bluemarble

Here's the link to the "What to pack page". The link can be found under "Experiences" on the Cunard US website. https://www.cunard.com/en-us/the-cunard-experience/what-to-pack The part describing the Smart Attire dress code states the following. "Smart attire simply means a dress shirt and trousers, skirt and a top, or a cocktail dress. Essentially, choose something along the same vein as you’d wear to a stylish restaurant or the theater on a special occasion." For the record, here is the definition for the Smart Attire dress code as stated in the daily programmes once on board. "After 6:00pm on board, we ask that you wear smart attire. This means smart collared shirts, evening tops, trousers, skirts and dresses. Jackets are optional." I just noticed they now state "smart collared shirt" in the onboard Smart Attire dress code (from my September QM2 voyage). Earlier versions of the daily programmes simply stated "collared shirt". Perhaps that helps inform our discussion about whether polo shirts are appropriate or not. I suppose that depends on whether polo shirts are considered "smart" or not. Jackets are not required on Smart Attire evenings but a blazer would certainly be appropriate. Many gentlemen do wear jackets/blazers/sport coats on Smart Attire evenings even though they aren't required.

It appears the Cunard FAQ is having issues today. When I check the FAQ on the Cunard US website at https://www.cunard.com/en-us/frequently-asked-questions, I only see these 10 questions. (Q) Can I order photos after my voyage? (Q) Do you offer videography? (Q) What is included in the Weddings or Commitment Ceremony at Sea package? (Q) What is included in the Renewal of Vows package> (Q) What is included in the Engagement package? (Q) What added extras can I add to our Celebration at Sea with Cunard? (Q) How does the Ceremony Specialist support planning my big day? (Q) What happens prior to my wedding day? (Q) What could my wedding day with Cunard look like? (Q) What is the difference between the Cunard Upgrade program and the complimentary upgrade I opted into at the time of booking? The Cunard UK FAQ goes one better with a total of 11 questions. The UK FAQ has this additional question. (Q) What is the process for ceremony/special event photography? When I hop over to the Cunard website for Australia, I'm seeing no questions at all in their FAQ. I know I shouldn't be surprised about an issue with Cunard's websites. Anyone else seeing more than I am on the Cunard FAQ?

That's correct. The webcam is at the Tour Royale in Toulon. That's a very recent capture from QE's call there on October 25th.

Here's another webcam capture showing a Cunard ship departing a port we've seen before. There may be enough detail here to work this one out.

Just a bit of warning that you are entering potentially contentious territory here. There has been considerable discussion in the past concerning whether polo shirts are considered appropriate or not on Smart Attire evenings. That partly stems from the fact that the "What to pack" page on the Cunard website specifies "dress shirt" for the Smart Attire dress code while the onboard Smart Attire dress code as published in the daily programmes specifies "collared shirt". I don't think we've ever reached consensus on this forum regarding polo shirts. The second part of your question is easier to answer. A tux is never required. The Gala Evening dress code allows a dark suit as an alternative to a dinner jacket/tuxedo.

I suspect the gala evening for your 5-night cruise (voyage Q409A) is going to be on the evening of your sea day between Sydney and Melbourne. If that's the case, the situation you are facing is that there is also a 2-night cruise being sold from Sydney to Melbourne (voyage Q409), "Australia Short Break". That's similar to the situation I mentioned earlier where gala evenings on the 2-night cruises between Southampton and Hamburg often don't have a theme. I'm not entirely sure what the logic is, but I suspect it's because a significant number of passengers will be ending their cruise the next morning in Melbourne so they won't be much interested in participating in a full blown gala evening with a theme. Sorry you have been caught up in one of the exceptions to the rule that gala evenings follow one of four themes.

I've started a new thread titled "Dress Code and Theme Schedules for 2024" where I've posted links to my initial versions of the 2024 schedules for QM2, QE and QV. Let's put additional replies about what you are seeing for your voyage's dress code and theme schedule on that thread. You can view what I have documented there to see if your voyage is one for which I still need the schedule. I trust @Host Hattie will want to make that new thread a sticky.

Here are links to partial dress code and themed evening schedules for 2024. As was the case with the schedules for previous years, these are compiled from what other members have found on "My Cunard" within the daily calendars for their voyages. QM2: QM2 2024 Dress Code and Theme Schedule QE: QE 2024 Dress Code and Theme Schedule QV: QV 2024 Dress Code and Theme Schedule This is still very much a work in progress at this point. Once again I will need your help to fill in the many gaps. If you can fill in any of the gaps in these schedules, please post here what you are seeing in "My Cunard" (or have learned elsewhere). I'll need the name of the ship, the dates of the voyage, and the dates and themes (if any) for all the "Gala Evenings" on your itinerary. If you see anything that needs correcting, please post those corrections here as well. It's my understanding that Cunard have not posted any dress code and theme schedules for QA yet. It also appears that Cunard have not yet posted any schedules for QE beyond February 2024 sailing dates. If you see any schedules for QA or any schedules for QE beyond February, please post what you are seeing here. These documents reside on my Google Drive so I'll be able to update them there with your additions and corrections without needing to attach new versions here. The links I've provided here should always retrieve the latest versions from my Google Drive.

No, gala evenings do not always have a theme. Most do but not always. During the world voyages, they scatter a few gala evenigs without themes into the schedule probably to attempt to avoid overload from repeating the same four themes over and over. They may include gala evenings with no themes on some of the other longer cruises presumably for the same reason. New Year's Eve is another occasion when they schedule a gala evening with no theme. In the past, they sometimes called it a New Year's Eve Ball but that's gone by the wayside since they only use the four standard themes now (plus Ice White on QE Alaska). They also tend to have gala evenings with no themes during the short 2-night segments between Southampton and Hamburg. They usually also designate those as optional gala evenings for those disembarking the next morning.

No, they don't necessarily rotate the themes. They do rotate them on back-to-back transatlantic crossings where a significant number of passengers book round trip crossings. Looking at the schedule for QE's last Australia/New Zealand season, they mostly scheduled Black and White along with either Roaring Twenties or Masquerade (or both) for the themes. I only see one Red and Gold theme scheduled during all of the last Australia/New Zealand season and that was relatively early in the season during December 2022. It's a similar situation with the QE Alaska season where the themes were Ice White and Masquerade for each of the Alaska cruises this year.

I've figured out why Cunard is having the gala evening on your port day in Dubrovnik. Your itinerary can also be booked as a 7-night itinerary ending in Trieste on September 23rd. They wouldn't want to have a gala evening on the evening before passengers would be disembarking in Trieste the next morning. Makes perfect sense now.

Thanks for this. Could I ask you to double-check that Sep 21st date? Since that's a port day in Dubrovnik, I would have expected Cunard to schedule that gala evening for the next day, Sep 22nd, a sea day, as they have done with the other three gala evenings. Now they do occasionally schedule gala evenings on port days. I'd jut like to confirm that they have indeed scheduled a gala evening on your Sept 21st port day rather than Sep 22nd.

That's very interesting that they've posted some of the 2025 dress code schedules already. Your voyage does appear to be a bit sparse on the gala evenings with only two instead of the more typical three for a 14-night voyage. Will want to see if that's going to be the trend toward fewer gala evenings during 2025.

Could I ask you to please double-check the date of your first gala evening? I was expecting that first Black and White gala evening to be on July 22, the second evening of your crossing (which is how it's usually scheduled), not the third evening, especially since yours is one of the shortened 6-night crossings.

Plus in all likelihood your disembarkation day will be a Smart Attire evening for the next cruise. They are probably populating that field with the scheduled dress code for that date even though you won't be on board that evening.

This helps confirm they are changing the pattern for the themes on QM2 crossings next year. It used to be Red & Gold and Roaring Twenties on eastbound crossings with Black & White and Masquerade on westbound crossings. The reply I received from @BWV shows their schedule as Black & White and Roaring Twenties on a westbound crossing as well. Perhaps my June roundtrip crossing is just an anomaly with those themes reversed (Black & White and Roaring Twenties eastbound and Red & Gold and Masquerade westbound). Time will tell I suppose as I receive more input from others about their crossings.

I wonder if they have posted any of the QA dress code and theme schedules yet. I have a QA booking but not until 2025. Is anyone on a 2024 QA voyage seeing their dress code and theme schedules in My Cunard?

Thank you for that confirmation. Looks like Cunard realized their mistake scheduling the gala evening for January 1st instead of December 31st. I have updated the QM2 document accordingly.

It's me again. I'm being told elsewhere this is the current dress code and theme schedule for the 2023 QM2 Christmas Cruise. This latest schedule has December 31st changed to a gala evening (as well as December 28th changed to Roaring Twenties). Could either of you please confirm if this is now the schedule as listed in the calendar for your voyage in My Cunard? Or am I being given incorrect information? 25 Dec 2023 - Red &Gold 28 Dec 2023 - Roaring Twenties 31 Dec 2023 - Gala Evening (no theme)

Just to follow up on this, I already have "Roaring Twenties" listed as the theme for January 1, 2024. It seems unlikely Cunard would schedule the same theme on two consecutive gala evenings. Looks like I could use confirmation of the themes now for each of the gala evenings scheduled on the 2023 QM2 Christmas cruise.

My I ask are you seeing "Roaring Twenties" as the theme for December 28th? I have that evening listed without a theme on the QM2 2023 Dress Code and Theme Schedule document. However, I'm being told elsewhere that evening is now going to be "Roaring Twenties". Can you confirm if you are seeing that now or is December 28th still non-themed?

It looks like Cunard have started posting the dress code and theme schedules for 2024 voyages. One again this year I'd like to take on the project of compiling master dress code and theme schedule documents for each of the Cunard ships. To do so, I'm going to need your help to tell me what you are seeing for the dress code and themes on your 2024 voyages. You should be able to see that now within the Day Calendar section of your voyage in My Cunard. If you are booked on a 2024 voyage, please let me know which ship you will be on, the dates of your voyage, which dates are scheduled as Gala Evenings and what the themes (if any) will be on those Gala Evenings. To illustrate, I'll start with what I've learned so far. Please post what you are seeing for your 2024 voyages in a reply to this thread. From @maggielou362: QM2, Feb 17-Feb 27, 2024 (voyage M405, Fremantle to Sydney) Feb 18: Black and White Feb 22: Gala Evening (no theme) Feb 25: Roaring Twenties From my voyages: QM2, June 15-June 23, 2024 (voyage M417, Eastbound Crossing) June 16: Black and White June 21: Roaring Twenties QM2, June 23-June 29, 2024 (voyage M418, Westbound Crossing) June 24: Red and Gold June 27: Masquerade Just as an aside, I see they've changed the standard schedule for QM2 crossings from previous years on my two crossings. The first gala evening used to be Red and Gold on eastbound crossings and the first gala evening used to be Black & White on westbound crossings. They've switched those themes around on my two June 2024 crossings. It will be interesting to learn if that same pattern holds for the other 2024 crossings as well.

Thank you very much for that heads up about the 2024 schedules. I'm seeing the schedule for my 2024 QM2 crossings in June as well. Looks like it's time for me to start a project to compile the 2024 dress code and theme schedules. I'll start a new thread for that.

There is one recent example of a completely changed itinerary before sailing I am aware of. Because of New Zealand's biosecurity regulations requiring a cleaning of QE's hull, QE's cruise to New Zealand this past February was changed to a cruise entirely within Australia instead. There was only a day or two advance notice of this itinerary change but it was made prior to sailing. Here is the original itinerary. 14 Feb 2023 - Melbourne 17 Feb 2023 - Fiordland National Park 18 Feb 2023 - Dunedin 19 Feb 2023 - Christchurch (Lyttelton) 20 Feb 2023 - Wellington 22 Feb 2023 - Auckland 23 Feb 2023 - Bay of Islands 27 Feb 2023 - Melbourne Here is the revised itinerary. 14 Feb 2023 - Melbourne 16 Feb 2023 - Eden 18 Feb 2023 - Brisbane 20 Feb 2023 - Port Douglas 21 Feb 2023 - Cairns 25 Feb 2023 - Sydney 27 Feb 2023 - Melbourne

That's correct. The image is from QM2's most recent call there on 29 August 2023. Welcome to our game, @Dranuc2016. Always good to see a new name contributing to this very long-lived thread.