly affordable option with far fewer port calls. You unpack once and see the world, and on Silver Sea the butler unpacks for you. Its a lovely way to travel!

[EdinaMonsoon]

My cruise line of choice these days is Oceania….the plus points are mid sized ships, 680 or 1250 pax, no formal dress code (people dress better on their ships with their “country club casual” policy than they do on a Cunard formal night!), open dining i.e. you are never stuck with nightmare table mates or late or early sittings, a higher spend per head on food than even Cunard QG, no extra charge alternative restaurants etc etc.

Whilst not fully all inclusive they are still very reasonable & there is little pressure with on board sales. I am booked in a Penthouse on Regatta next month travelling from Lisbon to NYC, a 13 nt trip & I have prepaid my tips @ $259 & a bar package @ £430 (full open bar), so I’m not constantly signing bills.

I never do ships excursions, always preferring to make my own arrangements & with a smaller ship you are generally docked somewhere more convenient e.g. Manhattan Cruise Terminal rather than Carnival Corps new terminal in the seedy Red Hook area of Brooklyn. The atmosphere on board is more of a moving Four Seasons resort than a Cunard ocean liner theme park…

A similar line is Azamara, or for even smaller ships Sea Dream Yacht Club.

[MartynSinclair]

Mrs S and I have been looking at a Cunard X’ing for some time. Wanting to do it in style we are amazed by the difference in pricing and have come to the conclusion that it we wait 6 weeks before hand, we should get a superb deal.

We have also been been on the Silver Sea line which is superb. When the ships dock, we remain on board and enjoy the peace and quiet of an empty ship and the superb service continuing.

I also do not understand why the companies do not pay their staff correctly in the first place. Whilst I accept “tipping” may be a tradition, I am sure that most passengers would be happier knowing that they do not have to face the final night begging bowls.

From an economic point of view, the number of new ships appearing and their size, is the market for cruising going to continue on the upward spiral?

Interesting that Cunard now slows the atantic crossing to 7 nights, I guess they have a captive audience.

The expeirence that BAdboys mentions at the top of this thread, is appalling.

[BusinessBoy]

You get what you pay for… Since Cunard was taken over by Carnival they have sunk to a low price commodity based cruise line. My parents were on the QM2 2012 World Cruise and actually bailed once they reached Australia as the experience was so bad (food, service, staff).

They did a World Cruise with Cunard 4 years ago and loved it and were shocked at the changes, I agree that the smaller ships seem to be a much better Luxury option for cruising.

[alwaysreadytofly]

my wife and I have done 4 Celebrity Solctice class cruises. Her parents have done over 30 sailings all over the world. By far solctice class being the best of other celebrity ships.

We love the ships, the choice of activities and food.

The per night tip is steep, at I recall 20 USD per person per night but we always add to that again and get outstanding service in all areas. Table we want, etc.

I guess it helps that we also play in the casino every night and decent amounts so they know us there too and we tip a lot when we win hands.

All in all cruising for our family is a very pleasant way to see so much of the world and meet so many wonderful people. Often these crews on celebrity are form all corners of the globle so you mix and learn so much about cultures and people. Our family in itself has 6 nationalities so we always find someone we can relate too which makes it all the more pleasant, so much more than cabin crew even on long haul flights who often have little desire to interact with pax

Happy sailing all.

[SimonS1]

Maybe tipping could be introduced on BA. Suggested rate £10 per leg, pay in cash as you exit the door.

[Cedric_Statherby]

I have cruised 3 times. Largest boat was 110 passengers. Result – 3 star luxury and 5++ star service, and a generally splendid experience.

Cunard suffers from what airlines and almost everything else in the travel and leisure industry suffer from: the masses want a luxury experience, but the economics of providing luxury to the masses simply don’t work. So you get ersatz luxury, pretend luxury, luxury-for-those-who-don’t-know-the real-thing.

The cost of a first class single ticket on the Titanic was £6,000. Aim off because it was the maiden voyage and “The Best” and you still get regular 1st class trans-Atlantic tickets in the 1900s and 1910s around £2,000-£3,000. To put this in perspective that was between 10 and 20 times the average wage – say £400,000 now. If you charged £400,000 for a first class ticket to New York these days I guarantee three things:
1) There are people who can, and would, pay it
2) They would get the real luxury experience
3) Not the least of the luxury elements would be that there would be no ordinary mortals anywhere near them

The basic point is that offering “luxury” to the masses cannot be done: the economics are against it, and so is the fundamental point that luxury consists of not being anywhere near people you don’t want to share space with.

[NTarrant]

That’s a good way of putting it Cedric. Essentially the “luxury product” erodes as it gets more popular and the provider becomes complacent which is what has happened in te cruise market

[Papillion53]

I can happily recommend either Silverseas or Seabourn, with Seabourn just tipping up as our favourite! But I wouldn’t hesitate to go on either line again if the itinerary suited us.

We both love the sea days and are some of the most wonderfully relaxing times we have spent, in really very nice surroundings with attentive but not gushing crew, and with like-minded people.

EdinaMonsoon – I was interested to read your thoughts on Oceania as I was just looking at a TA next year on their newest ship Riviera – great fares in their PH staterooms – didn’t know you could pre-pay the tips, that makes sense as we are definitely not used to the tipping culture, and of course SS and SB include everything inc tips so that makes it so much easier, and we did wonder if the crew would still be standing with their hands out at the end of our voyages, but not a one!

We’ve only been on smaller ships, so choosing even a mid-size ship like Riviera is a change for us, but the line seems to cater for “Foodies” with the great choice of restaurants, and onboard cooking school, so that’s swaying us!

Only ever did one ship’s excursion – much better to make your own arrangements!

Ah so much choice, so little time – now must remember to put on an extra lottery ticket for tomorrow! 😉 🙂

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