sfred

QE is in Barcelona today 30 October for the final time in her 2023 Mediterranean season. Upon departure this evening she begins the long journey to Australia for the summer season down here. Best wishes to all those embarking. @alibabacruisers, I hope you have a wonderful trip home to Melbourne. If you are able, please share some photos along the way.

Yes, apparently nobody in Australia/NZ is frequently asking any questions this morning. Maybe asking why there are no FAQs today should qualify as a frequently asked question?

I think @Host Hattie is correct, specifically the Tour Royale, a fort commissioned in 1513 by King Louis XII to protect the entrance of the naval port of Toulon. I guess QE was considered a friendly vessel that day. Dubrovnik was another thought I first had when I saw @bluemarble's post The town walls look similar. EDIT: OOPS - sorry, I didn't see the later posts in the new page 199 confirming Toulon.

No-theme formal nights do come up from time to time. We had a "Gala night (unspecified)" during the transatlantic portion of our recent QE San Francisco to Barcelona trip, on the middle sea day between Bermuda and Madeira. We searched our luggage and scoured the ship's shops, but never did find anything "unspecified" to accompany our regular formal kit. The moment we identified or pointed to something, it became "specified". 😄 (*sorry*)

Dress codes for our Q408 voyage are in MyCunard, shown under "Your Calendar". Screen shot pasted below. Strange that your Q409A isn't showing yet. .

Thanks @NE John. Is that a live webcam that can observe the terminal activity, or a single photo?

QE, Feb 20-Mar 05, 2024 (voyage Q408, Sydney-SouthPacific-Sydney) Feb 21: Black and White Feb 27: Masquerade Mar 03: Roaring Twenties

The hotel also has a rich transportation history, having been built by the Canadian Pacific Streamship company and the Canadian Pacific Railroad. We didn't stop in for tea.

My welcome also, @Dranuc2016. The Freia clock on the building is another good clue.

There is a shuttle (or at least there was back in 2019). Dropoff was at the Victoria harbour ferry / Destination Victoria Visitor Centre. The visitor centre had free wifi. It's about a 2km level walk from the cruise pier into the city, through the pleasant residential neighbourhood of James Bay. We shuttled into town, and walked back to the ship.

Best wishes for your Alaska voyage, @NE John. I'm glad you decided to go after your earlier concerns. I think you'll have a great time. Our QE 2019 voyage from Japan to Alaska ranks as one of our top favourites. We really liked both Sitka and Victoria. In Sitka, Mrs. sfred and I split up for the day. I went for a bushwalk in the nearby Sitka National Historical Park. Mrs. sfred went to the bear sanctuary - Fortress of the Bear. We then met up again in the town for a late lunch before returning to the ship. There is a Cunard shuttle bus from the cruise pier, with the dropoff at the Sitka Historical Society. We did not take any Cunard excursions. Some photos are copied below, and here's the website of the bear sanctuary. http://www.fortressofthebear.org/ The park bushwalk. I think I was one of a very few people in the park. I didn't see another person for hours. Fortress of the Bear. Mrs. sfred booked transport and admission from a local tourist desk in Sitka. . In Victoria, it was our first time there, so we concentrated on seeing the city. We took the Cunard shuttle into town, walked around for most of the day, had lunch and several pints at one of the many British pubs, and then walked back to the ship through very pleasant residential neighbourhoods. The only thing that made the day a little sad was the knowledge that we would be getting off QE the following day in Vancourver. . Let us know any questions.

The wide tree-lined street in the first webcam is Avenue Foch, named for Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France. The French Navy also named an aircraft carrier in his honour, the second Clemenceau-class carrier that served from 1963 to 2000.

Un autre port francais. C'est magnifique!

I never noticed that, interesting question @erniebernie. Attached below is a photo I took of QE when she was here in Brisbane earlier this year. Zooming into that location on deck 4, there appears to be only an empty balcony space without doors. A similar gap occurs nearby on the inside cabins only on decks 6, 7, and 8. Perhaps some storage, ventilation or machinery for the Britannia galleys on decks 2 and 3? QV has this gap also on her deck plans. Similarly, there's a white gap between 4.076 and 4.088, although this gap might be cabins set aside for Cunard guests like insight lecturers. I did note the presence of a cabin 4.082 when I was listing the hallway wifi access points on our recent QE trip.

Ah, okay. I had indeed gone down the wrong rabbit hole in Canada. But by digging a lot deeper in that hole and emerging on the opposite side of the world, I found a match to Le Port Reunion, although more precisely QM2 appears to be in the area called La Possession on google maps. The two round storage tanks adjacent to the pier appear to be the Dépot de Charbon Albioma. I'm guessing the webcam is located on the hills on the south side of the Riviere des Galets, perhaps somewhere along the D2 Chemin Lambert road? Good challenge, thanks @bluemarble!

I noted the ship appeared to be QM2 also. I had a thought the port might be one of her recent Canada locations, but I can't find a match to the webcam. Probably went down the wrong rabbit hole.

I find it interesting, and more than a little sad, to observe the sorts of jobs that exist in both the private and public sector these days. A pity that Cunard doesn't have a "retrieve luggage that has fallen overboard" manager. That would be an "activation" worthy of attention.

Another consideration is that Cunard intends to base QE in the Pacific full time for the next few years (at least), rotating between Aus/NZ, Japan, and Alaska. So Cunard will likely do what it takes to safely get QE out from the Med and down to Australia. Should worse come to worse and the Suez becomes an issue, she could get to Australia by going back out past Gibralter, around Africa, and across to Fremantle. Different ports and probably more sea days, but the ship would likely get you home to Melbourne, maybe plus or minus a few days. I hope some peaceful resolution can be found for the events in Israel, but it is hard to imagine what that might take. Sympathies for all those affected.

Really interesting - thanks for posting. I wish that videos like these could exist of the construction of the great ocean liners of their day in Belfast, Newcastle, or Glasgow. I wonder what people 100 years from now will think of QM2/QV/QE/QA's construction and design.

Admittedly, QV and QE are fairly indistinguishable at that distance and resolution. By the time you're close enough to make out the physical differences between the two, you can sometimes see the name on the bow! For me, the key clues were the photo being a webcam, and the three blue poles at the cargo wharf. That, plus the recent country locations of QV/QE, led me to Skagen.

I think this is Skagen Denmark, previously seen in @rafinmd's post 3815 on 27 August 2021. Roy's photo was a statue of two of the famous Skagen painters, Michael Ancher and P. S. Krøyer, which @bluemarble identified in post 3820. The ship is likely QV during one of her Baltic trips? If so, it is interesting that according to Wikipedia, another of the Skagen painters Laurits Tuxen is famous for his portraits of European royal personalities, including Queen Victoria, Christian IX of Denmark, and Czar Nicholas II.

Correct on both - Queen Elizabeth (the first one), and the buildings of Manhattan as seen from the Hudson. QE's (the third one) Staircase A had several other excellent paintings of historical Cunard ships. I would often pause to admire them during my early morning strolls around the decks. I took photos of two other paintings, one of Aquitania in Liverpool and the other of Berengaria (originally the SS Inperator of Hamburg America Line) in NY.

From one of QE's program guides on our recent voyage... Theatre Box Programme Available on production show evenings. Enjoy a cocktail in a private lounge area before the show. Indulge in chocolate treats and Laurent-Perrier Champagne in your private box. To make a reservation, please dial 33000. Reservations close at 1.30p on the day of the performance. US$60 plus a 15% service charge per couple. We have not done this ourselves. We sometimes sit in the boxes during the daytime insight lectures, and they are a great location to watch the occasional cooking demonstrations.

Easy so far - we're still in Spain. 🙂 After getting off QE in Barcelona we took the train to Madrid. There are some work contacts I wanted to see this week. We start the long trip home on Saturday, connecting in London and Singapore.

Beautiful sight - thanks @Host Hattie. Wish we were still aboard.