bluemarble

I only have one data point from a screen shot I happened to take showing full-voyage Essential Plan pricing in the My Voyage app. I don't know if this applies across the board for all plans, but what I have shows the discount for additional devices wasn't all that much. 2 devices: 5% discount 3 devices: 6.67% discount 4 devices: 7.50% discount

Here's a photo from @esrs showing the 2023 Cunard Bear with the "Prince's Trust" logo.

Good find, @esrs! May I post your photo on our other "Cunard Teddy Bears" thread? I've been keeping a tally there of images of each of the Cunard annual bears that have been released since 2011. I'll rotate your photo before posting it there for easier viewing.

We took the "Monet's Garden & Giverny" excursion Cunard offered on QM2's most recent call to Le Havre on May 19th. It's an 8-hour excursion (9:00am-5:00pm) that was priced at $115 per person.

It would be lovely if Cunard actually updated some of their statements about the alcohol policy to reflect reality. I note the Cunard Passage Contract for the US still contains verbiage about limiting each passenger to bringing one bottle of wine or champagne on board. So, if they have decided to loosen the wording of the alcohol policy to reflect the true policy on the ground, it hasn't made it to our US passage contract yet. There is one statement in the Cunard UK FAQ which is not new but indicates a less restrictive policy. Here is a potion of that UK FAQ entry. (Q) Can I bring alcohol on board to consume in my stateroom or in restaurants? (A) You may bring beer, wine or spirits on board (subject to the age limit law of the port of departure) to celebrate special occasions. However, if you wish to consume it in any of the dining rooms, alternative restaurants or bars then each bottle will be subject to a corkage fee of $25.00 (fee subject to change). There is no corkage fee if it is consumed in your suite or stateroom. Wine and champagne gifts purchased via the Cunard Gift Collection are exempt from the corkage fee - please show your gift card to your waiter. Note this FAQ entry includes the phrase "to celebrate special occasions" as mentioned by the Cunard customer service representative. But again this entry in the UK FAQ is not new. And it does not exist in the US FAQ.

The usual evening theatre showtimes on QM2 are 8:00pm and 10:15pm. Those times did not vary during our recent 19-night QM2 voyage, 7 May-26 May, 2023.

If you are asking if there is a way to book more than one stateroom on a single booking using the Cunard website, then the answer is no. Our travel agent experts will need to confirm, but I'm not sure it is ever possible to have more than one cabin under a single booking reference number, even if booked over the phone with Cunard or through a travel agent. If you are trying to secure two specific cabins (such as connecting cabins), you could do as @Windsurfboy has suggested and start two separate bookings in different browser windows. There are a few things to keep in mind with that approach though. There is a 15 minute timeout from when you select a cabin on the Cunard website until that cabin is made available for others to select. That means you would want to make sure you complete your two separate bookings within 15 minutes to ensure you get the specific cabins your are looking for. The Cunard website does not allow you to link separate bookings together with a common TWID ("Travelling With" identifier). That helps for such things as indicating the guests on both bookings are part of a group that would want to be seated together in the MDR. The Cunard website also doesn't allow you to specify that your bookings are to be marked "Do Not Upgrade". You would want that if you have carefully chosen two specific cabins (such as connecting cabins). You wouldn't want Cunard to provide a complimentary upgrade to one or both of your bookings which would end up separating your group. So, if you do make two separate bookings on the Cunard website, you'll still probably want to call Cunard to have those bookings linked and marked for no upgrade. I'd suggest you might as well call Cunard (or a travel agent) to make the bookings in the first place.

Looks like a continuation of what we discussed here earlier when the 2024 QV World Voyage was first released for sale just over a year ago. After some spot-checking, I am finding a few more segments which might be in the "guarantees only" status now beyond the nine originally discussed in this thread.

That's correct! Well done! The image captures are from ARKSYSTEM's live stream on YouTube titled "沖縄県石垣島ライブカメラ(Live streaming from Ishigaki Island, Okinawa)". They show QE's recent call there on April 15, 2023. I've been keeping these images close to the vest in case someone on that cruise had their own (better) photos of Ishigaki to share with us here. I'm not certain of the precise location of the camera since the description on YouTube doesn't elaborate. But I think we can deduce the view is looking in a generally southerly direction across Nagura Bay with the city of Ishigaki and its cruise terminal off in the distance not far behind the hills in the background. That's consistent with QE arriving from Keelung to the west where she would have traveled right to left across the camera's field of view at the time I captured the image that morning (at 05:50). And then she made only a very distant appearance (at 18:17) as she departed later that day for Naha, also in a generally westerly direction. @sfred, "our recent impressive growth in Japanese ports" has managed to continue with this one more contribution.

I'm with you too, @naturelovergirl. There is one poster on other social media who insists "Gala Evening" only refers to the balls in the Queens Room and thus the Gala Evening dress code only applies to the Queens Room. Other posters offer insights along the lines of "It's your holiday, dress as you like." It is quite eye-opening to see discussions about the Cunard dress code elsewhere.

Sorry, no, not the Philippines, but you are in the right part of the world anyway.

Here are a couple webcam captures for a port on our unseen ports list. The cruise pier is actually located behind the hills in the distance. The first image shows a distant view of a well-lit Cunard ship arriving from the right early in the morning. The blip I've circled in red in the second image is an even more distant view of that same Cunard ship departing later that same day. As usual, I've obscured the webcam captions in the upper left so as not to give the location away.

I just noticed the "What to pack" page on the Cunard US website has been updated so that it is now similar to the Cunard UK website. Gone are the sample photos of what to wear for Smart Attire and Gala Evenings. Perhaps more significantly, also gone now is the reference to "black tie dress code" for Gala Evenings. In its place is the reference to "elevated dress code" for Gala Evenings, the same as the UK website has stated for the last several months. For whatever reason, the US website does not contain the sections about "Formal dresses" and "Formal suits" found on the UK website. That means those of us in the US are missing the tidbit found on the UK website that states "Formal suits are only required on board a Transatlantic cruise on Gala Evenings". Not sure what to make of that omission on the US website.

That "QE2 Abstract Log" website provides a treasure trove of information about what the name suggests. Its abstract log section indicates QE2 sailed 245 miles from New York to Stamford at an average speed of 20.59 knots. The return trip from Stamford to New York was 262 miles at a more leisurely 17.29 knots. That tends to indicate QE2 did indeed take the route around Long Island. Sorry, no information in the abstract log concerning how many bridges she passed under. 😉

Thanks for your photo of Stamford. Here's what I said earlier about Cunard's connection to Stamford.. I found a source for that information on a site called "QE2 Abstract Log" (https://qe2abstractlog.com/). Investigation of the QE2 itineraries found on that site reveals the call to Stamford was part of this itinerary. May 17, 1987 Southampton, England, UK May 18-21, 1987 At Sea May 22, 1987 New York, NY, USA May 23, 1987 Stamford, CT, USA May 24, 1987 New York, NY, USA May 25-28, 1987 At Sea May 29, 1987 Southampton, England, UK So it looks like the call to Stamford was a one day jaunt from New York and back during a round trip crossing from Southampton. It may well have been a tender port for QE2.

As promised, here are my updated lists of the "seen" and "unseen" Cunard ports for this thread. Where in the World 2023-05-29.txt Cunard ports not seen yet 2023-05-29.txt

I did read the Queen Elizabeth Position thread before reading this post. But since these photos have gone unidentified for almost two days now, I decided to take on the project of attempting to identify them using only the clues provided in this post. Knowing it's an unseen port for QE leads to looking for unseen ports on her recent itineraries and that reveals Otaru, Japan as one of the prime suspects. Available images of the Otaru port area identify the building along the pier in front of QE in the second photo as the Otaru Ferry Terminal for the Shin Nihonkai Ferry. That second photo may have been taken from Otaru Park. The angle looks about right on Google Maps. Detailed analysis of the first photo reveals the building at the far left appears to have large Japanese lettering along the top although that lettering isn't quite legible. Other available images of the Otaru port provide matches to that building where the lettering reads 中央サイロ. Google Translate tells me that means "Central Silo". Further research identifies that building as the Central Silo for the Otaru Warehouse Business Cooperative Association. So in the interest of getting back into the game, I trust I've done enough to "forget" the other thread and independently identify these new port photos as Otaru, Japan. For consistency with how we've recorded other ports like this, I suppose it should be listed in our seen ports list as "Sapporo (Otaru), Japan" to join previously identified "Sapporo (Muroran), Japan". @sfred, by my count, this is seen port 630. We may be off by one in our counts. In post #4724 you indicated Fukuoka is port number 620. I think I have Fukuoka as port number 621. Here are the first few new ports I've counted since the last list of seen ports I posted with 617 entries. 618 - Busan (Passenger Terminal), Korea 619 - Akita, Japan 620 - Kanazawa, Japan 621 - Fukuoka, Japan I'll post my updated master lists in a subsequent post to assist with reconciling our port counts if they are indeed off by one. Plus it's about time to post the updated port lists anyway.

No problem at all, @Sue-B. In order to keep the game going we have been accepting personal photos showing any identifiable features of Cunard port cities even if they don't show the main port area itself. Thank you for the contribution of your Sochi photos.

I'm back in the game now after a most enjoyable voyage on QM2 and a couple days back home. I'm not sure I would have figured out those photos were of Sochi, so well done, @sfred.

Yes, Stephen Payne presented four outstanding lectures during our just-completed westbound crossing. The first was on Titanic, the second on Mauretania and Lusitania, the third a personal story on the design of Queen Mary 2, and the fourth on ships of the air (blimps, dirigibles and zeppelins). He received a standing ovation at the end of his talk on QM2. I felt extremely fortunate to have finally been able to attend his guest lectures on board QM2.

The final sunset from our current westbound crossing on QM2 taken this evening at our table in the Britannia Restaurant.

Sorry, I don't know what the TEMP markings mean on the new blades. I asked Dr. Stephen Payne about them after his lecture this morning and he didn't know, so I'm afraid it may remain a mystery for a while longer. By the way, Dr. Payne told me the new blades aren't actually newly-manufactured blades, but have been refurbished. Here is a photo showing the markings on one of the new blades in case it helps any.

At some point since we embarked QM2 on May 7th, at least two missing Commodore's Cufflinks have been replaced. There are now three new blades with bronze/brass colored coatings mounted near QM2's bow. I don't know for sure when the new blade on the starboard side first appeared, but the two on the port side have appeared since May 7th. The new blades have the following markings. Port side (leftmost two) QM2 BLADE № 1236•0950 LH TEMP:-17.8° QM2 BLADE № 1235•0949 LH TEMP:-17.9° Starboard side (leftmost) QM2 BLADE № 564 RH TEMP:-17.8°

I'm pretty sure the "Frontier" alternative dining theme is being newly introduced during this year's QE Alaska season. As such, it should debut very soon.

Unfortunately your Sept 8th sailing is one of the few occasions when Cunard are not adhering to their policy "At least twice on each seven-night voyage we’ll host a Gala Evening." Your 7-night sailing from Civitavecchia is part of the longer 14-night sailing from Southampton departing September 1st. It is usual now for Cunard to offer only three gala evenings on a 14-night cruise. But when they sell the second half of that cruise as a separate 7-night cruise, they ought to offer two gala evenings on that portion of the cruise as well.