QV August 1-8. Salerno: port or cruise by?

Hi all... Looking forward to my first cunard cruise in a couple of weeks. I was viviting today Cunard's website on the cruise, and was surprised to see that the Naples was substituted by Salerno, and that Salerno does not figure as a port... In the itinerary presented in the website (http://www.cunard.co.uk/cruise-search/book-a-cruise/cruises/qv/1172-v518a-ist1-rom1/ports-and-excursions/), the Dardanelles, Messina Strait, and Salerno, have a "~" symbol that means "cruise by". Is this a mistake, or there will be really no stopping at Salerno?

Salerno is a port. You will dock there. According to the Porto Salerno website, QV is there 8am to 6:30pm.

Cunard ships seem to go to some peculiar ports at times. Also it seems to me that they are often in the second-rate berths there. Either they don't book early enough or they go for cheap options. Strange.

This week I received an email about a change to August 9, just after the OP gets off. It said:

We have been advised that the berth allocated to Queen Victoria in La Spezia

on Sunday 9 August is Pier Varicella which is located within a military base.

The base has now withdrawn its availability to cruise ships. To avoid having

to anchor for the duration of the call, we have replaced La Spezia with a call

to Livorno on the same day.

Why would they have gone to La Spezia in the first place instead of Livorno? Very strange. Howevever, I'm glad the change has been made. I would not want to berth in a military base.

I thought so... It should be a mistake of the website. Thanks for the info.

Cunard ships seem to go to some peculiar ports at times. Also it seems to me that they are often in the second-rate berths there. Either they don't book early enough or they go for cheap options. Strange.

 

This week I received an email about a change to August 9, just after the OP gets off. It said:

 

We have been advised that the berth allocated to Queen Victoria in La Spezia

on Sunday 9 August is Pier Varicella which is located within a military base.

The base has now withdrawn its availability to cruise ships. To avoid having

to anchor for the duration of the call, we have replaced La Spezia with a call

to Livorno on the same day.

 

Why would they have gone to La Spezia in the first place instead of Livorno? Very strange. Howevever, I'm glad the change has been made. I would not want to berth in a military base.

Personally i preferred la spezia for touring to cinque terre!

I clearly prefer Salerno over Naples. Salerno is perfect to visit the beautiful Amalfi coast and nice places like Positano or Sorento. Naples is just a big and dirty city with longer rides to reach the nicer places in this area.