Independence Day cruise

[watsonbeau]

Just deliberating whether to book the 2025 one, round trip Southampton that includes 4 July festivities as soon to be on QM2 Caribbean so making a shortlist of what to book onboard.
 

Haven’t been to any of the ports other than NY so just hoping for some info from anyone who has done this. Appreciate 4 July is more of interest for the US guests onboard but am sure I will participate! 

Any thoughts much appreciated- thank you 

[Host Hattie]

@rafinmd did a live report here last year

 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

Halifax is lovely. You can stop by and say hello to our founder! There's a statue of Samuel Cunard near the cruise terminal. 

 

Just don't expect to get a good look at the July 4th fireworks in Boston. The ship leaves Boston "early morning" on the 5th. Last time I did this cruise, "early morning" was 1 AM, so there were no excursions to view the fireworks--traffic in Boston is always bad, but it's insane after the fireworks. A lot of passengers expected to go to see the fireworks and were disappointed.  You can see the fireworks from upper decks, but they aren't close. There were rumors of an excursion to a hotel rooftop viewing site, but that didn't happen.

 

This first picture was taken with a slight zoom and the second with greater zoom. I took these from my deck 11 balcony. The Westin i the foreground is a bit more than a half mile from the ship. The fireworks are launched from a point a little more than a mile beyond the Westin. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by 3rdGenCunarder

[watsonbeau]

Looks pretty good to me. Never been to Canada so would be lovely to visit the country .  We were on the Trafalgar 200 cruise on QE2 in 2005 and Cunard had to offer credit to those onboard because the promised display in Portsmouth was so far away nobody saw anything!

 

 

[frankp01]

There are quite a few sites worth seeing in Halifax (Titanic gravesites, Immigration Museum, Maritime museum), not to mention the great view out over the city, and of the QM2, from the rooftop cafe at the public library. The other ports on that itinerary have alternated over time: Bar Harbor or Newport. I think Newport is the more interesting of the two, and it's on the 2025 itinerary. You tender in Newport, so you also have the chance to get some great views of the QM2 from the water. If you have access to it, watch "The Gilded Age" (by Julian Fellowes) as preparation for your Newport visit. While you (probably) won't be able to see the Boston fireworks up close and personal, the years we've done that trip Cunard has set up large-screen televisions on deck, so that you can "picnic" and watch the broadcast of the Boston Pops followed by the fireworks. There are also some nice (though distant) views of the fireworks from all of the surrounding towns from the Observation deck on 11. It was blazing hot both visits to Boston, and many points of interest are closed due to the holiday. So, having been to Boston lots of times, we've just spent those days on board relaxing by the pool.  All in all, the return trip from New York is a nice mix of sea days and port calls.

[MylesS]

On 10/15/2023 at 4:22 PM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Halifax is lovely. You can stop by and say hello to our founder! There's a statue of Samuel Cunard near the cruise terminal. 

 

Just don't expect to get a good look at the July 4th fireworks in Boston. The ship leaves Boston "early morning" on the 5th. Last time I did this cruise, "early morning" was 1 AM, so there were no excursions to view the fireworks--traffic in Boston is always bad, but it's insane after the fireworks. A lot of passengers expected to go to see the fireworks and were disappointed.  You can see the fireworks from upper decks, but they aren't close. There were rumors of an excursion to a hotel rooftop viewing site, but that didn't happen.

 

This first picture was taken with a slight zoom and the second with greater zoom. I took these from my deck 11 balcony. The Westin i the foreground is a bit more than a half mile from the ship. The fireworks are launched from a point a little more than a mile beyond the Westin. 

Due to the fog, we were unable to see the fireworks from the ship this year, so these photos provide great context to what was missed. Some of us were lucky enough to be close to a gentlemen watching them live on their phone!