bluemarble

That's an interesting question. There was some previous discussion about this early last year on the "New Ship" thread. One school of thought was that Cunard might roll out the new livery on the current ships during their scheduled drydocks prior to QA's debut. That didn't happen with QV's drydock in Belfast during May 2022 which is understandable since the emphasis then was to get QV back into service. Perhaps more significantly that didn't happen with QE during her more recent drydock in Singapore this past March. Now QM2's current drydock is both longer than the others and closer to QA's debut, so I suppose it's possible they could update her livery to match Queen Anne's. I haven't read anything specifically mentioning QM2's livery will be updated during the current drydock. My guess is no it won't. Perhaps I'll be surprised.

Cunard does not provide the precise arrival and departure times on their own websites or itineraries. However, those precise times are available on quite a few other travel agent and cruise booking websites. That includes Cunard's own partner websites for Spain, Austria and Switzerland. What I just said isn't entirely correct though. Cunard does actually provide the precise arrival and departure times on their own websites if you dig into the details to view the page source on the voyage details pages within your web browser. Here's an example showing how the Cunard UK website reveals the precise arrival and departure times within the HTML code for one of their upcoming cruises to Norway. ...,"arrivalTime":"08:00","arrivePartOfTheDay":"Early morning","departTime":"17:00","departPartOfTheDay":"Afternoon","portDetails":{"id":"AES","name":"Alesund, Norway",...

QM2 being situated in Damen Verolme Rotterdam dock 7 as seen on Marinetraffic this morning.

Here's another chance to see QM2 at Cuxhaven during daylight. She's on her way to Rotterdam for her scheduled drydock there. This is a capture from the webcam at "schiffsansagedienst-cuxhaven.de" a few minutes ago.

The onboard Gala Evening dress code states "floor length dress, ball gown, cocktail dress, smart trouser suit, or formal separates." You should be fine.

Unfortunately the functionality with the different flags to select either the Cunard US or the Cunard UK website only works for those of us in the US or Canada when we attempt to go to the Cunard UK website at "www.cunard.com/en-gb". From the US or Canada, we have the choice to view either the Cunard US or the Cunard UK website. Here's the flag display allowing that choice for those who haven't seen it. Unless there are some exceptions I don't know about, everyone else is restricted to one specific Cunard website based on their location. For example, when residents of the UK attempt to go to "www.cunard.com/en-us", they are automatically switched to "www.cunard.con/en-gb". That's similar to what happens if we in the US or Canada attempt to go to the Cunard Australia website at "www.cunard.com/en-au". We are automatically switched to "www.cunard.com/en-us". No flags are presented to let us choose between the Cunard US and Cunard Australia websites. The telephone number for Cunard US Customer Support is (800) 728-6273. But that probably won't help you much since I don't believe you can call an "800" number from outside the US. There is a phone number for the Cunard office in Valencia, California but I hesitate to post that number since I don't know if it is appropriate to call that number for general customer service enquiries, especially from outside the US. Sorry I can't be more help with this.

To update the guidance I posted earlier about the Roaring Twenties and Masquerade themes (which is several years old), here is what the Cunard website says now in the "Gala Evening themes" section of their "What to pack" page. Roaring 20s For Roaring 20s, a simple nod towards the theme is all that's required - a pocket square in an art deco print or a feathered slide in your hair - but if you'd like to bring a flapper dress, or braces and a trilby, you're sure to fit right in. Masquerade Ball An evening of mystery, intrigue and suspense awaits as Cunard transports you back to Renaissance Italy and the infamous Venetian Masquerade Carnivals. Whatever you decide to wear, bring along a mask to match - or even make your own.

Here's an afternoon capture from the same webcam showing a bit of the monster cruise ship Costa Toscana (6,000+ passenger capacity) at the far left also at the Stazione Marittima. Marella Voyager is also docked at Naples today along with several large ferries.

Yes, that is Le Havre. Here's another view captured a couple minutes earlier making it more obvious it's Le Havre by including the prominent tower of Saint Joseph's Church in the view. I left the date stamp on this one in the upper left showing it's from QM2's most recent call at Le Havre on September 3rd.

Here's a capture of today's sunrise with QE at Naples, Italy. This is from Baltic Live Cam's "Molo Beverello" webcam.

I don't think the dress code and theme schedules have been announced yet for any of the 2024 voyages. I'm hoping we'll start learning those schedules in another month or so. In the mean time, I'll take an educated guess. For several years now Cunard have kept to a standard schedule for 7-night QM2 transatlantic crossings. For eastbound crossings, the themes have been Red & Gold on the second evening and Roaring Twenties on the sixth evening. For westbound crossings, the themes have been Black & White on the second evening and Masquerade on the sixth evening. There have only been a couple exceptions I am aware of the past couple years. Last year during the "London Theatre at Sea with the Olivier Awards" eastbound crossing, the theme for the first gala evening was designated as "Oliviers Gala". Once earlier this year, the first gala evening on a westbound crossing was listed as Red & Gold instead of Black & White. Not sure if that was intentional.

Don't stress over the theme nights. Participation in the themes is entirely optional. By all means wear the lovely dresses you had in mind if you'd prefer not to dress according to the themes. You won't be a bit out of place dressing according to the standard gala evening dress code regardless of the theme. In my experience, participation in the themes is not all that high in the main dining room for the Roaring Twenties and Masquerade themes. The participation rate does tend to go up at the gala balls in the Queen Room, but even then not everyone dresses according to the themes. For the record, this is a few years old, but here is what I have for Cunard's suggested attire for the Roaring Twenties and Masquerade themes. Roaring Twenties Formal Wear Gentlemen – Double breasted pin-striped suit or tailcoat & waistcoat. Fedora or top hat Ladies – Flapper dresses, feather boas, beads, headbands and gloves Masquerade Formal Wear Gentlemen - Domino masks Ladies – Fans and harlequin masks Any Venetian Mardi Gras style masks can be worn (a selection are available for purchase on the night)

This one may not be quite as challenging as my previous post. Here's a webcam capture showing a Cunard ship departing a port we've seem before.

The word on social media is that QM2 suffered a loss of shoreside power this afternoon while docked at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. That power loss apparently caused problems with some internal systems which need to be sorted out before she can continue on to Southampton. She left the cruise terminal and is now at an anchorage to sort out those issues.

That's correct. The webcam is showing the cruise port for Le Port, Reunion which is actually located just a few miles to the east of Le Port at La Possession. Those two round storage tanks are interesting in that they are recent additions and so don't show up on some older stock photos of the port. They are apparently inflatable storage tanks to hold biomass for the Albioma power plant which is in the process of converting from burning "charbon" to biomass. The camera is a bit to the north of the Riviere des Galets within the community of Pichette.

The other option we have in the US when booking directly with Cunard is to request Cunard to automatically take the final payment on the due date from the credit card used for the deposit. Here is the dialogue from the Cunard US website booking engine. "Balance payment options: ( ) Pay automatically Selecting this option authorizes us to automatically take payment of your balance on the due date. ( ) Pay manually You will need to call our Customer Service Department to pay your balance by the due date." I have to admit to not being all that trusting about this option. I usually book via a travel agent, but one time when I booked directly with Cunard and chose the "Pay automatically" option, I went ahead and called them about a week before the final payment date anyway to make the payment over the phone just to be sure. I suppose others who have booked directly with Cunard in the US have found the automatic payment process works smoothly or else we would have heard reports to the contrary here.

At least you were on the right track then. Look for my next hint tomorrow around this time if no one figures it out before then. Our general rule is one hint per day for images that haven't been identified.

My latest webcam capture is indeed showing QM2. It's from QM2's 2023 World Voyage.

My recommendation is to cancel your dining reservations to get a refund of the charges made to your credit card. Then book the dining reservations once on board which does not require payment at the time of booking. That can be done via the My Voyage "app". Advise the staff when you arrive at the restaurant that you will be applying your diamond credit or show the voucher you should receive in your cabin for the alternative dining credit. That may limit your choice of times by not booking ahead but I have my doubts about how successful you will be having the charges to your credit card reversed to use your diamond credit and alternative dining credit voucher instead once on board. Of course I'll gladly stand corrected if someone has been able to have their diamond credit or alternative dining credit voucher applied to reservations that have already been paid for in advance via bookings made in My Cunard. I've never been brave enough to try that. That's similar to using your diamond internet credit. At least they prevent you from booking an internet package ahead of time when you have a Cunard World Club benefit to use but then there isn't really any need to book an internet plan ahead of time anyway.

I've been reading on other social media that QM2 will be heading to Rotterdam for her upcoming drydock. I've been burned before believing what's posted there, but what I've been reading does sound convincing on that point.

Looking back through the dress code and theme schedules I have from the past, I'm seeing where both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day were often designated "Formal" or "Gala Evening". That seems to have disappeared with the reduction of the number of formal/gala evenings after the restart of operations. For example on the 2019 QM2 Christmas cruise, December 31, 2019 was a gala evening with a theme of "New Year's Eve Ball" and January 1, 2020 was also a gala evening with a "Roaring Twenties" theme. They've eliminated the "New Year's Eve Ball" theme. According to my QM2 2021-22 Dress Code and Theme Schedule document, last year New Year's Eve was a non-themed gala evening and New Year's Day was a smart attire evening. For whatever reason they've switched that around this year with New Year's Eve being a smart attire evening and New Year's Day being a gala evening with the "Roaring Twenties" theme.

How about this one? It's a webcam capture showing a Cunard ship at a port we've seen before.

The Aztec theme is no more. There also used to be a Smokehouse theme which has been discontinued. The three main themes are La Piazza, Bamboo and Coriander. There is a Nordlys theme for cruises to Norway, a Frontier theme for QE's Alaska itineraries, and a Riviera theme for Mediterranean cruises. I recall one report here earlier of the Riviera theme being offered on a non-Mediterranean cruise. Haven't heard of Nordlys or Frontier being offered on non-Norwegian/non-Alaskan itineraries though.

Here are links to daily programmes I scanned from the most recent westbound crossing (September 22-29, 2023). These are pdf files stored on my personal google drive. These may not be the best examples of a typical westbound crossing for a couple reasons. First, this was the "Festival of Food & Wine" themed voyage. A significant portion of the programming was in support of that theme. Second, this crossing was a continuation from Hamburg, departing from there two days earlier. As such there was programming in German which is not indicated in these English daily programmes. Still, I trust these will be of some value. QM2 Daily Programme - 22 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 23 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 24 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 25 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 26 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 27 September 2023 QM2 Daily Programme - 28 September 2023

I think I just learned some new marketing terminology. Here's a quote from that article by The Points Guy that @aaaaa posted. 'It's a "something for everyone" approach that is part of Cunard's wanting to offer more options and more "activations" on its top decks.' I was puzzled by the term "activations". Apparently that's a marketing term where companies undertake "activations" to promote their products and increase brand awareness. I found an article from last year titled "Why (and How) Brands are Activating on Boats This Summer". I also discovered Cunard has a "PR Events & Activations Manager". And finally, here's a quote I found in several online trade publications. "Within the first month of welcoming Queen Anne into its fleet, Cunard will be offering opportunities for up to 500 of its most engaged travel partners from around the world to step on board during a variety of activations." This is probably old hat for most of you, but I have to admit that's a new meaning to me for the word "activations".