How late is “Evening” departure and can I trust it?

[Tonopah]

Our round trip crossing is not for another year, so I realize this will be taken with a grain of salt.

 

On our itinerary, our departure from Southampton is “ “Evening”. I thought I read somewhere that it might be around 9PM? Is that accurate? If so, a year out, barring things like weather or mechanical issues, etc, what are the chances we’ll leave that late (that the itinerary doesn’t change)? And if it actually stands, what time would we have to be back on board?   

[bluemarble]

I'm assuming from your posting history, your voyage is the 21-night round trip from New York, July 31-Aug 21, 2020.

 

The voyage details shown on the Cunard website for that voyage do indicate 9:00 PM as the departure time from Southampton on Aug 14, 2020. I would say that's a pretty reliable timing at this point. Some voyages have departed that late from Southampton in the past. The "all aboard" time is usually 30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time, so in this case that ought to be 8:30 PM. Of course the actual time you will need to be back on board will be provided once you are on board which I realize doesn't help much with your planning at this point.

[Tonopah]

15 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

I'm assuming from your posting history, your voyage is the 21-night round trip from New York, July 31-Aug 21, 2020.

 

The voyage details shown on the Cunard website for that voyage do indicate 9:00 PM as the departure time from Southampton on Aug 14, 2020. I would say that's a pretty reliable timing at this point. Some voyages have departed that late from Southampton in the past. The "all aboard" time is usually 30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time, so in this case that ought to be 8:30 PM. Of course the actual time you will need to be back on board will be provided once you are on board which I realize doesn't help much with your planning at this point.

Thank you. Yes, that’s the voyage. That might change things. That is a lot of time.

Edited August 15, 2019 by Tonopah

[bluemarble]

A couple fairly recent instances I'm seeing of QM2's scheduled departure from Southampton being at 9:00 PM were May 30, 2018 when she departed for Hamburg and June 22, 2017 when she departed for Cherbourg. I must say it is unusual to see a 9:00 PM departure scheduled for the beginning of a 7-night crossing to New York though. That said, QM2 is certainly capable of meeting that schedule, especially considering she gains five hours going west because of the time difference between New York and Southampton (and she used to do crossings in 6 days).

Edited August 15, 2019 by bluemarble

[princeton123211]

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

I must say it is unusual to see a 9:00 PM departure scheduled for the beginning of a 7-night crossing to New York though.

Thats because this is primarily being marketed as a 21 day round trip from New York and Southampton is sort of being treated as a port day rather than a turnaround day. My guess is that the 9pm departure is to allow those that want to tour London a chance to do so and not be as rushed as they would given the travel time back and forth from Soton. 

[Tonopah]

27 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Thats because this is primarily being marketed as a 21 day round trip from New York and Southampton is sort of being treated as a port day rather than a turnaround day. My guess is that the 9pm departure is to allow those that want to tour London a chance to do so and not be as rushed as they would given the travel time back and forth from Soton. 

That’s what we were thinking, too. It will be nice for us. We can take a leisurely morning and just wander around town in the afternoon or maybe catch the Red Funnel to the Isle of Wight.

[North West Newbie]

45 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Thats because this is primarily being marketed as a 21 day round trip from New York and Southampton is sort of being treated as a port day rather than a turnaround day. My guess is that the 9pm departure is to allow those that want to tour London a chance to do so and not be as rushed as they would given the travel time back and forth from Soton. 

 

I’m not so sure about that. Cunard bundles all sorts of combinations of consecutive voyages and, even on turnaround days at Southampton, Cunard operate tours for those guests in transit.

 

The final week of the OP’s trip is being sold as a SOU to NY [Journey of Genealogy in association with Ancestry 2020] (M025) which together with the following week is also being marketed as a SOU to SOU roundtrip TA (M025A).

 

Those two voyages are likely to attract significant numbers and therefore the 14 August 2020 must be a normal turnaround day and the later departure is more than likely due to other operational reasons.

 

All that said, the reason for the later departure is irrelevant just as long as the OP gets to enjoy the locality before embarking on the final leg of their journey across the pond.

[david,Mississauga]

18 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Thats because this is primarily being marketed as a 21 day round trip from New York and Southampton is sort of being treated as a port day rather than a turnaround day. My guess is that the 9pm departure is to allow those that want to tour London a chance to do so and not be as rushed as they would given the travel time back and forth from Soton. 

 

The 21-day round trip was showing as sold out a few weeks ago, although every now and then a few staterooms become available. There is ample accommodation available if booked as two segments. In Princess Grill, for example, there is currently only one stateroom available for the 21-day trip but 23 available for the 14-day e/b crossing. There were 10 available for the 7-day w/b crossing when I checked a week ago.

 

As a point of interest there was a considerable difference in fare for at least some categories between booking it as two voyages as opposed to the one voyage. We originally booked a sheltered balcony for the 14-day e/b and decided two months later to book the 7-day w/b. By booking it as two separate crossings we saved Can.$1200 each.  Other categories, however, were more expensive to book as two voyages.

Edited August 16, 2019 by david,Mississauga