Greetings from Queen Victoria as we cross the Equator heading North to Saipan. Our bloggers in the UK may be interested to hear that a documentary filmed for the BBC Two Timewatch series on QE2’s farewell voyage to Dubai, is being screened tomorrow night (28th February) at 8pm UK time on BBC2.
There are very few harbors in the world that can welcome Cunard Liners quite like Sydney. In fact for me it is up there with New York and Venice for sheer breathtaking views. I have sailed in to Sydney quite a few times and despite having to get up at 5.30am, to watch the sun rise over iconic structures like the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, it’s always worth it. But before I get in to this last week on Queen Victoria’s World Cruise, here’s “This week in Cunard’s History” for the week of the 27th February to the 5th March
February 27 2001
Pamela Conover becomes the first woman at the helm of Cunard when she is appointed President and Chief Operating Officer.
February 29 2008
Queen Victoria makes maiden call at Port Douglas.
March 2 1950
Caronia transits the Suez Canal for the first time.
March 5 1975
QE2 makes her maiden call at Kobe, Japan.
So back to our arrival in Sydney; I would have been up on deck early anyway but this time I had to call in to a local radio station to describe the sail in which of course was very easy with so much to see. As it turned out however, they were more interested in Queen Victoria. There is no question that there is something special about Cunard and our ships, that when they arrive in ports around the world, there’s always a tremendous amount of interest. It was also great to see so many of our guests on deck listening to a commentary from the bridge (ours I might add – not the harbor Bridge!) I managed to get on deck as dawn was breaking to take this picture of two of the most famous landmarks in the world with the Cunard house flag in the foreground fluttering in the gentle daybreak breeze.
We are too tall to fit under the Harbor Bridge, so we docked at Circular Quay, which is a perfect place to start discovering Sydney with all the ferries coming and going from there, as well as trains and busses etc. Yet again we were so lucky with the weather with Sydney enjoying its best day of weather for a week or so. This picture shows not only what a stunning place this is to be berthed, but also puts Queen Victoria’s size in to perspective against such an incredible backdrop.
There is so much to do in Sydney and our guests were lucky to have two days to do as much sightseeing as possible, with a few trying the now famous Harbor Bridge Climb which I can thoroughly recommend. There’s a ferry to take you to the beautiful beaches at Manley or a bus to the famous Bondi beach which definitely has a strong English seaside town flavour to it – just a little warmer! There’s a lot to discover and much of it is within a short walk of the ship, such as the historic Rocks district where amoungst all the carefully restored old buildings on George Street, I discovered what claimed to be Sydney’s oldest pub – The Fortune of War.
Convicted of theft, Samuel Terry arrived in Sydney in 1816 and his fortunes definitely changed as he established the pub twelve years later. As he built his property empire he gained the name of the “Rothschild of Botany Bay”! However it burned down and what we see today is a building built in 1922 which means according to the staff at The Lord Nelson up the road on Argyle Street, that they are in fact the oldest hotel in continual use as the same building!
It was built in 1842 and gave me an excuse to have one of their beers brewed on the premises! Then it was time for a bit of shopping and yes I did buy a didgeridoo. I know what you are going to say but - well, I didn’t have one and it seemed a great idea at the time and at least I am not flying home! Little did I know how hard it is to play or even get a sound out of it. However that night back on board Queen Victoria, we had invited a local show featuring Aborigine music and dance, to perform for our guests. I met the leader of the group called Gambala (though for some reason he said I could call him Paul!),
He showed me the technique of how to play this incredible instrument, which is thought to be one of the oldest in the world. He showed me how to play it, but I still couldn’t despite his best demonstration. It takes incredible mouth and diaphragm control as well as loads of practice. Like all things it looked a lot easier than it was - still it’ll look very nice somewhere in a corner at home! The show with the dancers was wonderful as they illustrated how the Aborigine culture can communicate through dance.
They looked fantastic and it turned out to be very much a family affair. With a great deal of pride they showed us how they pass on their traditions through the generations.
All too soon it was time to leave this amazing city, but yet again the crowds gathered to see us off for another year. As we waved our farewells we all had another chance to add to our photo collections – I mean it doesn’t get much better than this does it!
We had two days at sea sailing along Australia’s eastern coast to get to Queensland and the port of Yorkey’s Knob (and before you ask – it’s named after the man who apparently came here at the beginning of the 20th century and saw a hill that resembled a door knob). It is a small port that serves as a gateway to the City of Cairns, which is a popular destination for tourists. It is also one of the best access points for the Great Barrier Reef which unlike the Great Wall of China, can actually be seen from space. It’s a beautiful part of the world and we just got everyone on board that evening before it started to rain. Wow we have been lucky with the weather – again!
The next day turned out to be Shrove Tuesday which meant another World Cruise tradition was going to take place. It was time for interdepartmental rivalry as 17 teams of the ship’s crew gathered to see who was going to take the crown from the Musicians who won last year. I’ll avoid the obvious jokes about pancake tossing, but I can tell you, so fierce was the competition, that the Britannia Restaurant waiters were divided in to two teams (upper and lower level). After a stewards enquiry as to whether the pancakes had been flipped sufficiently (oh yes it was very competitive!), in the end it was the Britannia Tigers who won the crown. Here are the victorious team pictured with Captain Wright.
Well that’s it for another week but I’ll get you some more news soon as we progress north. Alas as we approach the Equator again on the 27th our summer will be over again but we will have ports such as Nagasaki, Hong Kong and Shanghai to look forward to. Until then all it leaves me to say is thanks again for reading and for all your comments – keep them coming! Cheers for now, Alastair
What a week of romance it’s been on Queen Victoria on her World Cruise. I’m sure everyone who has ever been on board any ship will agree it is a very romantic experience (well perhaps not on an oil tanker but you know what I mean!). Our guests and crew certainly made the most of it with lots of celebrating going on for both our guests and crew, so I thought I would share a few of those stories this week as we officially arrive “Down Under” with visits this week to Auckland and Lyttleton in New Zealand and Hobart, Tasmania. I also have to apologize to Phillip regarding my omission of our visit to Los Angeles in last week’s blog. You are right it wasn’t deliberate and of course our guests had a great time in the City Of Angels with many taking the opportunity to visit Queen Mary in Long beach. There are always so many things to chat about on the Blog that I’m afraid some things do get missed – but thanks for reminding me. Also a big hello to those of you who are reading this at home having spent time with us on the World Cruise so far, and thank you for saying you’ll be watching us as we continue our circumnavigation. Let me know if there is anything you want to hear about in particular.
Meanwhile before I get in to this romantic week on board Queen Victoria, here’s “This week in Cunard’s History” for the week of the 20th to the 26th February.
February 20 2007
QE2 meets Queen Mary 2 on world Cruise in Sydney - first time Queens together in Sydney since the Originals of each in 1941 as troop ships. QE2’s visit to Sydney is nearly 29 years after her maiden call.
February 21 1905
Carmania (sister ship to the Caronia) is launched and together they are known as “The Pretty sisters”.
Carmania is the first in a generation to have turbines (as opposed to quadruple expansion engines).
February 21 1920
The Imperator has her first sailing under the Cunard flag from Liverpool making her the largest passenger liner to ever enter the Mersey.
February 24 1925
Carinthia II is launched. She was originally going to be Servia but the name got changed to Carinthia at the launch
February 25 1947
The Parthia is launched at Harland & Wolf Shipyard, Belfast
I will come to a bit of news of where we have been and what we have done this week, but firstly here are three tales of romance on board Queen Victoria.
As Valentine’s Day was going to be on the day Queen Victoria was visiting Lyttleton, (the port for Christchurch); we decided to have the Valentine’s Ball the night before so that guests could have the whole day to prepare. The Queens Room looked fantastic and set the tone for a wonderful evening. During the voyage we had spent some time chatting to a couple, Malcolm Pearson and Pat Kettle, from Kingswinford in the West Midlands, but none of us had any idea what he was planning. In one of our earlier Caribbean ports, Curacao, he had gone ashore and bought a ring so it was just a case of when and how to pop the question. Not wishing to be superstitious, Malcolm decide against proposing at the ball as this just happened to be Friday the 13th! So Malcolm took Pat to Hemisphere’s Nightclub and at one minute past twelve he borrowed a microphone from one of the band members, went to the middle of the dance floor and got on one knee. As with all great stories she said yes and I took this photo of them the next day by the magnificent clock in the Royal Arcade.
They leave us in Sydney but I know they’ll be reading this back at home so again our congratulations to you both from all of us on Queen Victoria.
Valentine’s night itself was a very big celebration and all our guests were greeted by a fabulous display as they entered the Britannia that night.
Then in true White Star Service style all the ladies were presented with a red rose by our Bellboys which was clearly very much appreciated.
It was also a very special night for two of our crew members. Shelly Young, from Toledo Ohio, is a Nail Technician working in the Royal Cunard Spa, and eighteen months ago, whilst working on Queen Mary 2, she met Arlo Fuller, from Gillingham in Kent, who was the ship’s Computer Services Officer. However they soon found themselves working on different ships but were reunited in October last year and have subsequently managed to be together now on Queen Victoria. On Valentine’s night Arlo surprised everyone, and most of all, Shelly, by arranging for a ring to be delivered to their dining table as they began desserts and I was there to capture the moment with my camera just a few moments later!
So love can blossom on board for the crew as well and of course we are delighted for Arlo and Shelly who haven’t stopped smiling since!
Wishing to make the most of the romantic season we made one of our regular features even more special this voyage. It’s always great to see couples take part in the “Renewal Of Vows Ceremony” and this voyage it was particularly busy and was made even more special as guests were entertained by our Queens Room singer; Paul Ritchie.
One of the many extra activities we did for Valentine’s Day is to invite guests to write poems and messages to their loved ones and this was then put together on a special sheet to go with that morning’s Daily Programme. We also decided this was a great opportunity to raise some more money for our World Cruise Charities, so we invited guests to add a contribution to their ditty with the guest contributing the most, having their dedication printed on the front page of the Valentine’s Day Daily Programme. I’m pleased to say this year we had a lot of creativity from our guests and raised over $300 for the charities.
On that subject I have just found out some great news from the gentleman whose dedication appeared on the front page last year; on our maiden World Cruise. Marc and Wanda Winchester were on board last year and I am not sure how inspirational the poem Marc wrote was, but baby Zsa Zsa Winchester was born on the 22 October last year so we are thrilled to announce that we believe she is probably the first Queen Victoria baby!
Fantastic news and it was lovely to hear from Marc and Wanda who made so many great friends last year and we all wish them the very best for the future and look forward to welcoming the newly expanded family back on board soon.
Amoungst all this romance we continued with our World Cruise and last Thursday arrived in Auckland and were incredibly lucky with the weather with storms arriving almost on cue as we left. It’s a great city and as usual we were greeted very warmly and our guests loved “Haka the Legend” a special performance of Maori songs and Poi dancing which was staged that afternoon in the Royal Court Theatre. After a day at sea we arrived in the South Island and the port of Lyttleton which is the gateway to Christchurch. Lyttleton itself is a lovely port and is surrounded by stunning scenery.
Christchurch is just 20 minutes away and is a beautiful town which is claimed (by the locals), to be almost as English as England! Well it must be – they even have their version of “Punting on the Avon” with one side being called Oxford and the other Cambridge!
After a couple of days crossing the Tasman sea which many of you know has the reputation for being a little lumpy, (though I am pleased to say it was quite well behaved this time), we docked in Hobart Tasmania on a beautiful sunny day. Again we were lucky as this was apparently the best day they had enjoyed for a while and it was certainly appreciated by all of us. What a great place Hobart is, not only very friendly but there’s a lot to do from visiting the historic Port Arthur or enjoying the city’s “Salamanca” district with its superb restaurants, shops and pubs – I can personally recommend the local beer – Cascade Ale!
Oh and just before I sign off I have heard that love is definitely in the air on Queen Victoria, as another guest Terry Martinelli from Torrington in Devon, has this evening proposed to his sweetheart, Lynda McLaughlin who also said yes, so congratulations to both of them as well.
That’s it for another week and I know I still have the interviews I promised which will hopefully be next week along with a report from the stunning city of Sydney. Thanks again for reading and for all your comments – keep them coming! Cheers for now, Alastair
There are many key moments on a World Cruise, but this week had two of the most remarkable. Within a few days we had crossed the equator marking a transfer from Winter to Summer, and then four days later crossed the International Dateline, meaning that for Queen Victoria there was no 8th of February – weird concept I know, but I’ll talk about that later. Meanwhile thank you again for all the questions and comments as it’s always great to have the opportunity to respond. In answer to your question Christian, I’m pleased to tell you that the Boston Cup is still on Queen Mary 2 located between the Queens Room and the Photo Gallery. Thanks to Andy Fitzsimmons for giving our readers a link to the photo of this beautiful cup. For those of you who didn’t know, the transfer of the Boston Cup on the 1st of May 2004, from QE2 was made to symbolise Queen Mary 2 becoming the flagship of Cunard Line and in effect , the flagship of the British merchant fleet.
Meanwhile before I get in to this week on board Queen Victoria here’s “This week in Cunard’s History” for the week of the 13th to the 19th February.
February 14 1978
QE2 makes her maiden call at Auckland, New Zealand
February 17 1954
Saxonia II is launched by Lady Churchill at John Brown Shipyard, Clydebank and goes in to service on the Canadian emigrant run
February 17 2008
Queen Victoria makes maiden call at Wellington, New Zealand
I promise I won’t talk too much about the weather, given the freezing conditions most of you are experiencing back at home, and I suppose it would be very tactless to mention how many people on board (both guests and crew) are a little sunburned after the last few equatorial days. This leg of the World Cruise does have a lot of sea days so we have been busy with a lot of extra events and activities including matinee performances from RADA (The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Graduate Company on board for this leg), and the “Salon Art Culinaire” event. This was an amazing spectacle provided by our team of very talented Chefs. They worked in to the night preparing the Queens Room for a display of their artistry. Overseen by Executive Chef Nicholas Ollroyd (from Yorkshire) and his younger brother (by just 17 minutes!), Executive Sous Chef Mark Ollroyd, the team put together a magnificent display while guests had the impossible task to choose which should win this year’s coveted prizes.
Queens Room
Salon Art Culinaire
As expected, it was a huge success and gave our guests an opportunity to congratulate the chefs in person for their hard work and talent.
It’s been tradition amoungst seafarers for more than 200 years that every time a ship crosses the Equator, a ceremony takes place whereby King Neptune is asked to grant safe passage to the ship and her crew, and certain initiations are carried out on those who have never crossed the line before (Pollywogs). I shan’t ruin the surprise too much for those of you who may one day take part in this ritual, but what I will say is that I’ve been told it’s all rather tame compared to our colleagues on cargo ships and in the Royal Navy! It is a big occasion and all the ship come out to see “Pollywogs” become “Shellbacks” in what can only be described as a rather messy affair. This photo gives you an idea of what takes place with King Neptune and his Court on one end of the pool and the poor Pollywogs at the other.
Underneath all that detritus (we didn’t dare ask what it was!) are Tony and Trish Heading from March in Cambridgeshire, who believe it or not pleaded with us to be part of the ceremony and recklessly enough said; ”Please go ahead and do whatever you like……..”! We did and believe it or not, they told us afterwards they loved every minute! Then it was the turn of the crew; Oh yes they didn’t get off too lightly either and within an hour the event was over but rather a lot had to be cleared up. I have to say Staff Captain Andrew Hall and the cleaning team weren’t too impressed by the mess we made!
Actually they were brilliant about it, and as usual did an amazing job in having the pool and surrounding deck areas sparkling clean very quickly. So I don’t know if this has encouraged you to admit being a “Pollywog” or not, when you take a voyage that crosses the Equator, you certainly can’t say you haven’t been warned!
As always King Neptune granted Queen Victoria safe passage at later that afternoon we crossed the Equator and began our summer, and despite the old wives tales didn’t feel a bump. Willy Robinson, our Chief Engineer, wasn’t too keen on me suggesting to guests that we all try the experiment of turning on the taps on in our bathrooms to see the water going down the plug the other way the moment we crossed – oh well may be next year!
The Officer of the watch was kind enough to take a photo of the GPS navigation system and the electronic chart the moment we crossed which is always fascinating to see.
GPS
Electronic Chart
You’ll also notice on the chart the international dateline which is a really interesting concept to get your head around and I’m not sure I understand it yet but I’ll do my best to explain how it works and why we miss a day. That’s right we went to bed on Saturday the 7th of February and woke up the next morning on Monday the 9th of February. So how can a day disappear? While the world is divided into 24 time zones, there has to be a place where there is a difference in days, somewhere the day truly “starts” on the planet. Thus, the 180° line of longitude, exactly one-half way around the planet from Greenwich, England; and 0° longitude is approximately where the International Date Line is located. Without the International Date Line, people who travel west around the planet would discover that when they returned home, it would seem as though an extra day had passed. This situation actually happened to Magellan’s crew when they returned home after their circumnavigation of the earth. The International Date Line is not a straight line, either. Since its beginning, it has zigzagged to avoid spitting apart countries into two days. It bends through the Bering Strait to avoid placing far northeastern Russia in a different day than the rest of the country. Unfortunately, tiny Kiribati was split, so as recently as 1995 the country decided to move the International Date Line, so that now eastern Kiribati and Hawaii, which are located in the same area of longitude, are a whole day apart.
What did this mean to us? Well effectively we were the last place on earth to experience the 7th of February and the first to experience the 9th. Maybe I just confused you even more? Either way the day disappeared which I am not sure if this is better or worse than the other way (west to east- which I have also done) where a day is repeated! The missed day does create some anomalies such as; what happens if your birthday lies on the day we missed. We thought that we should mark the occasion with a special party for the three guests and one crew member this affected, so we got a cake and had some champagne to mark a birthday I’m sure none of them ever forget.
A day later (was this the 9th or 10th – I’m getting confused myself now!), we arrived in the island paradise of Tonga. This archipelago of 171 islands has a population of just 100, 000 but its own monarchy with King George Tupou V coming to the throne just last year. Tonga is also known as the “Friendly Islands” because of the friendly reception accorded to Captain Cook on his first visit in 1773. This was our first visit to the island and our welcome was certainly very friendly, and this ship, which was somewhat bigger than the one Captain Cook arrived on, turned out to be the biggest that had ever visited the port of Nuku ‘Alofa.
Tonga is also one of the closest islands to the west of the International Dateline, so we had to celebrate by trying a local beer in the Dateline Hotel.
We are now heading to our next port of call – Auckland so you can expect a distinctly antipodean feel to next week’s Blog. Thanks again for reading this each week and please keep those comments and questions coming in. I’m afraid I have run out of space for the interviews I promised last week, but in the meantime I must apologize for the inaccuracy in last week’s Blog, when I mentioned that I had met Thomas Andrew’s great nephew, Phillip Andrews who of course was the Chief Designer of the Titanic and not the Captain. Thanks to Christian Rey and other readers for pointing this out. Anyway I will hopefully talk to him and others next week. Cheers for now, Alastair
Firstly I must thank you for the flurry of comments this week – it’s always great to hear your stories and click on the links you send in. I have to say I love the story from Marc Winchester, about receiving a certificate for the first confirmed pregnancy on board Queen Victoria. That’s a new one for me, so I would like to add my congratulations on the birth of your daughter Zsa Zsa. Meanwhile since last week Queen Victoria has visited Los Angeles and began her long voyage across the Pacific, but before I tell you about that, here’s “This week in Cunard’s History” for the week of the 6th to the 12th February.
February 6 1924
Aurania III is launched in Newcastle and enters service as the second set of triplets of the A Class liner
February 7 1925
Alaunia II (14,040 Tons) is launched at John Brown’s, Clydbank and enters service on the Canada route
February 11 1975
QE2 makes her maiden call at Bombay, India
February 11 2008
Queen Victoria makes maiden crossing of the international Dateline
Meanwhile back on Queen Victoria’s World Cruise; this is a part of the voyage for our guests to enjoy the eleven days at sea between the islands of Hawaii, Samoa and Tonga before reaching New Zealand. In fact one of the aspects many World Cruisers say they enjoy so much about this itinerary are the sea days, as they provide a great opportunity to not only to relax, but also to take advantage of all the activities and lectures on board. That of course means it’s very busy for us in the Entertainment Department, who do our best to ensure our guests have lots of events to choose from. We do a lot of extra activities which I’ll tell you about over the next couple of weeks including the legendary “Crossing the Line Ceremony”. This takes place when we cross the equator, and in one second move from winter to summer! I know those of you in freezing temperatures would love to be able to do that, and I’ll tell you more about that event next week. Although we have a lot on offer, there are always places around the ship to enjoy the quiet whilst overlooking the ocean. Mind you most guests seem to keep quite busy and one of the best compliments I heard the other day was from one of our guests who joined three weeks ago in Fort Lauderdale. She told me she had taken out three books from the library the day after she arrived on board, and still hasn’t had a chance to read any of them, so we must be doing something right!
After four days at sea it was great to dock at Honolulu on Sunday, as it’s such a great port with lots things to do. One of the main attractions, especially for our American guests, is of course Pearl Harbor, which is now a museum and memorial to the unforgettable events of the 7th of December 1941. It has all been incredibly well done, and here’s a picture taken from a helicopter of what Pearl Harbor looks like today.
The white canopy covers the USS Arizona, whilst the battleship on the right of the picture is the USS Missouri, and for all the guests I spoke to who visited Pearl Harbor that day, said it was a very moving and memorable experience.
For other guests the opportunity to visit Waikiki Beach was not to be missed.
Although it’s a great beach, albeit surprisingly small, I personally prefer some of the less crowded and equally beautiful beaches around the island.
Meanwhile we were showing the Superbowl on board the ship, but some of our guests seem to enjoy joining some of the ships company, watching it in a nearby restaurant called Hooters. Some of you may know that restaurant and understand the attraction – it was certainly very popular!
Before a packed deck party that night, we enjoyed a beautiful Sailaway, with Hawaiian music and a fabulous sunset as we watched one of our sister company’s ships “Oriana” sail ahead of us.
As we blasted the ships whistles we said Aloha (which is a general greeting in Hawaiian as well as meaning “Love”), and set a course for our next port Apia in Western Samoa where we arrive on Friday morning.
On a slightly different subject, there are many aspects of life at sea we all get asked about when we come home, and one of them is what is the social life like on board for the crew. Well I don’t want to give away all our secrets, but we do have a thriving crew club who, with our Personnel and Training Manager, organise many events for the crew from movie nights to barbecues and other celebrations.
Speaking of celebrations it is very likely that crew members will spend a birthday on board and this last week was the turn of one of my Entertainment Staff Rebecca Clancy. Rebecca, or Bex to her friends, is new to Cunard having just started her second contract. Yesterday she turned 27 (I’ve been reliably informed it’s not impolite to talk about a lady’s age when she’s under 30!), and we held a small party for her in the Officers Wardroom which happened to be the same night as a Hawaiian party which explains the team’s outfits!.
Bex, who is from Poole in Dorset, (and whose parents are regular readers of this blog!), said she enjoyed all the attention she was given by fellow crew and guests alike. It did help that I mentioned it on the morning TV show, but even she was surprised by the amount of cards she received from friends she didn’t even know she had – well that’s ships for you. In fact she was also thrilled to receive many cards from guests including a hand-made one from Mrs. Jennifer Gamble who has been attending Bex’s Scrapbook Challenge group.
Well that’s about it for now, but before next week I’m going to chat to some of our guests on this World Cruise. We have some very interesting guests including Cunard’s most travelled guests (just wait until you hear how many days they’ve travelled on Cunard ships). I’ll also be talking to Mr. Philip Andrews who is the great nephew of Thomas Andrews whose name you may recognise as the Captain of Titanic.
Cheers for now, Alastair
