sfred

Two great new ports! According to my dataset - Number 663 Collioure, France. Number 664 Hardangerfjord, Norway They are our 41st port/cruiseby in Norway (third in the top 10 behind only US and UK), and 26th in France (8th in the top 10).

Port number 662 in the game, number 27 in Spain (ranking 7th in the top 10 countries) and 71 that have Spanish as the primary language.

Thanks @NE John. From that vantage point, Mendenhall still looks reasonably healthy. I hope so. It is a beautiful park. Mrs sfred and I were the only ones on most of the trails we walked that day. Luckily, no bear incidents.

We also had a nice day on our drive to Mendenhall glacier on 18 May 2019. You mentioned that the glacier has retreated since then. Might you have taken a current comparison photo?

Sympathies @3rdGenCunarder on your soggy Alaska trip. I hope you get some sunny days before you finish. Thanks for your updates. Weather makes such a huge difference to the scenic quality of glaciers. Mrs sfred and I had a stunningly beautiful day on QE's first visit to Hubbard in May 2019. We were extremely impressed. But then in February 2020 on QV's South America voyage, we had gloomy overcast and drizzle on our cruise by of Amalia and Pio glaciers in Chile. Not as impressive, unfortunately...

Thanks @sogne for some fun Saturday morning (Australia time) "Where in the World" activity. Sunnylvsfjorden is on our seen list, contributed by @bluemarble and identified by @exlondoner in post 3879, thread page 156 on 13 September 2021. The post has disappeared from the Cruise Critic search function, but I did find it on Google.

Thanks @MCC retired. I wonder if that's a US-only sale? An Australia sale announced on 2 July is "The Grandest Destinations on Earth" for reduced fares and double onboard spend. As usual for Australia, deposits are non-refundable and there is no drinks/gratuities offer for Grills.

Thanks again for all your photos and commentary, @NE John. Glad you had a good time. I miss being on QE! * sigh *

Edit: Apologies, I didn't do enough google research when finding the photo that @Clewgarnet posted. This is not RMS Olympic at NY, but rather Olympic at Halifax.

It's been a few days, so I'll go ahead and identify this photo from @Clewgarnet. This is RMS Olympic at the White Star Pier in New York. Smoke is visible from funnels 2 and 3, so she may have been either preparing for departure or recently arrived. An interesting operational question - most historic photos I've seen of liners at the old Manhattan west side piers are bow-in. Was there a particular reason for this? What made it easier for the ship and tugs to arrive forward and depart backward, versus the other way around?

Thanks @bluemarble. Port 661 in the Where in the World game, number 32 in Italy, and number 197 in the former Roman empire. MV Britannia was rather interesting research. Built in 1930 for White Star Line prior to the Cunard merger, she was powered by two diesel engines, which were new maritime technology in that day. It made for efficient operation in contrast to coal or oil fired steam boilers, and she was one of only three White Star ships (along with Georgic and Laurentic) to be retained by Cunard until finally being scrapped in 1961. Taranto looks like a nice port. Coincidentally, Mrs. sfred was watching one of the Stanley Tucci "Searching for Italy" shows earlier this week, and the episode was in the Taranto/Bari/Brindisi region of Italy.

Thanks @NE John. I just saw this post today when getting around to reading other Cruise Critic threads. Mrs. sfred and I missed the Anzac day dawn ceremony this year. We usually go to the one in Brisbane's Anzac Square, but we were already out of country, en route for a work trip to Morocco, and our short QM2 treat afterwards between Southampton and Hamburg. Hopefully we will be able to attend again next year. Lest we forget...

Thanks @2BACRUISER. This is Taranto, Italy. Very nice photos. The first is the Castello Aragonese, and the second and third are of the Monumento al Marinaio. I think you are correct that the current Cunard fleet has not been to Taranto. However, I suspected that perhaps some Cunard ship had been there in the past, particularly during WW1 or WW2 as a hospital or troop ship. I found the following reference in Wikipedia for MV Britannic, which although originally a White Star Line ship, also sailed for Cunard after the 1934 merger. She was requisitioned during WW2 as a troop ship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Britannic_(1929) "Between November 1943 and May 1944 Britannic made four transatlantic round trips: two to New York and two to Boston. She then took 3,288 troops with Convoy KMF 32 from Liverpool to Port Said in Egypt. She made two round trips between there and Taranto in Italy and then took 2,940 troops to Liverpool, where she arrived on 11 August." On this basis, perhaps we can count Taranto as a "seen" Cunard port? @bluemarble is currently on QM2 returning to NY, but will perhaps see this at some point and provide a ruling. Thanks again, @2BACRUISER.

Dr. Cartwright was on our 2019 QE Alaska voyage, and was excellent. Great that she's still with Cunard.

Thanks @NE John. I also noticed QE's Port Lincoln South Australia plaque during our February voyage. That one went up on the wall rather quickly. Perhaps QE never got any plaques from the five maiden calls to to Fiji/Vanuatu/New Caledonia in February. The two new Japan ones look very nice! Thanks again, and also for your Alaska postings. Hope your trip continues to go well.

Beautiful! Looks like a pool of volcanic lava. Thanks for posting.

Thanks @NE John. Looking forward to your reports and photos!

And in the evenings there is the "port bar" with a large range of evening drinks. On one TA crossing we were on that featured RADA, they did a series of "bedtime stories" with the actors reading different parts of the stories With a glass of port, it was a very pleasant way to finish a day on QM2.

There's occasions when I wish I had never found QM2's Carinthia breakfast selections. They sometimes have a custard doughnut that is very addictive.

Thanks for your review, @Jack E Dawson. Sympathies on becoming ill afterwards - hope you are both better soon. Those US electrical outlets and RJ45 network jack are remnants from the time that QM2 had the television located on the shelf over the minibar, prior to the screen being mounted on the bulkhead wall opposite the bed. Nowadays the power points supply the kettle.

Of all QM2's free coffee machines, I like the one on deck 2 at Illuminations/Connexions the best. This machine was out of service for a while post-covid, but is now back. Thanks @Miss G for your commentary and photos.

QE has departed Sapporo Otaru, finishing her 2024 Japan season, and is beginning the transpacific to Alaska. First stop Kodiak on 3 June. Best wishes to all currently aboard, and to @NE John, @david,Mississauga, and others for their upcoming Alaska trips.

Thanks all. Great screenshot, @bluemarble. I've been on airplanes back to Australia and didn't have any chances to look on the Seogwipo cams for QE's visit. The new plaques from QE's maiden calls in Februsry in New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and Fiji will hopefully have been hung by now. They most likely would be in the starboard corridor to the Commodore Club. QE may also have gotten some new plaques from the recent maiden calls in Japan and Korea. If I remember correctly the Japan plaques are in the port corridor. Thanks @NE John and hope you have a great time in Alaska!

I don't think there's a 4 bottle option, only 6 or 12. On QE in September 2023 the Commodore 6 bottle was $445 and 12 was $750. Captain collection was $310 and $550.

We were in Britannia Club on our QM2 trip which finished today so can't say for PG. There were definitely cheese trolleys in PG on QE on our recent February voyage. As @exlondoner said, there are six or seven choices, biscuits, and fruit.