bluemarble

Very good. I think that ship is the Star Flyer of the Star Clippers line. She's the member of their fleet who has been doing Caribbean cruises out of St Maarten the past few years.

QM2 making a colourful arrival at Southampton this morning. This evening she'll be setting off for New York on her Christmas cruise. This is a capture from a few hours ago taken from the Netley Cam live stream on the Solent Ships YouTube channel.

I'm going to go out on a long limb with this one. I can't find any posts about an early arrival at a port for a medical evacuation but that's not at all surprising. I wasn't really expecting that to pan out. But I think the mention of a "very speedy cruise from previous port" is helpful. It got me looking at island itineraries with a short distance between consecutive ports. When I enhance this photo in my photo editor, it reveals some very intriguing details in the hillside in the background. I'm having trouble getting the two uppermost lights in this photo to line up with what I think we're looking at here. I also have some misgivings about the layout of the pier in the middle ground. But the details I'm seeing in the hillside are hard to ignore, so I'll proceed with considerably less confidence than usual this time. What I think we might be looking at here is the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cargo Facility and the easternmost of the two cruise piers at the port of Philipsburg, St Maarten.

You have been upgraded from a CA (partially obstructed view) category cabin which is designated "Views partially obstructed by lifeboat mechanism" to a BC category cabin with unobstructed views. That's the main benefit of the upgrade you have received.

Make that Ponta Delgada, Azores of course. Sorry for that typo in my previous reply.

I think I've finally found this one. I'm getting a good match to Ponte Delgada, Azores. Concerning the reference to the blue VW color, I see there was an Azure Blue color for some VW model years.

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.

I think it's time for a hint for this one. I've been spinning my wheels now for a couple days trying to figure it out.

I'll attempt to add a little perspective regarding the history of past themes. Cunard used to have many more themes than they do now, especially on the world voyages. They have simplified the themes in recent years by reducing them to these five current themes. Black and White Red and Gold Masquerade Roaring Twenties Ice White (Alaska itineraries only) In the past, they scheduled these themes during portions of their itineraries outside of the world voyages. Victoriana Ball (Queen Victoria only) Elizabethan Ball (Queen Elizabeth only) London Ball (Queen Elizabeth only) Starlight Ball (Queen Elizabeth only) Venetian Masked Ball (alternative to Masquerade) Cunard Ball (alternative to Black and White) Royal Cunard Ball (former name for Red and Gold) Royal Ascot Ball Buccaneer Ball Big Band Ball Halloween Ball Christmas Ball New Year's Eve Ball Oliviers Ball (London Theatre at Sea voyage) 175 Ball (for Cunard's 175th Anniversary during 2015) During world voyages they used to add more themes appropriate to the date or the region visited. Here is a list of themes from several years of world voyages across several of the ships. Burn's Night Carnival Ball Hawaiian Ball Valentine's Ball South Pacific Ball Australian Ball Neptune's Ball St. Patrick's Day Madame Butterfly Ball Oriental Ball / A Night in the Orient Ball Night of the Raj African Ball Egyptian Ball Mariner's Ball Ladies' Night Ball These themes are from some of the schedules I have in my archives for 2012 voyages and later. I didn't try to go back any further to document what the themes might have been during the true "golden age of ocean travel."

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.

Thank you, @Solent Richard. This one had me defeated even after the hint that it was a small island in the Caribbean. That was a very good challenge, @D&N. Here's @Host Hattie's photo of Willemstad, Curacao which I had managed to identify the first time around. That was way back in post #446.

Yes, I found this excellent photo of yours way back on post #654 from September 12, 2020. It might have helped my confidence in identifying the ship in @rog747's photo if I had thought to look for it. Unfortunately the Cruise Critic search function doesn't index posts more than about a year old, so a search of this thread for previous posts mentioning "Funchal" or "Madeira" can't find it.

It's possible the two alternative versions I'm seeing for the start of the QM2 2026 world voyage (with either one or two days in New York) have to do with potential conflicts at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. What's odd about that though is that most of the conflicts requiring Cunard to retroactively change the dates for QM2 at Brooklyn have been on Sundays. MSC Meraviglia has 7-night itineraries scheduled to the Bahamas departing Brooklyn most Sundays into April 2025. The two versions of the QM2 2026 world voyage I've found have QM2 in New York either on Sunday, January 18, 2026 or on both Sunday and Monday January 18-19, 2026. But I agree conflicts at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal could well be what's going on there. Perhaps the final itinerary will end up with QM2 in New York only on Monday, January 19, 2026. We shall see. The problem with that idea is QM2 would still have to make her way to the Pacific for the calls starting with Manzanillo. If she were going to round Cape Horn to accomplish that, we would expect to see other calls in South America on the itinerary and there's no way she could make the dates for Manzanillo, Los Angeles and San Francisco in particular unless she were transiting the Panama Canal. QM2 is either doing a Panama Canal transit or this 2026 world voyage itinerary I've found is a work of fiction. I'm careful though to cross-reference dates mentioned on various port authority websites to make sure what I find is at least plausible. There are sites out there that purport to show itineraries for future years but in actuality are rehashing itineraries from previous years. QM2 has visited Hawaii before but it has been quite a while. The last visit I'm seeing to Hawaii for QM2 is Honolulu on February 15, 2009 during her 2009 world voyage. The last time QM2 has visited California (Los Angeles) was also during that 2009 world voyage (February 10, 2009). QM2 has only visited San Francisco once before, on February 4-5, 2007.

Thanks. I shouldn't have doubted my first impression.

My best guess is San Pedro. It's been quite a few years since QM2 was last at Los Angeles (February 2009). QE and QV call at San Pedro and my research indicates QM2 was at San Pedro for her previous calls during 2006 and 2009.

I posted what I had found earlier for QE's 2025 Alaska season and 2025/26 Caribbean season (into April 2026) on other threads. I'll repost that information here to have everything on one place. Cunard have said the QE 2025 Alaska itineraries will be announced and go on sale in just a few more days; December 12th to be exact. I don't know when they will be announcing QE's 2025/26 Caribbean itineraries. Next March is a reasonable guess since that's when we've been told Cunard will be making additional announcements including the 2026 world voyages. QE 2025-2026 Alaska and Caribbean Itineraries 24-May-25 Yokohama 26-May-25 Hakodate 27-May-25 Kushiro 31-May-25 International Date Line 3-Jun-25 Kodiak 4-Jun-25 Seward 5-Jun-25 Hubbard Glacier 6-Jun-25 Juneau 7-Jun-25 Glacier Bay 8-Jun-25 Sitka 11-Jun-25 Victoria 12-Jun-25 Seattle 14-Jun-25 Ketchikan 15-Jun-25 Glacier Bay 16-Jun-25 Skagway 17-Jun-25 Juneau 18-Jun-25 Hubbard Glacier 19-Jun-25 Sitka 20-Jun-25 Misty Fjord 22-Jun-25 Victoria 23-Jun-25 Seattle 25-Jun-25 Endicott Arm 26-Jun-25 Icy Strait Point 27-Jun-25 Juneau 28-Jun-25 Skagway 29-Jun-25 Glacier Bay 30-Jun-25 Ketchikan 2-Jul-25 Victoria 3-Jul-25 Seattle 5-Jul-25 Juneau 6-Jul-25 Skagway 7-Jul-25 Glacier Bay 9-Jul-25 Victoria 10-Jul-25 Seattle 12-Jul-25 Ketchikan 13-Jul-25 Glacier Bay 14-Jul-25 Haines 15-Jul-25 Tracy Arm Fjord 16-Jul-25 Juneau 17-Jul-25 Sitka 18-Jul-25 Misty Fjord 20-Jul-25 Victoria 21-Jul-25 Seattle 23-Jul-25 Sitka 24-Jul-25 Endicott Arm 25-Jul-25 Juneau 26-Jul-25 Skagway 27-Jul-25 Glacier Bay 28-Jul-25 Ketchikan 30-Jul-25 Victoria 31-Jul-25 Seattle 2-Aug-25 Ketchikan 3-Aug-25 Glacier Bay 4-Aug-25 Skagway 5-Aug-25 Tracy Arm Fjord 6-Aug-25 Juneau 7-Aug-25 Icy Strait Point 8-Aug-25 Sitka 10-Aug-25 Victoria 11-Aug-25 Seattle 13-Aug-25 Ketchikan 14-Aug-25 Sitka 15-Aug-25 Tracy Arm Fjord 16-Aug-25 Skagway 17-Aug-25 Icy Strait Point 18-Aug-25 Glacier Bay 20-Aug-25 Victoria 21-Aug-25 Seattle 23-Aug-25 Sitka 24-Aug-25 Glacier Bay 25-Aug-25 Ketchikan 27-Aug-25 Victoria 28-Aug-25 Seattle 30-Aug-25 Ketchikan 31-Aug-25 Juneau 1-Sep-25 Glacier Bay 2-Sep-25 Haines 3-Sep-25 Hubbard Glacier 4-Sep-25 Icy Strait Point 5-Sep-25 Sitka 7-Sep-25 Victoria 8-Sep-25 Seattle 10-Sep-25 Ketchikan 11-Sep-25 Juneau 12-Sep-25 Skagway 13-Sep-25 Glacier Bay 14-Sep-25 Icy Strait Point 15-Sep-25 Endicott Arm 17-Sep-25 Victoria 18-Sep-25 Seattle 20-Sep-25 Ketchikan 21-Sep-25 Tracy Arm Fjord 21-Sep-25 Juneau 22-Sep-25 Sitka 24-Sep-25 Victoria 25-Sep-25 Seattle 28-Sep-25 San Francisco 30-Sep-25 Los Angeles 3-Oct-25 Cabo San Lucas 7-Oct-25 Puntarenas 9-Oct-25 Panama Canal Transit 11-Oct-25 Cartagena 13-Oct-25 Oranjestad 16-Oct-25 Miami 19-Oct-25 San Juan 20-Oct-25 St John's 21-Oct-25 Castries 22-Oct-25 Bridgetown 24-Oct-25 Philipsburg 25-Oct-25 Road Town 28-Oct-25 Miami 30-Oct-25 Amber Cove 1-Nov-25 Montego Bay 3-Nov-25 Belize City 4-Nov-25 Cozumel 6-Nov-25 Miami 9-Nov-25 San Juan 10-Nov-25 St John's 11-Nov-25 Castries 12-Nov-25 Bridgetown 14-Nov-25 Philipsburg 15-Nov-25 Road Town 18-Nov-25 Miami 20-Nov-25 Grand Cayman 21-Nov-25 Montego Bay 23-Nov-25 Roatan 24-Nov-25 Costa Maya 25-Nov-25 Cozumel 27-Nov-25 Miami 30-Nov-25 San Juan 1-Dec-25 St John's 2-Dec-25 Castries 3-Dec-25 Bridgetown 5-Dec-25 Philipsburg 6-Dec-25 Road Town 9-Dec-25 Miami 11-Dec-25 Grand Turk 13-Dec-25 Montego Bay 15-Dec-25 Belize City 16-Dec-25 Cozumel 18-Dec-25 Miami 21-Dec-25 San Juan 22-Dec-25 St John's 23-Dec-25 Castries 24-Dec-25 Bridgetown 26-Dec-25 Philipsburg 27-Dec-25 Road Town 30-Dec-25 Miami 1-Jan-26 Grand Cayman 2-Jan-26 Montego Bay 4-Jan-26 Roatan 5-Jan-26 Costa Maya 6-Jan-26 Cozumel 8-Jan-26 Miami 11-Jan-26 San Juan 12-Jan-26 St John's 13-Jan-26 Castries 14-Jan-26 Bridgetown 16-Jan-26 Philipsburg 17-Jan-26 Road Town 20-Jan-26 Miami 21-Jan-26 At Sea 22-Jan-26 Amber Cove 24-Jan-26 Montego Bay 26-Jan-26 Belize City 27-Jan-26 Cozumel 29-Jan-26 Miami 1-Feb-26 San Juan 2-Feb-26 St John's 3-Feb-26 Castries 4-Feb-26 Bridgetown 6-Feb-26 Philipsburg 7-Feb-26 Road Town 10-Feb-26 Miami 12-Feb-26 Grand Cayman 13-Feb-26 Montego Bay 15-Feb-26 Roatan 16-Feb-26 Costa Maya 17-Feb-26 Cozumel 19-Feb-26 Miami 22-Feb-26 San Juan 23-Feb-26 St John's 24-Feb-26 Castries 25-Feb-26 Bridgetown 27-Feb-26 Philipsburg 28-Feb-26 Road Town 3-Mar-26 Miami 5-Mar-26 Grand Turk 7-Mar-26 Montego Bay 9-Mar-26 Belize City 10-Mar-26 Cozumel 12-Mar-26 Miami 15-Mar-26 San Juan 16-Mar-26 St John's 17-Mar-26 Castries 18-Mar-26 Bridgetown 20-Mar-26 Philipsburg 21-Mar-26 Road Town 24-Mar-26 Miami 26-Mar-26 Grand Cayman 27-Mar-26 Montego Bay 29-Mar-26 Roatan 30-Mar-26 Costa Maya 31-Mar-26 Cozumel 2-Apr-26 Miami 5-Apr-26 San Juan 6-Apr-26 St John's 7-Apr-26 Castries 8-Apr-26 Bridgetown 10-Apr-26 Philipsburg 11-Apr-26 Road Town 14-Apr-26 Miami

You know, the more I look at @rog747's photo of Funchal, I wonder if we are actually looking at the aft of the ship. Whenever I watch webcams of Funchal, the ships dock with their bows to the left, ready to head straight out to sea on departure. And that's what I thought I was seeing in that photo. But that doesn't mean that's how the ships always dock at Funchal. Of course if that's actually the aft of the ship in that photo, that rules out QM2. We know from his posting history that @rog747 has been to Funchal on both QM2 and QE so that didn't help me narrow it down between those two ships. I'm looking forward to learning which ship we are looking at in that photo.

When I enlarge this photo to try to identify the ship, the front profile of the superstructure seems more suggestive of QM2 than QE or QV. That profile looks to me to be more vertical compared to QE and QV where that profile would be slanted closer to a 45 degree angle. Also, there are artifacts suggestive of bridge wings near the top of the front profile whereas the bridge wings on QE and QV are a bit lower. For those reasons, I'm going to guess that's QM2 in this photo.

Here's my attempt to document the drinks package price changes in charts which I hope are relatively easy to follow. I find it useful to document things such as this for future reference. Previous Drinks Package Pricing Beers, Wines and Spirits Option Pre Voyage On Board Voyages less than 5 nights $85 $90 Voyages 5 nights or more $70 $75 Soft/Hot Drinks Options Pre Voyage On Board Premium Soft Drinks Option $30 $35 Speciality Hot Drinks Option $12.50 $15 Soft Drinks Option $10 $12 New Drinks Package Pricing Beers, Wines and Spirits Option Pre Voyage On Board Voyages less than 5 nights $85.50 $95 Voyages 5-14 nights $72 $80 Voyages 15-84 nights $67.50 $75 Voyages 85 nights or more $49.50 $55 Soft/Hot Drinks Options Pre Voyage On Board Premium Soft Drinks Option $36 $40 Speciality Hot Drinks Option $13.50 $15 Soft Drinks Option $10.80 $12

Right. They had to adjust the dates in Brooklyn but they decided not to adjust any of the dates in Southampton except for that December date. The December 14, 2024 crossing was originally scheduled to depart Southampton on December 15 as usual. Instead, the preceding voyage to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge has been shortened by one day. That voyage was originally going to spend two days in Zeebrugge on December 13-14 and return to Southampton on December 15. Now it's going to return to Southampton on December 14 after just one day in Zeebrugge on December 13.

Looks to me like this could be an issue with the Cunard website for Canada. I'm not seeing this issue on the Cunard US website. But when I use a VPN to pretend I'm in Canada, I'm seeing exactly the issue you are describing, @david,Mississauga. Every voyage I look at on the Cunard Canada website either lists each category of accommodation as "Sold out" or doesn't list any of the accommodation categories at all.

Ah, yes, I missed a call by QV in my previous reply. I do have QV listed as calling at La Rochelle on April 10, 2018. Might that have been your cruise, @Lanky Lad? That was a 7-night itinerary from Southampton with scheduled calls at La Rochelle, Bilbao, Gijon and St Peter Port.

QE called at La Rochelle on July 26, 2018. QM2 was supposed to call there on July 18, 2009 but that call was changed to Le Verdon. La Rochelle was a frequent call for QE2.

1) You can find the dress code and theme schedule for your voyage listed within the daily calendar section of your booking when you log in to your booking using My Cunard. I have been compiling a master Cunard Dress Code and Theme Schedule for all of 2024 and I don't yet have the schedule for your 5-night QM2 voyage from Quebec to New York (voyage M431). Please post the dress code and theme schedule for your voyage here if you don't mind once you find it in your voyage calendar. I just need to know which dates are listed on your calendar as Gala Evenings and what the themes (if any) will be on those evenings. Thanks for your help with this. 2) Yes, it's correct that a section of the Kings Court is transformed into an Alternative Dining venue each evening. The theme for that venue changes every few evenings throughout the voyage. The standard themes offered are La Piazza (Italian), Coriander (Indian) or Bamboo (Asian). They will probably offer two of those themes during your 5-night voyage. The other alternative dining option on QM2 is the Steakhouse at The Verandah. The voucher for a free dinner provided with the current "Explore with More" promotion in the US appears to only apply to a dinner at the Kings Court Alternative Dining venue. You might be able to use that voucher for lunch or for a discounted dinner at the Steakhouse at The Verandah but you'll probably need to enquire about that possibility once on board. 3) Smart Attire (or even somewhat more casual attire) is perfectly acceptable at the buffet on Gala Evenings. The venues on QM2 where casual attire is acceptable after 6:00pm are Kings Court Buffet, Golden Lion, Casino, Carinthia Lounge, and G32. If you are dressed in Smart Attire on a Smart Attire evening, then all venues on the ship are available to you. If you are dressed in Smart Attire on a Gala Evening you are free to use any of those designated casual venues.

While we wait for @sogne to confirm your identification, I'll add that it looks like a successful opening bid to me. The photo is suggestive of Road Town, Tortola. And yesterday while I was attempting to find itineraries for Mein Schiff 1, I came across this post on the BVI Tourist Board facebook page. "BVI Tourist Board January 31, 2022 The TUI Cruises - Mein Schiff 1 and Queen Mary 2 cruise ship guests are visiting with us today!" We know from @sogne's posting history he was on board the QM2 cruise that visited Road Town, Tortola on January 31, 2022. So I'll add that as my guess for the date of the photo.