bluemarble

Here's another image from my webcam collection showing a Cunard ship arriving at a port we've already seen.

For the record, @sfred has shown us photos of QE's call yesterday at the new Brisbane International Cruise Terminal. I was hoping he would be able to post some shots of that visit, especially since Brisbane was not originally on any of QE's itineraries this season.

Perhaps a little home-field advantage, @sfred?

One place to find specific arrival and departure times is on some travel agent/cruise booking websites. They will often provide the specific timings in the itineraries which Cunard does not. That includes Cunard's own partner sites for Spain, Austria and Switzerland. These are the port timings I'm seeing for what may be your itinerary based on your posting history. Oct 16 Barcelona: Depart 11:00 PM Oct 18 Naples: Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 7:00 PM Oct 19 Civitavecchia: Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 7:00 PM Oct 20 Ajaccio: Arrive 8:00 AM, Depart 6:00 PM Oct 22 Palma de Mallorca: Arrive 8:00 AM, Depart 6:00 PM Oct 23 Barcelona: Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 11:00 PM Oct 25 Toulon: Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 5:00 PM Oct 26 Livorno: Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 7:00 PM Oct 28 Ibiza: Arrive 8:00 AM, Depart 6:00 PM Oct 29 Valencia: Arrive 8:00 AM, Depart 6:00 PM Oct 30 Barcelona: Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 7:00 PM Nov 2 Heraklion: Arrive 8:00 AM, Depart 6:00 PM Nov 4 Suez Canal Transit: Arrive 5:00 AM, Depart 4:00 PM Nov 5 Safaga: Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 10:00 PM Nov 10 Salalah: Arrive 8:00 AM, Depart 5:00 PM Nov 14 Colombo: Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 9:00 PM Nov 19 Singapore: Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 7:00 PM Nov 21 Jakarta: Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 6:00 PM Nov 23 Bali: Arrive 8:00 AM, Depart 6:00 PM Nov 27 Fremantle: Arrive 5:00 AM Edit to add: I see @sogne has provided the link to Cunard's partner website for Spain which I alluded to in this reply.

Southampton has been an example of this. It's been a few years since we've been there but Cunard offered a shuttle service into town with the drop off point near Westquay Shopping Centre. They scanned our cruise cards when we boarded the shuttle. We were told we might be charged for it but since we had booked the equivalent of a UK Cunard Fare, we were not charged.

There may have been a schedule change for your arrival at Singapore. Various online itineraries are showing your arrival at Singapore on March 16 is scheduled for 7:00pm. The itinerary on the Cunard website lists your arrival time as "Early Evening".

Must be a huge disappointment for those expecting a New Zealand cruise and even more so for those who have had their cruises cancelled because they were embarking or disembarking in Auckland. Have they provided you with the details of the revised itinerary or are they still working on it? Inquiring minds would like to know where you will be going each day now on what has become an all-Australia cruise.

I see you've arrived at Burnie this morning. Have any announcements been made about the hull cleaning? I noticed QE did a pirouette and several large loops around Bass Strait yesterday. But I'm not seeing anywhere in your past track where QE came to a stop as I would have expected for hull cleaning to be done. I'm sure any updates will be welcome for those on the next voyage, just in case Cunard might be able to restore the originally planned calls to Fiordland and Bay of Islands.

One benefit of the Cunard Fare which hasn't been mentioned is "Choice of stateroom number". Naturally there are differences of opinion on how important that is. For me, that's probably the most important attribute of the US Cunard Fare. I don't book the US equivalent of the UK Saver Fares (called "Our Lowest Fare") because it does not allow me to select a specific stateroom. Of course if you get an upgrade, the original choice of stateroom number becomes irrelevant. But I want to know exactly where we are going to be in lieu of an upgrade.

That quote is from the film Midnight Express which Roscoe mentioned in his blog. Here's a YouTube link to the scene in question. The quote starts at about 1:10 into the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DctWBdv2HfE

I'll link to this thread I created while on the November QM2 Caribbean cruise this year when they started putting up the Christmas decorations. They do a wonderful job of decorating the ship for Christmas. You can also expect Christmas related activities including Christmas carols in the Grand Lobby on Christmas Eve and a visit by Santa Claus in the Queens Room on Christmas Day with presents for the children. There also will be a gift from Cunard left in your cabin. The year we did the QM2 Christmas cruise we received a Wedgewood mug. This year I understand the Christmas gift was a twilly incorporating the design they used on their Christmas card this year. And of course you will be on board to ring in the new year, so you can expect a New Year's Eve party in the Queens Room. They used to do a balloon drop but they have dispensed with balloons for environmental concerns. I'll conclude with my favorite photo from Christmas on QM2 showing the Wind in the Willows characters beneath the main Christmas tree in the Grand Lobby. As you may be able to tell from the carpeting, this photo is from prior to the 2016 remastering. It is in fact from the 2013 Christmas cruise. Cunard continues the tradition of including those characters in the decorations each Christmas. I learned this year that Rebecca Graves was commissioned by Cunard to create those characters for QM2 in 2012.

I can see why Cunard would want to give travel agents some lead time to load the new itineraries into their systems to prepare for accepting pre-registrations once they are officially announced and actual bookings when they go on sale. I'm not sure why that would require more than a month lead time though.

Sometimes that fare includes some OBC from the cruise line. That's the only perk I've noticed offered for that particular fare on the website I use. Other promotions may include more OBC and/or additional perks such as pre-paid gratuities. It generally requires some analysis of the various fares being offered to determine which one provides to lowest "net" fare when all the perks are considered.

See this thread I started about 2025 itineraries. It includes the itinerary for Queen Anne's 2025 World Voyage.

@57eric, what you are reporting happened to me several years ago. Out of the blue, I stopped receiving any Cunard marketing emails. I tried several attempts to reregister my email address to no avail. I then registered a different email address and started receiving marketing emails under that address. Registering that new email address also prompted a phone call from a sales rep welcoming me to Cunard. I explained the situation that I was just registering a new email address since my other one had stopped receiving marketing emails. She said she'd pass along the details of my situation but nothing has changed. I now basically have two Cunard email addresses. One address I continue to use for all my bookings which receives booking confirmations and other email related to my bookings. The other address is where I receive all the Cunard marketing emails. Here is a summary of the Cunard US marketing emails I have received the past three weeks. Tue 2/7/2023: John, treat yourself to unforgettable moments. Mon 2/6/2023: John, let us take you to see the UNESCO treasures. Tue 1/31/2023: Choose adventure with fares from $899. Mon 1/30/2023: Be inspired by Alaska in 2023 Sun 1/29/2023: LAST CHANCE – Chinese New Year Sale Ends Soon! Sat 1/28/2023: Where can we take you? Check out the new interactive 2023-2025 Brochure. Thu 1/26/2023: Celebrating 100 years of Cunard’s first World Voyage – Sea Views exhibition. Wed 1/25/2023: Lucky you! Chinese New Year Sale Extended! Tue 1/24/2023: Discover one of mankind’s greatest achievements – The Panama Canal. Mon 1/23/2023: Be inspired by the magic of the Mediterranean. Sat 1/21/2023: John, don’t miss out on reduced fares on exotic voyages sailing soon. Wed 1/18/2023: Celebrate Chinese New Year with fares from $888. So no, I haven't seen any recent interruption to Cunard's marketing emails. I fear your email address may have gone into limbo with Cunard the same way mine did a few years ago, @57eric.

Sounds like we may use the same online travel agent website. The one I use also offers the EXCL Benefit 20xx-Fleet fare on some sailings. When it's offered, I'll book that fare if it works out to be the best deal after taking into account extra perks offered by other fares. Cunard has not matched the status earned on other cruise lines in the past. They ought to use your Princess Captain's Circle number as your Cunard World Club number. But I think you will find this will count as your first cruise for the Cunard World Club.

They probably meant the June 23rd westbound crossing. They've posted on that roll call and provided me with a revised dress code and theme schedule for that crossing on my thread for that topic.

Understood. Still a bit puzzled about an overnight scheduled for Willis Island. Is that correct? I suppose there's a lot to see in the area and they could anchor off Willis Island for the night.

There are some interesting finds on those QE itineraries, @SummmerInKefalonia. Cunard continues to lengthen QE's Alaska season. Here's what I've calculated for the length of each of QE's Alaska seasons so far: 2019: 46 days from May 15 (Kodiak) to June 30 (Vancovuer) 2022: 46 days from June 4 (Vancouver) to July 21 (Vancouver) 2023: 75 days from June 3 (Seward) to 17 August (Vancouver) 2024: 108 days from June 3 (Kodiak) to September 19 (Vancouver) I see some maiden calls on these itineraries, not just for QE but for Cunard as a whole as far as I can tell: Misty Fjords, Alaska Broome, Western Australia Geraldton, Western Australia Dusky Sound, Fiordland, New Zealand Great Oyster Bay & Freycinet Peninsula, Tasmania I'm not sure what's up with the overnight call to Willis Island, Queensland scheduled for November 23-24, 2024. That's just listed as a cruise-by call for January 29, 2024 on the previously published itineraries.

QV is in San Francisco today and will be there tomorrow as well. Here's an image from earlier this morning captured from the Skyline Webcams camera found at "www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/united-states/california/san-francisco/san-francisco-skyline.html". This is the camera hosted by the Mersea Restaurant I also included last June on the QE thread. Now it's QV's turn for the spotlight in San Francisco.

We were on a QM2 crossing in 2015 where the theme for October 31st was actually designated "Halloween Ball". There were a few who took the opportunity to dress in costume for that occasion, but as I recall it was only a very few who did so. Perhaps you'll see a bit more flourish to some of the outfits/accessories/masquerade masks for your October 31st Masquerade evening, but full-blown customs/fancy dress, probably not so much. You can expect the ship to be well decorated for Halloween. You'll probably see lots of intricately carved pumpkins on display that day.

The document sent via Royal Mail 4-6 weeks prior to departure is a "Your ocean awaits" booklet. That mostly just contains reminders of the steps to prepare for your voyage. Nothing in that booklet is needed for travel. Everything is now done online via My Cunard, with the final check-in process starting 21 days prior to departure. You print your boarding pass and luggage labels from My Cunard.

Further to this discussion, the Cunard Germany website has a "Land ändern" link. Not surprisingly, that leads to this page. Selecting the "Cunard UK" link on that page leads to this page. Cunard does appear to be attempting to facilitate transitions between the UK and Germany websites. It's possible to get past the "View fares" prompt on the UK site and see real Early Saver and Cunard fares when accessing the UK site from Germany. And if I play around with clearing cookies, I'm eventually able to get past the "Priese anzeigen" prompt on the Germany website when accessing it from the UK.

Good catch. That "Change country" link on the Cunard UK site does nothing for me either in the US. But once I use a VPN to make it look like I'm in the UK, that "Change country" link takes me to this page. The links on this page do just what you'd expect. The United Kingdom link goes to /en-gb and the Germany link goes to /de-de. That sheds new light onto why the Cunard Germany site is accessible from the UK but not from the US or Australia.

Since no one else has answered yet, I'll quote what it listed in the bar menus for "Fountain Sodas and Mixers". "Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Lemonade, Tonic Water, Soda Water" I can confirm Pepsi and Diet Pepsi are available options for the basic $10 per day Soft Drinks package. Sorry, we haven't ever asked what the other "draught soft drinks" options are. Since Ginger Ale is listed on the menus as one of the "premium mixers" (along with Coca Cola), I suspect it's not available with the basic soft drinks package. On the subject of Lemonade, that used to be available for free from the juice dispensers in Kings Court and ConneXions on QM2. The choices were Apple Juice, Orange Juice, Cranberry Juice Cocktail and Lemonade. However, on our November 2022 QM2 Caribbean cruise, Lemonade was conspicuously absent from all of the juice dispensers. The other three juice options were available.