bluemarble

I'm reviving this thread since I noticed the "nycruise" website has posted the 2024 schedule for the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. This neatly shows in one list how MSC Meravilgia is dominating the schedule there during 2024. As we've been discussing, having MSC Meraviglia using Brooklyn as a home port throughout the year is presumably the reason QM2 had to take a back seat and reschedule conflicting dates there. I've highlighted the rescheduled 2024 dates for QM2 which originally were a day or two later on dates that have been reassigned to MSC Meraviglia. I'll try to remember to revisit this exercise next year when the 2025 Brooklyn Cruise Terminal schedule is posted simply to document the scheduling changes for 2025 within a similar master list. 2024 Brooklyn Cruise Terminal Schedule Date Ship 1/3/2024 Queen Mary 2 1/6/2024 MSC Meraviglia 1/15/2024 MSC Meraviglia 1/26/2024 MSC Meraviglia 2/4/2024 MSC Meraviglia 2/11/2024 MSC Meraviglia 2/18/2024 MSC Meraviglia 2/25/2024 MSC Meraviglia 3/3/2024 MSC Meraviglia 3/10/2024 MSC Meraviglia 3/24/2024 MSC Meraviglia 3/31/2024 MSC Meraviglia 4/7/2024 MSC Meraviglia 4/18/2024 MSC Meraviglia 4/28/2024 MSC Meraviglia 5/4/2024 MSC Meraviglia 5/5/2024 Queen Mary 2 5/12/2024 MSC Meraviglia 5/19/2024 MSC Meraviglia 5/23/2024 Queen Mary 2 5/26/2024 MSC Meraviglia 6/2/2024 MSC Meraviglia 6/4/2024 Island Princess 6/9/2024 MSC Meraviglia 6/14/2024 Island Princess 6/15/2024 Queen Mary 2 6/16/2024 MSC Meraviglia 6/17/2024 Silver Explorer 6/18/2024 Silver Explorer 6/23/2024 MSC Meraviglia 6/25/2024 Island Princess 6/29/2024 Queen Mary 2 6/30/2024 MSC Meraviglia 7/5/2024 Island Princess 7/6/2024 Queen Mary 2 7/7/2024 MSC Meraviglia 7/14/2024 MSC Meraviglia 7/21/2024 MSC Meraviglia 7/27/2024 Queen Mary 2 7/28/2024 MSC Meraviglia 8/4/2024 MSC Meraviglia 8/11/2024 MSC Meraviglia 8/18/2024 MSC Meraviglia 8/23/2024 Queen Mary 2 8/24/2024 Enchanted Princess 8/25/2024 MSC Meraviglia 8/30/2024 Emerld Princess 8/31/2024 Emerld Princess 9/1/2024 MSC Meraviglia 9/2/2024 Viking Mars 9/3/2024 Viking Mars 9/7/2024 Enchanted Princess 9/14/2024 Enchanted Princess 9/15/2024 MSC Meraviglia 9/21/2024 Enchanted Princess 9/22/2024 Queen Mary 2 9/25/2024 MSC Meraviglia 9/28/2024 Enchanted Princess 10/2/2024 Crystal Serenity 10/4/2024 Queen Mary 2 10/5/2024 Enchanted Princess 10/6/2024 MSC Meraviglia 10/12/2024 Enchanted Princess 10/13/2024 MSC Meraviglia 10/19/2024 Enchanted Princess 10/20/2024 MSC Meraviglia 10/25/2024 Queen Mary 2 10/26/2024 Enchanted Princess 10/27/2024 MSC Meraviglia 11/2/2024 Enchanted Princess 11/3/2024 MSC Meraviglia 11/10/2024 MSC Meraviglia 11/17/2024 MSC Meraviglia 11/20/2024 Queen Mary 2 11/24/2024 MSC Meraviglia 12/1/2024 MSC Meraviglia 12/3/2024 Queen Mary 2 12/8/2024 MSC Meraviglia 12/15/2024 MSC Meraviglia 12/21/2024 Queen Mary 2 12/22/2024 MSC Meraviglia 12/29/2024 MSC Meraviglia

My understanding is the consulting fees for this Circle of Style styling and curation service are being waived for the first 100 customers who sign up using the promotion code provided by Cunard. After those first 100 customers have been accepted, the standard consulting fees would apply for anyone who wished to sign up for that service directly with Circle of Style and presumably then those fees would be non-refundable. From the Terms and Conditions: "Access to the free styling and curation service is limited to a maximum of 100 customers, on a first-come, first-served basis, so once 100 people have pre-registered to receive the service from Circle of Style, it will no longer be available (although Circle of Style may offer a similar service separately on a chargeable basis)."

I've uploaded the same photos for the last three of our QM2 cruises (Nov 2022 Brooklyn check-in, May 2023 Southampton Mayflower check-in and Sep 2023 Brooklyn check-in). I took them with my cell phone and went to considerable lengths to make sure the lighting and background were good and the sizes of our faces were within the guidelines for passport photos. The first two times we checked in, the photos I uploaded were deemed acceptable. The last time, the check-in agent retook our photos. I'm not convinced he even looked at the photos I had uploaded though. He may have just been routinely taking everyone's photos as in the olden days. Your mileage may vary of course.

I hear you. It will be more convenient for us to sail out of Seattle. But sailing out of Vancouver is certainly more in keeping with Cunard's past. Somehow it just seems more appropriate for a Cunard ship to be based out of a city in the Commonwealth with the monarch as head of state rather than one in a country which was formerly a collection of colonies who rebelled against the monarchy. And of course Samuel Cunard was Canadian. But naturally this all comes down to business decisions in the end as it must. QE is apparently destined to be home-ported in the US for the foreseeable future with the 2025 Alaska season based out of Seattle and the yet-to-be-announced Caribbean season based out of Fort Lauderdale.

No, QE's maiden call to Kodiak was during her first Alaska season in 2019. In fact Kodiak was QE's first port of call in Alaska on May 15, 2019 during her repositioning cruise from Japan to Vancouver. So far I believe that's been QE's only call to Kodiak. A second call is scheduled there next year on June 3, 2024, again as her first Alaska port of call during her repositioning cruise from Japan to Vancouver. And it appears that pattern is set to repeat in 2025 with Kodiak being the first Alaska port of call during QE's repositioning cruise from Japan to Seattle this time.

Here's what I'm seeing posted on a travel agent website for QE's 2025 Alaska season. If this is real (and I have no reason to doubt it), the big news is that QE will be sailing out of Seattle rather than Vancouver during the 2025 Alaska season. QE will be calling at Victoria to satisfy the US PVSA requirement for a foreign port. She won't be calling at Vancouver at all during the 2025 season according to these itineraries I'm seeing. QE 2025 Alaska 24-May-2025 Yokohama 26-May-2025 Hakodate 27-May-2025 Kushiro 31-May-2025 International Date Line 3-Jun-2025 Kodiak 4-Jun-2025 Seward 5-Jun-2025 Hubbard Glacier 6-Jun-2025 Juneau 7-Jun-2025 Glacier Bay 8-Jun-2025 Sitka 11-Jun-2025 Victoria 12-Jun-2025 Seattle 14-Jun-2025 Ketchikan 15-Jun-2025 Glacier Bay 16-Jun-2025 Skagway 17-Jun-2025 Juneau 18-Jun-2025 Hubbard Glacier 19-Jun-2025 Sitka 20-Jun-2025 Misty Fjord 22-Jun-2025 Victoria 23-Jun-2025 Seattle 25-Jun-2025 Endicott Arm 26-Jun-2025 Icy Strait Point 27-Jun-2025 Juneau 28-Jun-2025 Skagway 29-Jun-2025 Glacier Bay 30-Jun-2025 Ketchikan 2-Jul-2025 Victoria 3-Jul-2025 Seattle 5-Jul-2025 Juneau 6-Jul-2025 Skagway 7-Jul-2025 Glacier Bay 9-Jul-2025 Victoria 10-Jul-2025 Seattle 12-Jul-2025 Ketchikan 13-Jul-2025 Glacier Bay 14-Jul-2025 Haines 15-Jul-2025 Tracy Arm Fjord 16-Jul-2025 Juneau 17-Jul-2025 Sitka 18-Jul-2025 Misty Fjord 20-Jul-2025 Victoria 21-Jul-2025 Seattle 23-Jul-2025 Sitka 24-Jul-2025 Endicott Arm 25-Jul-2025 Juneau 26-Jul-2025 Skagway 27-Jul-2025 Glacier Bay 28-Jul-2025 Ketchikan 30-Jul-2025 Victoria 31-Jul-2025 Seattle 2-Aug-2025 Ketchikan 3-Aug-2025 Glacier Bay 4-Aug-2025 Skagway 5-Aug-2025 Tracy Arm Fjord 6-Aug-2025 Juneau 7-Aug-2025 Icy Strait Point 8-Aug-2025 Sitka 10-Aug-2025 Victoria 11-Aug-2025 Seattle 13-Aug-2025 Ketchikan 14-Aug-2025 Sitka 15-Aug-2025 Tracy Arm Fjord 16-Aug-2025 Skagway 17-Aug-2025 Icy Strait Point 18-Aug-2025 Glacier Bay 20-Aug-2025 Victoria 21-Aug-2025 Seattle 23-Aug-2025 Sitka 24-Aug-2025 Glacier Bay 25-Aug-2025 Ketchikan 27-Aug-2025 Victoria 28-Aug-2025 Seattle 30-Aug-2025 Ketchikan 31-Aug-2025 Juneau 1-Sep-2025 Glacier Bay 2-Sep-2025 Haines 3-Sep-2025 Hubbard Glacier 4-Sep-2025 Icy Strait Point 5-Sep-2025 Sitka 7-Sep-2025 Victoria 8-Sep-2025 Seattle 10-Sep-2025 Ketchikan 11-Sep-2025 Juneau 12-Sep-2025 Skagway 13-Sep-2025 Glacier Bay 14-Sep-2025 Icy Strait Point 15-Sep-2025 Endicott Arm 17-Sep-2025 Victoria 18-Sep-2025 Seattle 20-Sep-2025 Ketchikan 21-Sep-2025 Tracy Arm Fjord 21-Sep-2025 Juneau 22-Sep-2025 Sitka 24-Sep-2025 Victoria 25-Sep-2025 Seattle

There are photos of the QV fitness center found here in the Reviews section of this site. Here's a link to one of the photos there which may show a few machines which qualify as recumbent stationary bikes. You can scroll through other photos of the fitness center to see other views which might be helpful as well. One caveat is that I don't know how recent these photos are. https://www.cruisecritic.com/cruise/cunard/queen-victoria/fitness-center-371638/fitness-center--v16925914

That wording about non-ripped jeans is a bit hard to interpret within that snippet from the daily programme since it appears to be in its own paragraph there as a stand-alone topic. The wording about the dress code found in My Cunard is a bit different in that it mentions non-ripped jeans within the context of a separate paragraph discussing the designated casual venues. Here's the quote from My Cunard. "Of course, if you prefer to spend your evenings in more relaxed attire, feel free to dress casually as you visit any of the following venues: Kings Court or Lido Buffet, Golden Lion, Casino, Carinthia Lounge, Winter Garden/Winter Lounge, and G32 or Yacht Club. Non-ripped jeans are appropriate, but please refrain from wearing shorts, sports attire, swimwear or sleeveless T-shirts outside of the gym, spa and deck spaces." My interpretation is that non-ripped jeans are only considered appropriate in the designated casual venues. But as usual Cunard have managed to cloud the issue by formatting the wording about the dress code differently within the daily programmes. If you reach a different interpretation than I have, I can't really dispute that.

2023

Looks like the 2023 Cunard Christmas ecard has arrived in the US. Here's what I received via email a few hours ago. This one has a bit of animation. The star and other portions of the image blink once every 2.6 seconds by my timing. I'll also post this on my other thread titled "Cunard Christmas ecard images from years past." where I've been keeping an archive of images from each of the Cunard Christmas ecards since 2007.

I have daily programmes from a QM2 cruise to Norway this past May. Each of the daily programmes for the port days on that cruise list the Play/Zids/Teen Zone hours as 2:00pm - 5:00pm and 6:00pm - 11:00pm. That only differs from sea days when the Play/Zids/Teen Zone hours also included a morning session 10:00am - 12:00pm. So you should only be missing that morning session when the Play/Zids/Teen Zone is apparently closed on port days.

The Cunard ships have mostly been using the Mayflower Terminal this year. That call by QM2 at the QEII Terminal was one exception after she returned from the drydock in Rotterdam. The Southampton VTS cruise ship schedule is posted through March 2024. There are seven calls by Cunard ships during that time (five by QV and two by QM2). Six of those seven calls will be at the Mayflower Terminal. The one exception is QM2 at the Ocean Terminal on January 11th. That's presumably because QV is also in Southampton that day at the Mayflower Terminal. Will be interested to see the schedule for the rest of 2024 when it's posted.

QE arriving at Adelaide a short time ago. This is a capture from the Outer Harbor Web Camera.

I think this one is Leknes, Lofoten Islands, Norway.

Interesting. That's a significant price increase to $36 for the 24-hour Essential Plan. They are listing the on board price of the 24-hour Essential Plan as $24 in My Cunard and the on board price of the 24-hour Premium Plan as $36. What are they charging now on board for the 24-hour Premium Plan?

It does appear that's the case. Not so much for the Gala Evening dress code where "dinner jacket, tuxedo, or dark suit with regular tie or bow tie for gentlemen" seems to prompt only the occasional question. It's that pesky Smart Attire dress code with its various incarnations of "dress shirt", "collared shirt" and lately "smart collared shirt" for gentlemen that seems to cause the most discussion.

The terms and conditions for the Circle of Style styling and curation service they are promoting do state "The styling and curation service is available only in relation to womenswear, not menswear."

Another first-time player of our game. Welcome, @rog747!

Welcome to our game! Always good to see new players.

That's my assumption that the Bright Lights Society will be in the unnamed lounge shown on the Queen Anne deck plan opposite the Golden Lion. The layout of that lounge on the deck plan aligns very well with this rendering of the Bright Lights Society found on the Cunard website.

QE has arrived at Fremantle to begin her Australia/New Zealand season. Here's a capture from one of the webcams on the Fremantle Ports website found at https://www.fremantleports.com.au/the-port/harbourcams/cantonment-hill-harbourcam.

Looks like the typical problem where they didn't allocate many suites to the 14-night round trip crossing (M538A) compared to each of the individual 7-night crossings (M538 and M539). There are many Q5-Q6 suites available on each of the 7-night crossings and it's not hard to find instances of the same Q5-Q6 suites available on both crossings. The catch is the fare is about $1,500 more per person to book the two separate crossings compared to the fare being quoted for the combined 14-night round trip crossing.

Yes, that's my understanding concerning refunds for pre-purchased internet plans. I can't confirm from actual experience, but this quote is from the Internet terms and conditions posted on My Cunard. "Pre-booked Packages can be canceled and refunded in full to the original debit/credit card up to 3 days prior to departure." By the way, I think I figured out the reason for the discounted pricing for internet plans I posted earlier. That's where I am seeing the pricing for the Premium Voyage Plan listed at $19.58 per day (discounted from $20 per day) and the Essential Voyage Plan listed at $14.71 per day (discounted from $15 per day) for one of my voyages. It has to do with the length of the voyage. I'm seeing that discounted pricing on a voyage of 17 nights. Here's the relevant quote from My Cunard. "Discounts are available for multi-device plans and plans on voyages of 16 nights or more in duration."

Thank you for that schedule. And welcome to the Cruise Critic by the way. Gala evenings don't always have themes. They could add a theme for July 2nd at a later date, but since none is listed now, it may well remain without a theme. Since that's the evening of your second port day in Halifax (and before your first evening in Boston the next day), I suspect they may be intentionally omitting a theme for that gala evening.

Thank you very much. Could I ask you to double check the date of your second gala evening? I was expecting that to be on 28th August, your sixth evening. The usual scheduling for a 7-night crossing is to have the gala evenings on the second and sixth evenings.