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Anyone else considering one of her final cruises?
Instead I have booked the inaugural sailing of CELEBRITY SOLSTICE.
Someday I hope to sail on SAGA RUBY and SAGA ROSE which are truly two favorites of mine (as far as classics go). I think I will be much sadder when those two ships go out of service compared to QE2.
Ernie
quote:Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:I just received my QE2 final voyages flyer from Cunard here in California.
What date is the 'Farewell to the British Isles' cruise?
The final cruise It's not on the Cunard's .com or .co.uk web sites yet!
I would imagine that most American's would be too nervous to do it. During the start of the War American's gave up going on Med cruises becuse they though they would br near to the Middle East!
[ 06-22-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]
quote:Originally posted by Cunard Fan:I am really really really really hoping to be able to go on her last cruise.
Unfortunately you would pay a high fare even for 'M' Grade and not get a lot for it, apart from a 'slice of history', which would make it very worthwhile in most ship-nuts eyes!
Brits can do the Jan 08 tandem crossing from £899 pp (based on two people sharing) which includes the flight home to London. That alone is worth about £300.
I'm sure America has similar (maybe better?) deals.
quote:Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:What date is the 'Farewell to the British Isles' cruise?[ 06-22-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]
What date is the 'Farewell to the British Isles' cruise?[ 06-22-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]
September 30th, 2008
Day: 1 Southampton, 2 Cork, 3 Dublin, 4 Liverpool, 5 Belfast, 6 Glascow, 7 at sea, 8 Edinburgh, 9, Newcastle, 10 at sea, 11 Southampton.
Bookings open on June 27 th for the final voyages
Transatlantic is still the best thing to do on the QE2.
Reint
quote:Originally posted by lasuvidaboy: September 30th, 2008 Day: 1 Southampton, 2 Cork, 3 Dublin, 4 Liverpool, 5 Belfast, 6 Glascow, 7 at sea, 8 Edinburgh, 9, Newcastle, 10 at sea, 11 Southampton.
That's odd it's not shown on Cunard.com or co.uk?
quote:Originally posted by oslo dutch: Transatlantic is still the best thing to do on the QE2.
Defanately, it's her reson detre! When they took it away from her she was living on borrowed time.
However any cruise ion the QE2 is better than none.
quote:Originally posted by eroller:.....Someday I hope to sail on SAGA RUBY and SAGA ROSE which are truly two favorites of mine (as far as classics go). I think I will be much sadder when those two ships go out of service compared to QE2.Ernie
Hi Ernie ... you'd better get hitched with someone older soon - Rose will be gone by 2010!!
Ken
quote:Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:That's odd it's not shown on Cunard.com or co.uk?
That's probably because Cunard will only start to accept bookings for QE2's farewell voyages on June 27 (Wednesday).
The revised itinerary seems to be quite different from what was previously published. Some previously scheduled voyages have been cancelled and removed from the web site listings. Passengers with bookings on those cancelled voyages were probably given rebooking options that need to be sorted out before the voyages on the revised itinerary are made available for booking by the general public.
It seems that Cunard World Club members are also being give priority. Hence the advance mailings .
Brian
[ 06-23-2007: Message edited by: Brian_O ]
quote:Originally posted by Brian_O:Would one of the CT'ers who has received QE2's farewell itinerary be kind enough to list the date and itineraries for the revised voyages here?Brian[ 06-23-2007: Message edited by: Brian_O ]
September 30th 10-days: 'Farewell to the British Isles' cruise October 10th final Westbound Transatlantic
October 16th final Eastbound Transatlantic(Both are listed as 'Farewell to America' crossings)
October 22nd 5-day Autumn Getaway cruise: Bilbao, La Rochelle, Channel Islands
October 27th 15-day Med cruise: Lisbon, Sardinia, Naples, Sicily, Dubrovnik, Zakinthos, Piraeus, Gibraltar, Vigo
November 11th 16-day final voyage: Lisbon, Gibraltar, Civitavecchia, Naples, Valetta, Alexandria, Suez Canal transit, Dubai.
Malcolm, didn't you get the letter from Cunard yesterday? I know some people got it this morning.
By the way, does anyone know why now US residents get redirected from the UK site and vice versa? My friend over there tried to look at the October Med pricing when I told her it had gone up again on Thursday night and it kept taking her to the US one.
quote:Originally posted by Patsy:Malcolm, didn't you get the letter from Cunard yesterday? I know some people got it this morning.
Yep this morning.
What's all the fuss and panic about?You have all had nearly 40 years to cruise on her? Did you all really think that she would cruise forever?
[ 06-23-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]
quote:Originally posted by Brian_O:That's probably because Cunard will only start to accept bookings for QE2's farewell voyages on June 27 (Wednesday). It seems that Cunard World Club members are also being give priority. Hence the advance mailings .[ 06-23-2007: Message edited by: Brian_O ]
According to Patsy's post, the October 27th Med cruise is sold out. I wonder how quickly the others will sell out even though World Club members are given priority and the bookings are suppose to open on the 27th. W/special sailings it seems the most expensive and the least expensive accomodations sell-out first.
A question, are'nt all past Cunard passengers considered World Club members?
I wouldn't be surprised if they give the most repeat cruisers first option on these various farewells before booking opens. As nice as it would be to do the transat from NY, MO is £500 more than I'm paying for 10 nights on Aurora the following December. Lovely ship but to me not worth being ripped off for just to say goodbye when there's other cheaper cruises still available.
[ 06-23-2007: Message edited by: Patsy ]
quote:Originally posted by Patsy:I wouldn't be surprised if they give the most repeat cruisers first option on these various farewells before booking opens.[ 06-23-2007: Message edited by: Patsy ]
I wouldn't be surprised if they give the most repeat cruisers first option on these various farewells before booking opens.
According to the flyer the 'farewell' voyages are available for booking on the 27th. I wonder if I call on Monday they would let me book a cruise?
quote:Originally posted by Patsy: As nice as it would be to do the transat from NY, MO is £500 more than I'm paying for 10 nights on Aurora the following December. Lovely ship but to me not worth being ripped off for just to say goodbye when there's other cheaper cruises still available. [ 06-23-2007: Message edited by: Patsy]
I'm with you Patsy. While it would be a memorable experience to sail on the final voyage, I'm not going to be gouged on the price. I feel Cunard already does a bit of price gouging (based on the product and competitors), so I can only imagine the per diems they will strive for on these final cruises. Of course people will line up to pay the prices, but I will not be one of them. Besides, the "final" cruise seems a bit depressing to me. Who knows what kind of shape the ship will be in or if they will start getting it ready for the handover during the cruise? I don't think I would like that. Inaugurals and beginnings are much more festive than finals and endings anyway.
Ernie, you're not kidding. It looks just like a repositioning to me and we're all so used to those nowadays. Something like that isn't special like it was when QM and QE left. They are charging £5099 for MO which is £2000-2500 more than the average 16 night cruise. Think what you can do with that money. It's legalised extortion. You could be right about preparing for handover. Having been on Constellation when they were getting ready for the refit there was a lot of hammering near my cabin and cables all over the place. By all accounts the Canberra farewell was one long party from start to finish. No idea what the QE2's will be like but going at 7pm is a bit of a naff send off though marginally better than Canberra got despite the huge welcome home. Fireworks obviously but then what? It won't really be any different to when she set off on her world cruise. I wonder if she'll return on the 11th mid-morning or the usual time? I wish people luck trying to book those revised itins though going by posts around the Net it appears most of them haven't realised bookings open at the same time everywhere and not just in their own countries. This is when the other prices will start going up I expect. Cash in on all the disappointed pax. I agree 100% about them gouging the prices normally. That's why I won't go on QM2 when I can get something the same length or longer with a better cabin for hundreds less like Constellation or Independence of the Seas. Even the 10 nights on Aurora is less than 4 on QM2 for single rate. Cunard have a niche market all right.
quote:Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:According to Patsy's post, the October 27th Med cruise is sold out.
According to Patsy's post, the October 27th Med cruise is sold out.
That cruise has been on the 2008 schedule since it was first published. It was probably sold out before the sale was announced. It appears to be the only voyage after E816 (20 days to Quebec City, NYC etc.) from the original schedule to survive.
Not all Cunard World Club members get the mailings. If they haven't travelled for about 5 years they get dropped from the mailing list (but retain their membership number) unless they return a card stating they want to continue to receive them. I get QM2 mailings because I explicitly asked for them but no longer get QE2 mailings.
quote:Originally posted by Patsy: That's why I won't go on QM2 when I can get something the same length or longer with a better cabin for hundreds less like Constellation or Independence of the Seas.
I do take your point Patsy, but Cunard have never been in the 'value for money' game as far as I'm concerned! People cruise with them for other reasons.
Comparing 'Independence of the Seas' with the 'QM2' is like saying "I'll buy a Ford instead of Porsche because it is so much better value". Although RCI build amazing ships the overall cruise experience is simply not of the same standard as onboard the QM2. RCI squeeze more passengers on, for a start. The Celebrity product stands up better in a straight comparison with Cunard.
By the way, I recall reading that on the Queen Mary's final cruise to Long Beach in 1967 the crew were miserable and the food and service suffered accordingly!
[ 06-24-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]
TAs here are taking pre-bookings so it looks like World Club members get no priority unlike when the itins went on sale in the UK the day before America and for the rest of the British public. It's a stupid system really. A lot of people on another board pre-booked the Ventura weekender just to save a few pounds and so many moaned when they missed out or didn't get the cabin of their choice. Their own fault. That was way down the list. The entire system crashed but if they'd just got on the phone to P&O when the lines opened they could have got what they wanted as me and my friend did. We had ours a good three hours before the first of those members had confirmation. Course by the end of May once the others went on sale most of the solds for the entire year had become available again. Do TAs in other countries take pre-bookings as well?
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