bluemarble

Thank you. I haven't received my email yet here in the US. Good to see confirmation that they are intending to release the full 2026 itineraries as anticipated (for QA and QM2 anyway). I'm not expecting Cunard to release anything for QV beyond October 2026 or for QE beyond April 2026 based on what I've found and reported on this thread. Still, as I've mentioned before, it's unprecedented during the time I've been tracking the Cunard schedules for any of the summer/autumn itineraries to be released this early. We've usually had the wait until at least September for the summer/autumn itineraries. I see they haven't mentioned when/if the new itineraries will be announced prior to the listed "on sale" dates. Hopefully, those will be posted a week or two in advance as they've generally done most years.

I see Queen Anne is reporting her destination via AIS as "IT PMA SEA TRIAL" with an ETA of 15 Feb 12:00. She has been doing various maneuvers while sailing around the boot of Italy.

There have been previous reports on this forum indicating that Cunard is no longer applying the shareholder benefit to "net rate" bookings. Those are usually bookings made through travel agents which are package deals where the agent combines the cruise with flights, hotels and perhaps pre-cruise or post-cruise extensions which the agent arranges themselves, not through Cunard. If you have booked your Cunard cruise as part of such a package arrangement through your travel agent, that may be the explanation. It would appear Cunard have only recently stopped applying the shareholder benefit to such bookings, especially if you have been making similar "net rate" package bookings with your travel agent in the past and have received the shareholder benefit.

Queen Anne is on the move again. She's left the drydock at Fincantieri Palermo and is reporting Venice as her destination with an ETA of 15 Feb 13:00 local time. That's in line with the news report stating she would be returning to Fincantieri Marghera by 16 Feb to complete her fitting out.

Sorry, I don't have any way of knowing if there are more cancellations yet to be processed. I can tell you there is pretty good availability showing at the moment on the Cunard US website for QM2's Singapore to Cape Town voyage (M408) in all the categories from sheltered balcony and above.

I don't think that Britannia Oceanview fare on the QM2 Singapore to Cape Town voyage (M408) is real. Not that I'd want to book it at that fare, but when I start a booking for two guests, it tells me "Room is not available" and then switches the Britannia Oceanview category to "Sold out". The Britannia Single Oceanview category is available at the moment as a guarantee-only booking for a base fare of $3,279 for one guest. That's exactly half of that $6,558 fare being quoted for two on the Britannia Oceanview category which can't actually be booked for two right now. I think that's what's behind that silliness with the Britannia Oceanview pricing displayed on the Cunard US website at the moment anyway.

Yes, I could use the schedule for your 35-night QM2 cruise next January. That would be very helpful if you wouldn't mind posting the dates of the gala evenings and their themes (if any) for that voyage here. I've started 2025 dress code and theme schedules for each of the ships but I don't have much for QM2's 2025 schedule yet. Thanks for your assistance with that. Edit to add: Cunard do not actually adhere to that maxim of 'two gala evenings per week' on longer voyages unless each week is sold as a separate voyage (such as a round trip crossing). It's typical for a two week cruise to have only three gala evenings. I do have to say though having only five gala evenings on a five week cruise is stretching it quite thin.

No, I don't think they've made a mistake. Rather I think it's a case where they haven't gotten around to posting the gala evening schedule for your voyage yet. There used to be a gap in QV's schedule from 30 October to 15 November 2024. That was presumably going to be a drydock. But that was canceled and two new voyages were added to QV's schedule to fill that gap. Those voyages are V426N (Zeebrugge and Rotterdam), 30 October-3 November 2024 and your voyage V426P (Canary Islands), 3-15 November 2024. I first noticed those two new voyages were added to QV's schedule in early January although they were added sometime late last year. They were almost certainly added after the dress code and theme schedules had been posted for the rest of QV's 2024 voyages last October. My presumption is they hadn't determined the dress code and theme schedules for voyages V426N and V426P when they first added them to the schedule. I suppose they just posted "Smart Attire" as placeholders for each evening in those voyages' calendars for the time being. I don't know when/if they will get around to deciding on and posting the gala evening and theme schedules for those two voyages. Hopefully they will post something eventually. About all I can suggest is to keep an eye on your voyage calendar for any updates and please do let me know here when you see the gala evening schedule posted.

I understand what you mean by "not something they can check off on their system". Mrs. Bluemarble has allergies to all nuts (peanuts and tree nuts) which they can check off on their system plus three other specific fruits and vegetables which they cannot. They always need to make a separate note of the allergies to those other fruits and vegetables when we call Cunard Customer Service to advise them of her food allergies prior to each voyage.

They can accommodate your food allergies with open dining. You still indicate choices for the next day on the menu you'll be provided each evening. Your cabin number will be noted on the menu you fill out. The next day you tell your servers when you are first seated that you have already filled out a menu for the evening and you tell them your cabin number. They will chase down the menu you filled out using your cabin number. It adds a few minutes to the process with open dining and you may end up repeating your allergy information to your new set of servers but it can be done. We've done it several times with food allergies and open dining on QM2. They may even volunteer to assign you a specific table (or general area with the same set of servers) even though you are on open dining to help facilitate the process with your food allergies, especially if you indicate you want to dine at the same time each evening.

Log in to your booking in My Cunard. Select "Before you sail" from the top menu. You should then see a "Personal information" section showing what you currently have for your address. There is an "Edit" link at the bottom of that section that should enable you to edit your address. You cannot change your name or birthdate, but you can change your address, mobile number and email address. There is also a "Travel document" section if you need to update your passport information. There is also an "Emergency contact details" section, but there is a long-standing bug in that section that prevents me from updating the information there. Whenever I try to update the emergency contact details, it just spins after displaying a faint red error message "Invalid Emergency Contact Address - State". Your mileage may vary since you are in Canada. My experience though is that I always have to call Cunard Customer Service to update the emergency contact details.

I haven't found anything further about QE's 2026 Caribbean itineraries beyond what I posted in early December on the "QE 2025-26 Caribbean Season Preview" thread. Last week Cunard posted on their facebook page that we can expect the announcement of "over 300 awe inspiring new voyages with our Cunard Queens" with "more information coming February 2024." Presumably that announcement will include QE's Caribbean itineraries for winter 2025-26 since they mentioned "Caribbean escapes" in that post. If they wait until late February for the announcement, the release date for bookings is likely to be early March.

That's Queen Elizabeth that will be doing Caribbean itineraries from Miami during winter 2025/26. What I've found for Queen Victoria indicates that she may be sailing to Lisbon, Funchal, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote over Christmas 2025 and then Zeebrugge, Amsterdam and Cherbourg over New Year. We are indeed expecting an official announcement from Cunard sometime this month.

I tried in vain to make out the name of the ship. The resolution isn't quite good enough for that tactic. The flag at the stern is clearly that of Germany, so my next tactic was to search for German tall ships. Wikipedia happens to have just such a list. A site called MuseumShips was also helpful. There are a couple close matches to this image, two of the Flying P-Liners, Passat and Peking. The best match is Passat which is in Travemünde, Germany. My itineraries show two calls there by QE, one in June 2011 and another in August 2018.

Yes, that's correct about the same cabin never being assigned to two different voyages that overlap. Here are examples from some of the voyages we're discussing here to illustrate this point. Each of these diagrams show the available sheltered balcony cabins in the mid-forward section of deck 4 on QM2. Voyage M408 (Singapore to Cape Town) Voyage M409 (Cape Town to Southampton) Voyage M408A (Singapore to Southampton) Quite a few of the same cabins are available on both M408 (Singapore to Cape Town) and M409 (Cape Town to Southampton). Those voyages don't overlap. But none of those cabins available on voyages M408 and M409 are also available on the combined voyage M408A (Singapore to Southampton). Similarly, none of the cabins available on the combined voyage M408A are available on either of the separate segments M408 and M409.

Thanks for getting back to us. That $30 discount on your $210 internet package works out to about a 14% to15% discount compared to the 28% discount being offered in the US. Is that the discount on internet plans being advertised in Australia? Now I'm not wanting to start a discussion about how US guests seem to get better deals. I'm just looking to clarify what the offer is in other countries. How about those of you in the UK? What discount percentage is being advertised for you on internet plans in My Cunard?

The other issue with this 28% discount on the internet packages going on now is that it doesn't apply to those of us with internet credits because we are Cunard World Club members at the gold level or above. We can't pre-purchase internet plans. Since I'm at the diamond level, I'm still be ahead of the game applying my internet credit to the onboard price. But I can see how those at the gold level might end up paying more in the end. My math tells me the $45 gold level internet credit works out to be less than the 28% discount for seven days of the premium plan or nine days of the essential plan.

My apologies to the OP for veering so far off topic. Here's what Cunard posted on their facebook page about a week ago. "Discover over 300 awe inspiring new voyages with our Cunard Queens. Norwegian Fjords, epic World Voyages, Caribbean escapes and so much more await. Whether your ideal adventure involves a visit to a bustling metropolis, warm Mediterranean sun or spellbinding glaciers and valleys. With our biggest launch ever coming up soon, you’re sure to find the voyage that makes your dream holiday a reality. Look out for more information coming February 2024." So I'm anticipating the announcement sometime this month. The voyages generally go on sale one to two weeks after the announcement date, so it could be into March when bookings open if they wait until the end of February for the announcement.

Cunard have said Queen Elizabeth will be doing Caribbean cruises out of Florida during the winter 2025/2026 season so you have that to look forward to since you love Caribbean cruises. I anticipate an official announcement of those itineraries sometime this month. The information I've found so far is that QE will be sailing Caribbean itineraries out of Miami from October 2025 into April 2026.

I presume Queen Anne isn't listed because her first voyage isn't until May. The increased charges start in April on the other ships so they presumably will be in place on Queen Anne in May.

That is rather odd. When I pretend I'm in Australia, I'm seeing the same thing on the Cunard Australia site. Voyage M408, Singapore to Cape Town, is showing "Sold Out". But the longer voyage M408A, Singapore to Southampton, is showing the same availability as I'm seeing on the Cunard US site. I suppose they never had to take voyage M408A (Singapore to Southampton) offline, but they did have to do so with the original M408 (Singapore to Dubai). Why they haven't brought the revised M408 (Singapore to Cape Town) back online yet in Australia is a bit of a mystery.

The last increase was about a year ago. It first came to my attention last March and went into effect during last April. At that time the increase was $3.00 per person per day after quite a few years with no increase.

That's a fair assumption. As of now I'm seeing a total of 80 sheltered balcony cabins available on the Singapore to Cape Town voyage and 72 sheltered balconies on the longer Singapore to Southampton voyage. I didn't check any other categories. And that's not even looking at the voyages beginning in Sydney and Hong Kong that originally ended or called at Dubai or the voyages that were originally starting in Dubai to Southampton and New York.

Thanks for confirming the schedule for those dates on Queen Anne. I've completed the schedule for Queen Anne since I started this thread. The link to that document can be seen in my reply #51 at the top of this page if you're interested in seeing the full 2024 schedule for Queen Anne.

There's another increase in the works for the Cunard Hotel and Dining Service Charge. The charge will increase $1.50 per person per day effective with the April 26th QE voyage and the April 28th QM2 and QV voyages. For Britannia staterooms, the charge is increasing from $14.50 to $16.00 per person per day. For Grill Suites, the charge is increasing from $16.50 to $18.00 per person per day. Here's a link to the "Service charge and fees" page on the Cunard website mentioning this increase. https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/the-cunard-experience/service-charges