The first part of the cruise, Southampton to San Francisco in my case, was fine although there being only about 1300 passengers it was rather lifeless. The second part on entry to the Pacific was a disaster. Before reaching Manzanillo in Mexico the ship was rife with Covid. Both myself and wife were isolated in a state room reportedly with another 300 people supposedly. Whether one or two partners had Covid they were both types dumped off the ship in Long Beach, California. There was no communication from Cunard to each party ejected. Cunard just wanted you off of the ship as quickly as possible. They did to their credit provide a 2-3 * type hotel (Hyatt Centric, Long Beach) which had only a snack bar for food (croissants, sandwiches etc) which unfortunately you could not be expected to live on for the 10 days. They also proposed paying for the flight and transfers which were to be 10 days later. They gave an allowance of $100 per person per day for food and essentials.

The main point is that there was no communication from Cunard on a personal basis. You were told by letter that you would be ejected from the ship escorted by people in hazmat suits even though you had served 5 or more days in isolation. They had no regard whatsoever of what your final plans were. My arrangements for hotels, car hire and flights in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Toronto had been paid for many weeks ago. I did not intend for this part of my holiday to go to waste. Consequently I had to arrange and pay for a hotel transfer and flight myself from LA to SF and then continue with my original arrangements.

In my opinion Covid was rampant throughout the ship due to a lack of cleaning. Tables and chairs in the Queens room were not sanitised. Cunard allowed people without masks to walk around the ship and dance. Collected unused cutlery was returned un-sanitised into the cutlery drawer for re-use. One young lady on the pursers desk to her credit refused to talk to a passenger until she put on her mask. Read more