Many thanks as always for all your comments; it’s great to hear from you. While I’m in a very cold Wiltshire in England, I’m sure many of us would like to be on Queen Mary 2 at the moment while she enjoys her Caribbean season. Queen Elizabeth is currently making inaugural calls in Holland, Belgium and France before heading back to the Canaries while Queen Victoria is heading back to Southampton. Well spotted Heinz and Michael, she will, of course, be heading to Hamburg for her refit (apologies for the typo), and her deputy Captain, Andrew Hall, has promised us some reports during her time in her first Dry Dock.

I’m glad the news of the Royal Wedding being screened on board our Queens has generated so much excitement; it certainly promises to be an amazing day.

I hope our friends in the Unites States enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend; it’s always a special time of year and of course Turkey and the trimmings were all served on our three Queens to mark the occasion.

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the Holiday season and as you know, Cunard always like to celebrate, so it was great to hear that Cunard will be bringing A Grand Celebration at Sea to the 122nd Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, presented by Honda; the globally televised event, considered “America’s New Year’s Parade.”

Cunard has just revealed a rendering of its float, themed A Grand Celebration at Sea, created by award-winning Fiesta Parade Floats in collaboration with renowned artist and float designer Raul Rodriguez.

Marking the first time Cunard has participated in the world-famous parade, A Grand Celebration at Sea will illustrate, flagship Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and of course our new Queen Elizabeth. It will depict the ultimate sense of occasion, including ballroom dancing, a big band orchestra, champagne toasts, and multigenerational families celebrating their dreams and friendships while building memories, all on board the Cunard Queens.

2011 will continue a long standing tradition since the first Tournament of Roses was staged in 1890 by members of Pasadena’s Valley Hunt Club, former residents of the East and Midwest, eager to showcase their new home’s mild winter weather.

During the next few years, the festival expanded to include marching bands and motorised floats and soon included ostrich races, bronco busting demonstrations and even a race between a camel and an elephant; apparently the elephant won!

In 1902, a football game was added to The Tournament of Roses, and in 1920 the Tournament’s President envisioned a stadium similar to the Yale Bowl, the first great modern football stadium, to be built in Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco area. The new stadium hosted its first New Year’s football game in 1923 and soon earned the nickname “The Rose Bowl.”

The 21^st century Rose Parade’s elaborate floats now feature high-tech computerised animation and exotic natural materials from around the world. Although a few floats are still built exclusively by volunteers, most are created by professional float building companies taking up to a year to construct. Millions of viewers around the world watch the Rose Parade, and next year’s will begin at, 8am (PST), (midnight GMT), on Saturday 1 January.

From bow to stern, Cunard’s float will be decorated in floral grandeur, reflecting the line’s classic ocean travel experience. The float will also depict signature hallmarks found on a Cunard liner, including the Grand Lobby staircase and the Queens Room Ballroom. Additionally, an oversized floralgraph of Cunard’s three Queens takes centre stage at the top of the float’s ascending staircases, a fitting reference to the modern fleet and also to the upcoming Cunard Royal Rendezvous on 13 January 2011 in New York Harbour when the three Queens will meet for the first time.

Featuring an eloquent fusion of floral and architectural detail in Cunard’s rich tradition of elegance and grandeur, the float stands at 24 feet high, 18 feet wide and 55 feet in length. It will include a big band orchestra and ballroom dancers to bring to life the Line’s famed Royal Nights Themed Balls, along with theatrical smoke rising from Cunard’s signature black and red funnel.

Peter Shanks, President and Managing Director of Cunard Line told me:

“We are delighted to be part of such a celebrated event like the Rose Parade. This year’s Rose Parade theme of building dreams, friendships and memories, ties perfectly with our legacy and heritage. For more than 170 years sailing the seven seas, the Cunard name has been synonymous with fulfilling aspirations, fostering life-long friendships, and creating memorable experiences for all of our guests.”

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The float sounds stunning when you hear more about it. Thousands of red Black Magic roses, purple phalaenopsis orchid sprays, green cymbidium orchids and hypericum, and white Casablanca lilies will border the length of the float, along with more than 45,000 red Opium roses that will carpet the steps and floors. Layers of black onion seed and crisp white sweet rice will be used to adorn the distinctive shape of Cunard’s elongated bow, while shimmering deep brown flax seed will replicate the rich texture of hand-polished mahogany woods throughout the architectural features. Water waves showcased by white roses, dendrobium orchids and phalaenopsis orchids will sweep over oceans of light and dark blue iris, delphinium and hydrangea blossoms.

Fiesta Parade Floats based in Irwindale, California, is the leading, award-winning float-builder in the Tournament of Roses Parade, having designed and built 17 consecutive Sweepstakes Trophy winners. Fiesta is also considered the leader in both floral technology and floral application throughout the float and floral industries, led by Jim Hynd, vice president and floral director, surpassing all other builders in the field of computerised and hydraulic animation.

Raul Rodriguez, a third generation native of Los Angeles, is an artist and conceptual designer of international acclaim. He is considered the premier designer for the Rose Parade and has won more awards than any other designer in the history of the parade and this photo was taken when the announcement was made recently;

On the top row is the 93rd Rose Queen Evanne Friedmann and her Court, and on the bottom row from left to right are, Tim Estes, president, Fiesta Parade Floats; Brian O’Connor & Jackie Chase, Cunard Line and Jeffrey L. Throop, president of the 2011 Tournament of Roses. Here’s a great Vlog, which tells you more:

In the coming weeks, the building and decorating progress of Cunard’s A Grand Celebration at Sea, Rose Parade float can be followed on our facebook page, www.facebook.com/cunard. 

You can also visit www.cunard.com/rendezvous to see planned festivities and viewing locations for the Cunard Royal Rendezvous celebration in New York.

I’ll be back on Thursday with more news from around the Cunard fleet as well as guest Blogs and Queen Elizabeth’s very first Star of the Month. Cheers for now, Alastair

Firstly welcome to another week of Blogging, and actually our 250th Blog! It’s amazing how time flies, but it’s been great to see how this Blog has developed, and more importantly to see how many readers we now have. Thanks as always for your comments and questions as well as to our guest Bloggers, and the team in Southampton, who work so hard to support us, but mostly to you for logging on.

As Queen Elizabeth heads to Southampton before her mini voyage to Amsterdam and Cherbourg this weekend, Queen Victoria is in Monte Carlo today, enjoying the last few days of her final Mediterranean voyage of the season. She will then head to Bremerhaven in Germany for her dry dock, and Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth will meet for the first time when they are in Southampton together on 1 December. Meanwhile Queen Mary 2 is just completing her first Caribbean Voyage of the season heading back to New York.

On this Blog we are featuring Queen Mary 2’s latest Star of the Month as well as some breaking news, but that’s all after this week in Cunard’s History for the week of 19 to 25 November.

Before Queen Mary 2’s latest Star of the Month here’s some exciting news. On the same day that the Royal Wedding details were released, Cunard were quick to announce that guests on board Cunard’s three Queens on 29 April 2011, the day of the Royal Wedding, would be able to enjoy the historic union of the future King and Kate Middleton.

The Royal Court Theatres on each ship will broadcast the event live via satellite and extra venues will be used on board if necessary, to ensure everyone is able to enjoy the magic of the day. All three Cunarders will be at sea on the day, with Queen Mary 2 between New York and Southampton, on a seven-night transatlantic crossing, while Queen Elizabeth will be heading for Southampton after her Canaries Voyage, and Queen Victoria will be in the Mediterranean.

The day will be one of celebration on all ships, with that evening’s dinner featuring a commemorative menu and a champagne toast. Peter Shanks, Cunard President and Managing Director, told me:

“Cunard is a company with an enviable heritage and unparalleled links to the Royal family – our ships were named wither by Her Majesty The Queen or by her apparent successor, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall. It follows then that our passengers are likely to have an above average interest in the pageantry of a Royal wedding. We intend to cater for that and ensure they do not miss one minute. Royal weddings don’t happen that often and with our impeccable Royal connections we intend to ensure that our red ensign ships lead the British merchant marine in marking this momentous day”

What a day that’ll be and it looks like I’ll be On Queen Elizabeth on that day, so we’ll make sure it’s a very special celebration.

Now to our Guest blog from Dominique Damerell who is the White Star Trainer on Queen Mary 2, with news of their latest Star of the Month.

<br>Guest Blog

<br>Dominique Damerell

<br>White Star Trainer

<br>Queen Mary 2

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I am pleased to announce that Dennis Enriquez, Queen Mary 2’s Linen Keeper, was selected as our ship’s White Star of the month, for his invaluable contribution and commitment to White Star Service. His photo is proudly displayed in Queen Mary 2’s Grand Lobby for the month.

He has served the internal customers of our ship’s company with dedication and passion, fulfilling a demanding, and by no means easy position. When I refer to the internal customer I am talking about our invaluable crew; the fact that he serves every crew member and officer with dignity, respect and courtesy. Dennis was somewhat thrown into the deep end when he was selected to cover the position as a relief for the permanent Linen Keeper, who had to return home suddenly.

Dennis expertly stepped into the position and I can assure you, not one of our crew members would have known that any change had taken place in the Laundry. This exceedingly busy department functions like a well oiled machine, and can only run like clockwork through combined team work, diligence and a commitment to perfection. All Cunard crew members believe in being immaculate at all times, and we wear our uniforms with the utmost pride. When we first arrive on board we are issued with sufficient uniform to last a full seven day cycle, which means every crewmember has freshly laundered uniform for each day of the week. With over 1,200 crewmembers on Queen Mary 2, that’s a lot of laundry!

I have always marvelled at how this all comes together and working closely with Dennis whilst writing this article, I can only sing the praises of this extremely efficient team. This was recognised by his fellow crewmembers as well as the on board White Star Committee, and here he is receiving his well earned reward from Commodore Bernard Warner. Also in the photo from left to right are Hotel Manager, John Duffy and Executive Housekeeper, Colin Watson;

Dennis and his family come from the Philippines and his brother was the first member of the Enriquez family to join Queen Mary 2 with Dennis soon following in his footsteps. Dennis was a Restaurant Manager for three years prior to joining Queen Mary 2 in 2008. His first job was as Crew Utility, which involves working hard in the crew areas of the ship, ensuring that the crew accommodation, mess and recreation rooms are always meticulous. He was then promoted to Crew Housekeeping Utility No 1; a position of leadership and great responsibility for someone who has only been with Cunard for two years.

Naturally stepping into the position of Linen keeper was a daunting task but such is the nature of Dennis and his professional commitment, it would appear that he is a natural to responsibility.

Dennis is married to, Maria Celine who is a school nurse back at home in Bulacan province.

Dennis and Maria married in February this year and hope to start a family when Dennis is back home on his next well deserved vacation. Both come from very close families and enjoy their precious time together and here’s Dennis with his family:

Working for Cunard has helped Dennis purchase his first car and a house, which is also shared by a dog and numerous fish. When relaxing at home. Dennis and Maria enjoy working on the house and garden, driving the new car, singing and working with children. His great love is singing as he has a beautiful voice, and he was a church choir boy when he was growing up. Dennis also enjoys basketball immensely but has admitted that height is a problem!

Dennis told me he feels he is working on the greatest ocean liner of all time, and that Cunard is the finest company to be a part of. He is a proud and worthy member of our ship’s company and I believe that he has a wonderful career ahead of him.

Our White Star Program is a combined effort of communication, reward and recognition by the company for our incredible crew and their tireless efforts in maintaining Cunard for what it is today. I firmly believe that it is our passionate crew working in a positive and rewarding environment, that creates our legendary service excellence; after all this is why we are here and why we have all chosen to look after Cunard Guests. Each and every one of us is committed to providing the finest possible experience to our guests, regardless of whether we are directly serving our guests or conscientiously working behind the scenes.

Thank you Dominique for another wonderful Guest Blog which highlights the commitment of those crewmembers our guests rarely see, but without whom, White Star Service couldn’t be what it is.

That’s it for this Blog, but I’ll be back next week with more news from around the Cunard Fleet. I’m actually leaving Queen Elizabeth tomorrow for a very short break, returning for the Christmas Voyage on 14 December. Amanda Reid will be on Queen Elizabeth before she transfers back to Queen Victoria for her Christmas Voyage. With the help of my colleagues on board, I’ll keep posting stories and keep you up to date with everything. Cheers for now, Alastair

It’s hard to believe that Queen Elizabeth is still only on her third voyage, yet has already been in service for six weeks. She continues to be warmly welcomed wherever she goes, and for the first time tomorrow she will make her second call to a port, when she arrives in Gibraltar. We were delighted to receive this photo from one of our admirers in Croatia, showing Queen Elizabeth last week, arriving at the port of Gruz which serves the stunning medieval city of Dubrovnik.

And here she is moments later in her berth; but before you think our latest Cunarder has an interesting addition to her superstructure, there is a very modern and beautiful bridge just behind her!

It’s been an exciting voyage on board and one where the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Company has been busy rehearsing for their latest shows in their repertoire. This voyage the company entertained our guests with two premiere’s; Hotel Royale and a matinee performance yesterday of a Neil Simon Triple Bill.

There was a tremendous response to those shows as well as the other shows performed by the Company during the voyage, and it was great to hear so many compliments about our very talented cast. As you will know from our previous Blog on the subject, the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Company is a new concept to Cunard. You can see more from the Blog below, which I posted when the Entertainment on Queen Elizabeth was first announced.

http://wearecunard.com/2010/07/breaking-news-cunard-announces-queen-elizabeth-theatre-company/

It’s great to see the repertoire coming to life, and we will be posting a special Guest Blog in a short while written by a member of the Company, which will give us a unique insight to the rehearsal and set up process from a performer’s perspective.

Entertainment has certainly come on a long way over the years and this was highlighted at our gathering of guests who have travelled on all three Queen Elizabeth’s. On this voyage there were nine guests who had travelled on all three, and here they are at the get-together yesterday.

There was just one guest this week, June Rawlings, from Coventry in England, who had travelled on all six Queens. Her first voyage was on Queen Mary in 1964 and she travelled quite regularly on the Queens including Queen Elizabeth in 1968. She told me that she remembered how First Class passengers would sneak in to the Cabin Class where she was, as they told her it was more fun there!

Getting back to the subject of entertainment; I was reminded about how much things had changed over the years when Mrs Wood from Dover in England, showed me some of her memorabilia. The item I found most interesting was this Programme of Entertainment for the Third Class Lounge on the Carinthia in 1938.

This of course was a show performed by the on board Entertainment Committee formed by the passengers. Among the performers of “The Three Musketeers” was Mrs Woods’ grandmother; Mrs Cureton, who was on the Transatlantic Crossing to visit her daughter (Mrs Wood’s Aunt), who had emigrated from Britain to Cleveland Ohio, during the depression.  Mrs Woods went on to tell me that she had travelled on Queen Elizabeth in 1953, and when she heard QE2 was about to be sold, she told herself she had to sail on her before she ended her service in the Cunard fleet. She managed to convince her daughter to go with her and she told me she is now a committed third generation Cunarder!

She also showed me one of her original tags, which were designed for luggage that wasn’t needed for the crossing, but would be transported across the Atlantic in the ship’s storage area until it was collected at the destination port.

It’s always lovely to see guests’ memorabilia, which have such personal memories, and luggage labels are not easy to look after. However Mrs Angela Wall from Hatfield in Hertfordshire showed me the pristine labels from her journey to New York on the Ivernia and her return crossing on Queen Elizabeth.

They had stayed with her mother’s cousins for three months and she told me how her mother had seen the original newsreel of Queen Elizabeth being launched in September 1938. On that day her mother vowed she would one day go on that wonderful liner, and 21 years later in 1959 her dream came true. Here’s Mrs Wall on the deck of Queen Elizabeth on that crossing to Southampton.

There was another special voyage for Mrs Wall when she celebrated her 40th wedding anniversary on QE2 during her 40th year, and she told me how much she was enjoying the new Queen Elizabeth.

That’s it for this Blog, but I’ll be back soon with the final part of Lisa’s series of Guest Blogs from her recent Transatlantic Crossing on Queen Mary 2. Cheers for now, Alastair

Queen Mary 2 is now enjoying the Caribbean sunshine where she will be until the meeting of the three Queens in New York on 13 January. Meanwhile Queen Victoria is on her last Mediterranean voyage of the season and today Queen Elizabeth is in the fabulous Turkish port of Kusadasi, where many guests go to Ephesus for the day. At the end of this voyage Queen Elizabeth heads across the English Channel for a five day mini voyage, before meeting Queen Victoria on 1 December in Southampton, and yes we’ll make sure we post some pictures of that historic meeting on this Blog.

Before we get to Lisa’s guest Blog from Queen Mary 2, here’s this week in Cunard’s history for 12 to 18 November;

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 BAs many of you know Lisa Page recently sailed on an Eastbound Transatlantic Crossing on Queen Mary 2 and throughout the crossing she kept our facebook fans up to date with her experiences, and I know many of you enjoyed getting a sense of that journey through her posts. It’s now a pleasure to introduce the next in her series of Guest Blogs from that crossing:

<BR>Guest Blog

<BR>Lisa Page

<BR>Cunard Line

<BR>Southampton Office

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This week Cunard Line was awarded “Best On Board Educational Programme”, by the Porthole Cruise Magazine 2010 Readers’ Choice Awards. Our three Queen’s have a great programme on board called Cunard Insights, which includes Jazz workshops and master-classes from Juilliard, Royal Astronomical Society sessions in the Planetarium on board Queen Mary 2 and RADA workshops. Cunard also offers a series of lectures from prominent luminaries from the world of Politics, the Arts, Entertainment, Literature and History and recently Queen Elizabeth began the new series of Professional Insights which adds an interactive element to the already award winning programme.

During my November Eastbound Transatlantic Crossing on board Queen Mary 2 we had four Cunard Insights sessions with Wildlife Photographer Professor Harvey Mann. Professor Mann is a writer, photographer and broadcaster and has been called ‘The Indiana Jones of Africa’, having led a fascinating life which reads like an adventure story.

He has lived in the most extraordinary regions of the world as a campaigning photojournalist, including Vietnam, Sudan and Rwanda, which was the focus of his Insights sessions. During the crossing Professor Mann spoke passionately about his experiences and the causes he campaigns for.

Harvey lived and worked in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda for three years with the huge silverback gorillas made famous by the film ‘Gorillas in the Mist’. He lived amongst a group of the endangered species, campaigning for their survival after American Zoologist Dian Fossey was murdered by poachers. Professor Mann showed us many photos of his time in Rwanda, it was truly amazing to see how closely he worked with the gorillas:

I was very surprised to learn how huge these gorillas can get; some weigh as much as 50 stone (700lbs)! Another interesting fact was how genetically similar humans and gorillas are; their DNA is 98% identical to human DNA, which Professor Mann said he found unsurprising after seeing groups of people on the streets of London after last orders!

It was evident when speaking to guests during the crossing that Professor Mann had made quite an impression. Many guests told me about his lectures during the previous North America and Canada Voyage, entitled ‘The Big Cat Diaries’, Harvey provided a fascinating look into the life styles of Lions, Cheetahs and Leopards. As well as working with gorillas and big cats, Harvey is an expert on penguins, polar bears and Chinese pandas. He really has led a most remarkable life, perhaps a modern day Indiana Jones with a hint of Dr Doolittle!

Thank you again Lisa for a great Blog. I always find it fascinating to hear such inspirational lectures on our ships, and here on Queen Elizabeth this week, we are proud to have Gerald Scarfe on board, who many of you will know as the Political Cartoonist for the Times, as well as his work in film and theatre. I’ll be chatting to him over the next few days and will feature him on our Blog from Queen Elizabeth next week.

Well that’s it for today but I’ll be back again soon with the final Blog from Lisa’s recent Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic Crossing as well as other news from around the Cunard Fleet, including Queen Victoria’s preparations for her Dry Dock at the beginning of December. Cheers for now, Alastair

It’s always to great hear news from around the fleet and today it’s a great pleasure to hear from our President and Managing Director with another President’s Blogs from Queen Mary 2

                               President’s Blog

<BR>Peter Shanks

<BR>President and Managing Director

<BR>Cunard Line

Over the last two years we have done our best to help the very worthwhile BBC Children in Need Appeal. It is a very deserving cause and quite right that we, along with our guests should do things like this to help. Not all of you will know about the appeal. In the UK we support it through Sir Terry Wogan and his TOG’s, which stands for ‘Terry’s Old Geezers and Gals’. To our friends in North America and further afield, you may not know who Sir Terry Wogan is. He is one of the BBC’s best loved radio hosts and until recently he had over 8 million listeners to his Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2.

Better than that, for the last two years he has hosted a TOG’s Voyage and travelled with us and hundreds of his Old Geezers and Gals on Queen Victoria. The generosity of our guests, along with a handsome contribution from Cunard Line has meant we raised £81,000 this year and a total of over £200,000 over the last five years.

The face of BBC’s Children in Need is Pudsey Bear. We hosted Pudsey recently on board Queen Mary 2 to review whether we should do another TOG’s Voyage in 2011. Here I am with Pudsey, Commodore Warner and Entertainment Director Paul O’Loughlin;

I shouldn’t laugh – but when you see the attached short video you may well reach the opinion that Commodore, Entertainment Director and I do a pretty good impression of ‘Old Geezers’ – but all in a good cause.

So, great news, we will be doing a TOG’s Voyage hopefully with Sir Terry Wogan, on Queen Mary 2’s Around The British Isles Voyage which departs on 12 September 2011. We aim, with your help to raise over £100,000 this time for deserving Children in Need. I hope you will be able to come and join us on the TOG’s Voyage; it’s always a special voyage visiting many of the places where Cunard Line became famous.

They say never work with children and animals, but if we can raise money for children then all of us at Cunard Line will happily work with children and Pudsey Bear himself. I hope the BBC might share some of our news and video this Friday evening on BBC’s Children in Need.

Best Regards

Peter Shanks

President, Managing Director and Friend of Pudsey Bear

That’s great news; thanks for letting us know Peter. The TOG’s Voyages are really great fun and if you would like to get a flavour of the two previous TOG’s voyages you can see them on these links: -

http://wearecunard.com/2008/12/the-queen-victoria-togs-voyage-%e2%80%93-part-4-%e2%80%93-the-togmeister-sails-on-queen-victoria/

http://wearecunard.com/2008/12/the-queen-victoria-togs-voyage-%e2%80%93-part-5-%e2%80%93-wake-up-to-wogan/

http://wearecunard.com/2010/06/sir-terry-wogan-and-the-togs-celebrate-a-fabulous-voyage/

I’ll be back tomorrow with another Blog from Lisa on Queen Mary 2’s recent transatlantic crossing. Cheers for now, Alastair

Queen Mary 2 is just a day away from New York on her final westbound Transatlantic Crossing of the year, before heading to the Caribbean. Meanwhile Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth are not far apart from each other in the Mediterranean. In fact they were less than 100 miles away from each other on Saturday night as Queen Elizabeth left Malta heading to Venice while her sister was heading to Malta from Messina in Sicily. It was a shame the schedules didn’t allow for a meeting, but we’ll see each other soon enough on 1 December in Southampton.

All but one of the ports this voyage are maiden calls for Queen Elizabeth, and it’s always great to receive a special welcome; and that’s exactly what Cunard’s latest Queen received in Malta on Saturday.

Malta is a small and densely populated island nation comprising an archipelago of seven islands, three of which are inhabited. Throughout much of its history, Malta has been considered a crucial strategic location due mainly to its position in the Mediterranean Sea. It was held by several ancient cultures including Sicilians, Romans, Phoenicians and Byzantines. There is of course a very strong legacy from Malta’s period as a British colony and the links between the nations are as strong today as ever. It’s an impressive entrance to the harbour in the country’s capital, Valletta, with the fortifications dominating the city’s waterfront, and these could be seen even from a distance, as Queen Elizabeth made her approaches.

As usual the local pilot boarded the ship as we approached, but this time they were very generous in allowing our ship’s Chief Photographer Petar Pecanac to climb down the ladder and board the Pilot Boat.

The reason was so that Petar could capture the excitement of our first visit from the shore side, especially as Queen Elizabeth was to receive a welcome salute from the city’s cannons. There was a very impressive boom as each of the cannons was fired in succession as we made our final approaches.

Petar managed to get up the ramparts on time to be able to capture this magnificent picture of a cannon firing as Queen Elizabeth entered the harbour.

As I have mentioned in previous Blogs there is always a Plaque Exchange ceremony with local officials and dignitaries upon our arrival, and Valletta was no different. But there was added significance to our first visit as the Managing Director of Cunard’s Agents in Malta, Ivan Mifsud presented Captain Wells with the traditional Plaque, as well as this special limited edition print of QE2’s maiden call to the island in 1998.

The original was presented to the Master of QE2 at the time, Captain Roland Hassell, and it marked fifty years of service of the Mifsud family to Cunard Line. QE2 called to Malta just seven times, and almost ten years to the day after her maiden call she made her farewell call, which was also marked with a Gun Salute.

As we looked over the newly refurbished harbour Mr Mifsud told us about some of the history of the island and the city, and in particular the origins of the brightly painted doors in the buildings by the quayside which have now been converted from stores in to chic restaurants, bars and apartments.

We were told that the doors were different colours for a reason. Apparently back in 1745 the buildings were donated to the University of Malta, and they used the rental income from the buildings to finance the University. The buildings were used as stores for all sorts of imported goods, and because of the low literacy levels at the time; each colour door represented a type of product such as yellow for grain etc.
I managed to get ashore for a couple of hours to have a look around the city, which although has been refurbished and modernised in many ways, it still retains the character of Maltese culture such as this; one of Valletta’s main streets.

There are stunning buildings all over the old city, many of which have the traditional Maltese balconies.

Speaking of special events taking place on our maiden calls, I have just received these lovely pictures from our agent in Tenerife, who took them as we prepared to leave on 19 October, so I thought I would include them for you.

QE2 is never far from our thoughts on Queen Elizabeth, with the significance being marked at our plaque ceremony in Malta and of course the memorabilia around the ship paying tribute to our namesake. But I also heard a great story yesterday from a guest who told me about a remarkable QE2 coincidence.

Mrs Jeannie Haywood was enjoying a coffee in the Lido on the first day of the voyage and sitting next to a fellow guest, they started chatting about the voyage. Jeannie noticed the other lady’s Liverpool accent, remarking that her mother came from Liverpool, and funnily enough on one of her first voyages on QE2; her Stateroom Stewardess was also from the city. The lady asked which year that was, to which Mrs Haywood told her it was 1982, and she remembered the stewardess’s name was Lizzie. The lady then smiled saying that she was that very same Lizzie from nearly 30 years beforehand.

What a remarkable coincidence, so when I was told the story a couple of days ago, I had to sit down with them both to hear more, and here they are, Jeannie Haywood on the left and Lizzie Rich on the right.

Jeanie Haywood is from Rutland and can even see the country house that was the Cunard Family home for many years from the late 19th century, and the Cunard flag that still flies from the rooftop. The voyage where the ladies met was on a Transatlantic Crossing, in November 1982, not long after QE2’s service in the Falklands conflict. Jeannie told me she particularly remembered Lizzie because she was so welcoming and even brought her Cocoa every night to help her sleep. She then showed me what was the Guest ID Card of the time on that voyage; the Passport,

It’s amazing looking inside the document where you can see the Cunard Ships, Hotels and Resorts of the time.

Chatting to Lizzie and her husband Andy, I found out that as youngsters they both lived in the same town but never met. Lizzie began her career at sea working on the Cunard Adventurer in the Laundry, and then met Andy on the Cunard Princess, who was Security Petty Officer at the time. They were engaged on QE2 in 1980 by which time she had been promoted by John Duffy to a bedroom stewardess. She particularly remembered Paul Wright who was Third Officer at the time, as he was very kind to them both. They eventually married in 1987and although Lizzie had left the company by that stage, Andy had been promoted to Security Officer and they spent their honeymoon on the Cunard Countess. Here they both are enjoying this voyage on Queen Elizabeth.

What a great story; it’s just incredible how many of these I hear all the time and it’s so much fun to share them with readers of this Blog, as it shows what an amazing family Cunard really is.

Well that’s it for today but I’ll be back again soon with another Blog from Queen Mary 2’s recent Transatlantic Crossing. Cheers for now, Alastair

With Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria in the Mediterranean, Queen Mary 2 is enjoying her final Westbound Transatlantic Crossing of the year, and it’s there we head for today’s Blog.

Romance has featured well over the last few weeks with proposals and honeymoons on Queen Elizabeth. But for those guests who may have been married for a few years, there’s an opportunity to renew their wedding vows on board Cunard ships in a special service. As many of you know Lisa Page was keeping facebook fans up to date with regular posts during Queen Mary 2’s last Eastbound Transatlantic Crossing, and today she returns with another Guest Blog about a special celebration she was invited to attend.

<BR>Guest Blog

<BR>Lisa Page

<BR>Cunard Line

<BR>Southampton Office
<BR>

During Queen Mary 2’s Eastbound Transatlantic Crossing last week, Joesph and Menna Bingham chose to mark a very special occasion by renewing their wedding vows at sea. Mr and Mrs Bingham are from Plymouth in South West England, although they were originally married 30 years ago at the other end of the country in Hartlepool which is in County Durham.

They decided to renew their vows on board Cunard’s Flagship in a very special service conducted by Commodore Bernard Warner, and I was honoured to be invited to attend the ceremony.

The service usually takes place in the Board Room on Queen Mary 2 and The Admiral’s Lounge on both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth. The couple can choose who they would like to invite to the short service, whether they are friends and family travelling with them or new friends made during the voyage. Two ship’s Officers also attend the service as witnesses in the room, specially decorated for the occasion

This service was attended by four of Mr & Mrs Bingham’s table friends from the Britannia Restaurant, and the two witnesses were Social Hostess Marianne and Renewal of Vows Coordinator Stephanie. One of the ship’s professional photographers was also there to capture the special moments. Just before the ceremony begins each guest is given an Order of Service to follow:

The service can either be a religious ceremony, a civil ceremony or a civil partnership. Joseph and Menna chose a religious ceremony, which featured prayers before and after the vows, and here they are saying their vows:

After the couple said their vows, they exchanged the brand new rings, which they had bought for the occasion. They then shared a kiss to bring the ceremony to an end and headed to the Commodore Club to cut the cake and enjoy a champagne toast with their friends. Here, they posed for photos with the ship’s photographer, and as part of the package, they receive their chosen photo mounted in a silver plated photo frame. Here they are after the ceremony with Commodore Bernard Warner:

The ceremony was very poignant and felt like an especially romantic setting for such an important event. Thank you both, for letting us be a part of your special day. If you would like to find out more about renewing your wedding vows at sea and celebrating other special occasions you can click on this link:
http://www.cunard.com/Already-Booked/Special-Occasions/

Thank you again Lisa for giving our readers another insight to the guest events that take place on a voyage. That’s it for the moment but I’ll be back on Monday with another Blog from Queen Elizabeth as she continues her third voyage and a maiden call to Malta tomorrow. On Monday she arrives in Venice and then Dubrovnik the following day. I’ll also have more news from Lisa’s Transatlantic Crossing on Queen Mary 2 as well as news from Queen Victoria. Cheers for now, Alastair

Thank you as always for the great response to the various posts over the last week or so; it’s great to hear how much interest there is in our three Queens. We also love reading your questions and as always I’ll do my best to answer them.

Firstly on the subject of Queen Elizabeth’s Bridgecam, our technical team are still working on this and I understand that will be completed in the next few weeks. At the moment Queen Elizabeth is heading for the Mediterranean on her third voyage going to ports including Malta and Dubrovnik. Monday 15 November will be very special, as we arrive in Venice at about 8am (local time), that morning and this will of course be our first visit and well worth watching on the Bridgecam.

To answer a question in yesterday’s Blog, which included a section about Cunard’s traditional afternoon tea, I’ve spoken to our Food and Beverage Team and you’ll be delighted to hear we do have gluten free cakes, pastries and scones. There will normally be a selection available every tea time, but it’s always worth letting the staff know in advance so they can ensure the very best in White Star service.

Before I bring you more news from Queen Elizabeth and her meeting with Queen Mary 2, here’s this week in Cunard’s history for 5 to 11 November:

Towards the end of Queen Elizabeth’s second voyage, she called at the beautiful port of Cartagena, which is in south east Spain. Thanks to its strategic position; it has been inhabited by many different cultures which have left their mark on its rich heritage. The view of the city from Queen Elizabeth’s bridge was superb:

And the reason I was on the Bridge that morning, was because Captain Wells had invited Lord Howard, (see the blog posted on the 4th of November), to sign the visitors book.

As I hadn’t been there before, I managed to get ashore for a couple of hours in the afternoon to do my favourite thing; explore and have lunch in a local restaurant. I soon discovered that Cartagena is a naval station proud of its heritage and displays one of the world’s earliest submarines.

Looking in the opposite direction I was rather glad I was on the much more spacious Queen Elizabeth! Our new Queen looked wonderful amongst all the yachts and the hills of the Murcia region behind.

The city was larger than I expected and had some wonderful pedestrian areas, and it was probably the best weather day of the voyage, so it was lovely to walk past the beautiful buildings bustling with shops and restaurants.

This was one of the most stunning buildings which has recently been renovated according a to a local tour guide. It was once the Gran Hotel but now contains a bank and apartments.

Although there are some ruins from the Carthaginian era, most of its oldest monuments date from the Roman Empire, when Cartagena flourished. The city is understandably very proud of this magnificent amphitheatre right in the centre.

The day after, we docked at one of the most popular ports of call, and the gateway to the Mediterranean.  Gibraltar is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom, and is located on the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula at the Strait of Gibraltar that links the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, placing it between Europe and Africa.

It’s an amazing place and the growing demand for space is being increasingly met by land reclamation, which comprises approximately one tenth of the territory’s total area. The Rock itself is made of limestone and is 1,396 feet (426 m) high and is said to contain many miles of roads, most of which are closed to the public. Most of its area is covered by a nature reserve, which is home to around 250 Barbary Macaques, the only wild monkeys in Europe. One of our Tour Staff, Zoe, took this wonderful picture of one of the monkeys surveying the new area of the Rock and the latest visitor.

After a patriotic Sailaway it was time to make our way back to Southampton and the following morning I was walking along the promenade deck and saw one of those very special moments at sea, a beautiful sunrise and for a change I had my camera with me to capture the moment!

8 November was another historic day for Cunard as Queen Elizabeth passed the flagship of the Cunard fleet for the first time at approximately 7am. Queen Mary 2 welcomed the latest addition to the fleet with a blast of her ship’s whistles. Later that evening with guests who had embarked for her third voyage on the open decks, Queen Elizabeth passed her again. They all waved their Union Jacks while some wonderful music was played over the ships speakers.

It was very moving indeed and great to see the flashing cameras from both ships and we were even close enough to hear the shouts and cheers from Queen Mary 2’s guests who were getting ready to sail to Cherbourg straight after us. What a great sight it was and a very special evening.

I understand one of our facebook fans Grant Thomas took a video which he has posted on YouTube, which you may enjoy watching.

Then just yesterday we were sent this amazing picture by Andrew Cooke who was on a small craft to witness this great event, showing Queen Elizabeth just about to pass Queen Mary 2.

That’s it for the moment but I’ll be back again soon with another Blog from Queen Mary 2’s recent Transatlantic Crossing and of course news from around the fleet. Cheers for now, Alastair

Queen Elizabeth has just begun her third voyage and is now heading back to the Mediterranean, and I’ll tell you more about what’s been happening on our latest Cunarder tomorrow. Meanwhile Queen Victoria is continuing her Autumn season in the eastern Mediterranean while Queen Mary 2 is back in Southampton today, after a quick trip across the channel to Cherbourg. This afternoon she will be heading west across the Atlantic for the last time this year as she begins a series of Caribbean Voyages before her fourth World Voyage in January.

This last eastbound crossing on Queen Mary 2 was followed closely by a guest blogger, Lisa Page. Lisa is from our marketing team in Southampton, and spent her time on board keeping our facebook followers up to date with life aboard a classic Ocean Liner on a Transatlantic Crossing. She has also written some Guest Blogs, with the first today looking at a Cunard classic feature; afternoon tea.

We also have a Guest Blog coming up from Queen Mary 2’s Entertainment Director Paul O’Loughlin, but first here’s Lisa:

<BR>Guest Blog

<BR>Lisa Page

<BR>Cunard Line

<BR>Southampton Office

I was delighted to be invited to look at the impressive bakery on Queen Mary 2, as preparations were being made for Cunard’s legendary white glove service of afternoon tea. It’s a daily event and one for which Cunard is rightly famous. Chief Baker Chester talked me through the process of preparing an essential part of the classic tea, the traditional scone.

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Once the special dough is prepared and ready, Chester uses a cutter to get the right shape before putting the scones on a baking tray and then into one of the ship’s many huge ovens.

And it’s not long before there they are, hot fresh and ready to serve. This may seem straight forward until you hear about the numbers involved. They told me they make 880 scones every day, and are served with traditional strawberry preserve and cream. Here is Executive Chef Mark Oldroyd making sure they match the exacting Cunard Standards; which of course they do!

Of course the Scone is not the only part of the traditional Cunard Tea. Literally hundreds of cakes and pastries are made by the Chief Pastry Chef and his team, and here are two trays ready to go to the Queens Room for our guests to enjoy.

Thank you Lisa; I’m sure we are all feeling rather hungry after that report! Lisa will be back on Friday with the second of her Guest Blogs. Now here’s Paul O’Loughlin with news of another Star aboard Queen Mary 2:

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<BR>Guest Blog

<BR>Paul O’Loughlin

<BR>Entertainment Director

<BR>Queen Mary 2

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The Cunard Insights Programme welcomed Celebrity Lecturer, Actor, Comedian and Film Producer, John Cleese to Queen Mary 2 on a recent Transatlantic Crossing from New York to Southampton.  John presented three talks that filled the Royal Court Theatre. It was standing room only!

The first event was a Question and Answer session with me where we discussed his amazing career from the Cambridge Footlights, his start in the West End & Broadway, his early days with the BBC, At Last the 1948 Show with Marty Feldmen, and writing the Frost Report.

He recalled some hilarious stories and anecdotes that had the audience roaring with laughter, and we had not even reached the Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Fawlty Towers era which raised the roof even more.  Python films, A Fish Called Wanda and his work on Harry Potter, the Shrek series and playing “Q” in the Bond franchise revealed some great behind the scenes moments that were very special. The creativity and writing process of the Python Team was a high point for the audience who loved the genius and madness of the Pythonesque world starring Cleese, Chapman, Idle, Palin and Jones for 45 episodes and 4 series. John was not a part of the final series.

The second presentation we concentrated on Fawlty Towers and we opened with a showing on the big screen of The Psychiatrist episode. This was voted as the audience favourite and closely beat the Rat episode which is actually John’s favourite. This was the first time we had witnessed Fawlty Towers presented as a movie theatre screening, and the laughs as a collective audience were massive.  A Question and Answer session with the audience followed, and as always our discerning guests came up with some great questions for John.

The final presentation was taken from John’s one man show that he is about to tour with in Norway and Sweden and the UK later in the Year.  The Alimony Tour as he quoted. This included how he writes creatively, some clips from his films and television work and where the ideas came from for his most loved sketches.

What a joy it was to have this Comedy Icon on board who was a pleasure to work with and his lecture series really encompassed the magic of the Cunard Insights Programme where our guests can enjoy the finest speakers in our beautiful theatres. 

Thank you Paul for a great Blog. What an amazing opportunity to meet such a legendary name in show business.

I’ll be back tomorrow with news from Queen Elizabeth and her second voyage, and her meeting with Queen Mary 2 for the first time in Southampton on Monday. We’ll then have more news from our flagship on Friday. Cheers for now, Alastair

It’s always fun to hear about celebrations from around the fleet so I was delighted to receive a guest Blog from Queen Mary 2 describing their Pumpkin Carving Completion last weekend Darran Ridley, Queen Mary 2’s, Executive Sous Chef takes up the story;

 Guest Blog

Darran Ridley

Executive Sous Chef

Queen Mary 2

On the evening of Saturday 30^th October here on the Queen Mary 2 a magnificent display of Halloween Pumpkins was arranged in the Grand Lobby. I worked with our galley team under the expert guidance of Mark Oldroyd (Executive Chef), and they excelled themselves in creating this wonderful table.

Fruit and vegetable carving demonstrations have been a long standing tradition on Cunard ships, as our talented chefs show our guests how to create wonderful garnishes and even more elaborate table decorations for dinner parties; all out of fresh fruit and vegetables. This year’s Halloween display was an opportunity for our culinary team to show off their creative talents, as they competed for the most artistically carved pumpkin. Guests were then invited to vote for their favourite; so after counting the vast number of votes, here firstly are the runners up.

In third place is this scary pumpkin by Avel Diamante with the adeptly named Queen Grill Freaky Breakfast.

In second place with a rather gruesome entry was Eugeniano Gajo with Medusa 

But the winner was this incredibly elaborate carving by Anselmo Cachola with Haunted Carriage.

Our congratulations go to Anselmo for creating such an amazing piece of artistry and here are all the chefs being congratulated by Mark Oldroyd, (from left to right Anselmo Cachola, Mark Oldroyd (Executive Chef), Avel Diamante and Eugeniano Gajo).

As well as winning $100 prize money Anselmo was also very lucky to get the whole day off in New York for his efforts. Well done to everyone in the galley team who took part in the competition for putting on such a creative display which was so well received by our guests.

Thank you Darran for this great post, and the superb pictures, and of course congratulations to all the winners.

I’ll be back with more news from Queen Mary 2 on Monday when she will be in Southampton with Queen Elizabeth for the first time before heading over to Cherbourg and then the Caribbean for the winter before her World Voyage in January. On Monday evening Queen Elizabeth will be embarking her guests for her third voyage heading back to join her sister Queen Victoria in the Mediterranean.

Cheers for now,  Alastair