bluemarble

Here's a capture from the second round of fireworks. QV is heading out to sea. QM2 is still alongside at the QEII terminal. This is a capture from the Netley Cam stream on the Solent Ships YouTube channel. Bon voyage to all those on board!

Good show for the first fireworks display despite the weather. More to come we're told.

I'm seeing a report that QM2's scheduled call at Flaam on May 13th has been cancelled as well. Here is the quote from a Cunard email posted on social media. "Due to the latest guidance provided for sailing in World Heritage Fjord areas, we have been made aware that Queen Mary 2's call to Flaam on 13 May, and therefore the transits through Aurlandsfjord and Sognefjord can unfortunately no longer go ahead. To ensure that you are able to enjoy your time ashore we have replaced our call to Flaam with a call to Skjolden with transits through Lustrafjorden and Sognefjord. All pre-booked excursions for Flaam will automatically be cancelled and refunded to you. A revised shore excursions programme for Skjolden will be available to book on My Cunard. We apologise that it has been necessary to make this change and we look forward to welcoming you on board Queen Mary 2."

Update on the fireworks from one of the Blue Spanners on the Solent Ships YouTube channel: "WEATHER PERMITTING - The latest information is Fireworks for QM2 from Dock Head area @ 1745, the barge will then move up towards Moorhead Buoy ready for Queen Victoria's departure" The stream still appears to be scheduled to start at 16:40 as of now. The latest info should be in the chat and commentary for that stream.

There's a bit of a different view of QM2 in Southampton today from the Cruise Cam live stream on the Solent Ships YouTube channel since she's at the QE II terminal today. I understand the Solent Ships YouTube channel is going to show the fireworks display which is apparently planned to start in less than two hours at 16:45 this afternoon. Here's a link to the stream for that coverage which is set to start at 16:40. SHIPS TV - Fireworks for Queen Mary 2 & Queen Victoria Departing Port of Southampton

@steve4031, as @Host Hattie has indicated, the dress code and theme schedule is listed in My Cunard. Specifically, it is listed for each day within the Day Calendar section. Here is an illustration showing where to find the dress code schedule for your booking in the lower right corner within the Day Calendar for each day. If you are booked on a 2023 sailing, then you should see the dress code and themes listed there. And if you are on a 2023 sailing where there is a gap in my documents, please let me know what you are seeing listed in My Cunard so that I can update my documents.

A valuable clue in your latest photo is that the attachment is named "20180111_165320.jpg". QV diverted to Praia da Vitoria overnight on January 10-11, 2018. Perhaps not coincidentally, today is the fifth anniversary of the day you arrived there on the 10th. I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb to say your latest photo is also Praia da Vitoria. I'd also like to take this opportunity to correct my spelling in the identification of your first photo. I just noticed that I mistyped Vitoria with two t's in my answer from 2020.

Correct and extremely fast!

Here's another webcam image showing a Cunard ship at a port we've seen before. I've obscured some identifying information in the upper right.

I clearly need to spend more time in the Commodore Club! There is an earlier post from 2016 on this board and news articles from that same time mentioning Cunard had introduced seven cocktails inspired by seven knighted Cunard Commodores. Those seven Commodores listed on the Commodore Club drinks menu who apparently have coasters for them are: Sir James Charles Sir Arthur Rostron Sir Edgar Britton Sir Robert Irving Sir James Bisset Sir Cyril Illingworth Sir Ivan Thompson I see @Bell Boy has just mentioned Sir James Bisset. So I guess I can now add Sir Robert Irving to your list to make it seven. If there are five more in addition to these seven, I'm sorry I don't have a lead on who those would be.

We chose the open dining option for our Nov 20-Dec 3, 2022 Caribbean cruise on QM2. We thought it worked well but that may have had a lot to do with us choosing a relatively late 8:00pm time for most evenings. We also chose a table for two this time rather than the larger tables for eight we generally choose with fixed time dining. I can't speak to how well the new system works for a couple that would like to join others on a larger table. It was clear from the reservation system that earlier times were a lot more popular since those times were unavailable to reserve via the My Voyage app a day (or more) ahead of time most days. For the later times we reserved there were never more than one or two couples ahead of us to be seated when we arrived at our reserved time. One down side to open dining that has been mentioned before is that your wait staff doesn't get to know you and your preferences as well as they do with fixed dining. My wife has food allergies and makes her dinner selections each evening for the following evening. With fixed dining, the wait staff would automatically have her selections for the evening at our set table. With open dining, that involved an additional step each evening to tell the wait staff our room number when we were seated. They would then go track down what she had selected for that evening. That usually only took a few minutes but it is an extra step for the staff. On the subject of the My Voyage app, I ran into a minor glitch when I went to reserve a dining time for "tomorrow" one evening. I ended up making a reservation for the day after tomorrow. I was able to determine that was probably down to the app using GMT rather than the ship's local time to determine which day was "tomorrow". Since we were four to five hours behind GMT for this cruise, a reservation made after 8:00pm ship's time meant "tomorrow" was a day later than expected.

Here's a link to a blog for QM2's 2023 world cruise. Be advised it's by an author who is also marketing a book about the cruise on this site which she is intending to publish. https://www.theworldvoyageqm2.com/

Here's an image of QV at Cuxhaven captured a couple hours ago. It's from the Schiffsansagedienst Cuxhaven webcam found at "schiffsansagedienst-cuxhaven.de/webcam/". It's not a particularly impressive image but I thought it was worth noting the occasion since QV has now technically started her 2023 world voyage with her departure from Hamburg earlier this evening. That's the full 105-night version of her 2023 world voyage starting in Hamburg on January 9th and ending back in Hamburg on April 25th.

@lesliedrew, for clarification, the screen shots I posted are not from a booking confirmation. They are screen shots from the process of starting a booking for a new cruise on the Cunard US website. I started the process of booking a new round trip transatlantic cruise from Southampton on the Cunard US website and only took it as far as necessary to get those screen shots. That's the only way I know of to find information about available transfer options on the Cunard US website and that's the only time you have the opportunity to add transfers to a booking online. Sorry if that wasn't clear when I mentioned those screen shots were from the "US booking process". As you have found, once you have booked a cruise, there is no online way to add Cunard transfers to your existing booking. That must be done by calling Cunard (if you booked directly with them) or by contacting your travel agent. Unfortunately Cunard's online presence does leave a lot to be desired especially when compared to other lines.

I'm flattered! Thanks! I think the first time on Cruise Critic I posted that photo (actually one very similar to it from a series taken the same day) showing QE2 in Geiranger was in August 2020 when I posted it on our "Where in the World?" thread, back when we were still fairly early into that amazing thread. I think I also posted it on a now-defunct QE2 message board during late 2010 or early 2011. That contribution may have led to your finding it five or six years ago. Or it's equally likely I may have forgotten somewhere else I posted it. However you found it, I'm glad you did and am very happy to hear you have enjoyed using it as a screen saver. Thanks for your kind words.

You are quite correct of course. My apologies! That Geiranger photo of mine from June 2008 is not showing quite as historic an event as I had thought. Thank you for that correction.

I remember a wonderful sendoff from Bergen as well during that voyage with a flotilla escorting us out of the harbor.

I'll start with my favorite photo of QE2. This was taken during our one and only time on board QE2. It shows her final call to Geiranger, Norway on June 28, 2008.

On the Cunard US website, the transfers are listed during the booking process. You won't find specifics about the "when or where" portion of your question, but you will find the prices confirming the $90 per person (each way) you were quoted by Cunard. That is, the price for a round trip Cunard coach transfer from/to Heathrow totals $180 per person on the Cunard US website. On the "Your voyage summary" page during the booking process there are sections for "Before your voyage" and "After your voyage" where you can add transfers to a booking. Here are screen shots taken from the US booking process for a round trip transatlantic crossing on QM2 departing from Southampton in 2024. Here is the portion of the "Your voyage summary" page on the US website showing where you can separately book transfers before and after your voyage. Here is the "Airport to ship" transfer page on the US website showing the $90 price for one person for a one-way coach transfer from Heathrow airport to the port. Here is the "Ship to airport" transfer page on the US website showing the $90 price for one person for a one-way coach transfer from the port to Heathrow airport.

Correct. Those views were from QM2's recent call at Le Havre on 14 December 2022.

Here's another view from a different webcam that day at the same port as my previous post. No Cunard ship in this view but plenty of port facilities and other structures to work with here.

Let's try this one. Here is another image from my webcam collection showing just a bit of a Cunard ship. This is a port we've seen before.

Here's a link to an article about this issue concerning New Zealand's environmental regulations found in the Australian "Cruise Passenger" online magazine. I think this is similar to the issue that caused QE to also miss the previously planned call to Fiordland on Christmas Day. https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/queen-elizabeth-fourth-ship-to-fall-foul-of-new-zealands-environmental-laws/

Interesting. It let me download and open it as well. It looks like a standard Cruise Critic attachment to me. At first I thought it might be some sort of US versus UK issue but since @exlondoner can download and open it, that's not the case.

Thanks for the update @Ricardo_S. I'm not sure when we'll get corrected deck plans. It took them quite a while to change the QV deck plans to reflect the correct categories for the aft Queens Grill suites on deck 8 following QV's 2017 refit. I've noticed cabins 6176 and 6179 with larger balconies immediately below the A2 cabins 7150 and 7197 are being sold as BB cabins (matching what the deck plans show) rather than A2. I probably would have expected all four of those cabins to be the same category. Concerning "Premium Balcony", I don't think Cunard actually uses that term anymore. "Premium Balcony" does appear on early versions of the QM2 deck plans to refer to the sheltered balcony cabins. The glass-fronted balcony cabins were called "Deluxe Balcony" on those early deck plans. The "Premium" and "Deluxe" designations don't appear on any recent deck plans. Some travel agent sites do now use the term "Premium Balcony" for the unobstructed glass-fronted Britannia Balcony cabins on QM2 to differentiate them from the "Sheltered Balcony" and "Balcony (Obstructed View)" cabins. That's probably their way of attempting to clarify what Cunard means by the Britannia "Balcony" category which is a bit ambiguous on its own.