bluemarble

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

The gala evening on 6th March does not have a theme (unless you notice one has been added in your daily calendar in My Cunard). Not all gala evenings have themes. That's especially true of evenings such as 6th March since the next day is disembarkation day for those who are only doing the 2-night cruise from Sydney to Melbourne. Guests who are disembarking in Melbourne may wish to have their luggage packed and set out early for collection. On gala evenings like that, Cunard often does not designate a theme.

Well done, @sfred. Here's QE's track at Fiordland yesterday as seen on cruisemapper. Toward the upper right is the call at Milford Sound in the morning. Then she headed to Doubtful Sound near the pin marked "Fiordland National Park". Her approach to Doubtful Sound was to the east of the island (Secretary Island) which is Thompson Sound. Kate Smith took the first photo while QE was in Thompson Sound and the second while QE was in Doubtful Sound. We can now add two more locations to our seen ports list. 643. Thompson Sound, Fiordland, New Zealand 644. Doubtful Sound, Fiordland, New Zealand

You are on the right track. We now need to identify these two specific locations within the fjords of New Zealand. As a reminder, we've identified the following two locations on this thread previously. Dusky Sound, Fiordland, New Zealand Milford Sound, Fiordland, New Zealand What two locations are these latest photos?

Here are two photos taken from a Cunard ship within about an hour of each other. Here's the twist. We have not seen either of these locations on this thread yet. The second photo is a location on our unseen ports list but the first photo is not on that list. The location in the first photo has probably been visited by Cunard ships before, we just haven't realized it. These photos are courtesy of Kate Smith.

On a 7-night crossing, there will be two "Gala Evenings". Those will be scheduled on the second and sixth evenings. The other five evenings will be the "Smart Attire" dress code. The pattern this year for the themes is for the first Gala Evening to be either Black and White or Red and Gold while the second Gala Evening will be either Roaring Twenties or Masquerade. Participation in the themes is entirely optional, but if you feel inclined to dress to those themes then by all means do so. You may see some long gowns on Smart Attire evenings but those are mostly confined to the Gala Evenings. And just so you know, evening dresses, cocktail dresses, smart trouser suits and formal separates are all acceptable for ladies on Gala Evenings. There is no dress code during the day. About the only stipulation during the day is no swimwear at the indoor venues. You will see a wide range of casual attire during the day. Also, there are designated casual venues during the evening. On QM2, those who don't wish to follow the evening dress code are invited to visit the Kings Court Buffet, Carinthia Lounge, Golden Lion Pub, G32 Nightclub and Casino.

Pricing and availability are now posted for all five of these new QM2 segments to/from Cape Town (rather than Dubai), even if the title for M409A says it's "Cape Town to Southampton" rather than "Cape Town to New York".

Here's an Italian news article about QA's departure from Fincantieri Marghera for her sea trials. https://www.chioggiaazzurra.it/web/site/dettaglio?art=3649 Quoting from the English translation: "The ship is now headed to Palermo and is expected to return to Fincantieri for completion on 16 February."

I think I can help clarify the situation. Unless it works differently in Australia, you won't find anything *online* regarding the onboard credit you have with your Cunard booking. Your onboard credit is listed on a "Booking Confirmation" document (a pdf file) received from Cunard via email, or rather in your case, forwarded to you via email by your booking agency since you used a cruise booking website. If you have never received a "Booking Confirmation" document for your Cunard booking, then you will probably want to request one from your booking agency. I know, the Cunard system is quite antiquated compared to other lines where you can see how much onboard credit you have online (and perhaps even spend it online prior to the cruise). But I'm afraid it is what it is with Cunard. Now if I've misunderstood @sfred's reply and he was referring to an online version of the Cunard "Booking Confirmation" available in Australia, then I'll gladly stand corrected.

Here's QV sailing past Cabos San Lucas a short time ago as seen on the Villa La Estancia webcam found on the cabovillas.com website. QV was originally scheduled to call at Cabo San Lucas today. That call was canceled when QV had to spend the day in Fuerte Amador for hull cleaning and inspection following her Panama Canal transit. Now it turns out she ended up at Cabos San Lucas briefly today after all to evacuate a patient with a medical emergency.

Thank you! That is the port authority website for Hawaii I was looking at earlier. I didn't realize the Traffic Schedule portion of that website contained the schedules that far out. That's a good find. I'll add that to my list of port authority websites who post their schedules well into the future.

I see they've corrected the titles for these voyages to indicate Cape Town instead of Dubai. Bizarrely, they've managed to change the title for M409A to New York to "Cape Town to Southampton", the same as M409. They do have the itinerary and number of nights correct though. Pricing and availability are now posted for both M409 (Cape Town to Southampton) and M409A (Cape Town to New York).

That agrees with what I've found elsewhere and reported on the "Cunard 2026 Itineraries Preview" thread. Did you find that on a port authority website for Honolulu? The one I've found only lists their cruise schedule for 2024.

QA was back to the same area to add some more low speed maneuvers during the early evening yesterday. Here is the combined track from both of those sets of maneuvers.

I'm seeing elsewhere that QA's maximum design speed is 22 knots. There are several spots on her past track around 3:15 UTC and a few more around 9:30 UTC where marinetraffic is showing her speed made it up to 22 knots.

Here's QA's track from earlier today. Some low speed maneuvers at that time.

I'm anticipating the announcement in February based on their post on their facebook page a couple days ago which talks about "300 awe inspiring new voyages" (including the world voyages) and concludes by stating "Look out for more information coming February 2024."

The new itineraries are posted but they haven't yet updated the titles for the voyages starting or ending in Dubai. M406B is still called "Sydney to Dubai" but the itinerary is Sydney to Cape Town M407A is still called "Hong Kong to Dubai" but the itinerary is Hong Kong to Cape Town M408 is still called "Singapore to Dubai" but the itinerary is Singapore to Cape Town M409 is still called "Dubai to Southampton" but the itinerary is Cape Town to Southampton M409A is still called "Dubai to New York" but the itinerary is Cape Town to New York That's progress anyway. All of the above are "Sold Out" at the moment. I imagine that will change once Cunard allocates available inventory to these segments.

@MaineCruiser243, in the Britannia restaurant you may choose fixed dining or open dining. For fixed dining on a QM2 crossing you have your choice of early sitting at 6:00pm or late sitting at 8:30pm. You will have the same table and wait staff each evening. You may request a table size (2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 people) but not a specific table. There will be a card waiting for you in your cabin when you embark informing you of your table number. For open dining on a QM2 crossing, you may dine any time from 6:00pm to 9:00pm but you won't have the same table or wait staff each evening. There will be a card waiting for you in your cabin when you embark indicating a time that has been reserved for you for the first evening. They ask that you make reservations for subsequent evenings using the onboard My Voyage facility but that's not strictly necessary. When you arrive at the restaurant for open dining there may be a queue until they are able to seat you. You register your preferred dining arrangement in the "Your dining choice" section found under "Booking Summary" when you log in to your booking in "My Cunard". Here's a screen shot showing a booking where we have requested the early sitting of fixed dining at a table for 8.

A note about the QM2 2024 Dress Code and Theme Schedule. I updated the QM2 document yesterday to reflect the changes to the world voyage itinerary rerouting QM2 around Africa for the return to Southampton. One of the dates originally scheduled for a gala evening was 12 April which is now the first of two port days in Cape Town. It's unlikely they will hold a gala evening on that date now, so I have predicted that gala evening will be moved to 14 April. I don't like to assume changes to the schedule like this. I also realize updating the dress code schedule for this itinerary change is low on Cunard's to-do list right know as it should be. When things settle down, I'd appreciate any updates to the QM2 dress code and theme schedules for the changes to her world voyage itinerary if they become available in your My Cunard calendar.