QE 2025 Alaska Season Preview

[bluemarble]

Here's what I'm seeing posted on a travel agent website for QE's 2025 Alaska season. If this is real (and I have no reason to doubt it), the big news is that QE will be sailing out of Seattle rather than Vancouver during the 2025 Alaska season. QE will be calling at Victoria to satisfy the US PVSA requirement for a foreign port. She won't be calling at Vancouver at all during the 2025 season according to these itineraries I'm seeing.

 

QE 2025 Alaska

24-May-2025      Yokohama

26-May-2025      Hakodate

27-May-2025      Kushiro

31-May-2025      International Date Line

3-Jun-2025          Kodiak

4-Jun-2025          Seward

5-Jun-2025          Hubbard Glacier

6-Jun-2025          Juneau

7-Jun-2025          Glacier Bay

8-Jun-2025          Sitka

11-Jun-2025        Victoria

12-Jun-2025        Seattle

14-Jun-2025        Ketchikan

15-Jun-2025        Glacier Bay

16-Jun-2025        Skagway

17-Jun-2025        Juneau

18-Jun-2025        Hubbard Glacier

19-Jun-2025        Sitka

20-Jun-2025        Misty Fjord

22-Jun-2025        Victoria

23-Jun-2025        Seattle

25-Jun-2025        Endicott Arm

26-Jun-2025        Icy Strait Point

27-Jun-2025        Juneau

28-Jun-2025        Skagway

29-Jun-2025        Glacier Bay

30-Jun-2025        Ketchikan

2-Jul-2025            Victoria

3-Jul-2025           Seattle

5-Jul-2025            Juneau

6-Jul-2025            Skagway

7-Jul-2025            Glacier Bay

9-Jul-2025            Victoria

10-Jul-2025         Seattle

12-Jul-2025         Ketchikan

13-Jul-2025         Glacier Bay

14-Jul-2025         Haines

15-Jul-2025         Tracy Arm Fjord

16-Jul-2025         Juneau

17-Jul-2025         Sitka

18-Jul-2025         Misty Fjord

20-Jul-2025         Victoria

21-Jul-2025         Seattle

23-Jul-2025         Sitka

24-Jul-2025         Endicott Arm

25-Jul-2025         Juneau

26-Jul-2025         Skagway

27-Jul-2025         Glacier Bay

28-Jul-2025         Ketchikan

30-Jul-2025         Victoria

31-Jul-2025         Seattle

2-Aug-2025         Ketchikan

3-Aug-2025         Glacier Bay

4-Aug-2025         Skagway

5-Aug-2025         Tracy Arm Fjord

6-Aug-2025         Juneau

7-Aug-2025         Icy Strait Point

8-Aug-2025         Sitka

10-Aug-2025       Victoria

11-Aug-2025       Seattle

13-Aug-2025       Ketchikan

14-Aug-2025       Sitka

15-Aug-2025       Tracy Arm Fjord

16-Aug-2025       Skagway

17-Aug-2025       Icy Strait Point

18-Aug-2025       Glacier Bay

20-Aug-2025       Victoria

21-Aug-2025       Seattle

23-Aug-2025       Sitka

24-Aug-2025       Glacier Bay

25-Aug-2025       Ketchikan

27-Aug-2025       Victoria

28-Aug-2025       Seattle

30-Aug-2025       Ketchikan

31-Aug-2025       Juneau

1-Sep-2025         Glacier Bay

2-Sep-2025         Haines

3-Sep-2025         Hubbard Glacier

4-Sep-2025         Icy Strait Point

5-Sep-2025         Sitka

7-Sep-2025         Victoria

8-Sep-2025         Seattle

10-Sep-2025       Ketchikan

11-Sep-2025       Juneau

12-Sep-2025       Skagway

13-Sep-2025       Glacier Bay

14-Sep-2025       Icy Strait Point

15-Sep-2025       Endicott Arm

17-Sep-2025       Victoria

18-Sep-2025       Seattle

20-Sep-2025       Ketchikan

21-Sep-2025       Tracy Arm Fjord

21-Sep-2025       Juneau

22-Sep-2025       Sitka

24-Sep-2025       Victoria

25-Sep-2025       Seattle

Edited December 2, 2023 by bluemarble

[sfred]

Thanks @bluemarble.  Wow.  Well, that will finally resolve the asterisk on Seattle for the "Where in the World" game.

[techteach]

Yeah!!!!

[NE John]

3 hours ago, bluemarble said:

3-Jun-2025          Kodiak

Is this a maiden call? I’m not familiar with Cunard calls to Alaska.

The Yokohama to Seattle stretch looks like a great itinerary. 

[david,Mississauga]

I know many will be happy that the QE will be based in Seattle instead of Vancouver, but not me. I was hoping to take our fourth QE Alaska cruise in 2025, but now it is doubtful. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

[bluemarble]

8 minutes ago, NE John said:

Is this a maiden call? I’m not familiar with Cunard calls to Alaska.

The Yokohama to Seattle stretch looks like a great itinerary. 

 

No, QE's maiden call to Kodiak was during her first Alaska season in 2019. In fact Kodiak was QE's first port of call in Alaska on May 15, 2019 during her repositioning cruise from Japan to Vancouver. So far I believe that's been QE's only call to Kodiak. A second call is scheduled there next year on June 3, 2024, again as her first Alaska port of call during her repositioning cruise from Japan to Vancouver. And it appears that pattern is set to repeat in 2025 with Kodiak being the first Alaska port of call during QE's repositioning cruise from Japan to Seattle this time.

[bluemarble]

50 minutes ago, david,Mississauga said:

I know many will be happy that the QE will be based in Seattle instead of Vancouver, but not me. I was hoping to take our fourth QE Alaska cruise in 2025, but now it is doubtful. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

 

I hear you. It will be more convenient for us to sail out of Seattle. But sailing out of Vancouver is certainly more in keeping with Cunard's past. Somehow it just seems more appropriate for a Cunard ship to be based out of a city in the Commonwealth with the monarch as head of state rather than one in a country which was formerly a collection of colonies who rebelled against the monarchy. And of course Samuel Cunard was Canadian.

 

But naturally this all comes down to business decisions in the end as it must. QE is apparently destined to be home-ported in the US for the foreseeable future with the 2025 Alaska season based out of Seattle and the yet-to-be-announced Caribbean season based out of Fort Lauderdale.

Edited December 3, 2023 by bluemarble

[NE John]

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

 

I hear you. It will be more convenient for us to sail out of Seattle. But sailing out of Vancouver is certainly more in keeping with Cunard's past. Somehow it just seems more appropriate for a Cunard ship to be based out of a city in the Commonwealth with the monarch as head of state rather than one in a country which was formerly a collection of colonies who rebelled against the monarchy. And of course Samuel Cunard was Canadian.

 

But naturally this all comes down to business decisions in the end as it must. QE is apparently destined to be home-ported in the US for the foreseeable future with the 2025 Alaska season based out of Seattle and the yet-to-be-announced Caribbean season based out of Fort Lauderdale.

All true, but boy, do these former colonies love following the Royals, watching The Crown, gossiping about Prince Harry and Megan, and debating about The Great British Baking Show. 

[Winifred 22]

Good mix of voyage lengths too. I think there will lots of demand. 

[Vic The Parrot]

21 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 QE is apparently destined to be home-ported in the US for the foreseeable future with the 2025 Alaska season based out of Seattle and the yet-to-be-announced Caribbean season based out of Fort Lauderdale.

Did I read this right?

 

Cunard is doing FLL Caribbean in 2025? 🎉🍹😀

[bluemarble]

3 hours ago, Vic The Parrot said:

Did I read this right?

 

Cunard is doing FLL Caribbean in 2025? 🎉🍹😀

 

Details have been a bit hard to come by since what we have to go on are media reports of what Cunard announced on November 2, 2023. That's when they announced Queen Elizabeth will not be returning for Australia or Japan seasons after the currently scheduled seasons in those regions end in 2025. I have not found a Cunard/Carnival press release about this.

 

Here's a quote from Seatrade Cruise News for example.

 

"Queen Elizabeth will not return to Australia for the 2025/26 season as part of new deployment plans to operate her year-round from North America. She will spend the summer in Alaska and winter in the Caribbean sailing from Florida."

 

Now I thought I had read somewhere that Fort Lauderdale was going to be QE's home port for her Caribbean season out of Florida. But I can't seem to locate that reference now.

 

Based on what I've found on several different sites now, I think it's safe to say QE will home port out of Seattle for her 2025 Alaska season. But we may need to wait for further details to confirm if QE will home port out of Fort Lauderdale or one of the other Florida ports for her 2025 Caribbean season. All I've read so far concerning the timing for further details is "we look forward to releasing the full details of our future programmes in early 2024."

[Vic The Parrot]

2 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

Details have been a bit hard to come by since what we have to go on are media reports of what Cunard announced on November 2, 2023. That's when they announced Queen Elizabeth will not be returning for Australia or Japan seasons after the currently scheduled seasons in those regions end in 2025. I have not found a Cunard/Carnival press release about this.

 

Here's a quote from Seatrade Cruise News for example.

 

"Queen Elizabeth will not return to Australia for the 2025/26 season as part of new deployment plans to operate her year-round from North America. She will spend the summer in Alaska and winter in the Caribbean sailing from Florida."

 

Now I thought I had read somewhere that Fort Lauderdale was going to be QE's home port for her Caribbean season out of Florida. But I can't seem to locate that reference now.

 

Based on what I've found on several different sites now, I think it's safe to say QE will home port out of Seattle for her 2025 Alaska season. But we may need to wait for further details to confirm if QE will home port out of Fort Lauderdale or one of the other Florida ports for her 2025 Caribbean season. All I've read so far concerning the timing for further details is "we look forward to releasing the full details of our future programmes in early 2024."

That's awesome! 

 

I've always wanted to sail QE since she came into service. And hopefully I might get that chance. 

Thanks for your info. If we're ever on the same ship, you'll get a few rounds on me! 🍻

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

5 hours ago, Vic The Parrot said:

That's awesome! 

 

I've always wanted to sail QE since she came into service. And hopefully I might get that chance. 

Thanks for your info. If we're ever on the same ship, you'll get a few rounds on me! 🍻

 

 

She's wonderful! I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing her winter itineraries. 

[foodsvcmgr]

I’m anxiously awaiting the Caribbean itineraries as well.

As someone who enjoys studying the cruise business in between actual sailings,

I’ll make a (semi) educated prediction here.

If QE winds up her Alaska season at the end of September I would expect to see a Hawaii cruise and/or a couple of Mexico sailings from California prior to her eastbound Canal cruise.

I don’t think there is any great demand to begin the Caribbean season from Florida prior to mid-November.

Just my thoughts….

[bluemarble]

I received an email from Cunard today with the subject "Coming soon ...". It announced "Alaska 2025 On Sale December 12, 2023". So we won't have long to wait for the official announcement of the QE 2025 Alaska itineraries.

[bluemarble]

QE 2025 Alaska itineraries are available for booking today on the Cunard website as advertised. They appear to match what I posted above.

 

It's a bit odd on the Cunard US website at the moment where they seem to only be offering "Our Lowest Fare" (similar to the "Early Saver" fare in the UK) where it is a guarantee-only booking. In the UK it looks like you have your choice of the "Early Saver" fare for a guarantee-only booking or the "Cunard" fare where you can select a cabin. Those of you in Australia/New Zealand also appear to have your choice of the "Early Saver" or "Cunard" fares.

 

Edit to add: No joy for those of you in Canada it would appear. Not only aren't the QE 2025 Alaska itineraries listed at all (despite a link on the home page announcing them), all the other itineraries are still not showing any availability from what I'm seeing on the Cunard Canada site.

Edited December 12, 2023 by bluemarble

[david,Mississauga]

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

QE 2025 Alaska itineraries are available for booking today on the Cunard website as advertised. They appear to match what I posted above.

 

It's a bit odd on the Cunard US website at the moment where they seem to only be offering "Our Lowest Fare" (similar to the "Early Saver" fare in the UK) where it is a guarantee-only booking. In the UK it looks like you have your choice of the "Early Saver" fare for a guarantee-only booking or the "Cunard" fare where you can select a cabin. Those of you in Australia/New Zealand also appear to have your choice of the "Early Saver" or "Cunard" fares.

 

Edit to add: No joy for those of you in Canada it would appear. Not only aren't the QE 2025 Alaska itineraries listed at all (despite a link on the home page announcing them), all the other itineraries are still not showing any availability from what I'm seeing on the Cunard Canada site.

 

Perhaps Cunard doesn't want to be bothered with Canadian bookings given they are switching from Vancouver-based to Seattle-based cruises to Alaska. But that doesn't explain why no fares and therefore no availability is showing for any voyages. 

 

Sadly no-one at Cunard cares. A request submitted to Cunard's Facebook page gets the usual response that as we are in Canada we have to deal with the California office as the UK site can't help us. I e-mailed the Valencia office and the response was almost insulting. I could have gotten as much help from the neighbour's cat. (Apologies to "Basil Fawlty" for stealing a line.)

 

A check of "my Cunard" shows our two bookings on the QM2 for next year still exist, so we haven't been banned from Cunard.  We have no desire to take a round-trip cruise from Seattle, although if we did embark there we could disembark in Victoria. On our two cruises on the QE in 2019 and 2022 several passengers did that, but for this year that was banned because it violated a law (similar to the US law) that apparently no-one was aware of before.  

 

What we could do is postpone our two QM2 trips from next year to 2015 or later and book the QE to Alaska next year while it is still possible to do so from Vancouver.

[exlondoner]

Sorry, but why not ring them up or get a TA to do so?

[techteach]

@david,Mississauga Ah David, if you sail into Seattle I’ll serve you a nice dinner on our deck as well as pick you up at the dock and deliver you to the airport. Gee, now I need to remember I’ve made this promise!

[sogne]

At least in the UK there was no pre registration period , they simply went on sale.

[david,Mississauga]

20 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Sorry, but why not ring them up or get a TA to do so?

 

Indeed, I deal with an excellent TA  but I do my own research. Of all the times we have sailed on Cunard ships we have never had any problems - not counting issues created by the California office which have been solved on board by the lovely staff. 

 

The Website has come back to life for Canada.  Some of the Canadian$ fares have increased, but not all.

[bluemarble]

2 hours ago, david,Mississauga said:

 

Indeed, I deal with an excellent TA  but I do my own research. Of all the times we have sailed on Cunard ships we have never had any problems - not counting issues created by the California office which have been solved on board by the lovely staff. 

 

The Website has come back to life for Canada.  Some of the Canadian$ fares have increased, but not all.

 

Very good. I see the Cunard Canada site is also only offering "Our Lowest Fare" (guarantee-only) on the newly-announced 2025 Alaska cruises. And since "Our Lowest Fare" is not offered on Britannia Club cabins or Grill Suites, it looks like you can only book Britannia category cabins on the 2025 Alaska cruises using the Cunard US or Cunard Canada websites at the moment.

 

For what it's worth, now that the Cunard Canada website is functioning once again, I compared a couple dozen fares between the Canadian and US web sites on eight different voyages across all four ships. I'm seeing a conversion rate of approximately $1.339 Canadian to $1 US being applied to the fares I checked.

[david,Mississauga]

18 hours ago, techteach said:

@david,Mississauga Ah David, if you sail into Seattle I’ll serve you a nice dinner on our deck as well as pick you up at the dock and deliver you to the airport. Gee, now I need to remember I’ve made this promise!

 

How very kind.  I must never say never. We sailed into Seattle a very long time ago. It was on the Canadian Pacific ferry Princess Marguerite from Victoria.  The immigration procedure was painless, which was a relief as we had memories of a recent experience at the New York piers.

 

I admit to a fondness for Vancouver whether travelling by ship or train. We went there by train on our honeymoon. Our first cruise was from there - also on a Canadian Pacific ship. We have had several voyages since then from Vancouver.  We may change our plans for 2024 and book what may be our final cruise from Vancouver.  Having experienced the QE four times - three of which were from Vancouver - no other ship on the Alaska run appeals to us. 

[tacticalbanjo]

I was pretty set on a 2025 Alaska but not sure which line to do it on. But none of the other Glacier Bay going lines are doing many, if any, trips longer than 7 nights and if I'm flying all that way I want to see as much as possible. The options that are available don't have itineraries that appeal and heck, I just love Cunard. But I'm a little disappointed to miss out on Vancouver.

 

I probably won't book until next year though because Cunard are wanting a rather large amount for flights and want to charge the same for adults and children. So I might hold off until my TA can look at flight costs and get them to sort me a package. Is it worth speaking with voyage sales next time I'm on board?

[MississippiMom]

On 12/14/2023 at 4:56 AM, tacticalbanjo said:

I was pretty set on a 2025 Alaska but not sure which line to do it on. But none of the other Glacier Bay going lines are doing many, if any, trips longer than 7 nights and if I'm flying all that way I want to see as much as possible. The options that are available don't have itineraries that appeal and heck, I just love Cunard. But I'm a little disappointed to miss out on Vancouver.

 

I probably won't book until next year though because Cunard are wanting a rather large amount for flights and want to charge the same for adults and children. So I might hold off until my TA can look at flight costs and get them to sort me a package. Is it worth speaking with voyage sales next time I'm on board?

I am not at all familiar with Cunard, but their Alaska itineraries are very appealing for 2025.

 

In your opinion, would it be a “kid friendly” line in Alaska?