bluemarble

Oh, wow! That's quite the long distance shot. No wonder I couldn't figure out where it was taken even after knowing generally what we were seeing in the photo. Yes, that's good enough to move Porquerolles to our "seen" list. Thanks for helping us add another "seen" port. By the way, @Colin_Cameron should be able to tell us about Porquerolles as a Cunard port. He reported earlier that the former Cunard ship Sea Goddess II called there at some point in the past.

I'm going to pass on this one @sfred. After you went out on a limb and took a guess that is oh so close, I think you deserve to take full credit for this one. If I have it figured correctly, this almost could have been a two-ports-for-one photo. I think your guess might be just barely out of the frame to the right.

Yes, I have added those two cruise-by calls to the "seen" ports list. That's now a total of 573 "seen" ports by my count.

I'll buy that logic. Since some of those boarding in Southampton on 15 Sept or Le Havre on 16 Sept will be sailing to Canada (which requires an observed pre-embarkation test), Cunard has apparently decided everyone boarding then requires an observed test regardless of their actual destination. It does indeed seem a bit harsh for those on the shorter voyages disembarking before Canada but then I suppose mine is not to reason why. If I'm not being too nosey, may I ask where you found that chart of "Standard" and "Enhanced" voyages? Is it posted on the Cunard website or is it from a travel agent site we can't really discuss here?

Yes, that happens quite often. Marinetraffic likes to report the last known position of each vessel for 24 hours. Naturally the tenders transmit their AIS positions while they are in use. Once they are taken back on board and their AIS transmitters are turned off, it does look like they have been left behind when marinetraffic continues to show their last known positions. Even more amusing are cases where a tender has been brought back on board but its AIS transmitter has been left turned on. Then you can see marinetraffic showing the tender sailing alongside the mother ship as it's leaving port. Because of timing differences with the positions marintraffic reports at any given time, it may look like the tender is actually sailing ahead or behind the ship when that happens.

Prior to QM2's call last month, I tried contacting both portvillefranchedarse@departement06.fr and vision-environment@live.fr which I found somewhere as another possible contact for that "Webcam port départemental de la Darse" which shows the Villefrache harbor. No luck getting replies from either of those, I'm afraid. Fortunately you were able to provide much better photos anyway.

Very good, @D&N. I never got a reply to the email I sent to shinshu-a-com asking permission prior to QM2's arrival last month. I'm glad you were able to contact them.

Well, I have to say this does strike me as a bit odd. I'm not sure why a 7-night itinerary directly from Le Havre to New York constitutes a complex itinerary or one where government regulations require testing. The preceding 5-night segment is to Zeebrugge, Rotterdam and Southampton. I wouldn't think that's relevant to your voyage. Under the previous guidelines (updated July 21st), my understanding is your itinerary would have been eligible for a self test rather than an observed test because it departs from Europe. Of course Cunard is entitled to specify whatever testing requirements they deem appropriate for any given itinerary. And they have stated they are contacting everyone whose voyage's requirements differ from what's stated on the website. It just seems like they are muddying the waters here by requiring an observed test for a 7-night crossing from Le Havre to New York.

I almost mentioned that image of mine might present a dilemma involving the identification of cargo cranes. I fondly recall the hours we've spent on this thread identifying ports by matching the cargo cranes in the images.

Well done, @ExArkie and @D&N. That is a view which includes the Oceankaj Cruise Terminal at Copehagen. That's the newer cruise terminal further out from the more central Langeliniekaj which Cunard typically uses. The tenuous Cunard connection I mentioned to that post of mine is that QV happens to be in Copenhagen today and tomorrow (at the Langeliniekaj).

How about this one? It's another webcam image from my archives showing a distinctively different view of a port we've already seen on this thread. I'm stretching the premise here since there is no Cunard ship in this view but at least there are several cruise ships from other lines. I think I can make the stretch work by stating there is at least a tenuous Cunard connection to this post.

If you will permit me a little silliness, I've been studying Captain Leo's "Queen Anne Cruise Ship First Megablock Arrives at Shipyard" video @mcloaked posted above. I think I've found our cabin location. We have booked cabin 6044 on Queen Anne's Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale in February 2024. It looks like our cabin will have more than the "Approximately 0 sq. ft." listed in My Cunard. It also appears to be quite airy but we better watch our step on the balcony. 🤣 With permission from Captain Leo, here is a screen shot from that video where I have taken the liberty of pointing out where I think our cabin will be.

It could just as well have been that November call by QE. The only way I know for sure is that I saved that webcam image on 26 January 2022, apparently the day after I copied it into my photo editor to decide if I wanted to post it on the "Queen Elizabeth Position" thread. In the event, I decided not to do so since it is such a long distance view, but that webcam image has now managed to see the light of day on this thread instead.

The ship is QE. Those cruisemapper schedules appear to be incomplete. That visit to Valencia by QE was on 25 January 2022. That was rearranged from the originally scheduled call there a day earlier. Most of the dates ended up being rearranged for the ports on that January 2022 QE cruise to Spain and Portugal.

Very good. That is indeed Valencia, Spain, @sfred. The webcam is just a bit further north than you were looking, along the promenade at Patacona Beach (Plaja de Patacona). There you will find street lamps which match those in that webcam view. I believe the precise location of the webcam is near (and perhaps on the roof of) the Falla Patacona. Now if I told you I captured that webcam view since the restart of operations, which Cunard ship would that be seen at the pier off in the distance?

To keep things going, here's another webcam image from my archives. This shows another distant view of a Cunard ship at a port we've already seen on this thread. Where in the world is this (and which Cunard ship is it)?

To quote myself from one of the early posts on this thread about using any available hints in the photo, "Heck no, that's not cheating, that's research!". Wow, we both posted our answers within a minute of each other. How's that for timing?

That's a good one and an interesting cruise-by location to add to our list. I started looking along the coasts of Dorset, Devon and Cornwall since you'd normally be up late to see those during a QM2 transatlantic crossing. But of course that was fruitless. Next I started looking at some of the cruise-by calls in Scotland but I didn't spend much time on those since the clue about having to stay up late didn't make much sense for those. Then I found a match in Norway and that clue made perfect sense. You would sail by this location during late or very early hours on your way from/to the fjords leading to Olden, Norway. I think this photo is showing us the west coast of the island of Vågsøy, Norway. The profile of the coastline in the distance is a good match to the Einevarden Bird Sanctuary. (https://www.explore62.com/attractions/bird-sanctuary-einevarden)

@D&N, now that QE is starting her schedule of Mediterranean cruises, is there any possibility you will have the opportunity to post some photos of QE in Villefranche (as you did with some excellent shots of QM2 recently)? I believe QE is scheduled to be in Villefranche on August 24th, September 7th and September 21st.

Full marks for that answer, @Host Hattie. That's Queen Victoria departing Ísafjörður on July 17, 2022. Translating to English, that's the "Bolungarvík tunnel east" webcam at Hnífsdal. The camera is hosted by the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration. To bring the discussion full circle, since the camera is above a tunnel entrance, I suppose that's why the road's center markings indicate "do not pass" for traffic entering the tunnel while those exiting the tunnel are allowed to pass.

Looks like you picked up on my positive reaction to @Host Hattie's post as indicating the webcam image is indeed from Iceland. Akureyri is a very good guess but I'm sorry to say that's not correct. To prevent this becoming a simple guessing game since there are only a few other Cunard ports in Iceland, I'd like to request that additional answers explain the reasoning similar to what @sfred has done here. To borrow a phrase from my school days, please "show your work". Hopefully that will include picking up the extra credit for identifying the town in the webcam image as well. I will offer additional clues tomorrow if necessary.

Here's one from my webcam collection which may be a bit devious. I've cropped off the header and footer labels which would give it away otherwise. This is not a new port but it is a different perspective on one we've already seen. The port itself can't actually been seen in this view. It's behind the hill and off the right side but it is only a few miles away. Which port has the Cunard ship departed and which ship is it? Bonus points for naming the town seen at the right in this view.

Yes, indeed. Here are a couple threads discussing the Cunard bears. There is a different annual bear each year (although there wasn't one for 2021 for obvious reasons). The 2022 bear is Arthur. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2535717-cunard-bears/ https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2804682-cunard-teddy-bears/

QM2 and QV are both in Southampton today. I believe this is the first time QV has been in port with another of the Cunard ships since she was serving as a support ship in the Caribbean. We won't have to wait long for that to happen again though since QM2 and QV are both are scheduled to be back in Southampton in a fortnight on September 4th. This view shows both ships arriving this morning with QM2 in the lead as seen on the Netley Cam stream of the Solent Ships YouTube channel.

As far as I'm concerned, since you have a photo of Fuerteventura, even if it is from a distance, that's good enough for our purposes. We've had several contributions of public domain photos (myself included) where the contributor only visited the port's city and never got to the cruise port itself. Having your own photo to contribute is a step ahead of the game in my view.