sfred

Impressive. Thanks @bluemarble. I presume the shipyard remembered to close all the doors below the waterline at the open end. 🙂

And presumably, should Queen Anne encounter any trouble while on her maiden voyage, Arthur the 2022 Cunard Bear (pictured in a separate thread, and named after Captain Arthur Rostron of the Carpathia), would be able to render assistance. 🙂🐻 Best wishes to everyone who was able to book. Looks like it will be a while before QA appears in Australia waters.

I hope Arthur likes his fish supper. In Alaska, if your voyage stops in Sitka, Arthur might like to go to the "Fortress of the Bear" animal rescue center for brown and black bears. It was a great experience. Two photos attached.

I noticed this announcement on Business Traveler: https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2022/05/09/dubais-qe2-hotel-to-join-accors-m-gallery-collection/ Accor has taken over operation of the hotel, and will reflag it under the group’s M Gallery Hotel Collection following “further upgrades and renovations”.

The white space on the QV/QE deck plan forward of cabins 7.001/7.002 are crew cabins, presumably for some of the senior officers. There is a locked doorway at the forward end of the passenger corridors leading to this crew area. We've had 7.001 before on QE. There was never an issue with noise, although you were required to have your curtains drawn at night to avoid light harming the bridge's night vision. The deck 8 bridge wings also cover the 7.001/7.002 balconies so it can feel a little closed-in compared to balconies further aft.

Is Arthur required to be fully vaccinated, negative tested, and have travel insurance? 🙂

With QE anchored in the Queensland industrial port of Gladstone to wait out the virus, and QV and QM2 about to lay up in the UK, I'm curious about the composition of the remaining caretaker crew aboard, and what sort of activities still get done. My guess would be that most hotel crew (restaurant, entertainment, housekeeping) have disembarked and the passenger areas closed off. Remaining crew might be a minimal number of engineering and deck crew for maintenance and security. Perhaps a bridge watch for security, ongoing painting, rotating operation of the diesels for electrical generation, routine maintenance, etc. Is this right? Anyone have any insights?