bluemarble

I've figured out why Cunard is having the gala evening on your port day in Dubrovnik. Your itinerary can also be booked as a 7-night itinerary ending in Trieste on September 23rd. They wouldn't want to have a gala evening on the evening before passengers would be disembarking in Trieste the next morning. Makes perfect sense now.

Thanks for this. Could I ask you to double-check that Sep 21st date? Since that's a port day in Dubrovnik, I would have expected Cunard to schedule that gala evening for the next day, Sep 22nd, a sea day, as they have done with the other three gala evenings. Now they do occasionally schedule gala evenings on port days. I'd jut like to confirm that they have indeed scheduled a gala evening on your Sept 21st port day rather than Sep 22nd.

That's very interesting that they've posted some of the 2025 dress code schedules already. Your voyage does appear to be a bit sparse on the gala evenings with only two instead of the more typical three for a 14-night voyage. Will want to see if that's going to be the trend toward fewer gala evenings during 2025.

Could I ask you to please double-check the date of your first gala evening? I was expecting that first Black and White gala evening to be on July 22, the second evening of your crossing (which is how it's usually scheduled), not the third evening, especially since yours is one of the shortened 6-night crossings.

Plus in all likelihood your disembarkation day will be a Smart Attire evening for the next cruise. They are probably populating that field with the scheduled dress code for that date even though you won't be on board that evening.

This helps confirm they are changing the pattern for the themes on QM2 crossings next year. It used to be Red & Gold and Roaring Twenties on eastbound crossings with Black & White and Masquerade on westbound crossings. The reply I received from @BWV shows their schedule as Black & White and Roaring Twenties on a westbound crossing as well. Perhaps my June roundtrip crossing is just an anomaly with those themes reversed (Black & White and Roaring Twenties eastbound and Red & Gold and Masquerade westbound). Time will tell I suppose as I receive more input from others about their crossings.

I wonder if they have posted any of the QA dress code and theme schedules yet. I have a QA booking but not until 2025. Is anyone on a 2024 QA voyage seeing their dress code and theme schedules in My Cunard?

Thank you for that confirmation. Looks like Cunard realized their mistake scheduling the gala evening for January 1st instead of December 31st. I have updated the QM2 document accordingly.

It's me again. I'm being told elsewhere this is the current dress code and theme schedule for the 2023 QM2 Christmas Cruise. This latest schedule has December 31st changed to a gala evening (as well as December 28th changed to Roaring Twenties). Could either of you please confirm if this is now the schedule as listed in the calendar for your voyage in My Cunard? Or am I being given incorrect information? 25 Dec 2023 - Red &Gold 28 Dec 2023 - Roaring Twenties 31 Dec 2023 - Gala Evening (no theme)

Just to follow up on this, I already have "Roaring Twenties" listed as the theme for January 1, 2024. It seems unlikely Cunard would schedule the same theme on two consecutive gala evenings. Looks like I could use confirmation of the themes now for each of the gala evenings scheduled on the 2023 QM2 Christmas cruise.

My I ask are you seeing "Roaring Twenties" as the theme for December 28th? I have that evening listed without a theme on the QM2 2023 Dress Code and Theme Schedule document. However, I'm being told elsewhere that evening is now going to be "Roaring Twenties". Can you confirm if you are seeing that now or is December 28th still non-themed?

It looks like Cunard have started posting the dress code and theme schedules for 2024 voyages. One again this year I'd like to take on the project of compiling master dress code and theme schedule documents for each of the Cunard ships. To do so, I'm going to need your help to tell me what you are seeing for the dress code and themes on your 2024 voyages. You should be able to see that now within the Day Calendar section of your voyage in My Cunard. If you are booked on a 2024 voyage, please let me know which ship you will be on, the dates of your voyage, which dates are scheduled as Gala Evenings and what the themes (if any) will be on those Gala Evenings. To illustrate, I'll start with what I've learned so far. Please post what you are seeing for your 2024 voyages in a reply to this thread. From @maggielou362: QM2, Feb 17-Feb 27, 2024 (voyage M405, Fremantle to Sydney) Feb 18: Black and White Feb 22: Gala Evening (no theme) Feb 25: Roaring Twenties From my voyages: QM2, June 15-June 23, 2024 (voyage M417, Eastbound Crossing) June 16: Black and White June 21: Roaring Twenties QM2, June 23-June 29, 2024 (voyage M418, Westbound Crossing) June 24: Red and Gold June 27: Masquerade Just as an aside, I see they've changed the standard schedule for QM2 crossings from previous years on my two crossings. The first gala evening used to be Red and Gold on eastbound crossings and the first gala evening used to be Black & White on westbound crossings. They've switched those themes around on my two June 2024 crossings. It will be interesting to learn if that same pattern holds for the other 2024 crossings as well.

Thank you very much for that heads up about the 2024 schedules. I'm seeing the schedule for my 2024 QM2 crossings in June as well. Looks like it's time for me to start a project to compile the 2024 dress code and theme schedules. I'll start a new thread for that.

There is one recent example of a completely changed itinerary before sailing I am aware of. Because of New Zealand's biosecurity regulations requiring a cleaning of QE's hull, QE's cruise to New Zealand this past February was changed to a cruise entirely within Australia instead. There was only a day or two advance notice of this itinerary change but it was made prior to sailing. Here is the original itinerary. 14 Feb 2023 - Melbourne 17 Feb 2023 - Fiordland National Park 18 Feb 2023 - Dunedin 19 Feb 2023 - Christchurch (Lyttelton) 20 Feb 2023 - Wellington 22 Feb 2023 - Auckland 23 Feb 2023 - Bay of Islands 27 Feb 2023 - Melbourne Here is the revised itinerary. 14 Feb 2023 - Melbourne 16 Feb 2023 - Eden 18 Feb 2023 - Brisbane 20 Feb 2023 - Port Douglas 21 Feb 2023 - Cairns 25 Feb 2023 - Sydney 27 Feb 2023 - Melbourne

That's correct. The image is from QM2's most recent call there on 29 August 2023. Welcome to our game, @Dranuc2016. Always good to see a new name contributing to this very long-lived thread.

No, just a comment that this webcam image provides more clues than some of the others I've posted such as those with distant views of the ship seen from a fairly nondescript beach.

Let's try this one. Here's a webcam capture showing part of a Cunard ship at a port we've seen before. There may be enough detail here to help identify this port. At least it's not as inscrutable as some of the webcam images I've posted in the past.

My wife has several food allergies. Cunard does a very good job handling that situation. You should notify Cunard of your requirements prior to your voyage by calling Cunard customer service. They will probably advise you to send an email about your dietary requirements to "cunardonboardservices@cunard.com". In any event, you will also want to confirm your requirements with your wait staff once on board. They will do their very best to accommodate your requirements the first day in your dining room. For subsequent days, they will supply you with the next day's menus for you to make your selections ahead of time. If you make a reservation at one of the specialty restaurants, you will want to check with the staff at that restaurant the day before your reserved time in order to make your selections from that restaurant's menu.

They seem to have provided two different deadlines in the latest "Carnival Corporation & PLC Shareholder Benefit document. In the first paragraph they do indeed state the following (emphasis mine). "The benefit is applicable on sailings through July 31, 2024 aboard the brands listed below. Certain restrictions apply. Applications to receive these benefits should be made at least three weeks prior to cruise departure date." But then later in the third paragraph they state the following. "Please provide by email, fax or by mail your complete legal name, reservation/booking number, ship and sailing date, along with proof of ownership of Carnival Corporation or Carnival plc shares (for example, photocopy of shareholder proxy card, a dividend tax voucher or a current brokerage or nominee statement with your current mailing address and your brokerage account number blacked out) no later than 4 weeks prior to your sail date to your travel agent or to the cruise line you have selected below." Previous versions of the document stated the deadline as three weeks in both places. That's an interesting point about the form stating the shareholder benefit cannot be used for gratuities charged to your onboard account. Previous versions of the document have said the same thing. Perhaps it has something to do with Cunard now calling the charge they apply to your onboard account the "hotel and dining service charge" rather than "gratuities". In practice, the shareholder benefit OBC can be used to pay for the hotel and dining service charge.

Just to help clarify the dress code, each evening is designated as either "smart attire" or "gala evening". On the smart attire evenings, a jacket is optional for gentlemen. Smart trousers with a dress shirt is fine on those evenings. On the gala evenings, the dress code is dinner jacket, tuxedo or dark suit with tie for gentlemen. The dress code applies to the main dining rooms but not to the buffet. To give you an idea of the scheduling, there usually will be two gala evenings on a voyage of 7 nights and three gala evenings on a voyage of 14 nights. The deadline for applying for the Carnival shareholder benefit used to be three weeks before the sailing date. But I just took a look at the latest Carnival shareholder benefit page to confirm that and it now lists the deadline as four weeks prior to the sailing date. Here is the link to that page for full details. https://www.carnivalcorp.com/static-files/50351a91-4dc0-4f6b-bfec-684647e6129f

Most of the 2023 dress code and theme schedules were first posted in My Cunard on November 24, 2022. If Cunard keeps to a similar schedule this year, we may have about one month to go until they post the 2024 dress code and theme schedules.

Queen Anne is a Pinnacle class ship similar to the three ships in that class in the Holland America fleet: Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam and Rotterdam. The specs for those Holland America ships are 99,863 GT, 300m length and 2,650 passengers. Queen Anne is a somewhat larger version of the Pinnacle class at 113,000 GT, 322.5m length and approximately 3,000 passengers. If you look at the deck plans for Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam and Rotterdam you will see they are quite similar to the deck plans for Queen Anne. It appears the Rotterdam deck plan is the closest when it comes to the obstructed view cabins on deck four which are oriented differently from the rest. I don't know if Cunard will be using the same cabin layouts on Queen Anne as on those other three Holland America Pinnacle class ships. But the "cruisedeckplans" site is a good place to start for photos/videos of similarly positioned cabins on those Holland America ships.

To answer this question, QE's call to Haines on June 7, 2022 may have been the first ever call there for Cunard. I couldn't find a reference to a prior call to Haines by any Cunard ship anyway. QE called again to Haines on June 13, 2023. And now she has four further calls to Haines scheduled for 2024. So, yes, Haines is very much a newer port of call for Cunard.

Here's a Le Havre port schedule I found that looks at least somewhat official. https://www.havre-port.com/fr/liste/2077/escales-croisieres That site lists QM2's call at Le Havre on 1 June 2024 with arrival at 06:30 and departure at 19:00. At least half a dozen other cruise booking sites list the Le Havre arrival time on 1 June 2024 as 08:00 (8:00 AM) and the departure time as 19:00 (7:00 PM). That includes Cunard's own website using the "view page source" method I mentioned earlier. By the way, those other cruise booking sites list the Zeebrugge arrival time on 31 May 2024 as 08:00 (8:00 AM) and the departure time as 17:00 (5:00 PM).

Yes, indeed. I remember that well. That was April 1, 2016 just prior to QM2's 2016 remastering. Here's a link to the full post from Cunard's facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/cunard/photos/a.149158368222/10154140278573223