Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 261 days

 

As Queen Mary 2 reached Dubai for the next leg of her World Voyage, Queen Victoria arrived in San Francisco for her maiden call – and what a welcome she received. I’ll post a special Blog covering that day very soon. Before we introduce you to Queen Mary 2’s latest Star of The Month, here’s Cunard’s history, for the week 29 January to 4 February:

 

 

31 January 1951	Caronia  makes her first west bound crossing of the International Dateline
1 February 1971	QE2 makes her maiden call at Freeport, Bahamas
2 February 1870	The keel is laid for the new Parthia which was to be Cunard’s finest ship to date. She was the first Cunarder to have baths – one on the Port Side and one on the Starboard side
4 February 1945	The beginning of the Yalta Conference, where Churchill used Cunard’s Franconia as his base. The conference, which lasted one week, was held with Roosevelt and Stalin.
4 February 2007	Queen Mary 2 makes her maiden call to San Francisco

 

 As many of you will know, each month we feature a “Star of the Month” from either Queen Mary 2 or Queen Victoria. The title is awarded to just one crew member per ship each month, as a result of guest and crew feedback, and then consideration by our on board White Star Committees. The “Star of the Month”, also has their photo displayed prominently in the Grand Lobby for guests to see, and it’s now a great pleasure to talk to Queen Mary 2’s latest star; Noel Lomandas who is a Buffet Steward.

 

 

On 5 January 1995, Noel joined his first ship, the Vistafjord, which was renamed Caronia in 1999. He started his career as a member of the utility team and two years later, on his third contract with Cunard, he was promoted to Assistant Waiter and then Waiter. He remained on Caronia until she went out of service in 2004 when he joined Queen Mary 2 as a Buffet Steward

 

At home he is married to Olivia, and with their children, seven year old Camilla Jasmine and three year old Earl Grey, they live in San Fabian in the Philippines.

 

 

At the moment Noel is assigned to the Room Service department, and his day starts early at 6.00am when the ship is in port or 6.45am if the ship is at sea. Having reported to his supervisor, Noel spends most of his morning preparing coffee or making toast for the room service trays and reckons he makes over 500 slices of toast each morning!

 

In the afternoon he sets up the trolleys in preparation for the following morning and then helps the Room Service team deliver orders to guest staterooms. His true dedication to “White Star Service”, lead to his nomination for “Star of The Month”. He received numerous recommendations from the guests he served, who consistently said they appreciated his excellent service and tremendous positive attitude.

 

He is often asked how long he has worked for the company and he told me that he is very proud to tell guests “since 1995”, and he considers the best part of his job to be able to meet our guests.

 

When he gets a break on board, he likes to play chess, watch movies in his cabin and sometimes he goes to the crew gym. He also likes to call home regularly and when the ship is in port he enjoys going out with friends to have some Filipino food which he can find in many ports Queen Mary 2 visits.

 

Becoming the “Star of The Month” also brings a prize which Noel said he would use towards his children’s future. Here he is receiving his award with (from left to right), David Stephenson, Hotel Manager, Osman Pinaolglu, Senior Maitre D’Hotel, Commodore Bernard Warner and Jeff Morgan, Food and Beverage Manager

 

 

At home on leave Noel loves spending valuable time with his family and also enjoys singing and playing the guitar. As for the future Noel told me that he hopes he will be promoted, which would also help him support his family even more as he would like his children to attend a good school where they can study. Noel certainly seems to be a true Cunarder and when I asked what “We Are Cunard” meant to him he replied simply that, “We are a big family”. I couldn’t put it any better.

 

Thank you Noel for taking the time to chat to me and also a huge thank you to Jeanne Pohling, who is the Hotel Manager’s Personal Assistant, who helped put this Blog together. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s another great story where our fellow crew members have been recognised for their hard work and White Star Service.

 

I’ll be back soon with more news from around the Cunard World, including some recent celebrations on Queen Victoria. As always, keep those questions and comments coming in, Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 259 days

 

As Queen Mary 2 continues her World Voyage with her maiden call to Muscat in Oman, Queen Victoria is coming to the end of her second leg of her World Voyage, arriving for the first time in San Francisco on Wednesday 27 January. If you want to watch her arrival on the bridge cam you can click on this link:

 

http://www.cunard.co.uk/bridgecam/qv_cam1.asp

  

We are not sure of the exact time that we will be passing under the Golden Gate Bridge but it will probably be between 6am and 7am local time (2pm to 3pm GMT).

 

A week earlier Queen Victoria was making her third transit of the Panama Canal. You can find out more about the Panama Canal and last year’s transit along with some great photos, facts and figures by clicking on this link:

 

http://wearecunard.com/2009/01/22/

 

Making the transit through one of the engineering marvels of the world is a real highlight of this voyage, and our guests were up very early to catch our approach to the first and probably most impressive of the three sets of locks. As I mentioned in the Blog last year; a good quiz question is “In which direction does the Panama Canal flow?” This map will give you the answer and also shows the location of the different locks.

 

 

 

 

 

We entered the Gatun Locks at about 8.30am on a beautiful day which although hot, was just right. As I went out on deck it was very busy with guests taking lots of photographs, and this year, as we progressed from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific, there were ships passing us in the locks going in the opposite direction, which is possible as the locks work independently of one another.

 

 

Meanwhile our on board photographers had been granted permission to go ashore and took some fantastic pictures of Queen Victoria in the locks, it’s great to have the professionals aboard to get shots like this which shows what a tight squeeze it is.

 

 

 

As many of you will know Queen Victoria is a Panamax ship, which means she is the maximum size of ship that can pass through the canal locks, which also means that the chamber walls are literally inches away from the ship’s hull. As I passed Café Carinthia, which is located on deck 2, the ship was just entering one of the locks and I managed to get this intriguing picture through the window. You can see the lock wall with a marker that indicates how far in to the chamber the ship was at the time.

 

Just over an hour and a quarter later and with the help of three lock chambers, Queen Victoria had been lifted 85 feet, and was now sailing through the beautiful Gatun Lake which is a protected area, so everyone was able to enjoy some stunning scenery.

 

During our transit of the lake, Ed Paulk, who had been giving us an excellent commentary from the bridge, gave guests a fascinating lecture in the Royal Court Theatre. He told us about the day’s transit as well as some details about the history of the Canal.

 

He also told us about the current construction works that were taking place along the Canal. In 2007 work began on widening the canal and installing new locks that would be able to accommodate much larger ships. The $5.5billion US dollar project will be completed by 2014, marking the Canal’s 100 year anniversary. The new chambers will be 1,600 feet long, 60 feet deep and 180 feet wide which means ships like Queen Mary 2 will be able to go through the canal from 2014. In fact the largest cargo ship that will be able to go through could carry a staggering 13,000 containers. The authorities are using the latest in technology in this massive project, which will see 60% of the water in the new locks being recycled in to holding basins. Although we could see the widening works from the ship, the new locks weren’t visible, but will eventually look like this:

 

 

After his lecture Ed then continued with his commentary from the Bridge, as we passed under the magnificent Century Road Bridge which was designed and built by a German team of architects and engineers about 5 years ago.

 

 

 

 

By 3.00pm we were approaching the second set of locks, Pedro Miguel, where the lowering process would begin. Here is another great shot from our on board photographers from the lock gate as Queen Victoria approached.

 

 

 

By about 5.30pm we had been through all the sets of locks and sailed under the Bridge of the Americas, which is seen by many as a formal welcome to the Pacific Ocean. As we turned north to Acapulco we reflected on what an amazing day it had been. No matter how many times you go through the Panama Canal, it never fails to impress.

 

Now we have something very different which I hope you enjoy. Our on board Videographer, Suzie Long, made this remarkable video taken from Queen Victoria’s bridge. The video is a clip from the Souvenir Voyage DVD, which is available for our guests at the end of each voyage, and shows us going through the locks – though somewhat speeded up!

 

 

I’d like to thank the on board photographers for all their help with these pictures and video and hope to bring you more in the future.

 

I’ll be back on Thursday with another regular post which will also celebrate Queen Mary 2’s latest star of the month. We’ll post some exclusive pictures of Queen Victoria’s maiden call to San Francisco as soon as we can, along with more news about Queen Elizabeth’s progress in Italy.  Cheers for now, Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 264 days

 

As I am writing this post, Queen Victoria has just made her third transit of the Panama Canal, and is now heading north to Acapulco. I’ll have a special Blog next week with some great pictures of this highlight of Queen Victoria’s World Voyage. Meanwhile Queen Mary 2 has just made her maiden call to Safaga in Egypt where her guests will have enjoyed tours to Luxor and the “Valley of The Kings”. 

 

Before we show you pictures and video of Queen Elizabeth’s interior, here’s Cunard’s history, for the week 22 to 28 January:

 

23 January 1951	Caronia makes her maiden call to Honolulu, Hawaii
26 January 1856	The Persia begins her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York, as Cunard’s last but one paddle steamer.
26 January 1986	QE2 makes her maiden call at Callao, Peru
26 January 2008	Queen Victoria makes her maiden call at Acapulco

 

Queen Elizabeth’s Float Out ceremony was an amazing occasion, as it gave us the opportunity to witness a milestone in her construction process as well as being able to have a sneak look inside our new Queen, to see how she was progressing. Although it will be less than ten months before her maiden voyage, the interior of the ship at this stage is literally just metal.

 

To date the main focus of attention has been on the superstructure of the ship, but now that she has moved in to her first outfitting dock the attention turns to the inside. I took quite a few photographs, but frankly it would be hard to work out which area is which, so I took some pictures on board Queen Victoria this week, to give you an idea of what these areas may look like in 37 weeks time, although of course the décor will be different.

 

Most of the ship still looks very much like a shell and as you’ll see in this first photo of the upper level of the Britannia Restaurant, the outfitting process makes a dramatic difference.

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

 

 

One thing we noticed in many areas of the ship, such as the Grand Lobby, Royal Arcade, Queens Room and Royal Court Theatre was the huge amount of scaffolding, which would enable work to take place on the very high bulkheads. You’ll see what I mean in this next shot, which is a view looking aft from the B Staircase towards the Grand lobby.

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

You can see the lift shafts to the left, and the red panels are the fire screen doors which will eventually be concealed. One subject that I talked about on an earlier Video Blog was the outfitting of the bars, and how the tiling in those areas had already been started, and you can see this on the left hand side of this view of the Golden Lion Pub.

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

This was our first opportunity to look at the upper areas of the ship towards the aft, which had only recently been added. This is the view of the Lido Buffet area looking aft, and you can see that the windows still haven’t been installed yet.

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

While we looked at Queen Elizabeth’s interiors, I was grateful to Peter Shanks, Cunard’s President and Managing Director, for taking the time to chat to me about the day and the progress of Cunard’s latest Queen. So here is the next in the series of Video Blogs from that special day:-

 

 

 

I’d like to thank everyone again for all their assistance on that cold day, which enabled me bring you these pictures and Video. Please keep your comments and questions coming in, and I look forward to posting another Blog at the beginning of next week with pictures of Queen Victoria’s transit of the Panama Canal. Cheers for now, Alastair

Amongst all the excitement of looking forward to our new Queen joining the fleet in October, our two other Queens had a busy and exciting festive season, before preparing for their 2010 World Voyages. So in this Blog I’d like to take you back a few weeks as celebrating the festive season on a Cunard ship is always very special for guests and crew alike. While I was at home, I was very grateful to Queen Mary 2 for sending me a special Blog, capturing the festive atmosphere of the season.

 

Guest Blog, Freda Singleton – Queen Mary 2

20 December saw an interesting start to Queen Mary 2’s festive celebrations with Cunard’s flagship docking in New York shortly after 6.30am. Commodore Bernard Warner arrived shortly afterwards to take the helm and to his surprise, found the pride of Cunard’s fleet, the greatest ocean liner of our time, coated in white as her decks were covered in several inches of snow!  Had the newly installed snow-making machine gone into over-drive?!  No!  New York was fully into its Christmas cheer with a snow storm worthy of the North Pole! 

 

 

Some hours after the Commodore’s arrival, the snow was still piled up alongside the ship, so it was no surprise that our 2,400 guests were anxious to escape to the warmth of the Caribbean!  We were all very grateful to the Commodore as he headed south towards our first port of call, Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands, to thaw out.  Meanwhile, the glamour and elegance of Cunard travel began on the first formal evening of the voyage with our fabulous, traditional, Black and White Ball. The Ball opened with the extra sparkle of the Royal Cunard Dancers in all their brilliant white finery, setting the scene for a glittering voyage.

 

It wasn’t long before we could all enjoy the sunshine of the Caribbean. The islands of Tortola and St Maarten are known for their beauty, friendliness and typical Caribbean hospitality, not to mention the odd rum punch or two which had everyone in the mood to party.  Christmas Eve saw a transformation from the wonderful rhythm of the steel drums to the gentle and festive sounds of Christmas carols as guest, officers and crew gathered in Queen Mary 2’s elegant Grand Lobby for the traditional start of the festivities.

 

 

Children and adults alike went to sleep that night anticipating the fun that was to follow on Christmas Day.  We were awoken of course, to the sound of sleigh bells…….coming down the chimney?  Well, the funnel is certainly big enough – and there indeed was Santa himself making his way through the ship from the Grand Lobby to the Queens Room!

 

 

Father Christmas was delighted to have caught up with Queen Mary 2 and to have been able to give so many presents to the fantastic young travellers on board. So much so, he even found time to reward the Commodore for being such a marvellous host, master of the ship, leader of such a tremendous team and fine example of White Star Service! Here he is being congratulated by Santa with Entertainment Director, Paul O’Loughlin.

 

 

Merriness continued throughout the day with sumptuous food and a specially written Christmas Show performed in the Royal Court Theatre that night and here’s a photo capturing Edwina Currie and her husband John Jones relating the story of ‘The Night Before Christmas’,

 

 

Of course the whole evening would not be complete without a spectacular Grand Lobby buffet prepared by our incredibly talented Chefs.

 

 

Enormous credit has to be given to the team who created this beautiful gingerbread display .

 

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The special voyage gave our guests to enjoy visits to the stunning islands of Curacao, Grenada, Barbados, St Lucia, Dominica and St Kitts before the countdown to 2010. After a tremendous amount of preparation from the ships staff the countdown for the big night was soon underway in all parts of the ship.  From Campbell Simpson at the Piano in the Commodore Club, to our resident DJ Freddie in the G32 nightclub, through the Grand Lobby with our international band Vibz, the Chart Room with the Mark Hodgson Jazz Trio and not forgetting the Golden Lion pub with Gun of the Entertainment Staff where a rousing refrain of the British National Anthem and the ever emotional Pomp and Circumstance had seen in the British New Year at 8pm, and so on to the Queens Room and the elegance of the Queens Room Orchestra.  Here there was a very Scottish flavour to the Hogmanay styled celebration with many guests in kilts enjoying the traditional dances such as the Gay Gordons. Meanwhile the clock was ticking on the big screen behind the orchestra.

 

 

The ballroom was packed, the excitement was tangible as Evgeny Gnezdilov, tenor sax player from the Royal Court Theatre Orchestra, crouched down to ring 8 bells to mark the passing of 2009, under the watchful eye of vocalist Michel Chartier, poised to begin his rendition of Auld Lang Syne. This was swiftly followed by Alex Laxton, Queen Mary 2’s youngest crew member at just 19 years old, ringing in 2010.

 

 

And the beautiful gold and silver balloons fell, hooters squealed, streamers filled the air, everyone cheered, hugged and kissed.

 

 

As always Queen Mary 2 celebrated in style that night, with all her fabulous guests joining the ship’s company to mark the beginning of a new decade!

 

I’d like to thank the Queen Mary 2 for their help in this Blog and to Freda Singleton for sending it to me as it really shows yet again that Cunard certainly knows how to put on an unforgettable party.

 

Also thank you again for logging on and for all your questions and comments. I’ll be back on Thursday with a Video Blog featuring some interior shots of Queen Elizabeth as well as an interview with Cunard’s President and Managing Director, Peter Shanks. Cheers for now, Alastair

 Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 267 days

 

As Queen Mary 2 prepares to make her maiden southbound transit of the Suez Canal, Queen Victoria has also found the warmth of the Caribbean having made her maiden call to Grand Cayman yesterday. We anchored just off Georgetown, very close to a new pier:

 

 

We were lucky to be the only ship in, so we had the island to ourselves, where we could enjoy the delights of snorkeling, seven mile beach, Tortuga Rum Cake and an opportunity to go to Hell. No I am not being rude, there really is a place called Hell and it’s a group of short, black, limestone formations in the northwest of the island roughly the size of a football pitch. There are numerous explanations of how Hell received its name, but they are generally variations on what locals perceive Hell would look like. Whatever the origins of the name, many of our guests and crew go there, just so they have this claim to fame and post their cards from this spot with a special stamp.

 

Thank you again for all the comments about the previous Queen Elizabeth “Float Out Ceremony” Blogs. We will of course keep you updated with all the news as it happens. In this Blog and third video, we have a special interview with Queen Elizabeth’s Madrina, Dennie Farmer and also the ship yard director Paolo Capobianco.

 

Once the ceremony had been completed by the dry dock, which was now filling with water, we were treated to a wonderful reception and lunch in the Fincantieri offices at the Monfalcone ship yard. We were first given a very special souvenir programme of the day:

 

 

Inside the programme was a fitting tribute to our new Queen and Cunard’s proud and rich history, which included this great picture comparing Cunard’s latest liner with the very first ship, Britannia, which began Samuel Cunard’s company in 1840

 

 

There was some fantastic memorabilia around the room from the private collection of Maurizio Eliseo and Paolo Piccione, which celebrated many of the Cunard Liners of the past, including the previous ships bearing the name Elizabeth:

 

 

In this next Video Blog you’ll see that while we were at the reception I managed to have a chat with both Dennie Farmer and Paolo Capobianco, before heading back to Queen Elizabeth to have a look at the progress of the inside of the ship.

 

 

You’ll be able to see the next Video Blog in the series on Thursday, when I’ll be guiding you through the interior of Queen Elizabeth and there’ll also be an exclusive interview with Cunard’s President and Managing Director Peter Shanks. Thank you to both Dennie Farmer and Paolo Capobianco for their time and again to our cameraman Andrew, as well as everyone else at the Fincantieri ship yard for all their help on that day.

 

Meanwhile I’ll be back tomorrow with a special Blog from Queen Mary 2. Although the festive celebrations of Christmas and New Year may see a long time ago, we thought you’d still like to see how our flagship celebrated the season with a Guest Blog from Freda Singleton, Queen Mary 2’s Social Hostess.

 

Thank you again for logging on and please keep those comments and questions coming in. Cheers for now, Alastair

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 271 days

 

It was lovely to see Queen Victoria in New York’s Manhattan, as I arrived to join the ship on a very cold but sunny Tuesday Morning. In fact it was so cold; there was ice in the harbour!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was great to meet many readers of this Blog, as well as so many familiar faces amongst our guests who were either joining Queen Victoria on that day, or had joined in Southampton. After a brief hand-over with Amanda Reid, she left that evening on a flight to Lisbon to join Queen Mary 2.

 

Thank you for the amazing feedback from the first Queen Elizabeth Float Out video. I am pleased you enjoyed it and am delighted to enclose the video from the second part of the day, along with some great photos, but first here’s Cunard’s history, for the week 15 to 21 January:

 

15 January 1972

QE2 makes her maiden call at Norfolk, Virginia, USA

 

15 January 2007

Queen Victoria floats out of her dry dock

 

16 January 2002

The first steel is cut to mark the formal start of construction of Queen Mary 2

 

20 January 1950

Caronia crosses the equator for the first time travelling south to Brazil

 

21 January 2008

Queen Victoria makes her maiden transit of the Panama Canal

 

 

Looking at our history, it’s incredible to think that less than three years after Queen Victoria was floated out of her dry dock for the first time, we were celebrating her sister, Queen Elizabeth, also floating out.

 

After the coins were welded to the ship’s bulkhead, our Madrina, VIP’s, officials and guests moved to the dock side for the next stage of the ceremony. After speeches from the Shipyard Director, Paolo Capobianco, and Cunard’s President and Managing Director, Peter Shanks, the Fincantieri Chaplain, Padre Gildo, was invited to bless the ship for the next stage of her construction.

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

Our Madrina, Dennie Farmer, was then given a special small axe to cut the wire, releasing the bottle of Prosecco.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bottle then smashed against Queen Elizabeth’s hull.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was the signal for one of the shipyard’s staff to open the valves on the massive dry dock gates to let the water in, so that Queen Elizabeth could float for the very first time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was quite moving realising the significance of the event, when the water came rushing in to the dock towards Queen Elizabeth’s hull.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here is the video which captures the event perfectly:

 

 

 

 

 

The whole process takes some time, so we were grateful to receive these pictures of the latter stages of the filling of the dry dock with this first picture showing the aft section;

 

 

 

 

This is a fabulous shot of the bulbous bow in an almost full dock:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll notice there is still a lot of paintwork to be completed on Queen Elizabeth’s hull which will be taking place soon. She will also go in to a dry dock one more time, after her first set of sea trials which are expected to be in about 18 weeks time. During that dry dock Queen Elizabeth’s hull will be completely repainted and treated ready for delivery a few months later.

 

We still have more videos from the day including some special interviews and we’ll post them over the next week or two. In the meantime I’d like to thank our cameraman Andrew for this stunning footage, as well as Simona and everyone at the Fincantieri shipyard for all their help and patience during the filming.

 

Also coming up is some news of the World Voyages from Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. I’ll be back on Monday with the first of the interviews filmed at the Float Out Ceremony. Cheers for now, Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 274 days

 

As I prepare to fly to New York to meet Queen Victoria on her 2010 World Voyage, I am delighted to say that the first Video Blog from Queen Elizabeth’s Float Out ceremony is now ready.  As I mentioned in my last post, this is the first part of four from the day. The ceremony began on the new Games Deck, where following tradition, our Madrina, Dennie Farmer was invited to weld the three coins to the bulk head, after which our President and Managing Director, Peter Shanks added his welding skills to complete that part of the day’s celebrations.

 

 

 

And here, having completed their tasks, Peter and Dennie are photographed in front of the newly welded coins which Queen Elizabeth’s guests will be able to see whenever they visit the Games Deck.

 

 

 

Fincantieri Ship Yard Director, Paolo Capobianco then signed Dennie’s apron to commemorate the occasion.

 

 

 

So now, here’s the video which I hope you agree really captures the excitement of the first part of the day.

 

 

 

 

As I mention in the video, the ceremony then moved to the dock side, and the Video Blog which sees this bottle of Italian Prosecco break on Queen Elizabeth’s Hull, will be posted later this week.

 

 

 

We will then get to see the lock gates release water in to the massive dry dock, and Queen Elizabeth’s hull touches water for time. I also have some great interviews from the day on the way as well.

 

I’ll be back on Thursday with the weekly Blog when I’ll let you know how the World Voyages on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria are going, and of course more pictures and videos from Queen Elizabeth’s float out ceremony. Cheers, Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 278 days

 

I have just returned from Monfalcone, Italy, where the Queen Elizabeth “Float Out” Ceremony took place at the Fincantieri shipyard, and what a day it was. I also enjoyed the opportunity to see the ship, and the staggering progress that has been made, since our last visit in November. It’s now just 10 months to go, and judging from your comments, the excitement is definitely building, so we’ll keep the pictures and reports coming. Despite the cold weather and a bit of rain, we were able to capture this important milestone with some great photos and we also recorded some more video Blogs which we will bring you over the next couple of weeks.

 

Before we get to those first pictures here’s Cunard’s history, for the week 8 to 14 January:

 

8 January 1971	QE2 joined in the rescue of some 500 passengers from the burning French Line ship, Antilles, off Mustique Island
8 January 2004	Queen Mary 2 is named by Her Majesty the Queen after 20,000 people had worked with 300,000 parts, 1,000 miles of welding in just 2 years of construction
8 January 2007	Cunard announces the new Commodore of the Cunard Fleet as Bernard Warner
9 January 1972	Several fires break out on Queen Elizabeth while she is in Hong Kong Harbour as a floating university. Arson was suspected but never proven. By the next morning she was on her side, where she stayed for 3 years before sinking.
11 January 1949	Caronia arrives in New York for the first time, via Cherbourg
13 January 2008	Queen Victoria makes her maiden call at New York for the first meeting of three Queens with Queen Mary 2 and QE2.

 

 

 

 

The “Float Out” ceremony marked the moment that Queen Elizabeth’s hull touched water for the first time. For the event, Cunard’s President and Managing Director, Peter Shanks, was joined by 79-year old Florence (Dennie) Farmer who was guest of honour at the event. Dennie’s husband, Willie Farmer joined Cunard in September 1938 and served as Chief Engineer on both Queen Elizabeth and QE2 until retirement in October 1979. Since her husband’s death Dennie has sailed with Cunard many times and her link to the two previous Queen Elizabeth ships is unparalleled. In recognition of this, Cunard bestowed on Dennie the honour, in Italian tradition, of being ‘Madrina’ to the third Queen Elizabeth.

 

 

 

We arrived quite early so we could have a look at the ship before the VIPs, dignitaries and press arrived; so what is our new Queen looking like:

 

 

 

Yes, what a transformation from the last pictures. Her bow is looking stunning, and how wonderful to see her name on the traditional Cunard livery.

 

 

 

You may notice one key difference to her sister, Queen Victoria, and that’s the new Games Deck. As you may already know, this area will have a special canvas covering, and you can see the support work already in place. This is what the area will look like in October.

 

 

 

 

 

In fact you get a great view of the area in this picture and yes they did manage persuade me to go up on another crane to get this photo!

 

 

 

You will see there is a temporary structure on this part of the deck and that was because the first part of the ceremony took place here. It involved the welding of significant coins beneath the mast of Queen Elizabeth for good luck. Three coins were chosen; a half crown dated 1938 (the year the first Queen Elizabeth was launched); a sovereign dated 1967 (the year QE2 was launched) and a sovereign dated 2010 to acknowledge the fact that the new Queen Elizabeth is being floated out in 2010.

 

 

 

After the coin ceremony, the focus moved to the dockside where the ship was blessed, and a bottle of Italian Prosecco was smashed against the hull by our Madrina. The valves of the dry dock were then opened so the ship could meet the water for the first time. I’ll have more pictures and video of the whole event in the next Blog on Monday.

 

Meanwhile looking around the ship I was able to see some other spaces becoming more recognisable. Here you can see the magnificent vaulted roof of the Garden Lounge and just behind the roof structure you can see the Grills area which has just recently been added.

 

 

It may not be easy to imagine this at the moment but this is what it will look like:

 

 

 

 

One of the other recent additions is the Yacht Club which is where Hemispheres is located on Queen Victoria.

 

 

 

And this is what this will look like in ten months time.

 

 

We managed to get back on the quayside just before the other guests arrived. I couldn’t get the whole ship in one photo but this is a great shot showing all the ship’s superstructure now in place.

 

 

 

The large yellow equipment on the side of the ship is used to transport staterooms to the various decks along with other equipment and outfitting materials. Just below the Cunard name was where the second part of the ceremony took place, and a really keen eye may be able to spot the black speck which is the bottle of Prosecco ready to be released. Just one job was left before the event could begin and that was the all important clearing of the dry dock of numerous pieces of equipment including this crane used by the ship yard workers to paint the ship’s hull.

 

 

 

And now for a few words from our President and Managing Director, Peter Shanks, about his experience of the event:

 

Wow. All of us at Cunard have a growing sense of anticipation and pride in Queen Elizabeth – but to stand today beneath her famous black hull and for the first time to see the words ‘Queen Elizabeth’ on the bow was a wonderful moment for us all. The traditional Italian ‘Float-Out’ Ceremony is a lovely tradition. We had invited a long standing friend of Cunard – Dennie Farmer – to be our ‘Madrina’ for the event. We had quite a day and I thought I would share with you some of my personal highlights.

 

Bad Weather – The weather everywhere at the moment is a problem. Yesterday it snowed heavily in Trieste, but this morning the weather held off which was a good omen for the day. However, I did invest over the Christmas period in a very grown-up full length coat. Alongside Dennie – me in my new black coat and her in a very apt red coat, hat and gloves were all set. As I write this while flying back to Gatwick this evening – I hear we are expecting a foot of snow at home tomorrow – we have been lucky with our timing.

 

A warm welcome – The pride that all the workers and management of Fincantieri have in building Queen Elizabeth is marvellous. We were a small group from the office along with some of our key journalist partners. From the minute we arrived at the yard we were made to feel very special. During the ceremony I was asked to give a short speech. I had help in translating a few paragraphs into Italian and I was able to tell the many hundreds of yard workers present that they were as of now ‘Honorary Cunarders’ and to thank them personally for the progress they have made to date. They got the biggest round of applause of the day and deservedly so. In the same way that I often mention that it is the staff on board our ships who deliver our White Star Service – it is the dedication, enthusiasm and pride of the yard workers who build the magic for us to deliver to our guests.

 

Never saw myself as a welder – Part of the tradition is to weld a coin below the mast of the ship. Well we chose three coins – why not, this ship is at least three times as exciting as any other ship that will launch this year. Dennie went first and was aided by two yard workers in welding the coins into place. I was next – you know it is incredible to play such a part in the history of Cunard Line. Over the next 20-30 years many hundreds of thousands of guests will stop, look and read about the coins – today Dennie and I welded them into place – and welded ourselves into the history of Cunard Line. (I should be honest here and say that I think Dennie made a better welder than I did).

 

 

 

Now that is what I call a bottle smash – I know I should not have worried – after all here we were in a ship yard. But I could not help wondering if the bottle would smash, as Dennie cut the string with a very smart little axe. Words like ‘obliteration’ and ‘smithereens’ come to mind – as one of the pictures show, these Fincantieri boys really know their stuff.

 

 

 

Very Special Atmosphere – Let’s be honest – we were in reality just standing in front of a huge amount of steel. We have all witnessed many of these events. But as the Padre blessed the ship, as the national anthems were played, as the bottle smashed, as the yard workers cheered it was very clear to all of us that this was no simple lump of steel. This was special – this was Cunard, this was Queen Elizabeth and we were all playing a part in a special moment in the life of Queen Elizabeth.

 

Thank you Dennie – The yard treated Dennie so well during the day. She received a lovely memento of the occasion, a dozen beautiful roses and as we left she was handed an album already full of the photos of the day. I really hope she enjoyed her special day. In fact I know that she did – full of thoughts as to how proud her late husband Willie would have been of her continuing their long association with Cunard Elizabeth’s.

 

 

 

Well I hope that gives you a flavour of the day. Back to work in the morning and back down to earth. We have an awful lot to do to prepare for the introduction of the ship – and her Maiden Voyage on 12 October, a very special day for all of us, not least because it happens to be Columbus day – how cool is that?

 

Best Regards

 

Peter Shanks

President and Managing Director – Cunard Line

 

 

That’s it I’m afraid for this Blog, but we’ll post some great videos soon, and these will cover the ceremony itself along with interviews with Peter Shanks, our Madrina Dennie Farmer and the Fincantieri Yard Director, Paolo Capobianco along with more interior shots. The first video blog of this event will be posted at the beginning of next week along with more photos. In the meantime I have to start packing as I will be joining Queen Victoria on her 2010 World Voyage in New York on Tuesday. Cheers Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 280 days

 

Monday 4 January is a special day, as both Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria begin their 2010 World Voyages, but this year there is a difference. Queen Victoria heads west to New York while her sister will, for the first time, begin her World Voyage heading east from New York to Southampton. I’ll make sure we get pictures from both ships as they progress around the world.

 

Meanwhile our third Queen is nearing the next milestone in her construction; the float out ceremony. That will be happening tomorrow and over the last few weeks the final additions have been made to her superstructure ready for her big day on 5 January.

 

These photos were taken just before Christmas and Queen Elizabeth entered in to the festive spirit with a special addition to her iconic funnel for the town of Monfalcone to admire.

 

 

 

Another very important addition was the forward main mast, which will carry many vital elements of the ship’s navigation equipment and is also where some of the ships flags are flown from.

 

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The final touches are also being added to the bow as the familiar livery of the white and federal grey paint are added.

 

 

 

One of the last jobs was to add the propellers to the Azipod motors at the stern of the vessel. It’s only when you see someone working on them that you realise how massive they are.

 

 

 

Work is progressing fast inside as well, and this is the first view of the magnificent staircase in the Royal Arcade.

 

 

I’m really looking forward to seeing her for myself again tomorrow as I return to Monfalcone for the float out ceremony. This will be a very exciting moment as Queen Elizabeth’s hull touches water for the first time and moves to her outfitting dock. I’ll post the first pictures of that ceremony on Thursday with some videos including an interview with President and Managing Director Peter Shanks. Cheers Alastair