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Unfortunately, in Australia Cunard flights are rarely a good deal.  Sounds like lissie has experienced the same in NZ.  In the past year when booking cruises direct with Cunard on their web site, they have offered a A$19,000 per person economy flight from Brisbane to NY, and a A$2,000 per person economy flight from Brisbane to Adelaide.  Far cheaper and more reliable for me to book directly with the airlines.  Given how big a market Aus/NZ is for Cunard, I wonder why they have not put greater effort into obtaining air deals comparable to those in the US and UK markets. 

Working now for me also.  Usual double-entry of personal details into both new and old Voyage Personaliser screens.

Me too.  Australia site, both Firefox and IE.  Can't get past login screen.

The three QM2 transatlantics I've been on were in June, July, and September in three different years, with one eastbound and two westbound.  All three crossings were flat calms from beginning to end.  On the eastbound, I think the biggest sea we encountered was the wake from the Staten Island ferry on the way out of NY harbour.   (I exaggerate slightly, but really only slightly).  I'm still awaiting the North Atlantic that QM2 was designed to deal with.   Guess I'll just have to keep on trying!

Hi Joanne.  Confirmed that all four Penhaligon toiletries were provided in our ocean-view Britannia deck 1 cabin in December 2019 on Queen Elizabeth. 

Best wishes for a great trip, catalan0304.  The wife and I just finished a short 2-night weekend break from Adelaide to Melbourne.  I must say Adelaide takes first prize for the quickest, most efficient embarkation I've ever experienced.  Stroll across the road from the Outer Harbour train station, no queue at all for the check in desk, no IT issues during check in, no queue for security, and straight onto QE.  I doubt it was 10 minutes from train to ship. 

Merry Christmas wishes from the summertime southern hemisphere!  Santa made an appearance on QE this past Saturday while at sea between Adelaide and Melbourne, and Captain and crew sang carols with artificial snow machines.  It was a very nice Christmas touch.  Thanks Cunard and the crew of QE!

Confirmed by the QE pursers desk that the Melbourne shuttle goes to City Road Southbank at the Eureka tower.

I was able to access bluemarble's link from here in Australia.  Attached is the updated PDF, which carries a June 2019 date on the title page. 

CU wine collections brochure Jun2019.pdf

Thanks bluemarble.  That does look a little more recent than the one I had.  It also correctly indicates that the packages are only available in 6- and 12- bottle quantities, a change which occurred after the date of my older brochure.  I hadn't heard that they could now be purchased online.  The last time I tried in early 2019, I had to call the Cunard call centre here in Australia.  One advantage for us Australians of calling is that the packages are sold in A$ from Cunard Australia, so we don't incur foreign currency charges on our credit cards.

Yes they do.  PDF brochure attached.  I found it awhile back somewhere on the Cunard site.  With all the website updates, I'm not sure if the brochure is still downloadable.  The wine packages definitely exist, though, and are available by calling Cunard.  They cannot be bought online.  When on longer voyages, we find the 12-bottle Commodore package works well for us.  When you get aboard, you get a coupon book, and you exchange one coupon for each bottle in the package with your sommelier.  You can mix any combination of the wines in your package.  

CU_Wine_Packages.pdf

I concur, lissie.  It is definitely my intention to do the 109 tram.  I thought though that the program guide or purser's desk would have the shuttle's drop off location, and if so I'm glad to report back here.

No worries.  We're aboard QE this coming weekend on a short weekend break from Adelaide to Melbourne.  If not too late for you, I can see what the program guide says for the shuttle when we get off on Sunday.

Hi roger3858 - great to hear that you had such a nice time.  I also suffer from the sea air shrinking all of my clothes.  The problem seems to be worst on decks 9 or 10 for the poor grills passengers.  Avoiding desserts seems to help a little (there must be some strange adverse chemical interaction between the salt air and sugar), but I have to indulge for anything that catches fire at tableside.

Good luck settling back onto land!

From memory, the Cunard shuttle for port-day passengers went to City Road in Southbank.  I've not used the shuttle myself, preferring the 109 tram, so can't say where precisely the bus drops off.

Sorry everyone,  didn't mean to divert this thread into a canal discussion.  But perhaps some interesting info on why QM2's 2022 world voyage doesn't go around the cape and back up the west coast of South America like QV often does.  Thanks Underwatr - good data and references.

That would definitely be worth a video!  Maybe they could load a few extra cases of Pol Acker and double up the rations on the deck 7 Kings Court to temporarily increase the draft!  🙂

I see in your signature line that you are off on the Caribbean Christmas trip in a few days.  Best wishes!  The wife and I are doing that trip next year 2020, and counting the days already.

Thanks Underwatr.  Yes, that's my understanding also, that the limitation is the Bridge of the Americas.  The dimensions I've seen are:

QM2 height from keel to top of funnel:  72 meters

QM2 draft:  approx 10 meters

Resulting height from waterline to top of funnel:  62 meters

62 meters = 203.4 feet

Stated clearance at high tide of Bridge of Americas main span:  201 feet

So I imagine that at low tide, QM2 could scrape under (perhaps literally).  Maybe Cunard will give it a go sometime.  By comparison, the stated clearance of the Verrazano Narrows bridge in NY harbour, a key factor in QM2's design, is 228 feet. 

6 hours ago, Bedruthen said:

Anyone else think this is a strange itinerary? We were hoping for a trip around South America, to include the Panama Canal, for us not enough ports of call in South America for us to consider this particular one.

Unfortunately QM2 cannot fit in the Panama canal.  Only QE and QV. 

Thanks again for your reports, and safe travels home!

Hello bazzaw.  On the May 2019 QE port call at Anchorage, we docked at the Port of Alaska facility, just to the north of downtown.  There was a short 15min shuttle bus ride provided to Town Square Park.  Much closer and easier than either Whittier or Seward.

My thanks also kmerlin.  The wife and I were on QE's Tokyo-Vancouver the previous month, in May.  Your reports and program guides brought back a lot of good memories.

Per the Cunard web site https://www.cunard.com/en-au/the-cunard-experience/staterooms-and-suites/grills-experience

Princess includes:

Queens is Princess plus the following:

Hi rakkor.  My thanks also for the excellent recaps of your QM2 crossing.  i'm looking forward to the Caribbean portion of your trip.  The wife and I are booked on the NY-NY Christmas voyage next year 2020, and I'm already counting the days.

The Canadian folk duo was on our QE Alaska voyage this past May.  They played almost every day in the Garden Lounge on deck 9, and we greatly enjoyed their music.  Glad to read that they have been "promoted" to the QM2 and the Royal Court.

Thanks Bell Boy.  The wife and I will be on QV that day, on our first sea day out of Rio Brazil.  I'll watch for the news.  I wonder if there will be an announcement onboard?