Queen Elizabeth Aus summer season cancelled from 2026

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Again, facts matter.  Remember, that when in port, QE will use about 8 Mw of power (simply the hotel load), or about 64Mw-h for the entire port stay.  Do you think they continue to run all the engines while at the dock, just to burn up more fuel?  And, how do they get rid of the excess power, since the generators will only generate (burn enough fuel) to match the usage (8Mw)?  Juneau uses around 600-1000Mw-h per day.  Alaska gets about 33% of its power from renewable sources.

I assume also there is much potential for that 33% to increase.

[chengkp75]

11 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I assume also there is much potential for that 33% to increase.

I don't know for sure whether expanding hydropower would be economically feasible or not, but BC gets about 85+% of its power from hydro.  Tidal power in Alaska is also viable, due to their extreme tides.

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, chengkp75 said:

I don't know for sure whether expanding hydropower would be economically feasible or not, but BC gets about 85+% of its power from hydro.  Tidal power in Alaska is also viable, due to their extreme tides.

But I have read that the problem with tidal power is its inconsistency, with so much of the tidal movement being in the middle two hours of the tide. Does that make sense?

[ace2542]

12 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Again, facts matter.  Remember, that when in port, QE will use about 8 Mw of power (simply the hotel load), or about 64Mw-h for the entire port stay.  Do you think they continue to run all the engines while at the dock, just to burn up more fuel?  And, how do they get rid of the excess power, since the generators will only generate (burn enough fuel) to match the usage (8Mw)?  Juneau uses around 600-1000Mw-h per day.  Alaska gets about 33% of its power from renewable sources.

We are using the word gig differently.  1 GIG is ONE BILLION KWH but to uk trained energy brokers using the phrase GIG every day in conversation they are talking about 1 million kwh for one gig. They don't use the word megawatt when perhaps we should.

[Winifred 22]

45 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Who and why would Alaska be shut down?  Alaska is far more likely to implement shore power for cruise ships than a total ban.  And, who would shut the Caribbean down, given that the term "the Caribbean" encompasses many different nations?  Would they all need to agree to ban cruise ships?

 I agree with you . Given the fuss that Alaska made getting the Passenger Vessel Services Act modified when cruising restarted they are hardly like to be considering a total ban anytime soon. 

[WantedOnVoyage]

I favour a ban on "greenhouse gas" produced by those hectoring and harping about it. 

 

But more to the point, this repositioning makes sense and returns Cunard to its core markets.  I shouldn't but I blame the Australian deployment for "The Polo Shirt" even being mentioned in these pages.  It will be interesting to see what itineraries they come up with... I'd love some "no fly" ones from New York to the Caribbean.  

 

Now I need to find some great shots of LUSITANIA laying down a blanket of thick coal smoke c. 1907.  Those were the days. 

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

I favour a ban on "greenhouse gas" produced by those hectoring and harping about it. 

 

But more to the point, this repositioning makes sense and returns Cunard to its core markets.  I shouldn't but I blame the Australian deployment for "The Polo Shirt" even being mentioned in these pages.  It will be interesting to see what itineraries they come up with... I'd love some "no fly" ones from New York to the Caribbean.  

 

Now I need to find some great shots of LUSITANIA laying down a blanket of thick coal smoke c. 1907.  Those were the days. 

Not if you were one of the men who mined the coal, I suspect.

[ace2542]

1 minute ago, exlondoner said:

But I have read that the problem with tidal power is its inconsistency, with so much of the tidal movement being in the middle two hours of the tide. Does that make sense?

I seem to recall claims where made that have since been abandoned that Everton's new ground would be powered by the tidal waves of the Mersey estuary. That talk has dampened down somewhat in favour of the solar option

[NE John]

Considering also the positive and significant economic impacts of cruise ships docking in the Caribbean; there would be mini-revolutions in certain island countries if “ they” banned cruise ships in that region. Plus, also many workers from South and Southeast Asia would be out of jobs. These hard working crew, and their families back home, depend cruise ship business. 
The industry will work its way towards a less polluting future. 

 

[exlondoner]

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Very possibly

And, yet, you continue to cruise.

Those regarding biofouling of the hull

Once again, ace, you have your facts wrong.  World wide TOTAL shipping (tankers, bulkers, container ships, ferries, cruise ships) amounts to 3% of total greenhouse gas production (so your number is wrong), and cruise ships account for less than 5% of total world shipping (so you are about an order of magnitude out).  The rest of the global transportation system (buses, trucks, cars, trains, airplanes) account for 17% of GHG emissions, yet 80% of the world's economy moves by sea.

 

And, finally, ships, including cruise ships are working to reduce GHG emissions, as witnessed by Viking Cruises working to install hydrogen fuel cells on all their newbuild ocean ships, and Royal Caribbean already having small scale hydrogen fuel cells on some of their ships.  Not to say these projects have hurdles to overcome, and years of development for safety standards, but the change is coming.  Might want to get out and read a bit before quoting figures.

Havila is another line which seems to be making considerable strides with reducing emissions and fuel economy.

[foodsvcmgr]

Far more recent than Lusitania, here’s a rather horrifying shot I took aboard SS Royale around 1984-85.

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, foodsvcmgr said:

Far more recent than Lusitania, here’s a rather horrifying shot I took aboard SS Royale around 1984-85.

Very nasty, particularly for those on the stern decks. Was she an old ship? Was this common behaviour or a one off?

[chengkp75]

3 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Very nasty, particularly for those on the stern decks. Was she an old ship? Was this common behaviour or a one off?

Since she was a steamship (hence the SS designation), that was most likely lighting off a boiler, which almost invariably involved incomplete combustion.  One of many reasons there are very few steam ships around anymore (mainly just LNG tankers).

[chengkp75]

42 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

But I have read that the problem with tidal power is its inconsistency, with so much of the tidal movement being in the middle two hours of the tide. Does that make sense?

There are two types of tidal power generators.  "Tidal barrage" type plants use a hydro-dam to retain high water on one side or the other of the dam, and then use that "potential energy" from the height difference to generate power in the turbine.  This tends to extend the tidal periods behind the dam to much longer into the 12 hour tidal cycle.  "Tidal turbines" are similar to  wind turbines, but the blades are underwater, and use the "kinetic energy" of the water flowing with the tides to generate power.  While the water flow does slow during the ends of the tidal cycle, it almost never truly stops.  Tidal turbines can be used in places that don't have extreme tides (like Anchorage), such as rivers.  Due to water's relative density to air, tidal turbines can generate many more times the power per square foot as wind.  The problem with tidal power is the initial cost.

[chengkp75]

Another factor against "closing down" Alaska, is that it is within the North American ECA, which mandates use of 0.1% sulfur diesel fuel, and not the 0.5% sulfur residual fuel that can be used outside the ECA (200 nm from coast of North America), so that is a 80% reduction in emissions right there, let alone the worldwide reduction in fuel sulfur content from 3.5% to 0.5% in 2020 (an 86% reduction in emissions worldwide).

[Millieloulou]

May I suggest that chengkp 75 becomes a lecturer on board the Cunard ships. It would make exceptional listening.Better than some !

[sogne]

QA down under in 26?

[foodsvcmgr]

Ex Londoner - this ship was originally Costa’s “Federico C.” built in 1958, so she was around 27 years old at the time.

As I recall this was not typical of the entire cruise but nonetheless an example of something we don’t see anymore.

[bluemarble]

For the record concerning where QE will be positioned for her Caribbean season, several media reports have mentioned she will be sailing out of Florida as we might expect. I share others' questions about how that might impact QM2's usual Caribbean schedule sailing out of New York in the future.

[Winifred 22]

2 hours ago, sogne said:

QA down under in 26?

I am not so sure because unless they take QV off fly med cruises there will no ships sailing our of Southampton save for a few possible QM jollies between T A’s 

[Megabear2]

As Japan is going too how long will the Alaska season be?  Presumably based from Canada but to where, just round and round with no extensions?

Edited November 3, 2023 by Megabear2

[Poole Boy]

Interesting decision,  I would have thought  that the Caribbean being almost at saturation point from a cruise ship perspective Cunard would have a hard time selling QE at premium prices for 6 months of the year.  

[WantedOnVoyage]

Having dumbed down Holland America Line to near Carnival standards over the past decade, there really are no vaguely traditional cruise options to the Caribbean anymore so QUEEN ELIZABETH would fill a void of Carnival's own making.  

 

Of course, the real saturation point is that reached and exceeded in so many of these ports... four or mega ships, and they are simply overwhelmed.  And there is no "aren't cruises horrible and destroy the planet" nonsenses from the locals, either... tourism is THE industry so the ships will keep coming and before long fighting for quay space.  Looking for quiet solitudes when cruising?  Cross the North Atlantic in QM2... that's about the last unspoilt bit left!  

[Victoria2]

3 hours ago, Winifred 22 said:

I am not so sure because unless they take QV off fly med cruises there will no ships sailing our of Southampton save for a few possible QM jollies between T A’s 

I'd say can we swop QA for QV and have QV back S'ton making the home runs? Please! 🙂

[exlondoner]

QA has larger capacity, and European cruises are popular.