At Emerald Cruises, we understand how important travel plans are. This is even more the case today as our valued guests start to travel again. You may have seen in recent news stories that as the world re-opens there has been a surge in global travel demand as well as shortages in labour in many countries, including those that we operate in. This has had significant impact on the travel industry, airline flights and airport operations during the peak travel periods. By airlines rescheduling or cancelling of flights many of our guests travel plans (flight, hotel, transfers) need last minute amending, which in turn leads to a significant increase in calls to our customer contact centres. Our teams will do their utmost to secure your holiday. Regardless of the current conditions, we would like to re-assure you our dedicated crew are looking forward to welcoming you on board. As you plan for your cruise, this email will provide you with some guidance and handy tips to ensure you are prepared. Whether it be for flight changes, delays, queues, missing luggage, or any other possible changes to your journey. Contacting us Our reservations centre is experiencing an unprecedented number of booking changes close to the travel departure dates. This means you may experience longer hold times when calling during peak periods, or when we are processing booking, hotel and transfer changes due to major airline schedule amendments. The Emerald Cruises management team is committed to our expected service level, and we have increased our reservation staffing levels by 40% to help reduce our response times.
To assist us in expediting any changes to your booking please contact your Travel Advisor. Or if you have booked directly with Emerald Cruises, please email hello@emeraldcruises. com.au or hello@emeraldcruises.co.nz and include your Full Name, Booking Number, Contact Details and a summary of your new arrangements including new flight details. Our reservations team will then process your amendments and contact you to confirm your revised travel plans. Staying up to date We will ensure to keep you updated on any change to your upcoming arrangements. We would also recommend downloading the app on your phone for the airlines you are flying so you can stay up to date on any flight changes. Many airline apps also have features like baggage tracking. As travel restrictions continue to ease globally, this handy link is useful for checking itineraries Travel Restrictions (joinsherpa.com) If you have questions regarding your travels, we recommend contacting your travel advisor in the first instance or our Emerald Cruises reservations team via hello@emeraldcruises. com.au or hello@emeraldcruises.co.nz if you have booked directly with us. Travel documentation timings and format We are currently emailing guest documentation packs approximately 2 weeks prior to the cruise departure date. However, lastminute airline flight adjustments have had a considerable impact on when we can finalise our guests’ travel arrangements. While we are working to increase the period prior to travel for documentation to be sent, any changes close to departure may delay when we can release these to you to ensure that the transfer