Firstly, thanks so much for all the viewings and postings – what a great start to the Blog and fantastic to see there is so much interest from guests past, present and hopefully future. Please keep the comments coming in and of course ideas for future subjects. As Graham Lake quite rightly said in his posting (thanks Graham), this Blog is for the whole Cunard family stretching beyond Queen Victoria to our sisters, Queen Mary 2, QE2 and to our new Queen Elizabeth as well as our shore side team in Southampton and you our readers at home.

I know I was going to chat to David Hamilton (Queen Victoria’s Hotel Manager) this week, but realizing it was Queen Victoria’s maiden sailing to the Black Sea, Queen Elizabeth 2’s birthday on the 20^th, and Queen Mary 2’s 100^th Transatlantic crossing on the 21st, I hope you don’t mind if we leave David until next week. Sorry David!

So, yes this has been an historic week for all three Cunard Queens and as you will probably know, at Cunard we love celebrating milestones.

Thank you to QE2’s Entertainment Director, Warren Smith who told me about the nostalgic atmosphere on QE2 as she celebrated her final Cunard birthday. Warren told me: “It was a wondrous day on the ship’s Autumn Colours Voyage, and on this day 41 years ago a ship slipped down her slipway at 2.28pm on the Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland… A legend was born.”  This was celebrated with a special cover of the Daily Programme.

Click to enlarge

Also thank you to QE2’s Hotel Manager John Duffy who added:

“It was appropriate that QE2 was in St. John, New Brunswick on the 20 September 2008, the 41st Anniversary of the launching, as this section of Canada is where Samuel Cunard came from. Even more appropriate, the following day, QE2 visited the actual birthplace of Samuel Cunard, Halifax, Nova Scotia. He would have been a proud man knowing this icon, QE2, was part of his Cunard Fleet. During the evening we had an excellent turnout for the Anniversary Ball in the Queen’s Room.  Of course the ship was the main feature of novelty dances, and prizes included the Programme Covers from her 40th Anniversary, 20 September 2007, signed by Senior Officers. At each show in the Grand Lounge, the Entertainment Director gave a short message to the audience about the launching 41 years earlier and how QE2, became a legend and the most famous and loved ship of all time.  The reaction of the audience at both shows was tremendous applause and obvious appreciation of the Entertainment Director’s words.”

Warren went on to say that the party continued late into the night with a “Launching Party” in the Yacht Club and it was widely agreed it was a fitting celebration for QE2’s last Cunard birthday, as she will leave the fleet in November for a new life in Dubai.

Meanwhile, 21 September marked another important milestone for Queen Mary 2, as she set sail on her 100^th Transatlantic Crossing. Thank you to Commodore Warner for describing the scene as Queen Mary 2 set sail on this historic crossing:-  

“It was a warm autumn afternoon as Queen Mary 2, flagship of the Cunard line, slipped her moorings at the Queen Elizabeth II terminal in Southampton. I was on the Bridge and Chief Engineer Officer Ronnie Keir below in the engine room, she turned short round to port just south of the pier. Crowds had gathered off dock head to wave her farewell and they were saluted by her deep typhoon whistles – one being the original from Queen Mary herself. She sailed serenely down Southampton Water, crowds waved from vantage points ashore close to the River Hamble and the Warsash School of Navigation where Commodore Warner had trained over 40 years ago. Within the hour she had passed the excited crowds gathered off Calshot Castle and saluted Cowes on the Isle of Wight – the yachting capital of the world. Being Sunday evening flotillas of small craft paid tribute to her as she built up speed, taking her 2471 guests and 1270 crew down the Solent and out into the English Channel. Most guests were from the UK (1520) but many were from the USA (600). By 7pm she was up to 24 knots and heading WSW down the English Channel towards the setting sun which had left a spectacular pink horizon and inspiring hopes of fair weather ahead. The Hotel Manager David Stephenson toured the galleys in preparation for the evening dinner and Entertainment Director David Pepper prepared the first nights glittering entertainment. There was an expectant air and tangible ting of excitement vibrating throughout the great liner. By 7am she would be south of Bishop’s Rock off the Scilly Isles and heading out into the North Atlantic at the start of her 100th crossing……………”

And thanks to Queen Mary 2’s Entertainment Director, David Pepper who added “Today, Queen Mary 2 is celebrating her 100th Transatlantic crossing, but our first crossing was in April 2004 and we had the world media waiting in New York with all the major television networks waiting to board as we went alongside in our dock in Manhattan. Ninety nine crossings later we, as a ships company have grown in character and now have a loyal following of regular guests with our Cunard World Club parties growing larger on every crossing. We have maintained the Cunard traditions ensuring we are indeed legendary, elegant and of course memorable. So many ports have taken us to their hearts with literally thousands witnessing our arrivals and departures, and I know we all feel a sense of pride being part of this exceptional crew of the flagship of the Cunard Fleet; Queen Mary 2”

Here are some fascinating statistics for Queen Mary 2’s first 100 crossings which I’m sure you’ll find interesting:

• More than 229,000 guests crossing the North Atlantic
• 450 pets crossing the North Atlantic
• 97,000 pounds of lobster serverd
• 2,700 pounds of caviar served
• 206,200 bottles of champagne served
• Enough tea to fill nearly five Olympic-sized swimming pools

Queen Mary 2 has welcomed many notable guests, including HM Queen Elizabeth II, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Noor, Former President George Bush, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Hillary Clinton, Uma Thurman, John Cleese, Richard Dreyfuss, Carly Simon, Rod Stewart, Tina Brown and Harold Evans, Donald Trump, and Dame Shirley Bassey.

For us on Queen Victoria, we send greetings from the Black Sea, where Queen Victoria is sailing for the first time. Having been through the Dardanelles (North West Turkey), a site of so much history, we spent a night in Istanbul (more about the interesting belly dancer next time……but needless to say the front row of the Royal Court Theatre was completely full!) We then transited the Bosphorus straits with just 10 meters clearance under the Bosphorus Bridge, connecting Europe and Asia. Odessa is our first port of call in the Ukraine and it’s always great to make a maiden call at a port, as we all (guests and crew); feel that sense of anticipation in discovering somewhere new. At the Captain’s Cocktail parties, Captain Wright tasked me to find out why it is called the Black Sea. There are a few likely reasons but the most popular, is that apparently it can be pretty stormy in winter, (hopefully not in October!) and it’s thought that the name was given to it by sailors and pirates who were struck by its dark appearance when the sky turned leaden with storm clouds. The ancient Greeks called it as the Scythian Sea, after the tribes who held its shores at the time. It’s said that shipwrecked sailors could generally expect no mercy from the Scythians, who plundered the wrecks and made wine goblets out of sailors’ skulls. I’m hoping our welcome will be somewhat warmer! The Greeks also called it Pontos Axenos – the inhospitable sea – until they settled in Crimea, after which they apparently changed their minds and called it Pontos Euxenos: the hospitable sea. An interesting idea when according to holiday brochures you can even find naturist beaches along its coastline. Mind you I won’t be heading there, as beaches like these are usually occupied by the exact people who shouldn’t be baring all. Anyway I’ll tell you more about Odessa and Yalta next week when yes I will be chatting to Hotel Manager David Hamilton who recently joined Queen Victoria from QE2.

Meanwhile thank you again for reading what turned out to be quite a long blog this time, and thanks of course to the contributors from our sister ships to the Blog this week, I’ll be back next Thursday, so thanks again for logging on and I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers for now- Alastair

Greetings from the Mediterranean; yes it’s still hot and dry – on Monday, we saw rain for the first time in a couple of months as we came in to the Greek island of Zakinthos. Not that it seemed to dampen anyone’s spirits much – I think it made some of our British guests almost a bit homesick!

One of the aspects of my job as Entertainment Director that I really enjoy is the opportunity to meet so many interesting people. I know that may sound a bit of a cliché, but our on board enrichment programme called “Cunard Insights” means we have the opportunity to hear from some fascinating lecturers and luminaries. On Queen Victoria alone, I have had the pleasure of introducing many speakers from all walks of life, including Jackie Stewart, Aled Jones, Sylvia Syms, Roy Hattersley, Terry Waite and this week Melvyn Bragg.  In fact, to use his correct title, he is really Lord Bragg of Wigton, (a town in west Cumbria in the north west of England). He was made a life peer in 1998 and it’s an aspect of his work he takes seriously. However when I first met him he was very charming and quick to say “please just call me Melvyn Bragg”. He and his wife Cate Haste (an author and TV documentary director and producer for such programmes as “The Churchills” and “Prime Ministers’ Wives”), are on board for our Mediterranean voyage from Rome to Venice and between them offered our guests three lectures.

Melvyn Bragg will be a familiar name for those of you from the United Kingdom as a broadcaster, writer and novelist of nineteen books. He is probably best known for ITV’s “The South Bank Show”, which he has written, edited and produced since 1978. He also presents the Radio 4 weekly programme “In Our Time”, a series where he and his expert guests discuss the history of ideas, and explore subjects in culture and science. Mind you he was happy to admit to our audience that some of the subject areas are sometimes a bit too technical even for him, and this is a man who seems to be overwhelmingly knowledgeable.

Over nearly four decades of pioneering broadcasting Melvyn Bragg is also Controller of Arts for London Weekend Television and president of the National Campaign for the Arts. So it was on that back drop that I interviewed him on our on board TV show, broadcast to guest staterooms every morning and it did remind me a bit of the song “I danced with a man who danced with a girl who danced with the Prince Of Wales” Here I was talking to a man who had, at the last count, interviewed about 1,100 different famous people, but he was a consummate professional, and made my job very easy. He told me how Caroline Mathieson (who heads the Cunard Insights enrichment programme from our Southampton offices), asked if he would like to come on board and he thought “Well, why not?” This seems a good enough reason to me, but he did admit he was slightly nervous having only been at sea for about 2 hours before on a ferry, which he wasn’t sure even counted. When I asked him what the biggest surprise was about being on Queen Victoria, he confessed he hadn’t been sure how he would feel once on board, but marvelled at the space and the ability to “not do” as well as “do”, referring the vast array of activities on offer, where there is no pressure to join in. He remarked he was particularly impressed by the logistics and the operation of the ship, “I was brought up in a pub and it’s a pleasure to see things being done well” he added.

In his first lecture he discussed the English language and its roots in a region called Friesland in northern Holland, from apparently a group of about 100,000 people who migrated to the British Isles in about the 5^th century. Amazing when you think that today between two and three billion people speak forms of English and I was amazed to find out that there are more English dialects than there are languages in the world. So I must admit I do feel somewhat self conscious writing this blog, given Melvyn Bragg’s extremely articulate lecture.

A few days later just before we arrived at the small Greek Island of Samos, he opened the floor to his audience inviting questions about the many people he had met in his long career. He talked particularly fondly of Luciano Pavarotti and Liza Minelli amoungst others, not to mention a fantastic impression of Lawrence Olivier, as he described a meeting he had with him and John Osborne in a London restaurant. Sorry you had to be there for that one, but needless to say alcohol was involved! He told some wonderful anecdotes and told a captivated audience that he felt that often truly amazing artists had a remarkable inner self confidence that surpassed their training and background, and of course that’s something you can’t learn.

In between his lectures he’s finding time to relax and enjoy his holiday, and yes even he couldn’t resist the persuasive powers of the Istanbul carpet sellers. So if you have a carpet adorning your hallway which was purchased following umpteen cups of apple tea and a sales pitch to put the very best encyclopedia salesmen to shame, don’t worry you are in good company – I even over heard a guest saying to another “Yes of course I saw Melvyn Bragg looking at one very similar to this you know……..”

Well, that’s it from me this week, but I’ll be back next Thursday, with more news from the Cunard world and I’ll be chatting to David Hamilton (now on Queen Victoria) who many seasoned Cunarders will know as the Hotel Manager on many Cunard ships, including most recently, the QE2.  Thanks again for logging on and please do write in, I look forward to receiving your questions, news, views and ideas.

Cheers for now- Alastair

Hello again. I know we shouldn’t gloat, but we have been enjoying a stunning summer here in the Mediterranean,  in fact apart from a quick shower when we visited Livorno two weeks ago, I think it was back in the Baltic in July when we last saw rain.  Although it’s very hot (again something those of you in Britain may not want to hear), everyone is enjoying this incredible itinerary and I know our guests have appreciated the calm seas which again (not wishing to tempt fate) we have enjoyed all season. Mind you we British aren’t too good with extreme temperatures; I had to laugh when speaking to one of our guests the other day, who had been looking forward to the voyage for a considerable amount of time, remarked “It’s lovely but this is a bit hot for me”. I suppose we are a nation who likes the weather to behave itself and stay in the 60’s and 70’s (that’s 15 – 25 degrees Celsius). That’s another thing that always fascinated me; why, when the temperatures are low do we say Celsius, and when they are high we say Fahrenheit – dramatic effect perhaps! Mind you thank goodness for modern luxury air-conditioned buses, I can only imagine what touring these areas would have been like before this modern marvel.

Talking of travel modes, Queen Victoria made her maiden call to Santorini on the 9^th of September, and those of you who are familiar with this beautiful island will be aware, donkeys (although most were in fact mules) are one of the transport methods on offer. Approaching the island by ship is stunning and a short tender ride will take you to the bottom of what looks to be a sheer cliff. Then it’s decision time, you can choose the easy option and take the very modern gondola cable car to the top, or for the adventurous you can try a ride on one of what appeared to be about a hundred donkeys, or for the fit you could try the walk. Walking was the cheapest option and of course helped justify having a welcoming cold beer at the top, but no one warns you about the effects all those donkeys’ digestions has on the state of the track, not to mention the nasal passages. It certainly adds a whole new meaning to taking in all that lovely fresh Mediterranean air, not a sensation I had been anticipating. However being a farmer’s son and country boy, this wasn’t as much of a shock to the system as it was to the flip flop wearing group, who spent their time concentrating on where they walked, for fear of stepping in something they would rather not. Yes, sensible footwear is the order of the day and once you have started walking up, it’s a bit late to realize that may be your chic high heeled shoes aren’t the best things for such occasions. But odours and what had been deposited on the track aside, every time you turned another corner on that, (what seemed to go on forever), path you were rewarded by another amazing view and an opportunity to compare ships as you overlooked their top decks.  Once at the top you could hear the gasps of delight, from those who had now forgotten their need for oxygen half way up, as they admired the views whilst being overheard saying to others “Oh didn’t you walk up – it was only a bit of a stroll you know!” If that all seems too much like hard work for a holiday, don’t worry you can splash out 4 Euros (each way) on the cable car, or for the same money but more daring, a ride either way on donkeys, who actually looked reasonably content to have tourists of varying sizes plonked on their backs! Either way Santorini is a perfect place to visit for the day with lots of bars, restaurants and shops to visit, as well as the historical part that shows you the archeological sites discovered last century that had been covered by volcanic ash nearly 3,500 years before.

Well my time is up already but I’ll be back next week, with more news from the Cunard world, and I’ll be chatting to Melvyn Bragg (those of you from the UK will know him from Radio 4 and ITV’s “The Southbank Show”), who is sailing on Queen Victoria this voyage, but in the meantime, thanks for logging on. Please do write in, because it would be great to receive your questions, news, views and ideas, after all as I mentioned last week, this is our blog and We Are Cunard!

Cheers – Alastair

Hello, I’m Alastair Greener and I would like to welcome you to the first “We Are Cunard” Blog. I’m currently the Entertainment Director on Queen Victoria, and I consider it a privilege to be the first host of this blog and I hope this marks a great beginning of a new extended Cunard community. After all “We Are Cunard” is a phrase that applies to us all whether we work on Cunard’s legendary liners, work in the offices shore side or of course travel with us as our guests. One of the first things I noticed about Cunard, when I first joined the company, was the sense of family that exists between our guests and crew. Perhaps this is because so many of our guests, who keep coming back, enjoy being welcomed by familiar faces of crew members, who have many years of White Star Service under their belts.

So how will this new community evolve? Well that’s up to you really. We hope to hear from you and look forward to your suggestions and ideas that will help us shape this exciting new project. Initially though, along with my colleagues, I’ll update this blog once a week with stories from all three of our liners, as well as from you, our readers, and our shore side operation that does such an amazing job in supporting us on board. There’ll be interviews with Officers and Crew offering an insight behind the scenes, and maybe we’ll persuade some of them to share their trade secrets! Perhaps you have some requests of who you would like to hear from, in which case I’d love to hear from you. There will also be an opportunity to meet some of the many personalities who sail with us from Lecturers, Entertainers and of course our guests, who’ll tell us more about themselves and describe life on board, from a different perspective.

We’ll keep you updated with the news of what’s happening right now on our ships as well as future plans – you may even get to hear about it first on this website! We know Cunarders love the tradition and heritage associated with our ships (one of the reasons “Cunardia” was created on Queen Victoria, featuring the world’s first museum at sea), so we’ll feature some of our rich history and give you a flavour of days gone by, perhaps a nostalgic trip down memory lane for our most travelled guests. If you have stories you’d like to share, we hope you’ll send them in, it would be great to post them as a regular feature.

It really is all about Cunard and Cunarders, and what an amazing year this has been so far, as Queen Victoria approaches her first birthday after an incredible year, having already circumnavigated the globe visiting 6 continents and over 38 countries. A year when our flag ship Queen Mary 2 began her fourth year of iconic Transatlantic Crossings. There were those occasions like the three Queens event in New York (where for the first time in Cunard’s history three Queens plied the oceans), as well as the historic meeting of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth 2 in Sydney. Those were two days amoungst many I’ll certainly never forget, but it would be great to hear your stories too. This year we are also celebrating the life of Queen Elizabeth 2 as she leaves sea going service, but of course it is a year of mixed emotions as we bid her farewell in November. We’ll make sure this blog is part of that very important period of Cunard’s history. Then we’ll keep you up to date with the exciting future of Cunard as we prepare for a new sister in 2010, Queen Elizabeth, so I’ll try and get reports from the ship yard to mark her progress with hopefully some photos.

Below is an internal company video produced by our White Star Service training team. It shows the officers and crew preparing Queen Victoria for launch, for those same team members to watch as part of their pre-launch White Star training session. It shows so well the dedication of the team that we’d like to share it with our friends on this blog!

I’ll be back next week, letting you know what’s going on around the Cunard world, but in the meantime, thank you for logging on and being a part of our first blog. Please do write in, as I’m really looking forward to your questions, news, views and ideas, after all this is our website and We Are Cunard!

Cheers – Alastair