sfred

No - the Captain/Commodore 6/12 bottle collection wine package is different from the per-day alcohol drinks package. Interesting idea, though.

This is an area of the world I've never been to either, so I'm very curious to see through your camera. I don't know if I did things correctly, but the approach I fell into on our SF to Barcelona voyage was to post sea day sunrises in the sunrise thread, and port day photos in the QE location thread. @Host Hattie may have some further suggestions. Appreciate you taking the time to share your adventures!

Wow - an extremely impressive effort, thanks @bluemarble! Yes, this is the "manual" comparison I was thinking would occupy the better part of a rainy day to download and line up the various questions in an Excel table. I was semi-confident that I could figure a way to automate the process using PowerBI's text analytics -- I use that software to run my "Where in the World" model -- although I was a little concerned that British/US spelling differences and minor syntax differences might cause some false outcomes and that the cleanup might occupy as much time as the manual approach. It does appear that there are a few duplications in the Australia questions (as a quick example, rows 245/246 asking about cots or rows 252/253 asking about airport hotel bookings), But for the most part the Australia FAQ looks like just a longer and more comprehensive set of questions. Very interesting, and thanks again!

Thanks for the recent photos, @alibabacruisers. Making the free internet allotment last for a long voyage is much more challenging with the 24-hour block structure. The technique of doing midday-to-midday purchases, so that you have the afternoon of one day and the morning of the next, helps somewhat. As does sharing logins so that two people's allotments can be used consecutively rather than simultaneously. But the challenge remains. I really wish Cunard would introduce a 2 or 4 hour pricing option for say $5. That would greatly help to extend the diamond credit for the duration of a longer voyage. I used a portion of my early morning walks on our recent QE trip to record the locations of QE's hallway access points. See post #24 and #26 of the "QM2 Guide to Wi-Fi Access Point Locations for Passenger Cabins" sticky thread. Thanks again for your reports on your journey!!

A question running through my mind is what all these additional questions in the Australia FAQ could be? Surely Cunard IT is not equal to the task of actually counting the incidences of all the questions posed in incoming customer contacts, setting some arbitrary definition of how many are needed to qualify as "frequently", and then publishing both these questions and their answers for each geography? Downloading and manually comparing the questions contained in each geo's site would be rather tedious, and require a particularly rainy day to justify the effort. I'll try to think of an automated way to compare the text.

FAQs are back on the Australia site.

Unfortunately I'm not on a Cunard ship for sunrise today... But we are on Queensland's Gold Coast this week and next, petsitting for our two border collie grand-dogs. A wonderful sunrise this morning over the Pacific.

I so miss being on QE for sunrises!! Thanks for the photos.

My thought exactly! Sunrise when below the equator.

QE is in Barcelona today 30 October for the final time in her 2023 Mediterranean season. Upon departure this evening she begins the long journey to Australia for the summer season down here. Best wishes to all those embarking. @alibabacruisers, I hope you have a wonderful trip home to Melbourne. If you are able, please share some photos along the way.

Yes, apparently nobody in Australia/NZ is frequently asking any questions this morning. Maybe asking why there are no FAQs today should qualify as a frequently asked question?

I think @Host Hattie is correct, specifically the Tour Royale, a fort commissioned in 1513 by King Louis XII to protect the entrance of the naval port of Toulon. I guess QE was considered a friendly vessel that day. Dubrovnik was another thought I first had when I saw @bluemarble's post The town walls look similar. EDIT: OOPS - sorry, I didn't see the later posts in the new page 199 confirming Toulon.

No-theme formal nights do come up from time to time. We had a "Gala night (unspecified)" during the transatlantic portion of our recent QE San Francisco to Barcelona trip, on the middle sea day between Bermuda and Madeira. We searched our luggage and scoured the ship's shops, but never did find anything "unspecified" to accompany our regular formal kit. The moment we identified or pointed to something, it became "specified". 😄 (*sorry*)

Dress codes for our Q408 voyage are in MyCunard, shown under "Your Calendar". Screen shot pasted below. Strange that your Q409A isn't showing yet. .

Thanks @NE John. Is that a live webcam that can observe the terminal activity, or a single photo?

QE, Feb 20-Mar 05, 2024 (voyage Q408, Sydney-SouthPacific-Sydney) Feb 21: Black and White Feb 27: Masquerade Mar 03: Roaring Twenties

The hotel also has a rich transportation history, having been built by the Canadian Pacific Streamship company and the Canadian Pacific Railroad. We didn't stop in for tea.

My welcome also, @Dranuc2016. The Freia clock on the building is another good clue.

There is a shuttle (or at least there was back in 2019). Dropoff was at the Victoria harbour ferry / Destination Victoria Visitor Centre. The visitor centre had free wifi. It's about a 2km level walk from the cruise pier into the city, through the pleasant residential neighbourhood of James Bay. We shuttled into town, and walked back to the ship.

Best wishes for your Alaska voyage, @NE John. I'm glad you decided to go after your earlier concerns. I think you'll have a great time. Our QE 2019 voyage from Japan to Alaska ranks as one of our top favourites. We really liked both Sitka and Victoria. In Sitka, Mrs. sfred and I split up for the day. I went for a bushwalk in the nearby Sitka National Historical Park. Mrs. sfred went to the bear sanctuary - Fortress of the Bear. We then met up again in the town for a late lunch before returning to the ship. There is a Cunard shuttle bus from the cruise pier, with the dropoff at the Sitka Historical Society. We did not take any Cunard excursions. Some photos are copied below, and here's the website of the bear sanctuary. http://www.fortressofthebear.org/ The park bushwalk. I think I was one of a very few people in the park. I didn't see another person for hours. Fortress of the Bear. Mrs. sfred booked transport and admission from a local tourist desk in Sitka. . In Victoria, it was our first time there, so we concentrated on seeing the city. We took the Cunard shuttle into town, walked around for most of the day, had lunch and several pints at one of the many British pubs, and then walked back to the ship through very pleasant residential neighbourhoods. The only thing that made the day a little sad was the knowledge that we would be getting off QE the following day in Vancourver. . Let us know any questions.

The wide tree-lined street in the first webcam is Avenue Foch, named for Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France. The French Navy also named an aircraft carrier in his honour, the second Clemenceau-class carrier that served from 1963 to 2000.

Un autre port francais. C'est magnifique!

I never noticed that, interesting question @erniebernie. Attached below is a photo I took of QE when she was here in Brisbane earlier this year. Zooming into that location on deck 4, there appears to be only an empty balcony space without doors. A similar gap occurs nearby on the inside cabins only on decks 6, 7, and 8. Perhaps some storage, ventilation or machinery for the Britannia galleys on decks 2 and 3? QV has this gap also on her deck plans. Similarly, there's a white gap between 4.076 and 4.088, although this gap might be cabins set aside for Cunard guests like insight lecturers. I did note the presence of a cabin 4.082 when I was listing the hallway wifi access points on our recent QE trip.

Ah, okay. I had indeed gone down the wrong rabbit hole in Canada. But by digging a lot deeper in that hole and emerging on the opposite side of the world, I found a match to Le Port Reunion, although more precisely QM2 appears to be in the area called La Possession on google maps. The two round storage tanks adjacent to the pier appear to be the Dépot de Charbon Albioma. I'm guessing the webcam is located on the hills on the south side of the Riviere des Galets, perhaps somewhere along the D2 Chemin Lambert road? Good challenge, thanks @bluemarble!

I noted the ship appeared to be QM2 also. I had a thought the port might be one of her recent Canada locations, but I can't find a match to the webcam. Probably went down the wrong rabbit hole.