Guest Blog: Dominique Damerell, White Star Academy Trainer, Queen Mary 2

Celebrating Christmas on the grandest ocean liner ever built is an unforgettable experience and particularly for the ship’s company on board. This is our home away from home and we pulled out all the stops to make celebrating Christmas on board an unforgettable event.

In keeping with tradition, the officers on board Queen Mary 2 show their appreciation to our crew by serving Christmas lunch in the Crew Mess.

The transformation of the Crew Mess, our biggest crew restaurant on board, started promptly after breakfast and we had two hours to complete the change. Because of the incredible team work this ship is renowned for, this alteration was completed in good time and this extremely busy part of the ship looked quite unrecognisable to those who dine in here every day.

Preparing a Christmas lunch for well over a 1000 crew members is no easy task. At any one time there are up to 52 different crew nationalities on board our ship and so a lot of careful planning and consideration for the varying tastes we all bring to the table is a massive undertaking in itself.

However We Are Cunard for a reason and both the portside and starboard side of the buffet lines looked appealing, fresh, colourful and most of all extremely appetising. We had something for everyone to enjoy. And enjoy they all did.

Furthermore, our gracious and willing officers all contributed to the cherry on the top by making themselves available for serving behind the lines. This unique to Cunard touch is what makes Christmas so special for our crew because it is one of the ways we can show our appreciation to the very people who help to make this ship what she is.

A Legend.

I think that it is safe to say that this has been a year of immense challenge interspersed with moments of great reward. Producing and serving a fantastic Christmas lunch with all the fun and festivity we could muster whilst still maintaining the relentlessness of this operation is the least that we can do to say thank you to all of our crew.

Here at Cunard, the welfare of our crew is integral because a happy crew makes a happy ship. Our on board Crew Welfare committee is of paramount importance because we seek to put the happiness of our crew first and are continuously striving to include events and activities that they will enjoy and appreciate.

Christmas is a special time and usually spent with our families and loved ones. Christmas on board Queen Mary 2, especially if it is your first, is far removed from anything that you are accustomed to. However I think that because of our combined efforts to make it special and rewarding, to keep it fun and unique helps make celebrating Christmas on your home away from home that more memorable.

We are all in the same boat after all…

A sincere thank you to each and every one of the ship’s company for the part that they played in this year’s Christmas. It is certainly an event that will remain in our memories forever. As always it is both a pleasure and privilege working with our crew and I look forward to a momentous 2012 during which, we will make it happen.

Warm regards,

Dominique

Hello all

The festive season is well underway on board the Cunard fleet, the halls have been decked with boughs of holly and we even had a special visit from Santa and Mrs Claus on board Queen Elizabeth in Southampton this week! Our ships look spectacular during the Christmas period, with trees and traditional decorations in the Grand Lobbys and fantastic gingerbread villages in the Queens Rooms, take a look at the photos below to see what our guests will be enjoying over the coming days.

Before that, have a look at this video message from Peter Shanks, taking a look back at 2011…

As this is the first Blog of 2011, I’d like to wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year. It’s an exciting time on board our Queens as we prepare for our World Voyages, with Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria arriving in Southampton tomorrow morning. There’ll be a fireworks display to send our Queens off in style, as they set sail in tandem across the Atlantic to meet Queen Mary 2 in New York on 13 January, in what will certainly be another historic event for Cunard.

In this post I am taking you back to Christmas day on board our latest Cunarder, but before that I wanted to share a special moment with you. Just before Christmas there was a total lunar eclipse in the early hours of 21 December as the full moon set in the northwest horizon. The moon started entering the earth’s shadow at 3.32am local time and by 4.20am the darkened part of the moon seemed to acquire a reddish hue. This is due to red light from the sun filtering through the earth’s atmosphere and reaching the moon. The total phase of the eclipse lasted for about one hour and guests and crew aboard managed to get some great pictures before the clouds came in. This is an amazing compilation photo which was taken by Petar Petanac, Queen Elizabeth’s Chief Photographer, which shows the different phases of the eclipse.

Thanks Petar for that great photo; it was an amazing event to witness. Meanwhile a few days later heads turned back to the skies to see if a special guest was going to visit Queen Elizabeth on Christmas morning. Following the traditional Christmas Eve midnight services, Christmas morning started with early morning services and then the Captain’s Service of Lessons and Carols. The Royal Court Theatre was packed with guests who were in fine voice as members of the ships company read the lessons.  Then everyone headed for the Queens Room to see if the special guest was going to appear, and needless to say some of the younger children were beyond excited as everyone sang Christmas songs to help Santa Clause find his way.

Then we thought we saw something in the distance as we looked up to the funnel;

We weren’t too sure, but then by zooming in on the camera, there was Santa Clause showing us how impressive the Cunard funnel really is.

Fortunately this was all seen in the Queens Room through a link up with our cameras beaming pictures on to the large screen, at which point the gathered guests let out a huge cheer when they realised he was really here. 

The question was whether he was going to fit down the funnel, so everyone was relieved to hear the funnel was elasticised so he could make it down safely! The camera tracked our special guest as he found his way around the ship to the Queens Room where he eventually took his seat and started to give gifts to all the youngsters on board.

The youth team did a great job in ensuring every child received a gift and the photographers were on hand to capture the moment. Not wanting to be left out some of the adults also posed for pictures on Santa’s knee. This same scene was also taking place on our other Queens, as you can see from this picture taken on Queen Victoria.

One very special Cunard tradition on Christmas Day is when the officers go to the crew mess rooms and serve Christmas lunch. The Officers on Queen Elizabeth came out in strength to serve on the buffet line to a delighted crew.

The mess rooms had been beautifully decorated including Christmas Crackers on the tables, with each crew member being served drinks. The atmosphere was great as officers also cleared the tables and it was great to see everyone enjoying the festivities. It was a real team effort and here you can see Queen Elizabeth’s Hotel Manager, Jacqui Hodgson taking her turn to clear tables.

 
Being a British ship we were delighted to be able to broadcast the Queen’s Christmas Day speech in the public rooms, which was followed by a Christmas Concert with Graham Wellard in the Queens Room, and the guests’ chosen movie, (they had voted for the Christmas day movie earlier in the voyage), White Christmas, in the Royal Court Theatre.

Of course food is a major element of the festive season and our galley team had their work cut out with all the extra events such as the Grand Afternoon High Tea. Under the direction of Executive Chef, Nicholas Oldroyd the team created a magnificent display in the middle of the Queens Room.

As usual their artistry was incredible, and for tea alone they made 2,000 mince pies and 24 large (20 inch) Christmas cakes; just look at these beautiful creations.

We then had a special event in the Royal Court Theatre. Earlier in the voyage guests had expressed an interest in forming a Guest Choral Group and before long Nick Wilkes from the Entertainment Staff teamed up with Pianist Dustin Turner and rehearsals began in earnest. The numbers grew and grew and by the time the performance day arrived there were over 90 of them in the choir. The performance began with a fantastic solo by 10 year old William Connellan from Oundle near Peterborough in England.

William, who goes to Laxton Junior School in Oundle, began singing on a cruise when he was just three years old. He sang the first verse of Once in Royal David’s City, and it set the tone for a superb performance by the Choral Group and the audience loved it, giving them a well deserved standing ovation.

That evening, guests were served the full traditional Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings and the statistics are amazing: 135 Suffolk Goose weighing 8lbs each, 1,600 kilos of Black Feathered Norfolk Turkey Breast and 300 kilos of Black Feathered Norfolk Turkey Boned and Rolled Leg Meat. Of course the meal had to include Christmas puddings and our Pastry Team made over 2,100 individual puddings!

The evening finished with a specially produced Christmas Show by one of our Guest Entertainers, Gary Williams, followed by a Christmas Ball and many other events around the ship. The crew from all departments worked incredibly hard as always to make the day special, and it was certainly a fabulous day with a tremendous festive atmosphere amongst our guests and crew.

I’ll bring you the New Year’s Eve photos from all three Queens next Monday but the next Blog will be on Thursday when I’ll post Deputy Captain Andrew Hall’s final instalment of Queen Victoria’s recent refit in Hamburg. Cheers for now, Alastair

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

Guest Blog, Freda Singleton – Queen Mary 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This will be quite a quick blog this week amongst all the seasonal celebrations, which I hope you are enjoying wherever you are during this festive time of year.

I could be accused, quite justifiably, of using the word historic rather a lot. Today, Cunard has one of the youngest fleets in the industry, with Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria and soon to come the new Queen Elizabeth, but we are still very proud of our history and the traditions that our modern liners inherit today. I say this because this particular week is one of some major cornerstones, as we look at Cunard’s history for the week 26^th December to the 1^st of January:

December 26 2003

Queen Mary 2 arrives in Southampton for the first time

December 27 1930

John Brown Yard Manager, Donald Skifflington, ceremoniously hammered home the first rivet on the new Queen Mary

December 28 1989

QE2 makes her maiden Call at the port of Yokohama for Tokyo, Japan

December 30 1964

The contract to build QE2 was signed. The deal between Cunard and John Brown Shipyard was to build a ship known at that time as Q4

January 1 1934

Cunard merges with rival White Star.

The merger on the first of January 1934, with our then rival White Star, was carefully negotiated following a repayable loan from the British government of £4.5million to help build Queen Mary. It also included a promise of a further £5million loan, to help build her sister, Queen Elizabeth. In addition to the Cunard ships, it also meant that three White Star ships would join the new enlarged fleet with the Olympic as the first to transfer. The second was The Majestic II, which had quite a history, as it was originally the Hamburg Amerika Lines Bismarck, launched in 1914 and was given to White Star as compensation for the loss of the Britannic in 1916. The Georgic was the third of the three ships inherited by Cunard and although the ships are long gone the name of White Star has continued to this day with Cunard’s famed “White Star Service”.

2003 saw Queen Mary 2 arrive in Southampton, and none of us will ever forget the images of her coming to her home port for the first time. She is a truly incredible ship and there is something magical about her that captivates crowds wherever she goes. I will always remember the first time I saw the masses of people lining the Elbe as she came in to Hamburg, and they still do five years later. Apart from being maintained to an exceptional high standard she has changed very little in her relatively short life, a testament to the work of her designers. Having said that many of you have been asking about the recent refit in Germany and although most of the work was behind the scenes there were some upgrades with the furnishings including the Chart Room which I have a couple of pictures of.

I’d also like to thank Freda Singleton for sending in a couple of festive photos from Queen Mary 2’s celebrations. Firstly not wishing to be out done by the Christmas display I shared with you on last week’s blog from Queen Victoria, here is a picture of their Ginger Bread House created by their talented team of chefs.

And here’s a picture of some of the Entertainment Team on board for the festive voyage with hopefully a few familiar faces. You may be wondering why there are so many pale pink and pale blue polo shirts, well they are the expanded Youth team looking after the increased numbers of youngsters on for the voyage.

Queen Victoria has completed her first year in service and it’s wonderful to see how popular she is already. It has been particularly enjoyable to meet quite a few guests on board, who have already sailed on her over three times – it would be interesting to learn who has completed the most voyages on her so far! Now we are all very pleased to welcome many of our fellow crew members from QE2 including of course Captain McNaught. I know the current voyage is welcoming many guests from QE2 for the first time and I look forward to meeting many more on the World Cruise.

Speaking of QE2, of course we were all sad to see her leave the fleet, but it was great to witness the incredible celebration of her career, as literally thousands of people paid tribute to her as she visited regular ports of call for the last time. The comments from Carmel’s poem, I think, says it all and shows the sheer affection for the ship and those who served on her. Although she is now preparing for the next stage of her life in Dubai, I will do my best to keep you fully informed of her transformation and I have a feeling that guests on future World Cruises will be making pilgrimages when they visit for many years to come.

As we look forward to 2009 all eyes will be focusing towards Italy and the construction of the next Cunard Queen; Queen Elizabeth. I expect some news fairly soon and will be getting regular reports from Fincantieri’s Monfalcone shipyard on her progress with lots of photos – so watch this space!

In the meantime after 18 weeks of blogging, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all so much for logging on and being involved in the “We Are Cunard” blog. I’d also like to thank Shelley who does so much work with the blog, as well as those who have helped me with interviews and guidance. I look forward to hearing from you even more in 2009, and of course your ideas and questions are always welcome. I enjoy reading them and I know they often discuss subjects other bloggers are interested in as well.

I’ll be back next week as usual to celebrate the New Year with a special interview with a member of the ships company that guests always ask about. I’ll be interviewing Queen Victoria’s Principal Medical Officer, Peter Hawthorne which promises to be quite enlightening.

Meanwhile I’ll be re-joining Queen Victoria on 12^th January so if you are on the world cruise and read this blog – please do come and introduce yourself – I may even buy you a drink!

Firstly, I would like to wish you all very best wishes for the Season. Whether you are celebrating Christmas, Hanukah or other festivities, I hope it’s a happy time for everyone. Before we get in to how the ships enjoy this special time of year, here is this week in Cunard’s history for the 19th to the 25^th December.

December 21 1918

The Carmania becomes one of the first ships to be released by the government after World War 1 and make her first peace time sailing

December 21 1971

QE2 makes her maiden Call Port Everglades, USA

December 22 2003

Queen Mary 2 is handed over to Cunard in a ceremony at the Chantiers De L’Atlantique ship yard in St. Nazaire, France

December 23 1923

Ascania II is launched at the Armstrong Whitworth yard in Newcastle

December 23 1968

QE2 completes her sea trials in the Irish sea following preliminary trials which started a month earlier

Despite much of the world taking a lot of time off at this time of year, it’s always a busy time for those of us at sea, although personally, I will be at home this year, the first for many years so I must admit I’m very much looking forward to it. Of course this time last year we were busy with Queen Victoria on her second voyage on a “Seasonal Getaway” to the Canaries. This year both Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 will be celebrating in the Caribbean. Here’s a great picture of Queen Mary 2 in Bonaire where she’ll be on Christmas Eve.

Planning for this time of year begins with creating an itinerary for the special voyages which will usually mean that the ships are at sea on Christmas Day, to make the most of the festivities. Storing of course continues as always, but with so many businesses closing during the period, our logistics team has to ensure that everything arrives at various destinations around the world in plenty of time. Specialist decorating companies are briefed to create a wonderful atmosphere in the public areas on board. Here’s a great picture of the Grand Lobby on Queen Mary 2 this year.

Once the voyage begins there’ll be a great atmosphere on board with festive music and of course the traditional religious services including a carol service and midnight masses conducted by clergy brought on for the voyage. Hanukah is often celebrated at the same time as Christmas, but the exact dates do vary from year to year. There’ll be a Rabbi on board to light a candle each day on the Menora which is normally by the Pursers desk.

Just before Christmas itself, the food and beverage department will create amazing displays around the ship to compliment the decorations, and I am always amazed by their talents. As you can imagine this takes a lot of time but it looks fantastic and it’s lovely to see the pride they have in their work. I have been sent the pictures from Queen Victoria this year and I’m sure you’ll agree they have done an incredible job.

One of the great traditions on board is the carol singing on Christmas Eve where guests are invited to join the ship’s officers, staff and crew for a good rousing festive sing along with specially prepared carol sheets. It’s always fun and great to see everyone together and fortunately we have the professional singers from our shows to help keep us in tune! Here’s a picture from last year’s singing in the Grand Lobby of Queen Victoria.

This time of year is very special for children and the youth teams on board are very busy looking after our younger guests with extra seasonal activities, the most eagerly awaited though of course is the visit to the ship by Santa Clause himself. He chooses various ways of visiting the ship although the traditional route of the funnel is a bit of a tight squeeze. He has often been spotted coming alongside the ship in a specially lowered lifeboat and there have been rumours of him being parachuted in but I think that’s someone’s imagination getting the better of them! You’ll have to watch the ships’ bridge cams to see how he arrives this year! However he gets there, he normally arrives around lunch time on Christmas day to deliver gifts to the children. On Queen Mary 2 this takes place in the Queen’s Room and on Queen Victoria in the Grand Lobby. While the children collect their presents and have their photo taken with Santa, officers and crew gather to sing more carols and Christmas songs making it a wonderful occasion. I’m sure this is helped by the seasonal eggnog and other refreshments!

Another important part of the day for our British guests is to watch the Queen’s annual Christmas Day speech to the Commonwealth. Once we have established the time difference (it’ll be late morning in the Caribbean), the speech is broadcast on the big screen in Illuminations on Queen Mary 2 and in the Queen’s Room on Queen Victoria.

This year Queen Victoria will be performing a special Christmas Show matinee featuring most of the ship’s Entertainment department and Amanda Reid, (Entertainment Director), has told me the team has been working hard on this special show and it promises to be a fantastic performance.  Queen Mary 2 will be having a festive matinee concert which also sounds like a relaxing way to spend Christmas afternoon.

The evening is very special with our guests enjoying a traditional Christmas dinner in the various restaurants around the ship. Yes we do keep the British traditional Christmas crackers and I’m afraid the jokes are not much better than the one’s you’ll be reading around your tables at home but I don’t think it would be Christmas if they were any good! Meanwhile the crew are also being looked after with special meals as well in their mess rooms. The Personnel and Training Managers will also have worked on events and activities for the crew, so that despite being away from their families, which is never easy at this time of year, they do get to enjoy some seasonal cheer.

Well that’s it from me for this year and apart from wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2009 I would like to thank you for reading this blog these last weeks. It’s been great to receive your comments and I look forward to keeping you updated with everything that happens in the Cunard World in the new year. In addition to everything that’s happening on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria (both beginning their second World Cruises in January), there’ll be lots of exciting news about the new Queen Elizabeth as she prepares to enter service in just 21 months time.