bluemarble

I see the similarity, but no that's not St Lucia.

Here's a webcam contribution to this thread for Christmas. Where in the world is this Cunard ship?

Correct. That's QE arriving at Tauranga earlier this year on January 15th.

On the subject of fortuitous timing for webcam images, here's one I've been saving for a while. I didn't post it earlier since the landmark in this image makes it relatively easy to identify. I'll post it now since the timing was also impeccable for this one. This webcam only refreshes once every fifteen minutes. What were the odds of capturing the ship in this image at all as she sailed past? It's showing a Cunard ship arriving at a port we've seen before. Edit to add: I'm finding a lot of similar views of cruise ships captured by this webcam. Something tells me it's being refreshed when a cruise ship sails by, so my timing probably wasn't so fortuitous after all.

Yes, the timing was serendipitous on that one. Those webcams only refresh about once every seven minutes or so. I was just hoping to get a glimpse of QE on one of them even if only a distant view. But then there she was framed about a well as one could hope for when that particular webcam refreshed.

Correct. That's QE departing Wellington on December 9th after her recent visit there, as seen from one of the Beacon Hill webcams hosted by the Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Here's one more to try. This is another webcam capture showing a Cunard ship departing a port we've seen before. Most of the pixelation is in the original webcam image presumably to protect privacy. I've only blurred the black rectangles in the lower corners containing captions and date stamps which would have given it away.

The webcam is located near Cruise Center Altona looking south across the river Elbe. Cruise Center Steinwerder is in the distance at the far right. At the center and left are some of the Blohm+Voss shipyard facilities. That explains the lack of tall buildings in that particular view.

Oh, yes it is. I hadn't noticed that detail. My research tells me that's the U-434 Submarine Museum. Might be something I'd like to check out next time we're in Hamburg. There's a U-boat not too far from our home town; the U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Yes indeed, that's Hamburg. That photo of mine is the view looking toward the east up the river Elbe not long after departing Cruise Center Steinwerder.

That photo does look a bit like Halifax doesn't it? But sorry no, that's not Halifax.

Here's one of my own photos of this same port showing a rainbow as we were departing. This image may be more helpful since at least it's not obscured by raindrops.

No, that's not Belfast either, sorry.

Sorry, no, that's not Southampton.

I've spent the last couple hours taking up the challenge to compare US and UK fares, comparing like-for-like as much as possible. I arbitrarily picked one voyage on each of the four ships departing January 2025 and one voyage on each of the four ships departing July 2025 (for a total of eight voyages). I examined the fares for both Princess Suites and Queens Suites between the Cunard US and Cunard UK websites. I let Cunard pick the least expensive cabin in those categories and in every case both the US and UK websites picked the same cabin for me on the same voyage. On the US website, I selected the "Explore with More" fare when available. That fare is generally less than the "Cunard" fare and offers perks such as OBC and a free meal voucher in the Kings Court/Lido Alternative Dining venue (a value of $20 per person). That's in addition to the Grill Suite Offer which provides the pre-paid Hotel and Dining Service Charge and the Drinks Package up to $12 per drink. On the UK website, I selected the "Cunard" fare which is all that's available for Grill Suite Bookings. I am factoring in the extra OBC that is currently being offered on UK bookings. All these calculations are per cabin based on double occupancy. I've reduced all these calculations to the average net cost per night across all eight of the voyages I examined. OK, enough of the preliminaries. Here is what I found. Princess Suite (US) Average fare/night = $1,149.53 - Average OBC/night = $21.12 - Average value of Meal Voucher/night = $4.56 Average net cost/night (US) = $1,123.85 (not counting drinks package value) Princess Suite (UK) Average fare/night = £718.52 Average fare/night in US$ (at £1 = $1.27) = $912.52 - Average OBC/night = $95.14 + Hotel and Dining Service Charge/night = $33.00 Average net cost/night (UK) in US$ = $850.38 Queens Suite (US) Average fare/night = $1,498.20 - Average OBC/night = $26.24 - Average value of Meal Voucher/night = $4.56 Average net cost/night (US) = $1,467.40 (not counting drinks package value) Queens Suite (UK) Average fare/night = £974.36 Average fare/night in US$ (at £1 = $1.27) = $1,237.44 - Average OBC/night = $129.18 + Hotel and Dining Service Charge/night = $33.00 Average net cost/night (UK) in US$ = $1,141.26

Here's one that would be easy if it weren't for the rain. It still may be fairly easy with the rain. This is a webcam image showing a Cunard ship at a port we've seen before.

I was about to post this quote from the "Alternative dining" section of the "Dining" page in My Cunard as the answer to your question. This has been our past experience with how it works. "Bookable from 14 days before departure." But then I see bookings are open for our QM2 14-night round trip crossing next June within the "Dining" section of My Cunard. Or I should say the first seven evenings of that voyage are bookable in the Kings Court Alternative Dining venue. They are showing Bamboo for the first four evenings and Coriander for the next three evenings. Nothing showing yet for the final seven evenings. So, I'm not sure how they determine when bookings open for Alternative Dining now.

Just to make sure we're clear about the changes to QM2's world voyage itinerary, those changes so far do not involve an alteration to her route. The originally scheduled call to Lisbon has been canceled with the calls to Tenerife, Walvis Bay and Port Elizabeth rescheduled to arrive a day earlier than originally planned. The call to Port Elizabeth is now going to be an overnight to put the rest of the voyage back on the original schedule.

I thought I was going to have to try to find itineraries for Costa Mediterranea to cross-reference with QV's itineraries. In fact I started down that road but wasn't getting very far with that venture. I miss the old "cruisecal" website that had a ship intersect function. Unfortunately that site shut down for good when cruising paused in 2020. Then I thought that building between the two ships looked familiar. Sure enough, I was able to match that building to one of the images in my webcam archives. I think this is Stavanger, Norway. This view is a little bit different from more typical views of ships docked at Stavanger since QV is not docked at the pier furthest in, Strandkaien, but rather at the next pier out, Konserthuskaien. Costa Mediterranea apparently got one of the piers closer in and is passing QV on her way out of port.

Thank you for your latest set of photos. I knew nothing about Louis Cruise Lines in general or Princesa Cypria in particular previously. It's been a good learning experience for me to research that line and ship even if I spent way too much time yesterday trying unsuccessfully to match your photos to Limassol in the process.

Looks good to me. Aside from being the only other Cunard port in Egypt on the Mediterranean, the view from the cruise pier at Port Said shows very similar cranes and buildings at the container terminal across the water. I can't find that pair of tall structures any more although there are two very distinctive tall minarets a bit further along.

Yes, the luggage storage charges differ considerably between New York and Southampton. I haven't used this storage service myself, but here is a quote from the Cunard FAQ. This is a portion of the answer to the question "Is there the facility to store my luggage in New York or Southampton?" "The cost to leave your luggage in New York are listed below, and varies on the amount of luggage you require to be stored*. Prices are per bag for up to 30 days and a further $30* per 30 days thereafter. This includes transport from/to the correct terminal, secure storage and insurance cover. • 1 – 6 pieces - $264.84 per piece • 7- 9 pieces - $209.00 per piece • 10+ pieces - $161.78 per piece The cost to leave your luggage in Southampton is $65.00* per bag for up to 30 days and a further $30* per 30 days thereafter. This includes transport from/to the correct terminal, secure storage and insurance cover. *Prices are subject to change." Of course relying on information in the FAQ can be problematic sometimes. But based on this FAQ answer, it would appear @Cembl might have actually caught a break by being charged only $195 to store one bag in New York.

OK, I can identify the ship now. That's the Princesa Cypria of Louis Cruise Lines. Built in 1968, refurbished in 1990, scrapped in 2005. It appears her itineraries were primarily Eastern Mediterranean including Greek Islands, Egypt and Israel. Next job is to identify the port of course. Could be a difficult task after more than 30 years.

Probably time for a hint about this one now that we're past the 24 hour mark. It's proved to be difficult one for me. I've tried to identify that ship/ferry or even just the line that used that livery of a red lower hull and blue stripe higher up but I'm coming up empty so far. I've even spent time trying to identify that freighter in the background to no avail. Those two towers at the far right might be a useful feature, but I'm not getting anywhere with that approach either. Something tells me part of the problem might be how old this photo is. The comment about "Not sure if such access arrangements are permitted these days!" tends to indicate it's not a recent photo. The photo's attachment filename starts with "1992-05-00_2021-03-04". Not sure if that's telling me the photo might be as old as 1992.

Very much looking forward to reports from this voyage. Southampton VTS recently updated your departure time from 17:30 to 21:00 so that later departure time is looking more likely. MSC Euribia's departure time was also updated from 20:00 to 21:00.