bluemarble

The James Bond reference is still there on the Cunard UK website. The UK site has "Formal dresses" and "Formal suits" sections on the "What to pack" page which are not found on the US site. The "Formal suits" section includes this wording. "Most of our guests ... relish the opportunity to put on a Tuxedo for one night and channel their James Bond alter-ego."

Right. That was the original plan to have QA arrive in Southampton on 27 April accompanied by a flotilla escort. I think it's equally interesting to note that Cunard's press release makes no mention of QA's arrival date in Southampton. "Queen Anne, the 249th ship to sail under the Cunard flag – and the third built by Fincantieri – will now set sail for Southampton ahead of her seven-night maiden voyage to Lisbon on May 3." I think it's fair to conclude Cunard have been aware of the delay in QA's departure from Venice which is probably what prompted the cancelation of the test cruise on April 29th. I'll also note this quote from their recent email. "We'll be posting the latest updates throughout her journey home, as well as sneak peeks of what is in store for guests across our social channels, so be sure to follow us." So far they've been providing plenty of the promised "sneak peeks" but no updates about the journey home. Fair enough I suppose since that journey hasn't started yet, but confirmation from Cunard about the delay and the scheduled departure date from Venice would be welcome.

In my self-appointed role as documenter of the Cunard dress code and theme schedules, may I ask if they have updated the dress code and theme schedules in your My Cunard calendar for the altered itinerary? The previous schedule I was given has a gala evening scheduled on 13 April 2025 which is now going to be a port day in Walvis Bay so that will almost certainly be changed at some point if it hasn't already. I suspect there might be some fine-tuning to the dates of the other gala evenings as well. Here is what I have now for the gala evening and theme schedule. If you (or anyone else on this voyage) could let me know of any changes to this schedule, I'd appreciate it. Thanks. 29 March: Roaring Twenties (sea day) 4 April: Gala Evening, no theme (sea day after Port Louis) 8 April: Black and White (sea day after Durban) 13 April: Gala Evening, no theme (port day in Walvis Bay) 19 April: Masquerade (sea day before Dakar) 25 April: Gala Evening, no theme (sea day)

Here are the coach transfer details I have from the past several crossings we've made on QM2 from New York the Southampton. Cunard operate coach transfers to Heathrow and Gatwick airports as well as to Victoria Coach Station and St Pancras International Station. There are separate coaches to each of those destinations and possibly multiple coaches to each destination depending on demand. The coaches to the airports were scheduled for an approximate call off time of 8:30am. The coaches to Victoria and St Pancras were scheduled for an approximate call off time of 8:45am. You will be given luggage tags specific to the transfer you have booked. Most guests on the coach transfers will leave their luggage out for collection and then collect them in the luggage hall before proceeding to the coach. There wouldn't be much advantage to doing self-help disembarkation with a coach transfer other than to possibly assure yourself a place on the first coach to your destination if there are multiple coaches. It won't depart until it is full and most of the other guests on the transfer probably will not have used self-help disembarkation. As you might expect, the time the coaches depart for London depends a lot on how prompt the process is for disembarking the ship, collecting luggage and proceeding to the coaches, as well as how prompt everyone is in disembarking the ship when called off for their transfers. Sorry, I can't recall the actual departure time the last time we booked the coach transfer to Victoria Coach Station several years ago.

Thanks. I'm pretty far off using 3200 NM then. I was using the figure quoted by ports.com.

Thanks, that does help confirm QA is unlikely to be in Southampton on April 27th. Figuring roughly 3200 NM from Venice to Southampton and 20 knots sailing speed, that works out to 6-2/3 days sailing time. If QA does depart Venice at noon on Wednesday, April 24th, then a rough estimate might be the morning of Wednesday, May 1st for her earliest possible arrival at Southampton. Will be standing by for further details as they become available concerning QA's voyage from Venice to Southampton.

Might that qualify as "Formal National Dress" for someone from Bermuda, I wonder? Now we really are getting into a deep dive of the dress code details aren't we? 🙂

Here's a link to the Cunard press release which has been posted now on the Carnival Corporation New Releases page, in case anyone wants to see the original press release at this point. https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/cunard-officially-welcomes-new-ship-queen-anne-ceremony

I certainly don't want to start any unfounded rumors, but there is a possibility QA's voyage to Southampton will be delayed a few days. Cunard have notified travel agents their previously scheduled "test" cruise on April 29th in Southampton has been canceled. There are also a few unconfirmed posts elsewhere on social media claiming QA won't be leaving Venice until April 22 or 23. No need for any alarm concerning the maiden voyage departing as scheduled on May 3, but her arrival in Southampton on April 27 might be in jeopardy. I'll be glad to be proven wrong about this by seeing QA depart soon. I will add the Southampton VTS Cruise Ship schedule still shows QA arriving on April 27.

Yes, indeed. The Italian Line has a long history. I'm sure our ocean liner experts can fill in some of the details, but a couple of the most notable pre-World War II Italian ocean liners were Rex and Conte di Savoia. Rex held the Blue Riband briefly. Unfortunately, neither of those ships, along with several others, made it through the war unscathed.

Interesting tidbit. When I ask Google Translate to translate "ocean liner" from English to Italian it comes up with "transatlantico".

Cruise Industry News has posted an article about the handover ceremony for Queen Anne. The article quotes a Cunard press release I can't find yet in either the Cunard News Room or on the Carnival Corporation New Releases page but that's not unusual. https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2024/04/cunard-officially-welcomes-queen-anne-with-ceremony-at-fincantieri-shipyard/

Thanks for that. Apparently it's only Cunard's website for North America that's missing Dakar from the QA 2025 world voyage itinerary. I see Dakar is indeed listed on the itinerary found on the Cunard UK website. Dakar is also listed on the Cunard Australia website when I pop over there.

I see Cunard have updated the QA 2025 world voyage itinerary on the Cunard website. The itinerary posted there varies slightly from what's been communicated via email. The online itinerary has QA in Durban on 7 April 2025 instead of Port Elizabeth on 8 April 2025 and it has QA in Tenerife instead of Las Palmas on 23 April 2025. The online itinerary also omits Dakar on 20 April 2025. I recall we had a discussion earlier about Dakar not showing up online on QA's 2026 world voyage itinerary. Perhaps the same thing is going on with Dakar on what's listed for QA's 2025 revised world voyage itinerary as well. There's still the discrepancies between Port Elizabeth on 8 April versus Durban on 7 April and Las Palmas versus Tenerife though. For those of you on the revised voyage, may I ask what are you seeing in My Cunard?

@Poole Boy, welcome to our game! Thank you very much for your contributions to add two more Cunard ports we hadn't seen yet on this thread. I believe there's one more port on your itinerary that's listed on our unseen ports list (unless it was canceled). It would be great to see a photo of Kiriwina if you happen to have one.