bluemarble

The July 27th crossing has very limited availability as one might expect for a voyage so close to departure. Since you mentioned children, I can tell you it currently has no availability at all for cabins that accommodate four passengers (two adults and two children). I am so sorry you experienced brusque treatment from Cunard customer services. It should not be that way. But hopefully this will help with expectations regarding the possibility to upgrade your cabin.

Unfortunately, while "cruisetimetables" does provide specific port timings for most cruise lines, similar to "cruisemapper" they apparently only provide the same general timings as the Cunard websites themselves for Cunard cruises (e.g. "early morning", "afternoon", "early evening"). Several travel agent / cruise booking websites provide the specific port timings in their itineraries but we're not allowed to mention such sites or provide links to them on this forum. However, Cunard's own partner sites for Spain, Austria and Switzerland provide the specific port timings. Based on past precedent, it's OK to mention those sites here. Cunard's partner website for Spain is https://www.cunardcruceros.com/. On that site, locate the cruise you are interested in and then click on the itinerary map. That will provide a detailed itinerary with the specific scheduled arrival and departure times listed for each port.

I can tell you on the Cunard US website, when I start a booking for voyage M433B, Hamburg to Le Havre, they do offer a post-voyage "Port to Airport Transfer" for a price of $50 per person. Although it's not clear from that brief description which airport they are talking about, when I inspect the webpage source code, that transfer option has an internal label of "A0MLEHCDGP/A". That label would tend to indicate that's a transfer to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport (CDG). That's consistent with how they label the coach transfers to the three New York airports where the post-voyage transfer options are labeled "A0TNYCJFKP/A" for JFK airport, "A0TNYCLGAP/A" for La Guardia airport (LGA), and "A0TNYCEWRP/A" for Newark airport (EWR). If you'd like to book that transfer prior to your voyage, call Cunard customer service if you book directly with Cunard or your travel agent otherwise. They ought to be able to add that transfer to your booking.

I'd be interested the learn more about the internet source that says QM2 has had 6 power failures in recent years. I found cruisemapper citing these statistics. "propulsion/power loss - 2006 (twice), 2008, 2009, 2010, 2018, 2023 (4 canceled Transatlantic cruises)" That accounts four 7 issues over 17 years, plus we know of one recent electrical/power issue which delayed the June 9-15 westbound crossing into New York by 4 hours. As an side, I'll note that there were only 2 canceled Transatlantic crossings during 2023, not 4 as this quote appears to suggest. I imagine @chengkp75 can enlighten us as to whether 8 propulsion/power loss issues (which may or may not be related) over an 18 year period is unusual or not. Furthermore, I was on the June 23-29 westbound crossing and was not aware of the ship slowing unexplainedly in mid ocean three times. I clearly wasn't keeping track of her speed at all times, so I certainly can't deny that happened. Just saying I was oblivious to any issues like that. Please do tell us more about how much she slowed and for how long each time if you can. What I do know is QM2 departed Southampton one hour late on June 23, diverted south from a direct route for the first few days to avoid the worst of a weather system and had to slow a few knots while in a portion of that weather system. This was one of the rescheduled 6 night crossings where there is little opportunity for QM2 to make up lost time. The way I figure it, she has to average about 23 knots on a direct route to make a westbound crossing in 6 nights. As I understand it, she has to use her turbines to sail in excess of 25 knots which she hasn't used for quite sometime.

Still a long way to go to catch up to the "New Dress Code Designations?" thread I started back in 2018 when Cunard switched from "Formal" and "Informal" to "Gala Evening" and "Smart Attire" for their dress code terminology. That thread went on for 907 posts before it was shut down.

I have most of the Cunard dress code and theme schedules for early 2025. Here the percentages of the dress code and theme schedules I have for specific date ranges in early 2025 for each ship. QM2: 100% of the schedules for 1-Jan through 28-Mar (I'll assume there are going to be two gala evenings on the 8-Mar crossing which I don't have yet). QV: 92% of the schedules for 1-Jan through 27-Mar. QE: 66% of the schedules for 1-Jan through 15-Apr (excluding the gap in her itineraries from 25-Feb through 13-Mar). QA: 98% of the schedules for 1-Jan through 26-Apr. Here are the trends in the number of Gala Evenings per week comparing those same specific date ranges in previous years for each ship. QM2 2022: 1.69 galas/week 2023: 1.45 galas/week 2024: 1.59 galas/week 2025: 1.29 galas/week QV 2023: 1.71 galas/week 2024: 1.63 galas/week 2025: 1.42 galas/week QE 2022: 1.67 galas/week 2023: 1.75 galas/week 2024: 1.85 galas/week 2025: 1.90 galas/week QA A direct comparison is not possible since QA didn't start sailing until May 2024. But I'll go ahead and compare the 2024 schedules for QA to the early 2025 schedules for QA. 3 May-31 Dec 2024: 1.73 galas/week 1 Jan-26 Apr 2025: 1.49 galas/week QE is an outlier showing increases in the number of gala evenings over the years. For the other three ships though, the schedules I have so far do tend to point to a decrease in the number of gala evenings being scheduled during early 2025.

For those interested in what changed in the North America Passage Contract, the changes do appear to be mostly related to taxes, fees and port expenses now being included up front in the voyage price. Many of the changes revolve around changing the term "Voyage Fare" to "Total Voyage Price" or "Voyage Charges". I also note the new contract states it is now governed by the laws of the state of Florida rather than California and courts of jurisdiction are now those of Miami-Dade County, Florida rather than Los Angeles County, California.

Thanks for getting back to us. Glad to hear the issue has been resolved. Not that it really mstters, but did they give you back your original Cunard World Club number and give your wife a new one? Just curious.

There are no internet packages allowing you to purchase by the minute. The minimum amount of time you may purchase now is a block of 24 hours (starting at the time of purchase and ending 24 hours later) costing $24 for the Essential plan.

I noticed for the first time on this QM2 voyage Cunard are now offering one hour of free internet access. A flyer in our cabin stated "Try our upgraded Wi-Fi with a complimentary hour". Here's what the screen looks like to set up access to the internet. I didn't try it out, but I figure this is probably a single one hour block of time, not a bank of 60 minutes you could spread out across your voyage for a few minutes each day. So if you only need one-time access to the internet lasting no more than an hour, you could presumably take advantage of this offer for an hour of complimentary internet time.

Just to clarify, the Cunard website does not actually state there will be an average of two Gala Evenings per week. What they do state is "At least twice on each seven-night voyage we’ll host a Gala Evening, where we do ask that you observe an elevated dress code." Now I appreciate it's a subtle distinction, but all they've committed to for the past few years is that there will be two Gala Evenings on any voyage of 7 nights or more. For the past several years, most voyages of 14 nights have had only three Gala Evenings scheduled. The exceptions are voyages such as round trip crossings and QV's Mediterranean cruises where 14 (and 21) night itineraries are also sold as individual 7 night itineraries. In those cases there will indeed be two Gala Evenings on each 7 night segment. A similar situation to your 35 night cruise occurred in January 2022 when a 28 night Caribbean cruise on QM2 only had four Gala Evenings. I'm on board QM2 at the moment so I don't have the stats in front of me from the Cunard Dress Code and Theme Schedule documents I've compiled since the restart of operations. But as best I recall, the stats across the fleet indicate there are an average of about 1.7 Gala Evenings scheduled per week during 2024 which is generally in line with the figures for the other years since 2021. As more of the 2025 dress code and theme schedules become available, I will most definitely be looking for trends indicating whether Cunard are indeed lowering the number of Gala Evenings overall during 2025.

Based on your research, @sfred, I think we should add Taranto, Italy to our seen Cunard ports list with the double asterisk footnote notation indicating "wartime service call" similar to our entry for Luderitz, Namibia.

@olegna, if you are on a 7-night voyage, the optimum strategy for purchasing the essential plan would be for one of you to purchase individual 24-hour plans for the first three days at 3 x $24 = $72. Then the other could purchase the final four days at the full (remaining) voyage rate of 4 x $18 = $72. That way you will each use most of your individual $80 Platinum internet credits. Naturally for a longer voyage you'll need to adjust that strategy as best fits your connectivity requirements keeping in mind port days where you may be able to use cellular or wifi on shore and perhaps skip purchasing on board internet those days.

Sunset over the Isle of Wight this evening during QM2's departure for New York.

Here's a photo of mine showing Queen Anne taken from Queen Mary 2 about 11:50pm on June 22nd. Queen Anne is passing Queen Mary 2 on her way into Southampton to meet her earlier scheduled arrival time.

Thanks, Roscoe. I tried, apparently in vain, last year to document the CWC number formats for each region. I thought I had previously read Australia/New Zealand numbers were as you described (the same format as my 2005 North America CWC number with nine digits and a letter). But then I heard Australia/New Zealand CWC numbers were ten digits. So it now appears the formats for both Australia/New Zealand and North America CWC numbers probably depend on when the numbers were issued. Perhaps both regions started using the ten digit format about the same time a few years ago.

Thanks. This has we wondering if Cunard have implemented a system in North Anerica in the last several years which involves the addition of a check digit (rather than a letter suffix) to a base nine-digit number. That would explain why your two CWC numbers are sequential nine-digit numbers (ending in 8 and 9) followed by a tenth digit which might serve as a check digit to confirm the validity of the numbers. Just a theory. I would need several examples of real ten-digit CWC numbers for North America to test that theory. Of course I couldn't ask anyone here to divulge their CWC numbers for security reasons.

All very strange indeed. I do hope you are eventually able to get this mess straightened out. I see no explanation other than a major screw up on Cunard's part. As we know Cunard IT can present challenges to put it mildly.

That's very interesting. So is your Cunard World Club number nine digits (without a letter at the end)? Australia/New Zealand numbers have been ten digits without any letters.

@resistk, just as a sanity check, let's make sure the Cunard World Club number you have used in the past is in fact a North Anerican number and not a UK number. It doesn't seem likely you could have booked your previous cruises in North America using a UK number, but let's make sure. Does the Cunard World Club number you've used in the past consist of 9 digits followed by a letter? If so it is indeed a North Anerica number. On the other hand, if it starts with a letter, it is probably a UK number. Assuming we are able to verify that your previous Cunard World Club number is in the North America format, then what Cunard have told you about your previous World Club record being with the UK doesn't make sense to me. Cunard will need to explain why they can't find your previous activity on that North America number. On the other hand, if it looks like you may have been using a Cunard World Club number in the UK format, that would explain the problem you are experiencing. Then the mystery becomes how you could have made North America bookings using a UK World Club number.

Here are some images of QM2's arrival Saturday I captured on my phone from the "New York Harbor Waterfront Museum, Brooklyn NY USA" YouTube channel while waiting in our hotel to board later that day.

Very much looking forward to the first meeting of QA and QM2 in Southampton on 23rd June. Available itineraries indicate QA will be arriving at 6:00am (at Mayflower) while QM2 will be arriving at 6:30am (at QEII). So perhaps that won't pass each other on the way in. Likewise, QM2 may be departing at 5:00pm and QA at 6:00pm. Nevertheless, I will endeavor to get a good look at QA that day while both ships are in Southampton.

On board now. We were originally assigned a 2:00pm arrival time. The two hour adjustment meant we were requested to arrive at 4:00pm. My plan was to arrive around 3:30pm via the NYC Ferry. Because of long queues and delays on the ferry we actually arrived at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal at 4:15pm. It took 45 minutes to get through security at that point and another 35 minutes in the priority check-in queue. So, all-in-all it wasn't too bad of a check-in experience today. We've had worse experienes in the past in Brooklyn for sure. Now it's time to sit back and relax for the next 14 nights on board QM2 to Southampton and back to New York.

I received this email from Cunard a few minutes ago. Important information about your voyage Booking reference: XXXXXX Dear Mr ------, We are looking forward to welcoming you on board Queen Mary 2 tomorrow. Unfortunately, Queen Mary 2’s arrival into New York will be delayed by approximately four hours, and it will not be possible to embark at the original embarkation time. Guests will need to arrive two hours later than their allocated arrival time displayed on their boarding pass. We kindly request that all guests observe this change to the embarkation time and please do not arrive at the terminal early. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding. Kind Regards, Cunard

I have some of the dress code and theme schedules for early 2025. Looks like they have been released for voyages through about March-April 2025. That includes QA's 2025 World Voyage, QV's 2025 South America voyage, QM2's early 2025 Caribbean and Canaries cruises, and QE's 2025 Australia season as well as some of her early 2025 Japan season. I've started documents for 2025 and may post the pieces I have so far in a few weeks. As far as the bulk of the dress code and theme schedules for 2025, based on prior years we might expect Cunard to release those schedules sometime around the October-November timeframe.