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CRUISE LINKS (with Gary Bembridge)

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

QM2 POD DAMAGE.. MORE NEWS...

Queen Mary 2 Damages Pod, Some Passengers Unhappy 
Cunard's Queen Mary 2 sustained unspecified damage to one of her four
propulsion pods departing from Ft. Lauderdale last week at the start of
a 38-day voyage around South America. After the damage was discovered,
the liner returned to port where the pod was examined and a
determination was eventually made to continue the journey albeit at a reduced
speed.

The combination of two-day delay, and reduced cruising speed, means
that the scheduled stops at Barbados, St. Kitts and Salvador, Brazil will
be skipped and the call in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will be shortened.
Following the Rio call, Cunard said that it anticipates being able to
visit all of the originally published ports of call, however with
shortened stays in Montevideo and in Acapulco. To compensate passengers for the
missed stops, Cunard said that it was offering the 1,000 or so
passengers scheduled to disembark in Rio de Janeiro on January 26th a 50%
refund.

Unfortunately for Cunard, some passengers did not think that was enough
and a few have notified the press saying that they are unhappy with the
compensation and complaining that they should have been given a full
refund or allowed to get off the ship in Ft. Lauderdale when she returned
after the damage was discovered. A small number of passengers are now
saying that they are so unhappy that they will not disembark in Rio to
make room for the new passengers waiting to board.

Cunard said that it believes the compensation if fair and that it could
not determine which ports would be missed until after the ship departed
and the impact of her reduced speed on the journey could be determined


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