sfred

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

Here's a QE bridge webcam image of a port we haven't seen here yet. This one's a bit of a cheat since this wasn't a typical call at this port. But QE has called here before when it was a regular port call.

 

Is that Manila during the layup time?  The ships were all located roughly to the west of the city, so if that's a sunrise the geography works out.

1 hour ago, Colin_Cameron said:

It's been 4 hours so I did as you suggested. But just in case someone wants to do it the hard way I'll just say it was taken from the Cero de la Cruz scenic overlook.

Absolutely correct @Colin_Cameron.  Punta Arenas, Chile.  Photo taken during QV's port call on 23 February 2020.

40 minutes ago, Fairgarth said:

 

Ah indeed, but for bonus points:  what time is the collection?

From memory, two hours before sailing time, whatever that happens to be on the day.

After posting the Pio X (or XI) glacier picture earlier, I ran across the below photo.  I didn't post it before as it is ridiculously easy to identify the port with a mere google search.  But it will add to our list of ports, as I don't think we've had this one before.  QV is hiding behind the building, at anchor slightly offshore.

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

 

Thanks for that @sfred. I see I misspelled the name in my earlier post since this would be the "Pio X Glacier" in Chile.

 

Or is this actually the "Pio XI Glacier"? It seems that's how it's identified in photos that I've matched to it and in Wikipedia, so I'm confused. My itineraries do say "Pio X Glacier" though.

 

I'll add it to our growing list of ports seen on this thread. Even though it was only a "cruise by" call, a few others on the list are also "cruise by" ports.

It was in our itinerary and all the onboard programs as Pio X.  I understand your point, though.  Looking it up now, it is in visitchile.com, wikipedia, and several other sources as Pio XI.  It appears to be the same glacier - all the online photos calling it Pio XI look like what we saw that day as Pio X.  I can't find any site that says they are two different glaciers.  A mystery.      

2 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

For the record, the only other "x" ports I see on itineraries for the current Cunard Queens (other than the ports in China that start with "X") are "Pius X Glacier"; "Giardini Naxos (for Taormina), Sicily" and "Exmouth, Australia". We might also stretch our definition of port to include the listings for another Egyptian port, "Safaga (for Luxor/Karnak), Egypt".

Here's one of these, although unfortunately not beginning with x, at least it is a second word starting (and finishing) with x.  It was a cloudy and rather gloomy day for our cruise by, with frequent rain showers, and I would've thought it very impressive had I not been spoiled by Hubbard glacier on a stunningly beautiful sunny day the previous year.

33 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

 

That's correct. That webcam image shows QE at Alexandria on October 29, 2012. We were on QE and were scheduled to call at Alexandria on November 24, 2012. Only a few hours before our scheduled arrival that call was canceled because of political unrest in Egypt and we turned around. The subsequent call at Alexandria by QV scheduled for December 3, 2012 was also canceled (I'm not sure how much advance notice they had on that voyage). To my knowledge, no Cunard ship has called there since.

I would love to go there one day.  Such a rich history in the Mediterranean. 

To circle in on my guess, I brought up a wikipedia list of world ports.  In the Atlantic region, in addition to Alexandria other candidates were Tuxpan Mexico, Felixstowe, and Biloxi MS.  Of these, Alexandria seemed the only logical possibility for Cunard port call cancellations.  A google search brought up several press articles about cruise cancellations in 2012.  I then brought up google maps to verify that Alexandria had a cruise ship dock facing roughly west (presuming that the photo was a sunset), with a container dock off to the left.

4 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

Time for another hint on this one. You may recall we previously discussed that this thread has featured ports with names starting with every letter of the alphabet except "X". While this port's name does not start with an "X", it is only the fourth port featured in this thread that includes an "x" within its name, after Halifax, Leixões (for Oporto) and Cuxhaven.

Alexandria Egypt?

17 hours ago, bluemarble said:

Here's another webcam image I found in my archives. I thought I was out of images of new ports to contribute, but we haven't seen this port here yet.

 

Hi @bluemarble.  The port is Fremantle WA.  I'm surprised we didn't have this port prior to now.  But a search for Fremantle in this topic didn't produce any hits, so I guess not. 

I don't have any good photos of Fremantle in my collection, despite embarking QM2 there in February 2018 for a pleasant domestic trip back to Sydney.  Must have left my phone in our cabin that day.

5 minutes ago, Underwatr said:

A pint of whatever is on one of QM2's hand pumps.

Me too!  A proper pulled pint of bitter at cellar temperatures is a rare treat for us here in Queensland.

8 minutes ago, Lanky Lad said:

Would that be Cape Horn then?

Correct.  Unless Cunard starts Antarctica voyages, this will be the most southerly Cunard place.

23 hours ago, Colin_Cameron said:

It is Magdalenefjorden. As is obvious this isn’t one of the current fleet. it was Caronia in 2002 and this WAS our port. We all tendered ashore where “The Most Northerly Bar In The World” had been set up and had a barbecue lunch on the beach.

 

I’ll see if I can upload the video to the Cruise Video thread. I think it’s still on VHS.

23 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

Excellent! Great to learn about different experiences such as this from cruises on the former Cunard ships. I've managed to find Caronia itineraries from 2003-4, but not earlier. Magdalenefjorden definitely qualifies as a new port to add to my list. And now I know the true northernmost Cunard port. Thanks for posting that photo.

And here would be the most southerly place (a cruise-by in this instance rather than a port, but I read that on earlier voyages QV has put tenders ashore to drop supplies to the lighthouse keepers).

A slightly closer picture of the lighthouse.  Apologies for the gloomy weather, although it is very rarely any better, and often quite worse.  We were lucky to have calm seas on the day.

16 minutes ago, Lanky Lad said:

A tricky one.  I think I know where I took this picture.  To make life easier, it's on QM2 but where?

 

 

Looks like something that would be on those quirky lower deck bow corridors that extend alongside Illuminations to staircase A?

3 minutes ago, Lanky Lad said:

You are correct.  I think it was the Wolrd Club party.  But which ship? 

Ah, then it would have to be QE or QV.  QM2's doors to the Queens Room are patterned and more elaborate.  Colour of the wood would suggest QE?

On 10/4/2020 at 9:39 AM, Lanky Lad said:

How about this.  Extra points for the ship. 

 

 

Has anyone identified this Lanky Lad location/ship?  Apologies if I've missed any reply.  It looks very familiar, but I can't quite place it.  And I can't bring up an image that enables me to read the words on the sign. 

THe colour of the wood panels might suggest QE.  I don't think it is an entrance to a dining area, as there is no hand sanitiser dispenser.  Maybe a gangway entrance? 

2 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

And @sfred, I think you misspelled his name in your reply by including that second "e" where you would normally expect it to be.

Good catch, thanks.  Sorry @Underwatr.  I selected the wrong name from the autocomplete list that the message board suggests as likely usernames.

Hi @Underwater.  Pilot boat DOSE is registered in Germany, and on marinetraffic.com is currently located at the mouth of the Elbe River.  So I'll guess Hamburg?

I went astray, not trusting marinetraffic.com, on an earlier post by @bluemarble for the tug Kizkulesi in Izmir Turkey.  I won't make that mistake again!  🙂

As others have indicated, it is really hard to say this far in advance.  The North Atlantic is extremely variable.

But you can get a reasonable prediction a week or two in advance of your sailing date, which might be helpful to decide on packing requirements.  A very good weather website called ventusky.com gives current and forecast temperatures, sea state, winds, and weather conditions all around the world.  Here is a link for temperatures in the north atlantic:

https://www.ventusky.com/?p=43.3;-44.0;4&l=temperature-2m&t=20201004/2200

Move your cursor around to see temperatures in different areas of the ocean.  The buttons at the below left can cycle through weather, wind, waves, etc.

A deeper look in my backup drive found this photo of Ushuaia, taken from QV.  Sorry I didn't find this before - it was in one of the wife's photo folders from our South America cruise.  Some of the buildings are distinctive enough to enable a good guess.

We were very lucky to have gotten in this February 2020 trip.  We got home to Australia on 4 March, and passed through customs normally.  Just a week or so later all the border closures and virus quarantine restrictions began.

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

Here are some interesting stats about this thread (interesting to me anyway). So far we have identified 150 different ports with at least a couple more new ones yet to be identified. I have to say I am both amazed and thrilled that this thread Host Hattie started has included so many different ports (and some ports from multiple different interesting perspectives). Unfortunately, I think I have now run out of new ports to contribute, although I can still add a few more duplicates from different perspectives.

 

The ports we have identified so far range from "Adelaide" to "Zeebrugge". All the letters of the alphabet are represented by the first letters of the port names except for "U" and "X". I did have to stretch a bit though to get "E" represented by using South Queensferry (for "Edinburgh") and/or Kusadasi/Izmir (for "Ephesus").

 

It's going to be tough to get "U" and "X" included although that is possible after looking at past itineraries. Anyone have photos of Cunard ships in Ushuaia, Argentina or in Xiamen or Xingang, China?

I can contribute "U".  I didn't try before, because I didn't think there was anything in the below QV photo that would've enabled someone to guess Ushuaia.  (Although perhaps I underestimate this group's image processing skill.)  Another photo I have from our port day there on 21 February 2020 quite obviously identifies the Ushuaia Argentina Navy base, so far too easy. 

Now all we need is X. 

1 hour ago, Kynance said:

@Host Hattie - I think that drink might be a brandy Alexander? I seem to recall you’ve mentioned your penchant for them before? 😊

31 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

Bonus point to @Kynance 😁

There was another drink besides the beer?  Who knew?  🙂

The theatre is blue, so that would be QE  (QV's is red).  On the drink, I'll guess Bombardier beer?  🙂

So Host Hattie and I were both very close.  I hadn't realised that QE had been to Izmir.  But having now looked it up in Wikipedia, I learned that it is Turkey's third largest city after Istanbul and Ankara, with a population of nearly 3million.  From the photos on google, it looks like it would have been a very interesting port day.

Hi bluemarble.  Picture number 2 is of the tug Kizkulesi, which has its registration in Turkey.  Marinetraffic.com currently shows the tug location in the Turkish port of Izmir, but I doubt that QE has ever been there.  QE has been to Istanbul many times, though.  So I'll guess Istanbul?

5 minutes ago, Lanky Lad said:

Correct.  Those tall chairs look nice, but I didn't think they were very comfortable.

The first time I saw those tall Golden Lion chairs, I thought they would be an ideal place from which to hatch an evil plan for world domination.  But unfortunately I found them very uncomfortable also, and on all subsequent visits I quaffed my pints of bitter and formulated evil plans from other seats.