bluemarble

I haven't seen the advertisement here in the US. Perhaps it's just airing in the UK or I haven't been watching the right channels here. Is the advert the same as this video Cunard produced in September 2019? I think they originally produced this as a cinema advert shown in conjunction with the first Downton Abbey movie.

Thanks for the updates. Yes, those both appear to be price increases from 2019. Verandah used to be $39 for the evening dinner and the Kings Court Alternative Dining venues used to be $19.50 (with a $14.50 special usually offered for embarkation day).

The "What to pack page" on the Cunard website has this to say about the "Smart Attire" dress code. "Smart attire simply means a dress shirt and trousers, skirt and a top, or a cocktail dress." The wording found in the daily programmes once on board is as follows. "Smart Attire. Gentlemen, every night we request you wear trousers with a collared shirt; jacket and tie are optional. Ladies, blouses and skirts or stylish trousers and dresses are welcome."

There is the Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market adjacent to the cruise terminal. Plenty of shops and places to eat there within minimal walking distance. There's usually a hop-on-hop-off bus available right outside the terminal offering tours around Halifax which presumably require little or no walking if that might be of interest.

Interesting. Looks like that strategy might be tied to the current "flexible transfer policy" in the UK where "With our Flexible Transfer Policy you can transfer your booking, free of charge and as many times as you like, up to the date your holiday balance is due." You folks in the UK will know better than I as to whether that's a temporary policy or might be made permanent. If that policy allows the transfer of all the perks from an onboard booking that does sound like a workable alternative for an FCD. We in the US have no such "flexible transfer policy" so you may have one over on us there. We have plenty of flexibility to cancel and rebook another cruise without losing our deposits (as long as we didn't book a fare with a non-refundable deposit), but we generally can't transfer the perks from the original booking when we do that. I think it's still an open question though whether FCD's might be available to US guests based on one report last year of a US guest managing to obtain an FCD onboard.

Thanks, @Host Hattie. This thread indicates masks were required on the previous Alaska cruise which was Q218N, the first Alaska cruise after QE's repositioning cruise. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2858140-face-masks-again/ It remains unclear to this observer whether the CDC required mask wearing on that QE cruise because of the number of cases on the repositioning cruise or that was a decision made by Cunard.

Which begs the question why we haven't heard about similar notifications triggered by CDC requirements for recent QE sailings. By most accounts of the COVID outbreak on QE during the latter portion of her repositioning cruise to Alaska, I thought it would have triggered notifications to those embarking in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver. Perhaps it did and I just haven't heard about it. I believe I've read where QE has had a mask mandate in place on recent sailings while QV (not operating in US waters) has not.

QV is in Visby, Sweden today. Here is a webcam capture showing QV shortly after she arrived a few hours ago. This image was captured from the Kryssningskajen camera hosted by webbkameror.se in collaboration with CMP (Copenhagen Malmö Port). The webcam is found at "www.webbkameror.se/webbkameror/kryssningskajen/kryssningskajen_1_1280.php". I am posting this image with the kind permission of webbkameror.se. Silver Moon has also arrived in port partially blocking QV in the current webcam view, so I went back through the image archives to find this earlier view from 7 AM local time showing only QV.

Some of what I have to offer here is speculative but I'll jump in anyway. Unfortunately the OP has not responded to confirm whether or not the latest notification from Cunard offered a refund. That would be helpful to know as an indication of how much discretion Cunard had with this decision to impose the mask mandate. The OP's screen shot does tail off with the first line of verbiage which has offered a refund in past notifications. I've previously mentioned that if the CDC is considering moving a ship from "Orange" to "Red" status, it will ask the cruise line to implement several steps including Require mask use by all passengers and crew indoors and crowded outdoor areas; Send written notification to passengers on the current, previous, and subsequent voyages informing them of the COVID-19 conditions and measures being taken to reduce transmission on board; Offer a full refund for the cruise to any passenger who decides not to sail on the subsequent voyage Previous similar notifications from Cunard have done all three of these steps. We know the latest communication from Cunard does at least the first two steps and perhaps all three. This tends to indicate Cunard is responding to CDC requirements and not imposing the mask mandate at its own discretion. In terms of the transatlantic angle putting Cunard at an advantage, I'm inclined to think it doesn't. As @moses0 mentioned in an earlier reply, other lines operating in US waters have the advantage of disembarking most if not all of their guests at the end of relatively short closed loop cruises. Cunard's scheduling for QM2 often involves combining a roundtrip crossing with other segments such as to Norway, the Caribbean, Canada or the Mediterranean. Hence many crossings are part of significantly longer voyages. Few if any crossings end with all or even almost all guests disembarking to start the next voyage with a clean slate so to speak.

You certainly won't get any argument from me that the "My Cunard" functionality leaves a lot to be desired. But I can help you find the dress codes (if they have been assigned for your cruise). The dress codes are found within each individual day's entry of the "Day" view within "Your calendar". Here's an example showing the dress code for one day in the lower right of the calendar view. Since you mentioned you are doing a portion of the QM2 world cruise on the other "Queen Mary Obstructed View" thread, the dress codes may not yet be assigned for your cruise. I do know the dress codes have been assigned for QV's 2023 world cruise but I haven't heard yet if they have been assigned for QM2's 2023 world cruise.

Interesting to learn that the views from some obstructed view cabins directly across from each other on QM2 are not mirror images of each other. I'd like to hear more about which cabins on the odd side have different views from the corresponding cabins on the even side. The "cruisedeckplans" website is a good source for cabin photos. Unfortunately they don't have any photos of cabin 8051. I did check all 20 pairs of obstructed view cabins on QM2 where that site does have photos/videos showing the views from cabins across from each other. The views from those 20 pairs of cabins all appear to be mirror images of each other. Hopefully someone on this forum can provide a photo of the view from 8051 so that we can find out for sure what the view looks like from that cabin.

Take a look at this view from 8052 which is directly opposite 8051 on the deck plans. The view from 8051 should be essentially a mirror image of this view. Cunard only supplies the views to the even numbered cabins with the proviso "Views from staterooms on the opposite side of the ship are similar".

@Bill_R, does that letter go on to offer you a refund if you cancel? That's been the case with some letters like this in the past because of CDC requirements. Just wondering if that's the case this time as well.

Ah, very good. I had a bit of difficulty at first making out the name on the stern. It's Silver Wind on what looks like a very interesting 18 night "British Isles" cruise from Lisbon to Reykjavik. Yesterday, Pembroke. Today, the Isle of Iona which I understand was the inspiration for the name of the new P&O ship. Thanks for the chance to do some ship identification once again. I do miss the "Where in the World?" thread.

It was interesting to follow on marinetraffic how Cosco Virgo managed to get past Cosco Uranus that departed about an hour and a half ago. Cosco Uranus came to a stop toward the south bank of the river near the Airbus facility. She had three tugs assisting to hold her in place while Cosco Virgo passed on the starboard side with two tugs assisting. Looks like it could be another hour or so until Cosco Virgo is out of the way for QM2 to depart.

Just watched Cosco Shipping Virgo enter the Elbe on a couple of the Cuxhaven webcams. That's a monster container ship, no doubt about it! Edit to add: Sorry about the typo "Costco" in my previous post, it is of course "Cosco".

Looks like that container ship might be Costco Shipping Virgo. Length 400 meters, beam 59 meters, ETA Hamburg 00:00 local. Will be entering the Elbe in about an hour.

Hi, Laura. I'm curious, who told you or where did you read you needed to take your test for Southampton "24 hours" before? As far as I know, the Cunard website has consistently stated "one day" before for Southampton departures. Here is a quote from their "Preparing to sail - at the terminal" page. "Pre-cruise testing for voyages departing from Southampton. All guests aged five years and over will need to organize and purchase an antigen test to be taken within one day prior to arrival at the embarkation terminal." Good to hear they are adhering to that "one day" requirement. I just wanted to clarify that it's one day in case others are seeing 24 hours somewhere.

@sogne, did you stay up to see QV passing you on your way into Hamburg? I was watching vicariously on marinetraffic. It looks like the two ships passed each other about 12:15am local time east of Heligoland Bight. QV is on her way to Copenhagen. I think this is a first for the current Cunard fleet where two ships are/were visiting Hamburg on consecutive days.