QM2 World Cruise 'the other way around'

[QE2 fan]

Does anyone know of any particular reason why they have decided to do the world cruise 'the other way round' - ie. going eastwards from Southampton rather than the usual way - westwards across the Atlantic? I see one of the P&O ships is doing the same.

 

As someone who has always wanted to do the World Cruise, but didn't fancy either crossing the Atlantic in January or flying across it, I am very tempted to book this one.

[pnhmrk]

I am very tempted to book this one.

 

Be warned! As someone who did QE2's Final World Cruise, that was an out and back rather than a circumnavigation, the part heading West is fine (a lot of 25 hour days) but heading east means a lot of 23 hour days. You really miss all those extra hours. I would not now contemplate a cruise where a major part was crossing time zones in an easterly direction.

[RobertGraves]

Be warned! As someone who did QE2's Final World Cruise, that was an out and back rather than a circumnavigation, the part heading West is fine (a lot of 25 hour days) but heading east means a lot of 23 hour days. You really miss all those extra hours. I would not now contemplate a cruise where a major part was crossing time zones in an easterly direction.

 

Very nice remark! And nice to hear it from someone who has actually done an out and back World Cruise.

 

Perhaps the Queen Mary 2 should keep generally the same itinerary, which is otherwise beautiful, but do it instead a full circumnavigation of the globe in a western direction. After Cape Horn the ship could turn directly to Australia. South Pacific would replace the Indian and South-eastern Atlantic Oceans, which is not bad to say the least...

 

In any case, I think this 2010 World Cruise is her first 'proper' World Cruise. I feel a 'proper' cruise must have a balanced selection between days at sea and days at port, so that both people liking sea or land can be satisfied. The Queen Mary 2's previous cruises were somehow 'hasty', with few port calls and disproportionately more days at sea. This was the result of a perhaps limited duration of the cruise (80 or 90 days), and made worse by the ship's inability to cross the Panama Canal while having to call at the western United States (for reasons of promotion there, I suppose). Extra distance was added, which had to be covered by dimininshing the number of ports visited.

 

From this point of view I think that QM2's 2010 itinerary, allowing for an adequate 101 days duration and plenty of ports, is her best World Cruise so far.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I don't know why Cunard has done this in this particular case but I remember P&O doing this in the 1990s... At the time I think it was with ORIANA going in one direction and ARCADIA (the previous one, now OCEAN VILLAGE), or maybe it was VICTORIA (or both, depending on the year) in the other.

[ovccruiser]

Technically it will be doing east and west sailings. East as far as Australia via Suez Canal, then west via tip of South Africa then east coast of the Americas, then East across the Atlantic. A strange configuration to me.

[KenC]

Maybe they now have trouble filling the long trip around South America and have decided to avoid it and substitute more exciting alternatives such as the South Africa sector.

 

Ken

[ocngypz]

Maybe they now have trouble filling the long trip around South America and have decided to avoid it and substitute more exciting alternatives such as the South Africa sector.

 

Ken

 

 

BINGO!!!!!!!

[safarigal]

Be warned! As someone who did QE2's Final World Cruise, that was an out and back rather than a circumnavigation, the part heading West is fine (a lot of 25 hour days) but heading east means a lot of 23 hour days. You really miss all those extra hours. I would not now contemplate a cruise where a major part was crossing time zones in an easterly direction.

 

Having done an east to west round the world cruise many years ago, I agree with the problem with the constant 23 hour days. However, I am hoping that with several sea days, and doing a short segment, this will not be too much of a problem.

 

I agree that the world cruise is somewhat of a strange itinerary, but market research may have dictated that it would be a more fiscally rewarding one. I wonder how sales are going.

[KenC]

The east to Asia and back via South Africa seems to be catching on. P&O are sending Aurora on a similar world cruise in 2010 while ex-QV Arcadia does the conventional world via Panama and Suez.

 

Ken