bluemarble

Thanks for your photo of Stamford. Here's what I said earlier about Cunard's connection to Stamford.. I found a source for that information on a site called "QE2 Abstract Log" (https://qe2abstractlog.com/). Investigation of the QE2 itineraries found on that site reveals the call to Stamford was part of this itinerary. May 17, 1987 Southampton, England, UK May 18-21, 1987 At Sea May 22, 1987 New York, NY, USA May 23, 1987 Stamford, CT, USA May 24, 1987 New York, NY, USA May 25-28, 1987 At Sea May 29, 1987 Southampton, England, UK So it looks like the call to Stamford was a one day jaunt from New York and back during a round trip crossing from Southampton. It may well have been a tender port for QE2.

As promised, here are my updated lists of the "seen" and "unseen" Cunard ports for this thread. Where in the World 2023-05-29.txt Cunard ports not seen yet 2023-05-29.txt

I did read the Queen Elizabeth Position thread before reading this post. But since these photos have gone unidentified for almost two days now, I decided to take on the project of attempting to identify them using only the clues provided in this post. Knowing it's an unseen port for QE leads to looking for unseen ports on her recent itineraries and that reveals Otaru, Japan as one of the prime suspects. Available images of the Otaru port area identify the building along the pier in front of QE in the second photo as the Otaru Ferry Terminal for the Shin Nihonkai Ferry. That second photo may have been taken from Otaru Park. The angle looks about right on Google Maps. Detailed analysis of the first photo reveals the building at the far left appears to have large Japanese lettering along the top although that lettering isn't quite legible. Other available images of the Otaru port provide matches to that building where the lettering reads 中央サイロ. Google Translate tells me that means "Central Silo". Further research identifies that building as the Central Silo for the Otaru Warehouse Business Cooperative Association. So in the interest of getting back into the game, I trust I've done enough to "forget" the other thread and independently identify these new port photos as Otaru, Japan. For consistency with how we've recorded other ports like this, I suppose it should be listed in our seen ports list as "Sapporo (Otaru), Japan" to join previously identified "Sapporo (Muroran), Japan". @sfred, by my count, this is seen port 630. We may be off by one in our counts. In post #4724 you indicated Fukuoka is port number 620. I think I have Fukuoka as port number 621. Here are the first few new ports I've counted since the last list of seen ports I posted with 617 entries. 618 - Busan (Passenger Terminal), Korea 619 - Akita, Japan 620 - Kanazawa, Japan 621 - Fukuoka, Japan I'll post my updated master lists in a subsequent post to assist with reconciling our port counts if they are indeed off by one. Plus it's about time to post the updated port lists anyway.

No problem at all, @Sue-B. In order to keep the game going we have been accepting personal photos showing any identifiable features of Cunard port cities even if they don't show the main port area itself. Thank you for the contribution of your Sochi photos.

I'm back in the game now after a most enjoyable voyage on QM2 and a couple days back home. I'm not sure I would have figured out those photos were of Sochi, so well done, @sfred.

Yes, Stephen Payne presented four outstanding lectures during our just-completed westbound crossing. The first was on Titanic, the second on Mauretania and Lusitania, the third a personal story on the design of Queen Mary 2, and the fourth on ships of the air (blimps, dirigibles and zeppelins). He received a standing ovation at the end of his talk on QM2. I felt extremely fortunate to have finally been able to attend his guest lectures on board QM2.

The final sunset from our current westbound crossing on QM2 taken this evening at our table in the Britannia Restaurant.

Sorry, I don't know what the TEMP markings mean on the new blades. I asked Dr. Stephen Payne about them after his lecture this morning and he didn't know, so I'm afraid it may remain a mystery for a while longer. By the way, Dr. Payne told me the new blades aren't actually newly-manufactured blades, but have been refurbished. Here is a photo showing the markings on one of the new blades in case it helps any.

At some point since we embarked QM2 on May 7th, at least two missing Commodore's Cufflinks have been replaced. There are now three new blades with bronze/brass colored coatings mounted near QM2's bow. I don't know for sure when the new blade on the starboard side first appeared, but the two on the port side have appeared since May 7th. The new blades have the following markings. Port side (leftmost two) QM2 BLADE № 1236•0950 LH TEMP:-17.8° QM2 BLADE № 1235•0949 LH TEMP:-17.9° Starboard side (leftmost) QM2 BLADE № 564 RH TEMP:-17.8°

I'm pretty sure the "Frontier" alternative dining theme is being newly introduced during this year's QE Alaska season. As such, it should debut very soon.

Unfortunately your Sept 8th sailing is one of the few occasions when Cunard are not adhering to their policy "At least twice on each seven-night voyage we’ll host a Gala Evening." Your 7-night sailing from Civitavecchia is part of the longer 14-night sailing from Southampton departing September 1st. It is usual now for Cunard to offer only three gala evenings on a 14-night cruise. But when they sell the second half of that cruise as a separate 7-night cruise, they ought to offer two gala evenings on that portion of the cruise as well.

Yes, indeed. Managed to tick the boxes on both Miniatur Wunderland last week during our first call to Hamburg during this cruise and then the Internationales Maritimes Museum today. In addition to Lego Queen Mary 2, the Internationales Maritimes Museum also has a more typically sized display model of QM2 in its section on cruise ships and a miniture model within the Cunard section of its massive collection called "The big world of little ships".

I'll offer the guess that photo was taken from the High Line in Manhattan. I see rail tracks in the photo, and the sign that reads "PROTECT THE PLANTS - STAY ON THE PATH" is identical to signs found along the High Line.

Here are some additional closer views I took of the Lego Queen Mary 2, @techteach. The overall scene is of Queen Mary 2 in drydock at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg.

Yes, that's the Lego Queen Mary 2 on display at the Internationales Maritimes Museum in Hamburg. Finally got to see it in person today during the real QM2's call here today. It's made of approximately 780,000 Lego bricks. Length: 690 cm. Beam: 82 cm. Height: 144 cm. Weight: about 870 kg. Construction time: approximately 1,200 hours (January-June 2008). Builders: René Hoffmeister and Klaas H. Meyaard.

Queen Mary 2 in Hamburg today! 😀

Yes, that was somewhat remarkable, wasn't it? During this morning's arrival announcement, the officer mentioned it rains in Bergen 315 days per year but we had managed to arrive on one of the 50 days when it doesn't.

The cover charge for Steakhouse at the Verandah is $25 per person for lunch and $45 per person for dinner if booked in advance. If you wait to book on board, the charge becomes $30 per person for lunch and $50 per person for dinner. That entitles you to one item from each course except for those items (such as the Wagyu beef) which incur an additional charge. If you wish to order multiple items for any given course, the $7.50/$12.50 additional charge would apply for each additional item per course. Pre-booking opens 14 days prior to your departure date. You should have no difficulty finding availability if you wait to book on board. But as indicated, Cunard now offers the incentive of a $5 per person discount if you book Steakhouse at the Verandah in advance.

This wording from the daily programme may help inform the discussion of "optional" gala evenings. This is for the "Gala Evening - Optional" scheduled on our recent sea day between Southampton and Hamburg. This is the only wording that differs from what is stated on regular gala evenings. I found it interesting that the word "optional" does not actually appear anywhere in the daily programme's discussion of the evening's dress code. "(Smart Attire is acceptable for guests who are finally disembarking tomorrow if preferred)"

QM2 in Bergen today. Not quite as picturesque a scene as the previous fjord photos. The weather was glorious for us to explore the city on our own. Flowers and trees are in bloom throughout the city parks.

QM2 in Skjolden, Norway today. Another lovely scenic fjord excursion for us today.

Here's my contribution showing QM2 at Olden today. We took a wonderful Geirangerfjord Cruise excursion from Olden. It brought back some fond memories of our previous visit to Geiranger 15 years ago on QE2.

Today's sunrise approaching Olden, Norway on QM2.

On QM2 it's actually the opposite. The fixed sittings are on the lower level of Britannia (deck 2) and open dining is on the upper level (deck 3) on QM2.

We are having a great time on board QM2. Thanks for asking. It was supposed to be a 26-night round trip voyage from New York, but the cancellation of the April crossings called for a change of plans. Instead of a flight to New York prior to the voyage starting there on April 30, I was able to rebook us on a flight to London to join the voyage starting in Southampton on May 7. It will now be a 19-night voyage ending in New York. We stayed at the Rubens at the Palace Hotel in London for a couple nights which meant we were there to take in some of the festivities for the coronation. We had planned to join the crowd watching the events on the big screen TV in St. James Park, but the rain on the day meant we watched at the hotel bar instead. We did get to see in person the empty royal carriages and some of the mounted units coming and going from the Royal Mews as well as the Red Arrows flyover. Embarkation in Southampton was easy. With priority embarkation, we were on board about 1:00pm. For our first stop in Hamburg, we took the excursion to Miniature Wonderland. That lived up to all our expectations and then some. Today in Alesund, we did the Hjorundfjord Cruise excursion. The scenery was absolutely stunning.