QM2 Spreading her wings

[Kiwi Kruzer]

A long way off

but check this out

 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10335867

[guernseyguy]

So if the QM2 is doing the 2007 World Cruise.....is this the end of the QE2....?

 

Peter

[KenC]

Hey Peter

 

Must be frustrating to be upstaged by your (much) younger sister.......

 

Ken

[guernseyguy]

Hey Peter

Must be frustrating to be upstaged by your (much) younger sister.......

Ken

 

touche!....tho we don't yet know whether she is up to the job (i.e. can they fill her...) What this suggests is that perhaps the Trans Atlantic QM2 season will shrink.....

 

Peter

[Cunard Cruiser]

My thinking is New Zealand is an extension of Cape Horn/West Coast Sailings (as in 2006). There is too much competition for the Caribbean, which QE2 would always do in Nov and Dec, and again the spring. QM2 did a series of Caribbean cruises out of New York in 2004 and the beginning of the year. My educated guess is the ship was half full since they offering steep discounting for these cruises. It is too bad Cunard is backing away from the islands AND Bermuda. I loved those Bermuda cruises.

[SY7DNEY CRUISER]

We Were On A Translantic Crossing On Qm2 In April 2005.

 

The Officers Said That The Qm2 Would Be Doing The 1997 World Cruise

That The Various Ports Were Being Accessed To Determine Which Ports Could Handle The Qm2.

There Was Some Doubt Whether She Could Berth In Sydney Or Would Have To Tender.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

There Was Some Doubt Whether She Could Berth In Sydney Or Would Have To Tender.

 

Sydney is the highlight of any World Cruise,so she would have to call there.

A lot of passengers would be disembarking and embarking so I cannot see that tendering would work.

I wonder...... if they can't get her into Circular Quay.......would they ,or could they, use the Wooloomooloo wharf?

[KenC]

touche!....tho we don't yet know whether she is up to the job (i.e. can they fill her...) What this suggests is that perhaps the Trans Atlantic QM2 season will shrink.....

 

Peter

 

Have faith mon brave!!! If I could afford it I would go in a heartbeat - always wanted to do a WC but only on a ship I liked (and we all know I wouldn't want to go QE2). They only have to fill up to another 800 berths - and do we know for a fact that QE2 sells out for the whole WC? Traditionally the WC ends in mid to late April which fits right in to the first transatlantic slot - also guessing that the WC will be from NYC to NYC.

 

This is great news - some great segments there to be booked in 2007, Australia, The Far East, sailing back from Cape Town (surely she won't fit the Suez Canal?)

 

Perhaps they are going to station QE2 in the Caribbean for the winter - which will no doubt please a lot of our American cousins!!! Or perhaps they are going to send her to Bremerhaven for 3 months to rip out all that wood and those dead end corridors that we assume may contravene SOLAS 2010!!!!

 

Ken

[Vic The Parrot]

Have faith mon brave!!! If I could afford it I would go in a heartbeat - always wanted to do a WC but only on a ship I liked (and we all know I wouldn't want to go QE2). They only have to fill up to another 800 berths - and do we know for a fact that QE2 sells out for the whole WC?

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

Yikes!

 

 

I still don't understand why the QE2 turns you off so much.

 

:(

 

 

Every time I'm on board, I can't find anything wrong.

 

:eek:

[KenC]

Hi Vic

 

it's really only the hype that turns me off .... but I just find QE2's public areas small and crowded and she has nothing that turns me on - and I have tried !!!!! Don't ask me to be even more specific again or QE2 fans will be hiring a hit man!!!!! Great looking ship from the outside - just have no desire to be onboard again ... 'nuff said?

 

Ken

[Transatlantic Tom]

Ken just passed on this info to me about a possible QM2 2007 World Cruise. Has there been any official announcement from Cunard that this visit to NZ is in fact as a part of a world cruise ????.....or might it be, as Sea-Sea speculates, simply a stop on a Pacific cruise ???

 

Tom

[guernseyguy]

Ken just passed on this info to me about a possible QM2 2007 World Cruise. Has there been any official announcement from Cunard that this visit to NZ is in fact as a part of a world cruise ????.....or might it be, as Sea-Sea speculates, simply a stop on a Pacific cruise ???

 

Tom

 

Tom,

 

No official announcement - the 2006 itineraries have not long been released, so yes, Auckland could be part of a Pacific itinerary - I'm sure they'll take her to Japan, what with the QE2 following there.....we'll just have to wait to see if other ports pop up - when I was on the QM2 they were suggesting that 2007 might see a World Cruise - but as 2006 South America was not announced until November 2004, and the QE2 2006 World cruise October 2004, I guess we'll be waiting until October to hear for sure.

 

Peter

[Transatlantic Tom]

Thanks Peter !!! I think you're correct - we'll just have to wait and see.

 

For a minute there Ken had QE2 (or RMS "Rustbucket", as he calls her) already beached in India !!!;)

 

Tom:)

[KenC]

Thanks Peter !!! I think you're correct - we'll just have to wait and see.

 

For a minute there Ken had QE2 (or RMS "Rustbucket", as he calls her) already beached in India !!!;)

 

Tom:)

 

Come, come, Tom get it right she aint no RMS as far as I know - so it's SS Rustbucket .... oh no, sorry she isn't steam anymore is she? Then MV Rustbucket!!!! (you rotter giving away my secrets!!!!). Anyway, I speculated that she might be heading for the shipyard or the Caribbean, not the beach at Alang (I wouldn't wish that fate on her).

 

If they are gossiping onboard QM2 about a World Cruise and marketing is running out of maiden sailings for her then I think chances are there will be a maiden world cruise in 2007. Doesn't make sense to take her all the way to NZ and Aus then bring her back the same way rather than complete the circumnavigation?? What do you think? From what I have read lately there are about 6 or 7 ships already doing world cruises late next year - so there must be demand.

 

Regards

 

Ken

[guernseyguy]

For a minute there Ken had QE2 (or RMS "Rustbucket", as he calls her) already beached in India !!!;)

Tom:)

 

Tom,

 

But don't you just know that in decades to come, aboard the RMS QUEEN CAMILLA Ken is going to bore the pants off people with 'Tales from the Glory Days on the QE2' long after she's razor blades!:D

 

Peter

[Transatlantic Tom]

Tom,

 

But don't you just know that in decades to come, aboard the RMS QUEEN CAMILLA Ken is going to bore the pants off people with 'Tales from the Glory Days on the QE2' long after she's razor blades!:D

 

Peter

 

Peter:

 

I would bet good money on that !!! As a matter of fact, I'm quite convinced that Ken is secretly one of the retired Masters of QE2....with a QE2 tattoo on his arm, to boot !!!

 

Tom

[KenC]

Tom,

 

But don't you just know that in decades to come, aboard the RMS QUEEN CAMILLA Ken is going to bore the pants off people with 'Tales from the Glory Days on the QE2' long after she's razor blades!:D

 

Peter

 

Hey Peter ... don't you realise that's why they are delaying the launch of QV - so that they can name her after the illustrious duchess of Cornwall !!!! And by the way .... what glory days would those be?????

 

Tom .... et tu Bruti ????? But the tattoo isn't on my arm it's on my ......

[Transatlantic Tom]

Ken:

 

I'm literally laughing out loud at that last one !! Bravo !!!!

 

I think that I could continue this "dialogue" with you and Peter ad nauseam !!!

 

I'm proud to be an American, but I swear the British are funnier than we are !!!

 

Cheers

 

Tom:)

[KenC]

Ken:

 

I'm proud to be an American, but I swear the British are funnier than we are !!!

 

Cheers

 

Tom:)

 

 

Tom ..... bless you, but we have to be !!!!!

[guernseyguy]

I'm proud to be an American, but I swear the British are funnier than we are !!!

Cheers Tom:)

 

Maybe its because we don't wait to celebrate 'Thanksgiving' in November, but do on the 4th of July? ;)

 

Peter

[Transatlantic Tom]

Maybe its because we don't wait to celebrate 'Thanksgiving' in November, but do on the 4th of July? ;)

 

Peter

 

Given the quality of a few of our public officials over here (might you guess to whom I am referring ???) I too would be inclined to celebrate "independence in reverse"....

 

As they say in NY, "Oy Vey" !!!!

 

Tom:D

[Kiwi Kruzer]

I just checked out the Cruise Schedule for the Port Authourity of Sydney and QE2 is booked in at the Overseas Passenger Terminal from.....

 

Wed 15 Feb 2006 to Fri 7 Feb 2006.......

 

and then again

 

Tue 20 Feb 2007 to Fri 23 Feb 2007

 

http://www.sydports.com.au/Cruising/CruiseSchedule.asp

[KenC]

Oh Rats!!!! - let's hope it's a provisional booking or they got the names wrong. And please don't tell me there is going to be a tandem world cruise!!!!

[Cunard Cruiser]

In regards to the Sydney Port Posting of 2007, could Cunard want to “hold the space” until they decide which ship is the doing the world cruise? I know that QM2 is more tonnage and longer, however QE2 and QM2 have the same draft.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Oh Rats!!!! - let's hope it's a provisional booking or they got the names wrong. And please don't tell me there is going to be a tandem world cruise!!!!

 

QE2 will do the traditional World Cruise.

 

QM2 will round the Horn and then circle the Pacific.

Both ships will make a majestic entrance into Sydney Harbour in tandem,

timed to bring Sydney to a standstill,and promoted around the world to make sure every one on the internet watches the two sisters enter Sydney Harbour.

 

In the evening, both ships slip anchor and sit in the Harbour,in front of the Opera House and with the Bridge as a background ,put on a firework's extravaganza ,while the 3 Tenors do a farewell performance from the steps of the Opera House,and Bette Midler parachutes into a giant clam shell in the middle of the harbour............

 

 

Any more ideas on upstaging this event?