bluemarble

Yes, to temper the speculation about a 2026 World Cruise for QM2, there have been previous reports indicating QM2's 2024 World Cruise may be her last for a few years. For example, there's this quote from Chris Frame on his "chriscunard.com" site. "QM2 will start 2024 undertaking yet another world cruise. This will be her last world cruise for the next few years, as Cunard has since indicated that from 2025 onward QM2 will focus more on the transatlantic service while Queen Anne will take up a global cruising role." It will be interesting to find out in the next few months if those 2026 dates for QM2 in Australia turn out to be real and QM2 will be doing a 2026 World Cruise after all.

Queen Mary 2 is on the Brisbane schedule for 7 Mar 2026 and Queen Anne is on the Brisbane schedule for 14 Mar 2026. Here's what we have so far. Queen Mary 2 11 Jan 2026 - Southampton 4-5 Mar 2026 - Sydney 7 Mar 2026 - Brisbane 14 Mar 2026 - Darwin Queen Anne 11 Jan 2026 - Southampton 8 Mar 2026 - Darwin 14 Mar 2026 - Brisbane 16-17 Mar 2026 - Sydney 19-20 Mar 2026 - Melbourne 26 Mar 2026 - Fremantle 26 Apr 2026 - Funchal

I think it's still a bit early to find itineraries for the 2026 world cruises. But we can find a few clues here and there such as what you have found. QV is on the port schedule for Funchal on 12 Feb 2026, 26 Feb 2026 and 15 Apr 2026. That looks like a series of Madeira/Canary Islands cruises rather than a world cruise for her. QA is on the port schedule for Funchal on 26 Apr 2026. That looks like it could be a port of call for her near the end of a 2026 world cruise if we'd like to speculate. Thanks to @sogne for pointing me to the Funchal Port Authority website for those schedules. In Australia, you've already found QM2 on the port schedule for Sydney on 4-5 Mar 2026 and QA on the schedule for Sydney on 16-17 Mar 2026. @LittleFish1976 reported seeing QA on the Darwin port schedule on 8 Mar 2026, on the Melbourne port schedule on 19-20 Mar 2026, and on the Fremantle port schedule on 26 March 2026 as well as QM2 on the Darwin port schedule on 14 Mar 2026. So that gives us a few tidbits to speculate about what the 2026 world cruises might look like. Check back in a few months to see if we've learned anything further. In the mean time, if anyone else has found port calls for Cunard beyond 11 Jan 2026 (on port authority websites or elsewhere), I'd love to hear about them.

Very good. What yours taken from the Gibralfaro?

I trust @Lanky Lad will be by shortly to confirm that's Malaga. I held off on identifying this one since I have a nearly identical webcam capture in my archives showing an early evening view of QV there this past December. To help with the viewpoint, this webcam is identified as from the Gran Hotel Miramar in Malaga.

There was no sign of any such model or anything similar for sale on our last several QM2 voyages. Our last voyage was this past September. The only QM2 models I saw for sale were made of crystal I believe. Elegant but not particularly accurate or detailed.

Cunard has a recent history with Damen Shiprepair for other drydocks. QE was at Damen Shiprepair Brest for her 2019 drydock. And QM2's drydock in 2021 prior to her return to service was also at Damen Shiprepair Brest. So there is a prior relationship with Cunard and Damen Shiprepair which may have been a factor in why QM2 is at the Damen facility in Rotterdam for the current drydock.

That's what I concluded yesterday as well based on where QV (shown in the photo) has been on November 5th over the years. Glad you were able to figure it out.

OK, you've drawn me back in, if only to comment on a couple of the points you've mentioned as I see them. Again my intention is not to cause any more controversy. That quote "In keeping with some of our voyages in warmer climates" is inaccurate in my view. To my knowledge, the only warmer climates where they intoduced a jacket optional dress code was in connection with the previously mentioned policy, only on embarkation days, for those joining Mediterranean fly cruises on Queen Victoria. Now perhaps there were other warm weather cruises where a jacket optional policy was introduced on an ad-hoc basis, but as far as I know, that was not previously stated as the standard policy anywhere. Cunard's explanation that the jacket optional change was being made for Australian cruises because of the warm weather was met with some skepticism on this forum at the time. The ship is air-conditioned and as you say, Australia is not the hottest or most humid of Cunard's destinations.

Not meaning to cause more controversy concerning regional stereotypes about dress codes, but I will provide some context about one aspect of the dress code which has changed in recent years. That's the change in the Cunard dress code making it "jacket optional" for gentlemen on Smart Attire evenings. From at least 2017 and perhaps earlier, back when the dress code was called Informal rather than Smart Attire, Cunard provided this dress code definition. "Informal (Jacket Optional): The Informal (Jacket Optional) dress code amendment applies to Queen Victoria's summer fly Mediterranean season on embarkation days only, in Athens, Barcelona, Rome and Venice. Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth will continue to have the standard Formal and Informal (Jacket Required) dress codes. The ship's newspaper will confirm the dress code of the day. Guests who have Athens, Barcelona, Rome and Venice as a port during their voyage and are already settled in on board are encouraged to wear a jacket." Then when Cunard began QE's Alaska seasons in 2019, they implemented the same "jacket optional" dress code on embarkations days for QE's Alaskan cruises. Then, perhaps of the most relevance to the current discussion, in December 2019 Cunard changed the dress code to be "jacket optional" across all Smart Attire evenings on QE's Australian cruises. Here's a partial quote from Cunard's communication about that change. "As part of Queen Elizabeth's deployment to Australia, we will be making a number of changes to the on board experience that reflect the Australian region, guests feedback and operational considerations. Dress Code: Effective from 6 December [2019], and in keeping with some of our voyages in warmer climates, the dress code for Australian voyages has been revised to now include jacket optional on Smart Attire evenings, to allow guests to be comfortable during the warmer evenings. Gala Evenings dress code has not changed and guests will still be required to wear a dinner jacket, tuxedo or dark suit for men with a regular tie or bow tie." Finally, with the resumption of service in 2021, Cunard changed the Smart Attire dress code to be "jacket optional" on all itineraries across the fleet. Now I'll leave it for others to conclude what the main driver was for Cunard to first make it "jacket optional" across all Smart Attire evenings on their Australian itineraries and how much that drove the subsequent decision to extend "jacket optional" to all other itineraries. I won't presume to offer an informed opinion about that.

Here's a link to a post by @Pushpit showing a screen shot of the main menu of "My Voyage". Fortunately I've never had to use "Medical assistance", but I suppose that's the menu item for "our virtual GP service, SeaConsult". Note there is a menu item for "Daily programme". That works well. One thing I would like to see enhanced with that functionality is for it to allow you to see the next day's programme once it has been released and delivered to your stateroom in paper form in the evening. As it is, that's a link to the current day's programme only.

No, I don't think you've posted this photo before. This guy with all the itineraries has figured it out. I'll wait a few more hours to give others a sporting chance at this one.

Correct. That image is from QV's recent call there on October 9th. By the time I captured that image, it was getting late in the day. Almost could have qualified as a sunset image for our "Daily sunrise photo" thread.

Here's a webcam capture of a Cunard ship at a port we've seen before.

@e&mcruise, you may have been thinking of discounts on Wine Academy activities. Here is what I am seeing in the Cunard Wine Collections brochure available on line. "Not only do our collections offer great savings on wine, but by purchasing a collection you will also receive a range of discounts against Cunard Wine Academy activities and events during your voyage. Please present your voucher booklet to receive your discount. For further information about the Cunard Wine Academy activities taking place on your voyage please refer to the Daily Programme or speak with your restaurant Sommelier. Captain’s Collection – receive a 10% discount on Cunard Wine Academy activities* Commodore’s Collection – receive a 15% discount on Cunard Wine Academy activities* *Discounts apply to all guests travelling in the same stateroom. Excludes WSET courses."

It's typical for the 2-night voyages between Southampton and Hamburg to have the evening of the sea day be designated "Gala Optional" with no theme. That's because the next day is disembarkation day for many of the passengers. The daily programmes I have from QM2 word it this way. "Smart Attire is acceptable for guests who are finally disembarking tomorrow if preferred."

After adjusting for duplicate questions in each of the FAQs, here are my counts of the number of different questions in each FAQ. US FAQ: 268 different questions UK FAQ: 403 different questions Australia FAQ: 602 different questions This does not attempt to account for similar but differently-worded questions. For example, both the Australia and UK FAQs contain these pairs of questions which are essentially asking the same thing. "Can I take my bicycle on a cruise?" "Can I take my bicycle on board?" and "Can I take my own furniture or bedding on board?" "Can I take my own mattress or furniture on board?" There is at least one question on the Australia FAQ which is obsolete. "Can I pre-register for the Summer 2020 programme?" However, many of the questions unique to the Australia FAQ would be useful on the other FAQs such as these questions just to mention a few. "Are flights included in the cost of my cruise?" "Are coat hangers provided in the wardrobes?" "Are newspapers available during my cruise?" "Can I cancel or change my booking?" "Do I have to wear the suggested attire for the theme nights?" "How can I make a booking?" "How many Gala Evenings will there be?" "How much are the drinks on board?" "When do boarding passes become available?" Then there's this popular question only asked on the Australia FAQ. "How much should I pay for tips?" However, tipping is also discussed in these questions which are not unique to the Australia FAQ. "What type of service will I receive and how is it rewarded?" "Can I send a gift to a member of crew?"

If by any chance you figured I just might take up the challenge to compare the contents of the three Cunard FAQs, you would have been correct. It was largely a manual process to copy the questions from each of the three FAQs and then compile them as side-by-side columns in an Excel spreadsheet sorted on the text of the questions. Total effort, about 5-6 hours. Because of the manual nature of the process, I'm expecting there will be a few glitches here and there. There are duplicate questions in each of the FAQs which I have left in the spreadsheet to assist with evaluating the amount of duplication in each FAQ. Here's my Cunard FAQ Comparison spreadsheet as an attachment. Cunard FAQ Comparison.xlsx

For the record concerning where QE will be positioned for her Caribbean season, several media reports have mentioned she will be sailing out of Florida as we might expect. I share others' questions about how that might impact QM2's usual Caribbean schedule sailing out of New York in the future.

Unfortunately your voyage V406C is one of the few occasions when Cunard are not adhering to their stated policy "At least twice on each seven-night voyage we’ll host a Gala Evening." They have scheduled several intervals of 7 to 8 nights between gala evenings during the full 2024 QV World Voyage and that's OK since they don't schedule two gala evenings every seven days on longer voyages. But when your segment of that 2024 World Voyage from Auckland to Sydney is being sold as a separate 8-night voyage, they really should schedule two gala evenings on your voyage. Just as an aside, when I saw some of those gaps between gala evenings on the 2024 QV World Voyage, I wondered if they were reducing the number of gala evenings overall on the full World Voyage. I needn't have been concerned. Here is a comparison of the full 2023 and 2024 QV World Voyages, both starting and ending in Hamburg. 2023 QV World Voyage Number of nights: 105 Number of gala evenings: 24 Gala evenings per week: 1.60 2024 QV World Voyage Number of nights: 111 Number of gala evenings: 25 Gala evenings per week: 1.58

Good shots! Looks like my suggestion to rotate your phone did the trick to get these photos right side up when unloaded to Cruise Critic. Is that correct?

They're back up on the US and UK sites as well. Naturally all three sites have some differing content in their FAQs to cover country-specific topics. But I've noticed in the past the UK FAQ is significantly larger than the US FAQ. And now I see the Australia FAQ beats both of those handily. US FAQ: 268 questions UK FAQ: 408 questions Aistralia FAQ: 639 questions

This reply from @frankp01 on the "QM2 plug sockets" thread may help. Edit to add: I haven't actually tried this myself. I just use an extension cord for my CPAP. Note the socket for the bedside lamp is somewhere behind the bed. I've never tracked down precisely where it is. It doesn't sound like it's all that difficult to get access to that socket though.

Sorry, but I'm not clear what you mean by "logging in" before you eventually find the page where you enter your booking number, name and birthday. Those in the UK have a "log in" function but not those of us here in the US unless you've found something I haven't on the Cunard US website. Or perhaps do you mean logging in to your account on your travel agent website first? I do agree there are more steps than are really necessary on the Cunard US website to access your booking. Here are the steps starting from the Cunard US home page. 1) Click "Account" 2) Click "My Cunard" 3) Scroll down and Click "Visit My Cunard" 4) Enter your booking reference, first name, last name, date of birth and click "Login" However, you can bypass steps 1) through 3) by going directly to "my.cunard.com" in your browser. I bookmark that page to get there quicker. Hope this helps.

The specific arrival and departure times are listed on various travel agent/cruise booking websites. Those include Cunard's own partner websites for Spain, Austria and Switzerland. And if you are adventurous enough to dig into the page source code in your browser on the Cunard website itself, it's even possible to find the arrival and departure times listed there as well. Here is what I am seeing for your November 13-16, 2023 QM2 itinerary, crossed-checked using three different sources. It's showing a typical 6:30 AM early morning scheduled arrival time back at Southampton on November 19 which ought to bring you alongside by 7:00AM as @exlondoner has indicated if there are no delays. Nov 16: Southampton - Depart 5:00 PM Nov 18: Zeebrugge - Arrive 8:00 AM, Depart 5:00 PM Nov 19: Southampton - Arrive 6:30 AM Edit to add: QM2 occasionally does 2-night itineraries from Southampton to Zeebrugge and back. I've been on one of those with a scheduled arrival time of 6:30 AM back at Southampton.