bluemarble

You caught me off guard seeing you were in Calvi today. I was expecting Livorno based on what I had recorded from the Cunard brochure. But there are several online itineraries showing you scheduled for Calvi today so I suppose that's been the plan for some time now despite what the brochure says. I've updated the QM2 dress code and theme schedule accordingly as I have been doing to keep up with other itinerary changes.

One suggestion I can offer is to examine the schedules provided by Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska (claalaska.com). Here are links to their 2023 and 2024 schedule pages where you can check out the calendars for any or all ports you may be interested in. That will give you an idea of how many cruise ships are scheduled throughout the season. 2023 Schedules 2024 Schedules

When you return to the terminal after your day in Southampton show staff your keycard . They will direct you past all the check-in queues directly to security screening. Once through that screening you may reboard the ship.

The three standard shore excursions Cunard typically offers from Southampton are Cathedral City of Winchester Royal Windsor Castle Prehistoric Stonehenge On a few occasions in the past they've offered excursions to New Forest and an excursion called "Southampton Titanic Trail Walking Tour". In September for the crossing to Hamburg they are offering a "New Forest Scenic Drive" excursion but that's currently only being offered in German. So to answer your question, no, Cunard does not typically offer excursions to London. Perhaps one could be arranged through Cunard as a bespoke private excursion, but they don't offer standard group coach excursions to London.

I'll help. It's an article about the Newport Medieval Ship Project. More information can be found here. https://www.newport.gov.uk/heritage/en/Newport-Ship/Newport-Ship.aspx and https://www.newportship.org/discover-the-ship/what-is-the-newport-ship

That's correct. That photo was taken from QM2 sailing along Lustrafjorden not long after our departure from Skjolden on 13 May. If you follow route 55 from Skjolden along the northwest shore of the fjord on Google Maps, I think you'll find a pretty good match to the photo about a mile or two before reaching the village of Luster.

Sorry, no, that's not Innvikfjorden.

Another inspired guess, but I'm afraid that's not Hjørundfjord. I would love to add Hjørundfjord to our list of Cunard ports, but I can't seem to justify it even as a sail-by call. Excursion boats regularly ply Hjørundfjord which is a short trip from Ålesund, but as far as I know none of the Cunard ships have ever sailed in that fjord.

My research tells me Anzac Cove, where the Anzac forces landed during the Gallipoli Campaign, is along the western shore of the Gallipoli Peninsula on the Aegean Sea (near Ari Burnu), rather than at the southern tip of the peninsula (Cape Helles) where the British forces landed, or along the shores of the Dardanelles. As such, it doesn't seem likely to be seen during a conventional sail-by of the Dardanelles, so I've been keeping it on our unseen list. Of course I'll gladly stand corrected if we've seen an image that specifically shows Anzac Cove.

Very good guess, but no that's not Nordfjord.

Here's one of my own photos of a location we haven't seen yet.

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. 😉