Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 70 days

I’ve just got back from an amazing visit to the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy to see our new Queen and will be posting the first of those photos and Video Blogs on Thursday. She is looking fantastic and what a difference from when I last saw her in January, so the excitement is definitely building, with just ten weeks to go!  

Meanwhile as you will know from my last post, Queen Victoria has just completed her first Round Britain Voyage.  These voyages are always special, but it’s even more so, when it’s the first one marked by a visit from the ship’s Godmother. Cunard’s President and Managing Director, Peter Shanks visited Queen Victoria in Liverpool so I’ll hand over to Peter to take up the story.

  President’s Blog

   Peter Shanks

   President and Managing Director

   Cunard Line

 <br>

<br>

<br>

<br>

At Cunard we are blessed with special events and very special days. Last week,on Queen Victoria’s Round Britain Voyage, we had just such a day. The ingredients were pretty special –a maiden call to our spiritual home of Liverpool, a Royal visit from the ship’s Godmother, The Duchess of Cornwall and a celebration of 170 years to the month of the first ever voyage by a Cunard ship, The Britannia from Liverpool to Boston and Halifax in 1840. With ingredients like that, it had to end up with a cake; it did of course and I thought I would share my experience of the day with you.

Friendly Banter – I travelled up to Liverpool the night before. I had invited a very good friend of mine, a chap called John Heald who is a fellow blogger and writes brilliantly on his Carnival Cruise Line Blog. We met for breakfast and whilst waiting for a taxi to take us down to the port enjoyed some friendly banter with the hotel reception staff. It was pouring with rain and had been for a week, but the powers that be had imposed a hosepipe ban in the city. They should have known better as it rained when QE2 came to the city to say farewell in 2008, it rained when Queen Mary 2 made her maiden visit last year and for forward planning purposes they should be aware it will rain twice in July next year when both Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth will be in Liverpool next July.

Would there be any interest? – Well we arrived at a damp and drizzly dockside at 0800. I was not sure what to expect. Queen Mary 2 had attracted many hundreds of onlookers. I was very pleasantly surprised. The first sight was Queen Victoria going sideways down the river Mersey. There is a strong river tide, so as the ship makes her 180 degree turn to come alongside, the tide continues to push her down the river; quite a sight but I knew that Captain Wright had things under control.

The second wonderful sight was the many hundreds of Liverpool people who were on the dockside. There is so much pride in Liverpool – it’s a fabulous city. And here they were, just yards from the iconic Cunard Building, welcoming a Cunard Liner into Liverpool for the first time, as many people have done over the last 170 years – remarkable.

Getting Ready – There was a buzz of excitement in the cruise terminal, not just for the ship, but also for the pending Royal Visit. John and I were rather amused to see that the band was a Ukulele band. I asked the cruise terminal manager why a Ukulele band and she said it had worked well recently for a German cruise visit. John and I share a blank and rather amused look. But do you know what, when they struck-up their fist tune – and I have never heard 20 Ukulele’s all at once – they sang Beatles Songs. Well of course it was going to be Beatles, we are in Liverpool and it was actually rather good and received a huge round of applause from the arriving guests looking on with interest from their balconies.

She is going to be an hour late – Oh, Oh – first sign of trouble. On boarding the ship I heard that our Godmother, Duchess of Cornwall was going to be an hour late for her visit. Her helicopter had broken down. My first thought was what a good excuse that was. It was one I thought I could use in the future; only problem being that unlike her I don’t have a helicopter. It was marvelous to watch the seamless way in which our on board team calmly set about changing plans for the morning. As it happened she was only 45 minutes late, but she stayed with us for the full hour that she had promised and it was really very touching to see her come back to visit her ship and to see so many of our crew.

Meeting Queen Victoria’s Crew – On arrival in the Grand Lobby our crew were right around all three levels of the lobby and gave a very warm welcome.

The Duchess of Cornwall seemed very happy, and at home to be back. She unveiled a silver plaque and toured the Galley, meeting many of our Chef’s and cooks.

She came up to the Bridge.

We had planned that she would blow the ship’s whistles across the city at 1200. Problem – it was now 1245. No problem, The Captain announced ‘Maam – it is precisely 1200, would you care to blow the ship’s whistles’. And blow then she did to great effect.

It was really quite moving to see the beaming faces of so many of the ship’s company as they met our Godmother.

Of course most of them these days have mobile phones with cameras. I am convinced that many of them would be sending their photos home to their families. Our crew are such proud people, and to make their day special was, for me, the absolute highlight of the day. So on we went to The Queens Room. There we asked our Godmother to cut our Birthday Cake.

Yes – our 170^th Birthday and I reminded those present in my short speech that our first ship Britannia would have fitted inside the Queen Room, a sign of just how Cunard Line has developed over 170 years.

As she toured the ship many of our guests were able to see and meet The Duchess of Cornwall. She was very warmly welcomed by all, relaxed, interested, chatty and it was really a very impressive sight – good for her.

And off she went – Our allocated 55 minutes passed in a flash. As I escorted our Godmother down the gangway – taking extra care as it was pouring with rain and it would be most careless to lose her – I thanked her for coming and explained how much the Ship’s Company appreciated her coming back to see her ship. She said she would love to come back again but for longer next time. To me that’s a lead, and there is a brochure in the post already!

If that was not enough for one day – Later that evening we had two concerts in the theatre. Not normal concert; we had the 65 piece Halle Orchestra along with tenors and sopranos and our famous and friendly conductor Anthony Inglis. They were a triumph and saw standing ovations – especially as they performed the famous Liverpool Anthem Never Walk Alone – on Queen Victoria, on the Mersey, in Liverpool 170 years from when Samuel Cunard gave birth to this remarkable brand. If that was not enough we followed with fireworks and then to finish the evening off we had a Beatles Band to perform on board.

And I was on the train – I have to admit that I missed the concerts and the fireworks. I had to be back in Southampton the next morning so had to leave the ship before they started. So during the concerts I was stuck on a train to London. Standard class was £70, First Class was £200 – a scandalous amount of money. So as I sat in standard class on a busy train, surrounded by other people’s cheeseburgers and screaming children – I kept thinking how the first concert was going. I should not have been worried. I had told John Heald that the as he sat through the concert he would be immersed in one of those magical Cunard moments and that the hair on the back of his neck would stand on end. At 2000, just as the first concert would have finished, my blackberry buzzed with a message from John. Turns out I was wrong – it was not the hair on the back of his neck that was tingling – it was every single hair on his body … remarkable.

So that was our day in Liverpool and I hope I have helped bring it to life. It was just one day in the life of Cunard, just 55 minutes of our Godmother’s time, just one day for the fine people of Liverpool but a very special day in the 62,000 days of our history and hopefully a very special day for our crew and for our guests. I can’t wait to do it again next year both Queen Mary 2 and our new Queen Elizabeth will do Round Britain Voyages. Both will call in Liverpool and both will feature a famous concert. Why don’t you join us – you would be most welcome.

With Best Regards

Peter Shanks 

Thank you Peter for another fantastic President’s Blog and what an amazing day for everyone. There’s lot’s of news to share at the moment so I’ll be back on Thursday (if not before!) with those much anticipated pictures Of Queen Elizabeth in Italy. Cheers for now, Alastair

At Cunard we always love to hear stories from guests, as they recall their early voyages on our ships as well as former crew members who come on board for a trip down memory lane. I’ll tell you more about an amazing story I heard recently on Queen Victoria, in a moment but first, thank you again for all the comments, in fact October was a record breaking month for the Blog with more posts and comments than ever before. Queen Victoria is just finishing a Mediterranean voyage before heading back there again next week, including another call to Venice where I’ll head off to the Monfalcone ship yard to get some more pictures and video of Queen Elizabeth. Meanwhile Queen Mary 2 will make her final call of the year to Southampton next Wednesday, before settling in to her Caribbean itineraries for the rest of the year. Now it’s time for this week in Cunard’s history, for the week 6 to 12 November

6 November 2000 Cunard signs the final contract for Queen Mary 2, and unveils her key design details. She will be the largest, longest, widest and tallest passenger ship in history and will enter service in 2004.

7 November 1970 QE2 makes her maiden call Durban, South Africa.

8 November 1999 Queen Mary 2 general plans are completed and the first images are released.

11 November 2008 QE2 begins her farewell voyage from Southampton to Dubai.

12 November 2007 Crew move on board Queen Victoria for the first time

We were delighted to hear that two guests, who recently sailed with us on Queen Victoria, were keen to meet us and tell us their amazing story. Thomas Quinones (Entertainment Staff) and I met up with Mr and Mrs McAllister one morning and what a fascinating meeting it was.

As they showed us their mementos, it transpired that Mr McAllister had quite remarkable parents.

His father, Hugh McAllister, was born in 1900 and when Britain was in the grips of the First World War, like so many of his age at the time, he ran away to sea to serve his country. However when the authorities discovered his true age, he was swiftly sent home again. But he was determined to go to sea, so in 1920 he applied to Cunard to become a Radio Officer.

Although he had no experience or training before going on board, he soon learned, as was so often the way in those days. One of the mementos the McAllister family still treasures is an engraved gold pen that was presented to him by Cunard. It carries the inscription;

“W.H.McAllister S.S.Carinthia. Commemorating consistent direct radio communication with New York during world cruise 1926-27. R.C.A.”.

After a distinguished career at sea he put his electronic engineering skills to use designing rockets.

In the meantime he had met an exceptional lady, with whom he was going to spend the rest of his life. He met Hilda James on the Carinthia on the 1926-27 World Cruise, and they married in 1930. Here she is during a transit of the Panama Canal on that voyage.

Hilda Marjorie James was from Liverpool, and at an early age she had shown an amazing swimming talent. At just 16 she was the middle swimmer in the British Relay Team that won the silver medal at the1920 Olympics. This is the badge that was sewn on to their costumes, which the family still has:

But this was just one of many impressive achievements. She was a true record holder, winning her first major competition in Manchester, when she swam the ASA 300 yards freestyle in just 4 minutes 20 seconds, setting a new world record. She went on to win over 36 competitions in England and Scotland, over the following 4 years, setting a staggering nine new world records. Each time she won a record she was able to add one of these badges to her growing collection:

Her record breaking career also took her to America and here’s a clip from a newspaper published on 5 August 1922 showing her swimming the 300 metres in 4 minutes 33.8 seconds.

By the time she turned professional at the age of 21, she had amassed a huge amount of awards and broken numerous records and here she is proudly showing off her achievements:

She was prevented from attending the 1924 Olympics in Paris, by her parents as the British Olympic association would not pay for her mother to accompany her as chaperone (aged 20!). As the star of British swimming and the current world record holder at several distances, she would have undoubtedly won medals. As a member of the Cunard swimming Club at Liverpool’s Adelphi Hotel, she had already been offered a chance to join the line as a celebrity crew-member. Hilda was so bitter about the 1924 Olympics that she decided to turn professional and began her seafaring career, by running away from home to join the Carinthia which sailed from Liverpool in 1925. She didn’t tell her parents that she was going until the night before the voyage!

Shortly after she became engaged, she returned to England to set up the family home, because as Mrs McAllister told me “It wasn’t the done thing for a wife of a Merchant Seaman to stay on board with her husband in those days”.

Despite having a family, she kept on swimming throughout her life and often gave exhibitions right until the end of her life, even though she had a pacemaker fitted. Here she is in 1980 at an exhibition in Wallasey with another Olympic Champion, David Wilkie, (who amongst numerous awards, won the Gold Medal at the Montreal Olympics in 1976).

I’d like to thank Mr. and Mrs. McAllister for sharing this wonderful story with us, and taking the time to sit down and chat about another truly incredible Cunarder.

There are lots more great stories on the way and I also have an interview with Queen Victoria’s new Chief Engineer, Ronnie Kierr coming up as well as my next visit to see Queen Elizabeth in about 10 days time. In the meantime thank you again for logging on and all your great comments – please keep them coming. Cheers, Alastair.

 This is a truly a very special Blog as it marks the 100^th posting as Queen Mary 2 makes an historic Around The British Isles Voyage. Before I pass over to Peter Shanks (President and Managing Director of Cunard Line), I would like to say a big thank you for everyone’s support over the last 100 postings, including Richard, Matt and Shelley, but most of all to you for logging on and sharing your comments; here’s to the next 100! Now it’s a great pleasure to pass over to Peter on Queen Mary 2

I write this from Queen Mary 2. We are just leaving Greenock, with many thousands of people waving goodbye to what has been a spectacular day. Just twenty minutes ago – I pushed the hallowed red button on the bridge to sound our famous whistle and that in turn triggered an awesome firework display to celebrate the occasion. As we left – we heard the sounds of thousands of people singing ‘Happy Birthday’ from the shore – a very emotional, spontaneous and fitting tribute from the people of Scotland celebrating the 5^th Birthday of the finest ocean liner in the world.

Today – Queen Mary 2 sailed up the Clyde towards Glasgow for the very first time. Over 120 Cunarders were built in this part of Scotland –  including Lusitania, Aquitania, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, QE2 and our first ever ship Britannia over 170 years ago this year. We were all bursting with pride – our crew, our guests – all of us making history together as the largest ship ever to sail up the Clyde. And yes – we were welcomed by Scottish Pipers.

It was also a special moment for me personally as I am a proud Scotsman myself – born in Glasgow. Our lap of honour started in Southampton and over the last few days we have experienced;

·         A voyage up the East Coast of England coming close to some famous towns and beaches as we did so. We said a warm hello to Whitby, to Scarborough and Sunderland. You know the coast of the UK is actually very beautiful and the sun shone.

·         As we came into Whitby – Commodore sounded the ship’s whistle in tribute to a friend of his who sadly passed away earlier this year and who had been very active in the Royal National Lifeboat Institution – it is really marvellous when Cunard can play a small and humble part in recognition of things like this.

·         The day in Edinburgh was indeed spectacular with the ship anchored just off the famous bridge – a wonderful sight.

·         We travelled right around the top of Scotland yesterday, through the Pentland Firth, past Scapa Flow, past Old Man of Hoy – this coastline is rarely seen and to see it all the way round was a real treat for all of our guests.

·         Lesley Garret – a delightful and famous British opera singer, performed two concerts to a packed  Royal Court Theatre

·         I was able to deliver a presentation to guests on the forthcoming Queen Elizabeth to a packed theatre. The response was very warm and there is a real sense of anticipation for our next Liner.

On board we have 2,600 guests of which over 1,500 are our very loyal and valued Cunard World Club Members. Last night in the Queens Room we were able to thank them for their valued support – it was a real pleasure for us all to see so many familiar faces. I was also able to ask them in turn to give a warm round of applause for the people who lie behind the success of everything we do at Cunard Line – our valued ship’s company.

Well – that is all for now. Tomorrow is the big day – we take Queen Mary 2 up the Mersey into Liverpool for the very first time.  As though today on the Clyde was not exciting enough – to take Queen Mary 2 to Liverpool, where Cunard Line was founded 170 years ago should be very special indeed. I will of course let you know how we get on. We will also post some of the marvellous pictures of events over the next few days.

I just wanted to share with you the excitement and pride of today. More to come tomorrow I am sure. Since I started writing this – I have heard our ship’s whistle sound 9 more times – with the last one being to say goodbye to the famous Waverley Steamship as she escorted us back down the Clyde – packed with what I hope are hundreds of very happy Scots. We certainly made our mark today……………………….. Thank you Scotland – we will be back!

Best Regards – Peter Shanks

President and Managing Director – Cunard Line

Thank you Peter, this sounds like an amazing voyage so we look forward to hearing more from you soon. In the meantime I’ll be back on Thursday with the interview with Sir Terry Wogan. Cheers – Alastair

We started our final lap of the British Isles with QE2 full to capacity and a feeling of sadness and excitement all at the same time… Captain Ian McNaught at the helm and everyone poised for a Legendary, Elegant and Memorable Voyage… Our first stop Cherbourg, France…

This was not to be, the weather was against us and the Captain made the decision to press on to Cobh, Ireland for an overnight… an overnight to be enjoyed by both guests and crew alike…As usual there was plenty happening onboard during the first couple of days such as seminars in the Yacht Club and dance classes in the Queens Room. Maritime Historian William Miller’s Lecture captivated a packed house in the theatre and as always Carol Marlow’s talk on ‘Queen Victoria and a Year in the Life of Our Cunard Queens’ was fascinating.

QE2 in Cobh

We arrived into Cobh at around 3pm with crowds of people welcoming us as we came alongside… The gangways were jam packed as guests proceeded ashore to enjoy the sights and sounds of Ireland… What a sail out! Everywhere you looked, people lined the shoreline and every vantage point to say a final farewell to QE2…

Departure from Cobh

The next day we arrived in Liverpool, England and everyone was anticipating a spectacular day there… and it was… the Celebratory QE2 Concert at Liverpool’s magnificent Anglican Cathedral was unbelievable. What a venue… the cathedral is one of the largest in the world and just an absolute splendour, and yes it takes your breath away…Nearly two thousand in attendance and there was not a dry eye in the house, the service was deeply touching, with performances by The Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra combined with the Liverpool Cathedral Choir, Natasha Marsh and Jon Christos who where absolutely impressive to say the least… Time to Say Goodbye left a lump in everyone’s throat… and what a sight when the Band of the Welsh Guards marched up the isle and Natasha broke into Jerusalem…

QE2 In Liverpool

A 39 foot ‘Paying Off’ Pennant, the largest in Cunard history, 1 foot for every year the QE2 has been in service was presented to the Lord Mayor of Liverpool…The tributes paid to QE2 included one by Dame Beryl Bainbridge in which she talked about the progress of time and how things we love change and move on. Amongst others, QE2’s former Captain Robin Woodall, Carol Marlow and Captain Ian McNaught each delivered wonderfully moving tributes to QE2 and a resounding rendition of Rule Britannia with plenty of passion and flag waving perfectly rounded off a truly unforgettable event…Take a look at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7651948.stm  to see for yourself some clips from this wonderful occasion.

When QE2 started to untie from the berth for her sail-away there were spectacular fireworks which lit up the Liverpool sky and soon after the Beatles Tribute Band kicked off at the Funnel Bar… It was not so much a final farewell but, a celebration of what Liverpool means to Cunard and to QE2…As we moved away from the berth QE2 sounded her whistle to let everyone know who has the best baritone in the industry, prickling the hairs on your arms… What a finish to a very special day!

Belfast was yet another fabulous sail in with a flotilla of boats escorting us in, we came along side at around 2pm… Once again the locals where out to welcome QE2 despite the poor weather…On the crossing to Belfast HMS Ark Royal paid a surprise visit and came alongside to pay her respects and just before arriving the Red Arrows gave us an amazing display with their death defying stunts to an excited and captivated crowd from the QE2’s aft decks.

HMS Ark Royal

That morning Commodore Ronald Warwick’s lecture in the theatre ‘The QE2 Story’ was standing room only… He is a well loved Captain with crew and guests alike…In the evening the Local Show ‘Gaels Afloat’ dazzled the guests in the Grand Lounge with audience participation, Irish dance, music and lots of good ole’ Irish humour… The old favorite ‘Danny Boy’ was definitely a crowd pleaser…The Beatle’s Tribute Band performed after the Local Show, and oh my goodness I have never seen the Queens Room so alive with the rhythms and sounds of ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Hello Goodbye…’ and all those Beatles favorites… very reminiscent of a bygone era…

Richard Curtis, Cunard’s Head of Marketing was on QE2 for her call into Greenock and was kind enough to give me a few words on the arrival:

As we made our way to Greenock on Saturday morning we were treated with one of those perfect (and very rare) autumn days – chilly and fresh but not a cloud in the sky! Sailing towards the approach of the Clyde we were first greeted by type 42 frigate HMS Manchester who made a graceful sweep around us and the followed closely behind, occasionally speeding up and drawing level.

HMS Manchester

Over the next hour she was joined by more and more boats, every one packed full with admirers of QE2’s beauty and grace and to cheer and wave their best wishes.

As we got closer to Greenock the flotilla swelled further to several hundreds and included craft of every shape and size including speed boats, pleasure cruisers, yachts, jet skis and several Scottish Isles ferries specially chartered for the day.

Greenock

On the banks of the Clyde every conceivable space was taken by rapturous admirers franticly waving and cheering. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7651286.stm for a video of her arriving in Greenock.

Finally at 12 noon as we approached her berth QE2 sounded her whistle and was answered by a cacophony of every conceivable pitch.

Such a special moment that sent many thousand shivers down the spines of all fortunate enough to be there, and which will always be remembered as one of those very special and unique Cunard moments.

After a resounding send off from Greenock with many thousands of QE2’s fans and admirers enjoying yet another spectacular firework we headed on our way towards Edinburgh and Newcastle which I will tell you more about in a few days time.  Also, thank you to Richard Curtis for supplying these pictures of QE2 on this wonderful voyage!

Warren