bluemarble

Yes, some rough calculations of mine show QM2 needing to sail at an average speed of about 19.3 knots for a typical 7-night westbound crossing. That increases to an average speed of about 22.7 knots for a 6-night westbound crossing. If anyone is wondering why Cunard decided to shorten westbound crossings rather than eastbound crossings, that's probably because westbound crossings take 10 hours longer. Add 5 hours rather than lose 5 hours for time zone changes, for a net difference of 10 hours longer duration going westbound compared to eastbound. I figure QM2 would need to average about 24.4 knots to make a 6-night eastbound crossing in those 10 fewer hours compared to a westbound crossing.

On QM2, first sitting opens at 6:00pm with last call at 6:15pm. There will be some queueing on the first evening as staff shows each group to their assigned table. That can be minimized by showing up a few minutes late the first evening. After that, you may go directly to your assigned table each evening as @TheOldBear has indicated. Sorry, I can't answer you questions about the hot drinks package.

That's correct. QV was in drydock at Harland & Wolff in Belfast for about three weeks during May 2022 after her stint as a support ship in the Caribbean and just prior to her return to service in June 2022.

I don't know of any definitive source for Cunard drydock schedules. I can tell you there is a gap in Queen Victoria's 2024 schedule during October 31-November 14, 2024. She completes a Spain and Portugal cruise at Southampton on October 30, 2024 and resumes service with an Amsterdam Short Break cruise from Southampton on November 15, 2024. Such a gap in the schedule is often a pretty good indicator of a planned drydock especially when there's a "short break" cruise scheduled immediately after the gap (although there are other possible explanations such as a charter). If that gap does indicate a drydock, then it probably won't involve much more than routine inspection and maintenance since that's only two weeks.

The "What to pack" page on the main Cunard website isn't all that helpful about the casual venues when all it has to say is "you’ll find many areas on board where casual dress is welcome." You can find the list of casual venues within My Cunard under "Before you sail", "Important to know", and "Packing for your holiday". Here is what it has to say there about the casual venues. "Of course, if you prefer to spend your evenings in more relaxed attire, feel free to dress casually as you visit any of the following venues: Kings Court or Lido Buffet, Golden Lion, Casino, Carinthia Lounge, Winter Garden/Winter Lounge, and G32 or Yacht Club. Non-ripped jeans are appropriate, but please refrain from wearing shorts, sports attire, swimwear or sleeveless T-shirts outside of the gym, spa and deck spaces." Not all those venues exist on Queen Elizabeth. For Queen Elizabeth, the list of casual venues is Lido Buffet, Golden Lion, Casino, Garden Lounge, and Yacht Club.

Cunard does very few six night cruises. The only ones I can find on itineraries the past couple years are segments from Civitavecchia to Southampton, Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, Adelaide to Fremantle and Fremantle to Melbourne. All those only had one gala evening scheduled. But I don't think those are valid to inform what will happen on a transatlantic crossing that's being shortened to six nights. The standard schedule on a seven night crossing is for the gala evenings to be held on the second and sixth evenings. My expectation for the shortened six night crossings would be for Cunard to still schedule two gala evenings and hold them on the second and fifth evenings. Of course we have no recent experience with six night crossings; certainly none since Cunard reduced the number of gala evenings from three to two per crossing. So this is simply what I anticipate will happen on the six night crossings. For the crossings that are being extended from seven to eight nights, I expect they will have two gala evenings, possibly holding them on the second and seventh evenings.

This may be a good time for an update on the 2023 voyages where I still need the dress code and theme schedules. We're almost there! I'm down to needing only the schedules for these two December voyages. That's just one each for QE and QV. If anyone could provide the schedules for either of these voyages, that would be very much appreciated. Queen Elizabeth Q335: 3 Dec - 17 Dec; New Zealand Queen Victoria V401: 23 Dec - 7 Jan; Canary Islands Celebration

Sorry, the last 6-night crossing I have in my itineraries was the eastbound crossing on April 26-May 2, 2011. The westbound crossing before that one on April 19-April 26, 2011 was 7 nights. It looks like all the 2009 crossings were still 6 nights. It was during 2010 when Cunard started adding 7-night crossings into the mix. Since May 2011, all crossings have been at least 7 nights. It's too bad it took scheduling conflicts at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal with all the inherent upheaval to existing schedules to see the return of a few 6-night crossings. To recap, for those who might be interested, I believe these are the three 6-night crossings that are going to be on QM2's 2024 schedule now. All three are westbound crossings. Jun 9-15, 2024 Jun 23-29, 2024 Jul 21-27, 2024 Similarly, for those who might be interested in longer crossings, I believe these are the two 8-night crossings and the one 9-night crossing (including Newport and Boston) that are going to be on QM2's 2024 schedule now because of the Brooklyn scheduling conflicts. All three are eastbound crossings. Jun 15-23, 2024 Jul 27-Aug 4, 2024 Oct 4-13, 2024

Thanks for that update. It's been quite a while since QM2 did a overnight in Halifax. My itineraries show she did a couple very early on in her sailing history during September and October of 2004 but none since then. On the subject of 6-night crossings, I believe the last one of those was over 12 years ago. That was a westbound crossing on April 26-May 2, 2011.

Reading between the lines from the list of impacted voyages, I think we can deduce voyage M419: Independence Day Celebration is going to be extended from 6 nights to 7 nights. The new dates for that voyage are apparently going to be June 29-July 6, 2024. I haven't heard if they might be planning to add another port call to that itinerary. And just for the record, to document all four of the conflicting 2024 dates for Brooklyn in one post, here is what I have and what I understand is happening with QM2's schedule at Brooklyn to resolve those conflicts. Jun 16, 2024 - QM2 moving to Jun 15 Jun 30, 2024 - QM2 moving to Jun 29 Jul 28, 2024 - QM2 moving to Jul 27 Oct 6, 2024 - QM2 moving to Oct 4

I've been reading elsewhere that the 14-night roundtrip crossing from New York previously scheduled for June 16-30, 2024 (M417A) is now going to be June 15-29, 2024. That's the resolution for the conflicting date in Brooklyn on June 30, 2024 I was wondering about. I'm also reading that will be an 8-night eastbound crossing and a 6-night westbound crossing, so the June 23, 2024 arrival/departure date in Southampton won't be changing if that is indeed the case.

It is MSC Meraviglia which is also causing the conflict on October 6, 2024. She's scheduled for an 11-night Canada/New England roundtrip from Brooklyn on September 25-October 6, 2024.

For the June 16, 2024 and July 28, 2024 dates, it's MSC Meraviglia who will be at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. It looks like MSC Meraviglia is also scheduled to be at Brooklyn on June 30, 2024 which would conflict with QM2's schedule. I won't be surprised to see an announcement concerning adjustments to the June 23-30, 2024 westbound crossing as well. I haven't figured out which ship is causing the conflict on October 6, 2024 yet. I'm not seeing MSC Meraviglia scheduled for Brooklyn on that date.

I'm seeing a report on other social media indicating the same thing may be happening to the June 9, 2024 westbound crossing as well. There is a report the previously scheduled call to New York on June 16, 2024 is being moved one day earlier to June 15, 2024 instead.

As I mentioned on the other thread started by @TheOldBear, it looks like they will indeed be removing the last two scheduled calls to Boston and Newport (on Oct 4 and 5) from the end of the previous Canada/New England cruise and are adding them to your cruise instead. Therefore the Canada/New England cruise (as a round trip from New York starting Sept 22, 2024) would need to be shortened from 14 to 12 nights. And presumably the cruise from Quebec to New York currently scheduled to start at Quebec on Sept 29, 2024 would need to be shortened from 7 to 5 nights as well. I'll be interested to hear what the folks on those cruises are being told. Those starting the Canada/New England cruise as a round trip from Southampton on Sept 15, 2024 will still have a 28 night voyage. And those starting the cruise in New York on Sept 22, 2024 and continuing on the Southampton will still have a 21 night voyage.

Very interesting, In essence, they are removing the calls to Boston and Newport from the end of the previous Canada/New England voyage (scheduled for 4 October and 5 October respectively) and adding those calls in reverse order to your eastbound crossing instead.

Good one! Some judicious use of punctuation in my post might have helped separate the port names from the evening dress code. Perhaps some of our contributors from the UK and France might offer opinions on "Southampton Smart Attire" and "Le Havre Smart Attire" as well. 😉

One more follow-up. Cunard have been using the same dress code and theme schedule for crossings for several years now. For westbound crossings, there are two gala evenings with "Black and White" and "Masquerade" for the themes. For eastbound crossings, there are two gala evenings with "Red and Gold" and "Roaring Twenties" for the themes. It would not surprise me at all if your 15-night roundtrip crossing including Le Havre in October 2024 matched this recently completed May-June 2023 itinerary. 18-May-23 Southampton Smart Attire 19-May-23 Le Havre Smart Attire 20-May-23 Gala Evening Black and White 21-May-23 Smart Attire 22-May-23 Smart Attire 23-May-23 Smart Attire 24-May-23 Gala Evening Masquerade 25-May-23 Smart Attire 26-May-23 New York Smart Attire 27-May-23 Gala Evening Red and Gold 28-May-23 Smart Attire 29-May-23 Smart Attire 30-May-23 Smart Attire 31-May-23 Gala Evening Roaring Twenties 1-Jun-23 Smart Attire

Ah, yes. I realized soon after my earlier post that you probably meant a voyage departing during the month of October 2024, not one departing on October 24th. My fault for not picking up on that. I understand the dress code and theme schedules are available for some of the early 2024 itineraries. But for October 2024, we will probably have to wait until sometime later this fall. Someone else may be able to advise how soon before departure bookings generally open for the spa and salon services.

Hi, @GaryEssex. I'm a little confused about which cruise you are on. I don't see any October 24 departures on the Cunard schedule for either 2023 or 2024. If you are on a 2023 cruise, your dress code and theme schedule can be found within the Day Calendar section of your booking in My Cunard. That will indicate which evenings are "Gala Evenings" (formal) and what the themes (if any) will be on those evenings. For reference, you can check out this sticky of mine documenting the 2023 dress code and theme schedules based on what others have told me they are seeing in the Day Calendars for their cruises. On the subject of spa and salon services, I'm not sure when those bookings open up, but I would have thought those would be available to book now in My Cunard for an October 2023 sailing. They are available to book for our upcoming September 2023 sailing, so if they aren't available to book yet for an October 2023 sailing, they should be soon.

@Mercruiser, I think you meant to post this link instead. https://apnews.com/article/alaska-arctic-port-nome-china-russia-588201b311513709404344fbc0d0e913

Yes, QE's next Japan-to-Alaska cruise is scheduled for May 24 to June 11, 2024. The itinerary is Yokohama, Hakodate, Aomori, Kodiak, Seward, Hubbard Glacier, Icy Strait Point, Glacier Bay, Victoria, Vancouver. There is also the option to depart May 14, 2024 to add a 10-night Japan/Korea/Taiwan cruise before the cruise to Alaska. You can also add an additional 10-night Alaska cruise to extend the cruise to June 21, 2024. It hasn't been announced yet, but the schedule for 2025 is likely to be similar. Note the direction is always eastbound from Japan to Alaska. There isn't a westbound cruise from Alaska to Japan. After QE finishes her Alaska season, she repositions to the Mediterranean, then Australia/New Zealand, and then back to Japan.

There is no way to see if the shareholder benefit has been appiled online. If you applied by email, you may or may not get an email reply. I usually get a reply within about 24 hours when I apply by email, but not always. When I used to apply by snail mail I never got any reply from Cunard. I think they may have sent confirmation to the travel agent I use to book my cruises in that case. At this point, I'd suggest calling Cunard customer service. They will be able to tell you if the shareholder OBC has been applied to your booking. Or if you use a travel agent, they can confirm.

Yes, that might have been a good opportunity to show a Cunard ship at Calvi in the "Where in the World?" thread. We have seen Calvi there but not with a Cunard ship. It qualified as a Cunard port because of a call there by Caronia.

It's also apparently a new port for the current Cunard fleet. I have no prior calls to Calvi recorded for QM2, QV or QE.