bluemarble

The other option we have in the US when booking directly with Cunard is to request Cunard to automatically take the final payment on the due date from the credit card used for the deposit. Here is the dialogue from the Cunard US website booking engine. "Balance payment options: ( ) Pay automatically Selecting this option authorizes us to automatically take payment of your balance on the due date. ( ) Pay manually You will need to call our Customer Service Department to pay your balance by the due date." I have to admit to not being all that trusting about this option. I usually book via a travel agent, but one time when I booked directly with Cunard and chose the "Pay automatically" option, I went ahead and called them about a week before the final payment date anyway to make the payment over the phone just to be sure. I suppose others who have booked directly with Cunard in the US have found the automatic payment process works smoothly or else we would have heard reports to the contrary here.

At least you were on the right track then. Look for my next hint tomorrow around this time if no one figures it out before then. Our general rule is one hint per day for images that haven't been identified.

My latest webcam capture is indeed showing QM2. It's from QM2's 2023 World Voyage.

My recommendation is to cancel your dining reservations to get a refund of the charges made to your credit card. Then book the dining reservations once on board which does not require payment at the time of booking. That can be done via the My Voyage "app". Advise the staff when you arrive at the restaurant that you will be applying your diamond credit or show the voucher you should receive in your cabin for the alternative dining credit. That may limit your choice of times by not booking ahead but I have my doubts about how successful you will be having the charges to your credit card reversed to use your diamond credit and alternative dining credit voucher instead once on board. Of course I'll gladly stand corrected if someone has been able to have their diamond credit or alternative dining credit voucher applied to reservations that have already been paid for in advance via bookings made in My Cunard. I've never been brave enough to try that. That's similar to using your diamond internet credit. At least they prevent you from booking an internet package ahead of time when you have a Cunard World Club benefit to use but then there isn't really any need to book an internet plan ahead of time anyway.

I've been reading on other social media that QM2 will be heading to Rotterdam for her upcoming drydock. I've been burned before believing what's posted there, but what I've been reading does sound convincing on that point.

Looking back through the dress code and theme schedules I have from the past, I'm seeing where both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day were often designated "Formal" or "Gala Evening". That seems to have disappeared with the reduction of the number of formal/gala evenings after the restart of operations. For example on the 2019 QM2 Christmas cruise, December 31, 2019 was a gala evening with a theme of "New Year's Eve Ball" and January 1, 2020 was also a gala evening with a "Roaring Twenties" theme. They've eliminated the "New Year's Eve Ball" theme. According to my QM2 2021-22 Dress Code and Theme Schedule document, last year New Year's Eve was a non-themed gala evening and New Year's Day was a smart attire evening. For whatever reason they've switched that around this year with New Year's Eve being a smart attire evening and New Year's Day being a gala evening with the "Roaring Twenties" theme.

How about this one? It's a webcam capture showing a Cunard ship at a port we've seen before.

The Aztec theme is no more. There also used to be a Smokehouse theme which has been discontinued. The three main themes are La Piazza, Bamboo and Coriander. There is a Nordlys theme for cruises to Norway, a Frontier theme for QE's Alaska itineraries, and a Riviera theme for Mediterranean cruises. I recall one report here earlier of the Riviera theme being offered on a non-Mediterranean cruise. Haven't heard of Nordlys or Frontier being offered on non-Norwegian/non-Alaskan itineraries though.

Here are links to daily programmes I scanned from the most recent westbound crossing (September 22-29, 2023). These are pdf files stored on my personal google drive. These may not be the best examples of a typical westbound crossing for a couple reasons. First, this was the "Festival of Food & Wine" themed voyage. A significant portion of the programming was in support of that theme. Second, this crossing was a continuation from Hamburg, departing from there two days earlier. As such there was programming in German which is not indicated in these English daily programmes. Still, I trust these will be of some value. QM2 Daily Programme - 22 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 23 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 24 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 25 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 26 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 27 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 28 September 2023

I think I just learned some new marketing terminology. Here's a quote from that article by The Points Guy that @aaaaa posted. 'It's a "something for everyone" approach that is part of Cunard's wanting to offer more options and more "activations" on its top decks.' I was puzzled by the term "activations". Apparently that's a marketing term where companies undertake "activations" to promote their products and increase brand awareness. I found an article from last year titled "Why (and How) Brands are Activating on Boats This Summer". I also discovered Cunard has a "PR Events & Activations Manager". And finally, here's a quote I found in several online trade publications. "Within the first month of welcoming Queen Anne into its fleet, Cunard will be offering opportunities for up to 500 of its most engaged travel partners from around the world to step on board during a variety of activations." This is probably old hat for most of you, but I have to admit that's a new meaning to me for the word "activations".

That's correct. Here is one of Cunard's images of the QM2 Britannia Restaurant showing the three tiers on deck 3 with deck 2 below. This image is looking toward the starboard side of the restaurant. The arrangement on the port side is similar.

The current timings for Open Dining in the Britannia Restaurant during QM2 crossings are from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. Open dining is mostly on deck 3 of the Britannia Restaurant on QM2. That's where we have always been seated for open dining although there have been reports of some guest on open dining being accommodated on deck 2 and some of those on fixed dining being assigned to deck 3. So for QM2 it's basically deck 2 for fixed dining and deck 3 for open dining although that's somewhat fluid in practice.

Since no one else has replied yet, I'll get things started with the caveat that I've never booked flights or hotels with Cunard. As far as I know, there is no facility to book flights online for a US booking. My understanding is that's done over the phone with a call to Cunard Customer Service. Here's a link to the Cunard page describing their Cunard CompleteAir Program. This includes information about flight change flexibility. https://www.cunard.com/en-us/the-cunard-experience/cunard-completeair By the way, I don't see Cunard providing the option to add any London hotels while making a booking for 2024 on their Cunard US website. You can add New York hotels (if sailing from/to New York) but I'm not seeing where you can add London hotels (if sailing from/to Southampton). Not sure what's up with that. I presume that would also need to be arranged via a call to Customer Service.

Good guess. It's approximately the right latitude (Skagen is almost the same latitude as Juneau), but I'm afraid the longitude is pretty far off.

Correct. That's QV at Skagen during her call there on August 4, 2023. I figured it might be worthwhile to add an image of the harbor to our collection here to complement that previous statute photo.

Let's try this one. It's a webcam capture showing a Cunard ship at a port we've seen before.

Here's another chance to get double use from a port webcam. After posting a nighttime shot from this Port de Québec webcam last evening on the "QM2 location" thread, this morning has presented an opportunity to post a Québec sunrise image with QM2 from that same webcam on this thread.

We've seen QM2 on this Port de Québec webcam before but I don't think we've seen this view at night. Here's an image captured from that webcam during the first of QM2's two scheduled overnights in Québec this evening.

I won't speculate on when QE's 2025 summer schedule is going to be announced this year, but I can provide some historical perspective. When Cunard has announced the schedules for the other ships during September (as they did on September 19th this year), here is when they have announced QE's schedule. Summer voyage schedule announcement dates 2019: Other ships: Sep 5, 2017; QE: Oct 23, 2017 2020: Other ships: Sep 13, 2018; QE: Dec 20, 2018 2021: Other ships: Sep 17, 2019; QE: Dec 12, 2019 2025: Other ships: Sep 19, 2023; QE: TBD For the missing years, when the announcement dates were impacted by the shutdown/restart, the initial announcement dates were delayed significantly beyond September.

Here's a webcam capture showing QM2 in Saguenay today. This is from the "Saguenay - Québec Live cam" found on the Skyline Webcams site ("skylinewebcams.com"). The other ship in this image was unknown to me until now. It's Explora I, a new cruise ship for a new cruise line, Explora Journeys, part of MSC Cruises.

Here's a webcam capture of QM2's arrival in Saguenay this morning showing the sunrise.

I wasn't all that familiar with which piers Cunard used in Manhattan during the "golden age of ocean travel" (to evoke a Cunard marketing slogan). My research indicates during the heyday of the original Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth the Cunard terminals were at piers 90 and 92. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth would routinely use pier 90 while other Cunard ships such as Mauretania would use pier 92. Let's not forget Cunard also used pier 54 earlier. That's perhaps best know as the pier where Carpathia docked to bring the survivors from Titanic to New York. A steel arch with its supporting framework from the former structure at pier 54 can be seen at Hudson River Park in Manhattan.

The fundamental problem, which you may have already noticed, is that roll calls must be created under a single ship name. There is no facility to create a roll call for a voyage that involves multiple ships. I'd suggest creating the missing roll calls for the Queen Victoria and Queen Anne portions of your voyage. The first voyage on Queen Victoria may be where you would want to specifically encourage posting about the entire '3 Queens' voyage. I don't think there would be a problem creating a roll call under Queen Victoria named something like "3 Queens Voyage - July 29, 2024". That could be the way to make it clear that roll call is meant to discuss the full '3 Queens' voyage starting on Queen Victoria.

I can confirm for QM2 transatlantic crossings between New York and Southampton the clock changes are done at noon on eastbound crossings and at 2:00AM on westbound crossings. We were just on an 18-night round trip crossing from New York to Hamburg and back and once again that's how the clock changes were handled during the two crossings between New York and Southampton. During the 4-night segment from Southampton to Hamburg and back the clock changes to adjust the one hour to/from Germany time were done at 2:00AM in both directions. We've seen the same occur during cruises from Southampton to Norway. The clock changes for those cruises to adjust the one hour to/from Norway time were also done at 2:00AM in both directions. Here are the specifics for when the clock changes were made during our recent 18-night voyage on QM2. I'm using the dates of the daily programmes where the clock changes were communicated. I've highlighted the clock changes for the Hamburg segment to show those were done at 2:00AM going in both directions. Eastbound crossing New York-Southampton Sep 11: New York - No clock change Sep 12: At Sea - Clock moved forward one hour at noon Sep 13: At Sea - Clock moved forward one hour at noon Sep 14: At Sea - Clock moved forward one hour at noon Sep 15: At Sea - No clock change Sep 16: At Sea - Clock moved forward one hour at noon Sep 17: At Sea - Clock moved forward one hour at noon Southampton-Hamburg-Southampton Sep 18: Southampton - Clock moved forward one hour at 2:00AM early next morning Sep 19: At Sea - No clock change Sep 20: Hamburg - No clock change Sep 21: At Sea - Clock moved back one hour at 2:00AM early next morning Westbound crossing Southampton-New York Sep 22: Southampton - Clock moved back one hour at 2:00AM early next morning Sep 23: At Sea - Clock moved back one hour at 2:00AM early next morning Sep 24: At Sea - Clock moved back one hour at 2:00AM early next morning Sep 25: At Sea - No clock change Sep 26: At Sea - No clock change Sep 27: At Sea - Clock moved back one hour at 2:00AM early next morning Sep 28: At Sea - Clock moved back one hour at 2:00AM early next morning Sep 29: New York Now I won't claim the clock changes will always be made on those five specific days of every crossing. And as I indicted in the thread quoted above, there can be the occasional crossings where there are only four clock changes because of the differences between when the UK moves to/from British Summer Time and when the US moves to/from Daylight Saving Time.

One thing the new My Voyage "app" (actually an intranet website) does reasonably well is allow you to view your account once you are on board the ship. That includes showing you your available OBC. That saves you a trip to the purser's desk to verify your OBC amount is what you have documented in your booking confirmation document.