Alaska to Fort Lauderdale July 2022 - booked!

[elmsliebev]

well, we've crossed our fingers and booked to sail on QE from Vancouver to Alaska and then on down the West Coast of the US, through the Panama Canal and on to Fort Lauderdale, followed by 3 nights in Miami. Hopefully things will be much better by then, and if not, we'll transfer to a later cruise. Very excited as we've not been to any of the ports of call, except FL for a day! 

I've sailed on QE once before with my mother, but my OH hasn't yet. We've both been on QM2 (transatlantic honeymoon) and QV.  

Look forward to meeting some of you onboard and doing lots of lovely research for things to do.

 

I need to think about dresses 😀

[lissie]

May see you on board - the Sf-Florida part!  I'm personally thinking more of tropical clothes - excited to realise that we are looking at about 3.5 months of summer in the middle of winter (we're continuing on to Europe - travelling Europe and then considering getting back on the QE to sail to Singapore in Oct ) 

[elmsliebev]

hope to see you Lissie! Yes, hopefully lots of lovely summer clothes, plus a couple of "posh frocks". Your trip sounds amazing. 

[SusanS54]

Also booked on this cruise.  Really looking forward to cruising Alaska and transiting the Panama Canal. 

[elmsliebev]

17 hours ago, SusanS54 said:

Also booked on this cruise.  Really looking forward to cruising Alaska and transiting the Panama Canal. 

should be really good. I notice you're from Newcastle - my husband is a Geordie, now living in Lancashire. 

[tmacktravels]

On 3/28/2021 at 11:46 AM, elmsliebev said:

well, we've crossed our fingers and booked to sail on QE from Vancouver to Alaska and then on down the West Coast of the US, through the Panama Canal and on to Fort Lauderdale, followed by 3 nights in Miami. Hopefully things will be much better by then, and if not, we'll transfer to a later cruise. Very excited as we've not been to any of the ports of call, except FL for a day! 

I've sailed on QE once before with my mother, but my OH hasn't yet. We've both been on QM2 (transatlantic honeymoon) and QV.  

Look forward to meeting some of you onboard and doing lots of lovely research for things to do.

 

I need to think about dresses 😀

I am doing the same itinerary as you. I always wanted to go to Alaska and transit the Panama Canal, so combining them both was too inviting not to book. 😀 Dresses...hmm, hoping a couple I bought for a (cancelled) 2020 cruise will still fit- dont think i have even taken the tags off. 🤣

[elmsliebev]

On 4/7/2021 at 3:08 PM, tmacktravels said:

I am doing the same itinerary as you. I always wanted to go to Alaska and transit the Panama Canal, so combining them both was too inviting not to book. 😀 Dresses...hmm, hoping a couple I bought for a (cancelled) 2020 cruise will still fit- dont think i have even taken the tags off. 🤣

we feel the same, to get both on one lovely long trip was just too much to resist! I bought some holiday clothes for last year and not worn them yet, more city-break type though - I'll have to go somewhere else to wear those 😀

[babs135]

Crystal ball question:  How realistic do you think it is that this cruise will go ahead?  I know it's 14 months away and that at the moment here in the UK we seemed to be getting on top of the virus, but it is so unpredictable in its behaviour that I worry it could flare up again.

I'd like to suggest to DH that we book before there's no availability but he's dragging his feet. In the meantime for those of you who have not transitted the Panama Canal before, I've added a couple of photos taken from the deck of the Queen Elizabeth in 2018.  The ship in front is the Columbus.

 

[elmsliebev]

fabulous photos, thanks for putting them on. Makes me even more excited to do this trip. 

 

As far as "will it go ahead" goes? Who knows! I'm hopeful it will, it's a wonderful itinerary but if it doesn't then we'll move to another one (we do fancy Singapore to Tokyo in 2023). Didn't want to miss the chance of this. Not cruised with Cunard for a few years and I love QE, so as I say we didn't want to miss this one as it ticks off several "bucket list" things.

Hopefully we'll see you onboard in July next year 😀 🤞

[lissie]

We booked last year - Nov I think . Basically we have until January to make a decision because  up until then we can cancel with nominal loss or transfer with no loss. I figure that's about the time we'll need to book some airfares to SF (we're coming from NZ).   What we've done is set some critieria. Its not just that  the cruise is going our criteria are: 

• we're vaccinated (very  likely by the end of the year) 
•  Cunard requires over 90% of the people on board to be vaccinated. 
• we can get  travel insurance (that will require the NZ government to take US, Europe off "do not travel " lists 
• no social distancing on board and we can share tables in MDR and don't have to book the pool or theatre and that dance classes are happening (without masks) 
• we are sailing as far as Europe , hopefully have  6 weeks  in Europe and then sailing back to Singapore from Barcelona in October - so having Europe open and functionaing with restaraunts, museums  is also important. 

There is no certainty in life -but frankly the vaccines appear to be doing extraordinary well and even seem to work with the variations.  At the moment I'm more worried about my partner's health issues (not related and pre Covid) than I am about Covid 

 

I fully expect to have to have a booster jab sometime  in the 12 months after our first vaccination