Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 214 days

 

Welcome to another Blog which marks yet more Cunard milestones. Firstly, this is our 80^th week of Blogging, and this is the 152^nd post, so thank you to everyone back in Southampton for all their help, but more importantly thank you for reading them, and for all your questions and comments. It’s been a busy week as both Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria continue their World Voyages and we’ll of course keep you posted on their progress. Today Queen Mary 2 is on her way to Adelaide in South Australia and Queen Victoria will leave Hong Kong this afternoon after her overnight stay; I’ll post some pictures from there soon.

 

For this Blog, I’m pleased to post some new pictures of Queen Elizabeth in the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy where she is currently under construction in her outfitting dock. But before I share them with you, here’s this week in Cunard’s history, for the week 12 to 18 March:

 

12 March 1950	Caronia makes her maiden call to Naples, Italy
15 March 2007	Cunard announces Queen Victoria’s first summer voyages
16 March 2007	Queen Mary 2 makes her maiden transit of the Suez Canal
17 March 2009	A press release from Cunard reveals the first information about the new Queen Elizabeth due to be launched 18 months later
18 March 1839	Samuel Cunard agrees to a tentative contract with the British Admiralty to “Convey mail from a point in England to Halifax and back twice a month”
18 March 2008	Queen Victoria makes maiden call at Singapore

 

Tomorrow (12 March), will be exactly seven months before Queen Elizabeth begins her maiden voyage, so it’s perfect timing to show you some new pictures.  I asked Simona Capraro if she would take some pictures for us and she kindly sent these earlier this week. Firstly, this is how she looks at the moment in her outfitting dock. 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile inside our new Queen, one of the last sections of the ship’s infrastructure to be added was the Grills section, on deck 11 in the middle of our new liner. This is what I would describe as an enclave for guests who have booked the suites on board. As you may know there are two restaurants in this area; the Princess and Queen’s Grills. Although there is not much there at the moment here’s a picture of the Princess Grill, looking aft.

 

 

 

 

This, of course, is what the restaurant will look like when it is complete.

 

 

 

 

When I was at the float out ceremony in January, we filmed the Grills area, and to complete this Video Blog we have added an exclusive interview with Theresa Anderson, Cunard’s Vice President Interior Design, who has been responsible for the stunning Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth interior design.

 

 

Meanwhile around the rest of the ship, more areas are starting to become recognisable; well just. Here’s what the bar that will dispense delicious coffees throughout the day, looks like now, and a reminder of what it will look like in October; Café Carinthia.

 

 

 

 

 

Another recent addition to Queen Elizabeth was the elegant spiral staircase that will be the centre piece of her 6,000 book Art Deco styled library.

 

 

 

 

A favourite venue on board is Cunard’s signature bar, the Golden Lion Pub, which plays host to everything from Quizzes to Karaoke, Sing-along’s to Darts and much more including wonderful Pub Lunches! In these pictures you can see the progress the space is making along with what it will end up looking like.

 

 

 

That’s it for another week, but I’ll be back on Monday with a Blog featuring Queen Victoria’s latest “Star of the Month”, as well as a lot more posts to come. Please do keep those questions and comments coming, it’s always great to hear from readers. Cheers for now, Alastair

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 215 days

 

One of the highlights of every Cunard World Voyage is the celebration that is held in honour of those guests enjoying the whole World Voyage. The event is usually months in the making and involves our on board management as well as the shore side team. This year a spectacular venue was found in Melbourne that was perfect for the night; the National Gallery of Victoria.

 

Since 1861, the National Gallery of Victoria on St. Kilda Road in Melbourne has been displaying art works for the enjoyment of the community and today’s building has recently undergone extensive refurbishment. During the day the gallery is dedicated to showing magnificent international artwork, and this proved to be an ideal backdrop to our international guest list on the night.

 

We have over 500 full World Voyage guests this year on Queen Victoria, and they began the evening with a wonderful cocktail party on board before they were whisked off on a short luxury coach ride to the venue which was specially lit for the evening.

 

 

 

At the entrance guests were greeted by a traditional welcome performance, by Australia’s Aboriginal dancers, enhanced by the sounds of the didgeridoo. Guests then walked up a specially laid red carpet, to be welcomed by Cunard’s President and Managing Director, Peter Shanks, Captain Paul Wright and Hotel Manager Jacqui Hodgson.

 

Then as guests entered the magnificent Great Hall, members of the Australian Boys Choir lined the route adding to the sense of occasion. The venue, with its beautiful glazed ceiling, really did look stunning and quite a transformation from what we had seen earlier in the day.

 

 

 

Guests were guided to their seats and were, as is tradition, joined my numerous members of Queen Victoria’s Senior Officers. Every detail in the venues décor had been thoughtfully coordinated and the floral arrangements in particular looked wonderful We are often asked what happens to them after the event and I am happy to tell you that in keeping with tradition, all the flowers from all such events are donated and delivered to cancer units in the region wherever the event is being held. Amongst the arrangements for this year’s World Voyage Dinner, were over 4,000 roses and it was great to receive this message a couple of days later:

 

On behalf of the clients and staff of the Palliative Care Unit, Broadmeadows Health Service, Northern Health, I would like to thank you for the beautiful floral arrangements delivered to the unit. They have been a much admired and cherished addition to the unit, bringing colour and joy into the lives of our clients and their families. Regards, John Doran, Acting Unit Manager, Palliative Care Unit.

 

After welcome speeches from Captain Wright and Peter Shanks, I was delighted to introduce the Australian Boys Choir who performed familiar songs from Australia and around the world, from a balcony at the head of the Hall which was then projected on to big screens for everyone to enjoy.

 

 

The choir, which formed in 1939, is a performing and training choir, open to all boys with unchanged voices. Entry to the training groups is by selective audition, held three times each year. The Choir, based in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, presents an annual subscription series of formal concerts, as well as other engagements (television, radio and film) and frequent overseas tours. They have also sung before standing U.S Presidents, The Vatican, and Queen Elizabeth during her stay in Australia

 

As a really lovely touch, after Captain Wright said Grace, the choir boys mingled with very appreciative guests as they started to enjoy an excellent dinner.

 

Here is the menu for the night which was accompanied by some superb Australian wines chosen specifically to compliment the meal.

 

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

 

After dinner we all enjoyed dancing to a wonderful orchestra and many of the ships company showed off their dancing talents with our guests late into the night!

 

Then all too soon it was time to head back to Queen Victoria, but there was another surprise as a special White Star Service welcome home had been prepared for our returning guests. Then many headed up to the top decks and continue the party to the sounds of our international band Changez, as Queen Victoria set sail for her next port, Adelaide.

 

As we discover the Orient on the next stage of our 2010 World Voyage, Queen Mary 2 will soon be heading across the Indian Ocean for maiden calls to Mauritius and South Africa. She’ll be hosting her World Voyage Dinner in Cape Town so I’ll try and get some pictures from that event and post them for you.

 

I’ll be back for my regular post tomorrow which will feature some new pictures from Queen Elizabeth with a special Video Blog highlighting the Grills. Cheers for now, Alastair

 

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 216 days

 

As Queen Victoria left the southern hemisphere, her big sister Queen Mary 2 was being welcomed in New Zealand and Australia. Auckland was a special celebration, as Trelise Cooper, the internationally renowned New Zealand fashion designer, chose Queen Mary 2 as a tableau to display her new collection when Cunard’s flagship paid her third visit to Auckland on 4 March.

 

One hundred and fifty of New Zealand’s fashion community came together on the top deck of Queen Mary 2 to enjoy the flamboyant colours and the exotic fabrics that are the hallmarks of any of Trelise Cooper’s collections. Her unique approach to style is born out of the adventurous New Zealand spirit, and embraces the quirkiness and originality that comes with living at the edge of the world. Trelise Cooper’s international client base includes Julia Roberts, Liv Tyler, Meg Ryan, Reese Witherspoon and Catherine Zeta Jones and her garments are sold throughout Europe, America, Asia Australia and of course New Zealand.

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to the fabulous collection, guests enjoyed an amazing view of Auckland Harbour that only the top deck of Queen Mary 2 can offer, while they enjoyed a cocktail reception of Moet & Chandon champagne and fine canapés laid on by Executive Chef Karl Winkler. Queen Mary 2’s International Band, Vibz entertained VIP’s, guests and media during the event. Sunshine prevailed and the day showcased Queen Mary 2 at her best proving that the models were not the only well dressed ladies in port that day.

 

Three days later the largest ship to ever visit Australia arrived in Sydney in spectacular style marking the half way point of her 101-day World Voyage, and her third visit to this truly magnificent city. At 5:00pm she slipped through the famous Heads into Sydney Harbour.

 

 

Despite the slightly breezy conditions, a welcoming armada was waiting inside the harbour, in the many small coves that grace the Harbour’s edge, ready to greet Queen Mary 2 as she made her way slowly into the channel past Quarantine House on the North Head, and Vauclause Bay in the Eastern Suburbs. Craft appeared from every quarter, and in no time at all Queen Mary 2 was escorted by a growing flotilla of every conceivable variety of pleasure boat, from a jet boat to a water Taxi. 

 

Several helicopters buzzed the ship with photographers hanging precariously form their sides recording the event for the evening news. Australian flags appeared from the balconies of several staterooms adding to the atmosphere of the occasion. After Captain Bates made his turn off Fort Dennison Queen Mary 2 then backed up towards the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge.

 

 

What a fantastic picture to see Queen Mary 2 from this view, especially when you consider she is two-thirds the length of the bridge and taller than the bridge’s road deck! To huge crowds she then proceeded to pass the famous Opera House, which she seemed to dwarf.

 

 

She then headed to her berth in Garden Island docking at 7:00pm 

 

 

Guests then went ashore to enjoy their first of two evenings in this amazing city with Queen Mary 2 leaving late the following night. I’d like to thank James Morgan for sending me these fantastic pictures and to David Stephenson, Queen Mary 2’s Hotel Manager, for all his help in putting this Blog together.

 

As promised I’ll be back tomorrow with a report from Queen Victoria’s World Voyage Dinner and my regular post on Thursday. I did mention it was going to be a busy week! Cheers Alastair

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 217 days

 

As Queen Victoria heads north to Hong Kong, Queen Mary 2 has arrived in Australia for her overnight call to Sydney. Australia is a highlight for guests and crew as it marks the half way point of the World Voyage and the ports of call there are stunning. This year both ships make maiden calls to the south coast cities for the first time, so I want to share Queen Victoria’s visits to those ports in this Blog.

 

Australia is big, in fact England could fit in to the country 59 times, yet it has the lowest population density of any country in the world with just two people per square kilometre. Between our first port of Sydney and the final port of Exmouth, Queen Victoria sailed 3,232 nautical miles across three time zones. She visited six cities, four of which are apparently in the top fifteen most livable cities in the world!

 

We started our Australian adventure in Sydney and as you may recall from the Blog on 22 February, we celebrated our third visit to the city by turning Queen Victoria pink, in aid of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. For more great pictures of Queen Victoria in Sydney on last year’s World Voyage click on this link:

 

http://wearecunard.com/2009/02/g%e2%80%99day-sydney/

 

Here’s a picture of Queen Victoria docked at Circular Quay taken this year from the other side of the iconic Harbour Bridge.

 

 

There is so much to do in Sydney, but one of my favourites is to take a ferry to Manley, and then walk along the coastal path where you feel you are in the outback, yet have the most incredible views of Sydney Harbour:

 

 

After a spectacular Sailaway, we made our second call to the capital of the state of Victoria, Melbourne. It was the capital city of Australia from 1901 until 1927 and has twice shared the top position of The World’s Most Livable Cities on the basis of its cultural attributes, climate, cost of living, and social conditions. It is home to numerous prestigious sporting events and is an impressive home to the arts. It was the perfect city to host Queen Victoria’s World Voyage Dinner, which this year was held at the National Gallery of Victoria. I’ll be doing a separate Blog about that in a few days time, but needless to say it was a spectacular event. This is a great view of the city:

 

 

After a day at sea, Queen Victoria made her maiden call to Adelaide, the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and the fifth-largest city in the country. Named in honour of Queen Adelaide who was born in Germany, the consort of King William IV. The city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for the only freely settled British province in Australia. It is known for its many festivals, sporting events, food, culture, long beachfronts and its wine. In fact I spent the day with some of Queen Victoria’s Sommeliers visiting the D’arenberg winery in McLaren Vale, and I’ll have a special Blog on that as well over the coming days. It gave us an opportunity to see some of South Australia’s stunning countryside:

 

 

Two sea days later, we arrived in yet another Australian state, this time Western Australia. I soon found out from our many Australians on board that they pronounced this town, Albany with A as in “At” as opposed to the way I would have said it as “All”! Once that was cleared up, our guests enjoyed the relatively small city of approximately 33,000 residents.

 

 

The city was founded in January 1827 as a military outpost of New South Wales as part of a plan to forestall French ambition in the region. The area was initially named Frederickstown in honour of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. In 1831 the settlement was transferred to the control of the Swan River Colony, and renamed Albany by Governor James Stirling. During the First World War the town was last port of call for troopships departing Australia, but today it is more known as a tourist base where visitors can discover the beautiful surrounding areas as well as the town which is well regarded for its natural beauty and preservation of heritage.

 

 

The following day we reached the port city of Fremantle which is 19 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia, at the mouth of the Swan River on Australia’s western coast. It was the first settlement of the Swan River colonists in 1829. The city is named after Captain Charles Fremantle, the English naval officer who had pronounced possession of Western Australia and who established a camp at the site.

 

Most of our guests visited the nearby city of Perth which was founded on 12 June 1829 by Captain James Stirling, as the political centre of the free-settler Swan River Colony.

 

 

There were many stunning buildings in the city, and one of the most impressive has to be the Swan Bells which are a set of eighteen bells hanging in a specially built 82.5 metres (271 ft)-high copper and glass campanile.

 

 

 

Twelve of the set are historic bells that were donated by the St. Martin-in-the-Fields church in London, to the State of Western Australia as part of the 1988 Australian bicentenary celebrations. The other six were cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, with metals mined in Western Australia. They are one of the largest sets of change ringing bells in the world, and have become a major attraction in the city since they began ringing in December 2001.

Our final port in Australia was certainly the smallest and most remote, and as one Australian guest told me “It’s the closest to the outback you’ll get to on the coast”. Queen Victoria anchored off the town of Exmouth and the ships tenders took guests and crew ashore.

 

They weren’t kidding when they said it was small. We arrived at the pontoon area which is currently being developed in to a lovely marina area, but as you can see it’s still in the early stages.

 

 

A short shuttle bus ride took us in to the town of just under two thousand residents, although apparently this does swell to over six thousand at the height of the tourist season. Exmouth was established in 1964 to support the nearby United States Naval Communication Station. Despite its current expansion, it is still a small rural town. This is the high street which is as busy as it gets:

 

 

The two big attractions in the area are the Cape Range National Park and the world renowned Ningaloo Marine Park, famous for its snorkeling and glass bottom boat tours. There’s not that much in the town itself, so when I asked David and Sue Holbert from Britain what they had done, they told me it was apparently a great place to have your haircut. Here they are sporting their new looks:

 

 

Meanwhile in our pursuit to find something to drink and eat we did find a good local pub, having given up looking for this Chinese restaurant?

 

 

I still don’t know what that sign was doing there; maybe next year! In the meantime I think our chances of finding a good Chinese restaurant may be a bit better when we visit Hong Kong this week!

 

Well that’s it from Australia for another year, but I have two more Blogs from this great country coming to you this week, including a report from Queen Victoria’s 2010 World Voyage Dinner and our trip to a Winery near Adelaide. I’ll also be back with another Video Blog about Queen Elizabeth and news of some stunning artwork that will feature on board our new Queen. Cheers Alastair

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 221 days

 

Crossing the equator again tomorrow, Queen Victoria is now heading north towards Malaysia, while her big sister is heading south to New Zealand, arriving in Auckland today. Meanwhile back in Monfalcone, Italy work is progressing well on our new sister, Queen Elizabeth and she has just been moved to another outfitting dock at the Fincantieri shipyard, and we have the latest pictures for you.

 

Before we get to those pictures it’s time for our regular feature of this week in Cunard’s history, for the week 5 to 11 March:

 

6 March 2009	Queen Mary 2 makes maiden call at Yokohama for Tokyo
7 March 1980	QE2 makes her first transit of the Suez Canal
9 March 2000	Cunard signs letter of intent with Chantiers de l’Atlantique (France) for Queen Mary 2.
9 March 2006	Cunard Line announced that Commodore Ronald W. Warwick O.B.E., Master Queen Mary 2, will be retiring 31 July 2006 after 36 years of company service
9 March 2008	Queen Victoria makes maiden call at Hong Kong
11 March 1921	Antonia is launched and is the first of 6 to begin with the letter A because they were A Class liners.
12 March 1950	Caronia makes her maiden call to Naples, Italy

 

Newly appointed to Queen Elizabeth is Chief Engineer, Colin Black, and he is already in the shipyard overseeing the technical aspects of new build process, and he was kind enough to send me some new pictures. So here she is with just over seven months to go before she enters service.

 

 

You can just see above the Commodore Club, the beginnings of what will be the spectacular Games Deck with the framework already in place for its protective canvas canopy. Many of the balcony doors have already been installed and the large crane to the right of the photo is being used to bring in the remaining staterooms. Moving a little further aft, and now on deck 10, we get a superb view of the stunning vaulted roof of the Garden Lounge.

 

 

 

As readers of this blog will know, it will be a similar space to the Winter Garden on Queen Victoria but with a new dramatic roof. Just behind that is the Grills area, which has come on a lot since we were last there, and then the iconic Cunard red funnel behind that. In the foreground on the left hand side of the photo will be the Pavilion Pool and work is currently taking place on the pool itself under the temporary protective shelter. It was then time to move our new Queen to a new outfitting dock within the yard, and this is a great picture showing her profile.

 

 

 

Doesn’t she look great and when you see her like this, she doesn’t look that far from completion. She has her own distinctive lines but continuing with the traditional livery that distinguishes her as a Cunarder.

 

Meanwhile inside there is also a lot of work going on around the ship, but at this stage it is mainly welding and installing the thousands of miles of cabling and pipe work. This is a great view of the ship’s navigational bridge ready for the installation of the deck head panels you can see stacked on the right hand side of the photo.

 

 

 

On the deck itself you can see the beginnings of the false floor and you can see the cable trays that will carry the wiring for the navigational equipment. It’s amazing to think that in less than seven months time Captain Wells will be standing on this bridge, with his team, ready to leave the ship yard and head to Southampton.

 

I’ve been promised some more photos soon, so I’ll post them as they arrive. I’ll be back next week with more news from Queen Victoria’s 2010 World Voyage including pictures from the World Voyage dinner, held in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago. Cheers Alastair

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 222 days

Thank you again for all your feedback, it’s always great to hear from you. I know from reading your comments you have been enjoying watching Queen Victoria going around the world, well I’m delighted to introduce a guest Blogger to share Queen Mary 2’s World Voyage with you; and what a great Blog it is, so over to Freda who takes up the story.

 

Guest Blog – Freda Singleton – Queen Mary 2 - Social Hostess

 

Queen Mary 2’s 2010 World Voyage is well under way with some fabulous new ports of call as well as some much loved familiar places, a whirl of parties, celebrations, themed balls, charity events, superb speakers and very variable weather!

 

Our first stop in beautiful Lisbon marked a very wet start.  Grey clouds and torrential rain deterred many from venturing ashore, so it was with some relief to move quite quickly from Civitavecchia (for Rome) through the Suez Canal and on to the desert lands. No pause by the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings would be complete without an Egyptian Ball. The Queens Room was inspirationally decorated to remind us of the magnificence and history of the land we had just visited and guests were delighted by the surprise appearance of Freddie Fahrouk, Achamanda and Hot Chick Soup performing the hilarious Sand Dance, much to the amazement of the guest who earlier in the evening had commented that no-one would remember that far back! And here they are supported by Antony and Cleopatra.

 

 

 

 

With a proudly Scottish Chief Engineer on board, celebrating Burns night in style was not negotiable!  Thanks to Ronnie Keir’s enthusiastic dissection of the haggis and Carol Summers’ (Royal Cunard Dance Captain) stunning sword dance, the famous Baird was toasted in style with a packed dance floor of energetic Gay Gordons, Dashing White Sergeants and an officers’ display of Strip the Willow! Here’s Carol dancing above the carefully crafted swords, the handiwork of Ronnie’s team of engineers, as he watches on.

 

 

 

 

As we moved on to India, the Queens Room hosted the Night of the Raj Ball, with guests displaying their newly honed skills of sari tying with their newly purchased jewel coloured saris. They then enjoyed watching the Royal Cunard Dancers perform their sensual, exotic interpretation of the dance of the Gods, depicting the God of destruction and the God of creation.

 

 

 

 

Bringing us to the end of the 3^rd leg of our World Voyage, all the sensations of the east were brought together at the Oriental Ball with the Sun and the Moon duet sung by our fabulous singers Kris Harding and Hannah Bloch and dramatically illustrated by the beautiful Vasilica Lungu as the love nymph in ‘The Sun and the Moon’.

        

 

 

  

 

 

Despite some very chilly weather as we approached Shanghai, the temperature rose in the Queens Room. Cupid paid us a timely visit as we celebrated Valentine’s Day with love, romance and some steamy passion with the jaw-dropping tango, seen here with Carol and Nazarly.

 

 

 

 

Amongst the fifteen or so maiden ports of call for Queen Mary 2 in this year’s World Voyage, one that will certainly stay in guests’ minds for a very long time is Nagasaki. As is customary, the ship exchanged plaques with the local officials, but this time the ceremony was extra special. The Mayor of Nagasaki came with his prefecture governors and made individual presentations to Captain Nick Bates, Staff Captain, Robert Camby, Chief Engineer, Ronnie Keir , Hotel Manager, David Stephenson and Entertainment Director, Paul O’Loughlin. The officers, dignitaries and audience were entirely humbled by the tear-jerking graciousness of the exquisite Japanese children who seared their place into everyone’s hearts. The 3 to 6 year olds of Oura Nursery School presented such enormous bouquets of flowers that they could hardly see or be seen; Captain Bates had to brush a tear from his eye. We heard later that they had rehearsed for over a month for their word perfect performance in English of ‘Head, shoulders, knees and toes’, followed by 2 traditional Japanese dances. No-one could think of more deserving recipients of our Cunard fluffy lions.

 

Of course, Cunard and Queen Mary 2 have excelled with an array of Insight speakers.  Amongst the celebrity speakers so far, we have been educated by John Humphries who hosted a special Queen Mary 2 version of ‘Masterbrain’, as well as a very thought provoking ‘Time for Questions’ with our panel of resident experts comprising Commodore Warner, Hotel Manager, David Stephenson and pianist, Campbell Simpson.  We were enlightened by Michael Nicholson and enthralled by Dr George McGavin.

 

Throughout all of the partying and celebrations the crew have been busy raising money for the four nominated World Voyage Charities: The Royal National Lifeboat Institute, The Haiti Emergency relief Fund, The Prostheses Foundation in Thailand and the Seaman’s Church Institute of New York.

 

The first event was the Tug of War, with competing teams from the Medical, Deck and Technical departments, the Spa, the Purser’s Office, the Engineers and Entertainment. The medical department under the appropriate title of ‘The Walking Dead’ won the best dressed team:

 

 

 

 

However, the Entertainment department wiped the floor with the remaining awards winning the ladies, the men and the mixed competitions. No wonder Paul O’Loughlin and Amanda Reid, (Entertainment Director and Assistant Entertainment Director), have such big smiles on their faces! 

 

 

 

 

By way of a complete contrast, the second charity event moved away from raw crew strength to musical expertise and seven superb examples of hidden talent put on two magnificent shows of ‘Stars in the Crew’ to allow fellow crew members and guests alike to judge their skills. The show featured:

 

·   Renier - Purser’s Staff as Gareth Gates with ‘Spirit in the Sky’

·   Marion Woolley - Zone Manager as Charlotte Church with ‘To dream a dream’

·   Jeffrey Canono -  Bedroom Steward  as Michael Ball from Miss Saigon with ‘Why God’

·   Alex Laxton - Stage Crew as Frank Sinatra with ‘Come fly with me’

·   Napoleon Mana - Laundry Man as Bill Medley with ‘Unchained Melody’

·   Big Dave Griffiss - Bar Steward as Paul McCartney with ‘I saw her standing there’ (eat your heart out Karl Lornie of the Beatles Celebration, who were also performing with us at that time and were, of course, completely brilliant!)

·   Cela Wasserman - Sound Engineer as Linda Perry with ‘What’s up?’

 

The voting was very close with outstanding performances from all seven stars and many congratulations due to final winner, Jeffery Canono who won himself dinner for 2 in Todd English.

 

And finally, we say a special thank you to the Masons on board who have done a wonderful job of raising money for our charities through cocktail events and raffles, with a magnificent total of $1745.57.

 

How do we top all that in the second half??

 

Thank you so much Freda for such a great Blog, it has given us a wonderful overview of your World Voyage so far. It was also really good to see and hear about our colleagues over on our big sister as well. We look forward to hearing about your next segment.

 

Meanwhile I’ll be back on Thursday with the regular weekly Blog and some new pictures of Queen Elizabeth under construction in Italy.

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 224 days

 

Firstly thank you so much for all the messages of congratulations on my appointment to Queen Elizabeth. I really appreciate your kind words and I have to say I am very excited at the prospect of being part of something so special and to work with what I know will be a fabulous team. It’ll also be fantastic to meet so many of you during her maiden season; what amazing voyages they’re going to be.

 

With exactly thirty two weeks to her maiden voyage, Queen Elizabeth is making remarkable progress at the ship yard in Monfalcone, Italy, and I’ll have some new pictures of her later this week. In the meantime the huge task of manning our new Queen has begun, and now that the senior officers are in place, many other officers will soon be appointed.  Over the next few weeks I’ll be interviewing many of those officers, so you can get to know more about the team who’ll be leading Queen Elizabeth’s inaugural crew.

 

This week on board Queen Victoria, as she makes her way along the southern coast of Australia, we were able to welcome a very special guest, the master designate of Queen Elizabeth, Captain Chris Wells. I had never met him before, so it was a real pleasure to talk to him for a while about his appointment to his new ship. If you would like to read about Captain Wells’ career, you can click on this link to the Blog that first announced his appointment last September.

 

http://wearecunard.com/2009/09/breaking-news-the-master-is-appointed-for-queen-elizabeth/

 

 

I’ve done many interviews on this Blog, and although you may expect me to say it, this one with Captain Wells was not only easy and fun to do, but also gave me a great insight to why he’s such a popular Captain amongst our guests and crew.

 

Special Interview – Master Of Queen Elizabeth – Captain Chris Wells

 

 

Firstly, congratulations on being appointed Queen Elizabeth’s first Master. How did you feel when you were told?

I must admit I was very pleasantly surprised; I certainly wasn’t expecting it. Once the news sunk in I realised what an honour it was to be asked to be the first Master, and of course I was delighted as well as being proud.

 

Looking back at your career, could you ever have imagined you’d be the first master on a brand new Cunarder?

I never thought I would be on passenger ships, let alone being a Captain of such prestigious ships as the Cunard Queens. When I am on board and host a table for dinner, the most frequent question I’m asked is how I became Captain. The truth is I ran away to sea so I didn’t have to go to university! I always had wanderlust so a career at sea seemed perfect, but I always thought the height of my career would be a Captain of an oil tanker; it never crossed my mind I’d be the first Captain on a Cunard Liner.

 

What do you think will be the most exciting part about bringing Queen Elizabeth in to service?

That’s easy; it’ll be bringing her to Southampton for the first time and then to see her being named before welcoming her very first guests. With the maiden voyage being sold in just 29 minutes it’ll be great to see so many of our most loyal guests on board. Then of course it will be up to all of us to ensure we deliver the very best of White Star Service, so our guests have the most memorable voyage.

 

What do you think will be the most challenging aspect of being involved with a new ship?

Although most of the ship’s company will be coming from either Queen Victoria or Queen Mary 2, we will have some crew who will be new to Cunard, and our job will be to establish a sense of community. We won’t have that much time, but it’s very important to me that we get a great team spirit amongst the ship’s company as quickly as possible.

 

Do you know when you’ll be going out to join Queen Elizabeth in the ship yard?

It hasn’t been confirmed yet but I think it’ll be some time in August, although I may make a couple of visits in the meantime to see how she’s progressing.

 

Where would you like to go in the world where you haven’t been yet?

As far as being on a ship is concerned, I would like to go to the west coast of South America, the Chilean fjords are really appealing to me. I’m a real outdoor type so I would love to walk on top of the world, literally, by hiking in the Himalayas; a bit like Michael Palin but without the camera crew!

 

Please could you tell us something about your job that would surprise us?

I think many people, who don’t work on ships, don’t realise what a double life we lead. When I am on board I am the Captain of the ship for that time period, but then when I go on leave another Captain will come on while I’m away. I’ll then follow my other life of husband, daddy and gardener, though not necessarily in that order! I love my life at sea, but I am also a real family man. I love spending time with my wife Hedda and kids, Henry (10), Emily (8 this month) and William (6).

 

 

Doing the normal things at home is great and we are lucky to live in a lovely house just ten minutes from the beach and ten minutes from the Sussex downs. We are all great walkers and this time together is very precious, whether it’s at home, taking walks or just playing on the beach.

 

 

What does “We Are Cunard” mean to you?

Stepping back on a Cunard ship, having been away on our sister brands ships for a while, it was wonderful to feel like I was literally coming home. Already in the few days I have been on Queen Victoria I have met literally hundreds of familiar and friendly guests and crew. That’s what it means to me; the tight knit community and family spirit which are unique to Cunard.

 

Do you have any unfulfilled dreams?

Not really. My career has already surpassed my expectations. Mind you I love music and enjoy playing the piano when I get a chance. We are a very musical family, with most Saturday mornings at home dedicated to music. Perhaps one dream would be to play the piano better, but that might have to wait until I retire. Another dream is to own an Aston Martin one day, but I’ll cope with the people carrier for now. Mind you, I’d also have to arrange for the humps to be taken out of the road as well, so I could get it in our driveway!

 

When you get home after a contract what’s the first thing you do?

The first and most important thing is to catch up with Hedda and the kids.

 

 

After the first weekend of relaxing, I’m then presented with a long list of DIY jobs to do. But that’s OK, I actually like doing all those jobs like painting and a bit of wood work; in fact I’ve just finished decorating our lounge. I’m quite a perfectionist so the jobs do take me a bit longer.

 

When you are on leave; what is a perfect evening?

We would have some friends round for dinner. Hedda is a great cook and she loves to entertain while preparing a fantastic meal, making it a lovely event.

 

 

We love social dinners and we’ve just built an extension with a large kitchen dining room, so we can all enjoy each other’s company, in great surroundings.

 

Thank you so much for your time Captain Wells; we look forward to seeing back on Queen Victoria at the end of April and then later in the year in Monfalcone. I’ll be back later in the week with pictures from the Fincantieri ship yard, as well as news from Queen Victoria’s 2010 World voyage dinner and lots more to come. Cheers Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 228 days

 

It’s turning out to be a very busy week of blogging, which shows how just how much is going on in the Cunard world! Thanks as always for your feedback; I’m glad you are enjoying all the posts so please just keep those questions and comments coming.

 

We’ve covered all sorts of subjects on the blog in the sixteen months we have been on line, but this week we are covering one of the more unusual, but definitely inspiring, stories I’ve come across. Firstly though, here’s this week in Cunard’s history, for the week 26 February to 4 March:

 

 

26 February 2008	Queen Victoria makes her maiden call to Brisbane
28 February 2007	Queen Mary 2 makes her maiden call to Hong Kong
2 March 1950	Caronia  transits the Suez Canal for the first time
2 March 2010	Queen Victoria makes maiden call at Exmouth, Australia
3 March 1950	Caronia  makes her maiden call to Alexandria
3 March 2007	Queen Mary 2 makes her maiden call to Singapore

 

 

There’s an incredible story that has caught the attention of the world’s media, from the USA to Britain, from South Africa to Australia. It has also featured on numerous websites and blogs so now it’s our turn to pass on this wonderful story. It begins with Barbara and Dennis Gregory from Johannesburg, South Africa, when they were sailing on a very special voyage in October 2008 to celebrate their 25^th wedding anniversary. They were aboard Queen Mary 2 on the last tandem Transatlantic Crossing between the ship and QE2. 

 

Mrs Gregory takes up the story; “It was a dream holiday. We had a perfect week in New York and had taken many beautiful photos. On the journey from New York to England we continued our fantastic holiday and many great memories were captured on our camera.” These are just some of the photos Dennis and Barbara Gregory took while they were in New York:

 

 

The Transatlantic Crossing from New York to Southampton was going well, and they were enjoying taking lots more photos of their special trip, including this iconic shot of Mrs Gregory with QE2 in the background:

 

 

 

 

On the second to last day of the voyage, Dennis Gregory took this picture of his wife relaxing on deck.

 

 

 

Minutes later, they saw dolphins and that’s when disaster struck, because in the excitement, the camera was knocked overboard! At the time, both ships were off the south coast of Ireland over the Continental Shelf so the Gregorys understandably thought their Nikon P90 camera, and all their treasured holiday photos, were lost forever.

 

That was until Benito Estevez, a Spanish fisherman who was trawling the ocean, over sixteen months later, discovered the lost camera in his nets!  While the camera itself was damaged beyond repair, the photo memory card was amazingly intact.

 

The fisherman contacted both Cunard and the BBC to see if he could trace the owners and posted five pictures online which included this one of Mr Gregory wearing a woolly tourist hat from Oxford.

 

 

 

The story was picked up by the British media and Laura De Klein, a friend of the couple who lives in Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, recognised the couple in the pictures and got in touch. The Gregorys have since been reunited with the camera and their photographs.

 

Mrs Gregory told reporters: “To think the Spanish fisherman has gone to such efforts on this – it’s very touching. It’s literally a dream come true. There’s no way we could ever have imagined that this thing would ever turn up again. It sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic. It’s incredible it survived 16 months submerged at that depth – I’m almost speechless.”

 

It’s a wonderful good news story which has amazed everyone. Peter Shanks, President and Managing Director of Cunard Line said: “In all my years in the travel industry I have never heard of such a heart-warming stroke of luck and we at Cunard are delighted that Mr and Mrs Gregory have been reunited with their photos. The images are even more poignant as they depict the last Transatlantic Crossing of the great QE2 and can never be taken again.”

 

I’ll be back next week with some more posts including, the first of the series of interviews with Queen Elizabeth’s newly appointed senior officers, I’ll also have more news from Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria on their 2010 World Voyages as well as some other amazing Cunard stories. Cheers Alastair

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 235 days

 

Following on from the appointment of Captain Christopher Wells as Master of the new Queen Elizabeth, I am pleased to let readers of this blog know, that this morning Cunard Line issued a press release which gave details of four Senior Officers, who have been appointed to join Queen Elizabeth when she enters service on 12 October this year, which is less than 34 weeks away.

 

These are the details of the newly appointed Officers, as given in yesterday’s press release:

 

Robert Howie, Hotel Manager

 

 

Fife-born Robert Howie brings almost 25 years of experience – on land and at sea – to his new post as Hotel Manager aboard Queen Elizabeth. He held the position of Food and Beverage Manager aboard Queen Mary 2 in the ocean liner’s inaugural year and was then promoted to the prestigious position of Hotel Manager on Cunard’s flagship in 2005. Robbie was also the first Hotel Manager on board Queen Victoria when she entered service in December 2007. As Hotel Manager, Robert is in charge of all on board operations including housekeeping, food and beverage, entertainment and human resources. Prior to joining Cunard, Howie had served in senior managerial food and beverage positions for Princess Cruises, both shoreside and on board, since 1990.

 

Hamish Sunter, Staff Captain

 

 

Despite his Scottish forename, Hamish Sunter is proud to be a Yorkshireman. Halifax-born Captain Sunter joined Cunard in 1990 as an officer on Cunard Princess where he remained for three years. He also obtained his Master’s Certificate at this time. In 1993 he was transferred to QE2 as Junior First Officer and left that ship as Chief Officer in 1998. After two years Hamish was keen to go back to sea, which he did in 2000 with P&O Cruises and sailed as First Officer on several of their ships. He returned to Cunard as Chief Officer on Queen Mary 2 in October 2005. He rejoined QE2 as Staff Captain in December 2006 and has also served in that capacity on board Queen Victoria.

 

Colin Black, Chief Engineer

 

 

Colin Black, from East Lothian, joined P&O/Princess Cruises in 1990 as a CPO Mechanic on board Royal Princess. He subsequently moved up the ranks to First Engineer prior to being given the responsibility for the new build of Princess Cruises’ Dawn Princess, followed by Ocean Princess. In 2001 he was seconded to the Southampton Office working within the new build department. In 2002 he moved across to P&O Cruises serving on board Oriana, Aurora and then the new Arcadia. Colin’s first appointment as Chief Engineer was on board Tahitian Princess in 2006 and her sister ship Pacific Princess. In 2007 he was assigned as Technical Fleet Services Project Manager for Queen Victoria thereafter taking over as Chief Engineer.

 

Alastair Greener, Entertainment Director

 

 

Alastair Greener from near Marlborough – about as far from the sea as you can get in the UK – has a love of both the sea and stage, characteristics that will serve him well as he prepares to join Queen Elizabeth as Entertainment Director. Alastair has also served as Cruise Director on both Queen Mary 2 and QE2 and was the first Entertainment Director on board Queen Victoria.

 

Currently he is the face of the ‘We Are Cunard’ Blog, which is the site to visit for all the latest news on this new Cunarder. He was also asked to represent CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) as a media tour spokesperson. Alastair is a member of the British Actors’ Union and has appeared in a wide range of film, theatre and television productions. Prior to Cunard, Greener had joined Princess Cruises in 1997 and served on eight ships within the fleet. 

 

On confirming the appointments, Peter Shanks, Cunard President and Managing Director, said:

 “Our guests will be delighted to find so many ‘old friends’ aboard Cunard’s newest ship. One of our distinguishing characteristics is the number and frequency of our repeat guests and they will truly appreciate ‘coming home’ to these familiar faces.”

 

For me, it’s a real honour to be selected to head up the Entertainment department on Queen Elizabeth, and I look forward to the challenges the position will bring as well as being part of Cunard history. It does mean I’ll be very busy with the job in hand as well as continuing to host this Blog but I’m very excited about this year and of course bringing you all the news as it happens.

 

I’m also looking forward to working with a great team and over the coming weeks, I’ll be interviewing my colleagues, Robert Howie, Hamish Sunter and Colin Black so you can get to know the senior officers who will be heading up Queen Elizabeth’s ship’s company. I’ll start next week with an exclusive interview with Captain Chris Wells who is travelling on Queen Victoria at the moment. I’ll be back on Thursday with an amazing but true story from Queen Mary 2. Cheers Alastair

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 240 days 

It’s really great to hear that so many of you are watching us on our circumnavigations so thank you yet again for logging on. While all of us on Queen Victoria are enjoying two days in Sydney at the end of the third leg of her third World Voyage, I thought we would dedicate this Blog to those signature events that have become synonymous with a Cunard World Voyage.

 

 

One of the highlights of every World Voyage is when the whole Queen Victoria Culinary Team are invited to show off their talents and skills to produce some outstanding and breathtaking culinary delights. On display this year were fruit and vegetable carvings, bread show pieces as well as plated entrées and desserts. It’s amazing how each year they seem to outdo themselves, and this year the event certainly produced that true wow factor. Out of the 125 Chefs on board 80 let their passion and skills run wild on some inspired masterpieces.

 

The event on 12 February, called “Chef’s Salon Culinaire”, was a highlight for the Culinary Team who really seemed to get a buzz out of the whole show. It also gave our guest’s and Chef’s the opportunity to interact and share experiences. Guests told me they enjoyed being able to praise the chefs all for all their talent and hard work, not only at this magnificent event, but throughout the voyage.

 

There were five categories and guests were invited to vote on their favourite display in each one. The amount of work that went in to each individual display was incredible, such as the winner of the Fruit and Vegetable Carving category by Chef de Partie, Bobby Cadiac,

 

 

 

There were many incredible pieces of artwork and you could hardly believe they were all edible. But they were, and very tempting, especially the winner of the Pastry Show Piece category by Chef de Partie Pastry, Antonio Cardozo.     

 

 

 

After all the votes were counted, a very proud Executive Chef, Nicholas Oldroyd, announced the winners and awarded the prizes which included a selection of base ball caps, Queen Victoria sweat shirts and teddy bears, photo frames and albums. Then it was time for a group photo of all the winners:

 

 

They are from left to right:

 

Roger Barerra, Chef De Cuisine, Lido Galley

Nicholas Oldroyd, Executive Chef

Isgani Prado, Sous Chef and winner of the Plated Entree Hot and Cold category

Romualdo Rebello, Executive Pastry Chef

Movillon Gaudioso, Chef De Partie and winner of the Cold Larder Display category

Eric Yoong, Chef De Cuisine, Grills Restaurant Galley

Catalino Pajie, Queen Victoria Food Artist

James Abilash, Executive Sous Chef

Bobby Cadiac, Chef De Partie and winner of the Fruit and Vegetable Carving category

Antonio Cardozo, Chef De Partie and Winner of the Pastry Show Piece and Plated Dessert categories

 

I asked Nick after the event what he thought of the day:

 

“I would like to congratulate all my Chef’s of the Queen Victoria Culinary Team for their inspiration, creativity, sheer determination and drive for making the magic come alive on their special day. It was certainly a memorable and legendary event and it was so rewarding to see that the guest appreciation was incredible with so many compliments and praise for the Chefs work. In my eyes all of my Chef’s are winners and I am so proud to be in charge of such a talented and amazing team.”

 

Thanks Nick for creating such a memorable day, I can’t think how they’ll top it next year, but I have a feeling they will!

 

Valentine’s Day is always very special as you can see from the celebrations on Queen Victoria last year, by clicking on this link:

 

 

http://wearecunard.com/2009/02/romance-on-the-high-seas/

 

 

We continued the tradition this year of guests’ Valentines messages on a special insert in the Daily Programme, with the guest donating the most to our World Voyage Charities, having their dedication on the front page of the Daily Programme.

 

 

 

This year a marvelous $423 was added to our fund raising efforts. Lots of other special Valentines activities took place during the day with the traditional Valentines Ball in the evening. Another tradition we continued, was that every lady was presented with a rose from our White Star Bellboys as they entered each restaurant and what an elegant sight they were:

 

 

 

Meanwhile, a new World Voyage tradition for Queen Victoria started soon after we left San Francisco. A guest approached me and asked if we could advertise an interest corner for Choral Singers. ‘Of course’, I said and asked Nick Wilkes of the Entertainment Staff and Vincent Wolfe, our Queens Room Vocalist, to go along and look after them. Nick takes up the story:

 

“When Vincent Wolfe and I were given the task of looking after a group of Choral enthusiasts, we weren’t quite expecting what turned out to be a fun activity. On the first day after putting together a selection of songs for the guests to sing, we arrived at Hemispheres with 25 song sheets, thinking they may appreciate some prepared music. As we arrived, so did the guests and they kept arriving until we had a room full of 76 enthusiastic singers. We quickly photocopied extra sheets and the guest choir was born. We were lucky to be graced with the wonderful talents of Dustin Turner on Piano who supported in true style. Five rehearsals were scheduled and then there was talk of a concert to be performed for fellow guests in the Grand Lobby. It was soon evident that the choir was far too popular to hold the concert in the Grand Lobby so the venue was moved to the Queens Room and eventually the Royal Court Theatre. Seven songs were performed which included favourites such as “Oh What a Beautiful Morning,” “Edelweiss,” You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and “Love Changes Everything.” The theatre was packed and the first Queen Victoria Guest Choir received a standing ovation with much applause. On a whole it was a great experiment which I would gladly undertake again!”

 

 

Nick did a great job and found a new talent; he turned out to be a great conductor! After the concert the newly formed Guest Choir gathered in the Grand Lobby for a group photograph, and couldn’t help breaking in to song again with an impromptu rendition of the very appropriate “We Are Sailing”!

 

 

 

There’ll be lots more news coming very soon, including some pictures on Monday from Queen Elizabeth in Italy, as well as other stories from the Cunard World. Cheers for now, Alastair