Family’s dream £20k cruise ruined after Cunard banned unvaccinated children from its ships

A FAMILY’S dream £20,000 cruise has been ruined after Cunard banned children from its luxury liners due to Covid-19.

Josephine Johnston, 67 and her husband Ray, 70, were set to travel with five relatives to the Canary Islands for two weeks.

Their trip on the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship – already postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic – was switched to December 23.

But the couple cannot now go with their two daughters, son-in-law and granddaughter and grandson – because he is just 14-years-old.

Cunard says all passengers must be double vaccinated against Covid.

Kids as young as 12 can now get a single jab to protect them from coronavirus, but only those from that age up to 17-years-old can get a second dose if they have serious health problems.

Josephine fumed: “I feel very angry about this.“Not just for me but all the other families as well.“It’s awful, they have ruined Christmas. We cannot book any other holidays at this short notice.”

Josephine, of Ramsgate, Kent added: “My grandson is 14. Children have had enough to deal with during the pandemic, they should not be made to feel guilty.

“He said ‘I hope Nanny is not going to be mad with me’.

“By law he cannot get double vaccinated, we have looked into it – he can get single vaccinated, but not double. Cunard’s policy is not in line with the legislation of the Government.”

The family – who booked the trip two years ago – are now all set to miss the cruise.“They have shot themselves in the foot,” she added.

Cunard’s previous policy was to allow under 18s on the ships with a negative PCR.

Josephine got an email from Cunard last Thursday outlining their policy, it read: “We are continually monitoring the entry requirements of the ports on our upcoming planned itineraries and following our latest review it has become necessary to make a change to our vaccination policy.”

Crucially it adds: “All guests of all ages will need to be fully vaccinated in order to travel on any voyage departing from 13 October 2021, up to and including 17 April 2022 for Queen Mary 2 and up to and including 17 May 2022 for Queen Elizabeth.

“The vaccine policy currently does not apply to sailings on Queen Victoria, who is scheduled to return to service on 22 April, 2022.

“Our definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ is a minimum of 14 days following the second dose of the currently approved Covid-19 vaccines or 14 days following the approved single-dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine being administered.

“Please note, a single dose of any other vaccine will not be deemed ‘fully vaccinated’.

“As this is an important change from our previous stated vaccination policy of allowing guests under the age of 18 to travel with a negative PCR test, we wanted to let you know.”

A Cunard spokesperson told Sun Online Travel: “We are sorry for any disappointment caused by our recently updated vaccination policy.

“The guests you have been contacted by were due to travel before the 31st December, 2021 so will have been offered 125% future cruise credit or a full refund, should they now not comply with the vaccination policy.

“Additionally, if the affected group were travelling with others on a linked booking, they too will have been offered the same gesture.”