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 - 244 days

 

One of the best aspects of a world voyage is the tremendous variety of entertainment and activities we are able to offer our guests. Recently on Queen Victoria’s second leg of this World Voyage, our guests were delighted to find that one of the musical legends of the 1960’s was not only on board, but was also going to present two lectures about his life and amazing career. It was great to spend a bit of time with Roger and his wife Camilla, and chat about his work. He told me that one of the most common misconceptions from many of us in the UK is that the Byrds are not in fact a British band! So for those of you like me who maybe know his music more than the man himself, here’s a potted history.

 

Jim McGuinn, later known as Roger, was already a veteran of the New York and Los Angeles music scene when he co-founded the group that would become The Byrds with Gene Clark and David Crosby in 1964.

 

 

 

Prior to forming the Byrds, Roger toured and performed folk music with the Limeliters, Chad Mitchell Trio and Bobby Darin as a guitarist and banjo player. Originally from Chicago, Roger studied at the Old Town School of Folk Music and was active on Chicago’s folk scene, where he was strongly influenced as a teenager by Bob Gibson.  Within a few weeks of finishing high school, Roger was working with the Limeliters in California, where he played guitar and banjo on their album “Tonight: In Person.”

 

After touring for a while with Bobby Darin, Roger moved to New York at Darin’s request, to work for his publishing company. He and Frank Gari co-wrote the song, “Beach Ball,” and performed it with Darin, as the City Surfers, on a very rare single released in July 1963. After hearing the Beatles for the first time, Roger began playing folk songs to a rock beat in the coffee houses of Greenwich Village. His experiments in merging folk and rock took him to Los Angeles and the Troubadour, where he met Gene Clark and then David Crosby who added his unique concepts of harmony to the duo, thereby completing the beginning of one of the most influential bands of the ’60s.

 

In January 1965 Columbia Records signed the Byrds and they recorded their first number one hit, “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Three years later McGuinn and Chris Hillman hired Gram Parsons and headed for Nashville where they recorded the now critically acclaimed “Sweetheart of the Rodeo.”

 

Roger McGuinn disbanded the Byrds in 1973 to pursue his dream of a solo career and made five solo albums with Columbia Records. Roger’s latest release in 2006 was a 4 CD 100 song Box Set of Rock, Electrified Blues and Folk, rich in Rickenbacker “Jingle Jangle” – called “The Folk Den Project”.

 

This was Roger’s first time, lecturing on board so I asked him how he found the experience; he was kind enough to write this Guest Blog:

 

Guest Blog – Roger McGuinn – Founder Member Of The Byrds

 

 

My wife Camilla and I just completed a leg of the Queen Victoria World Voyage from New York to San Francisco through the Panama Canal. I was invited to give two lectures on board entitled “How Folk Music took me to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”  We joined in the excitement with the other guests to experience one of the Seven Wonders of the World!

 

The camaraderie of the voyage began the first day at our restaurant table with the three other couples who sat with us; one from New York, one from Scotland, and another from Australia. By the end of the voyage neighboring tables were sharing stories of their daily adventures with our gregarious group. The restaurant quickly became a gathering of friends.

 

The “Victorian London” motif of the ship and dressing for dinner each evening set the stage for the feel of an elegant by-gone period of time.  We had a breathtaking view from a fantastic balcony. It was too nice to keep to ourselves, so we hosted two “sail away” parties during our voyage; one from Cartagena and the other from Acapulco.

 

After we traversed the Panama Canal, I gave my first lecture about my early influences in music in the beautiful Royal Court Theatre. I began with singing a bit of “Heartbreak Hotel,” the song that inspired to make music my life’s ambition. Throughout the lecture I spoke of the career opportunities that came serendipitously along the way throughout my 50 years in the entertainment business, beginning with being hired for my first professional job when I was 17 by the Limeliters. My keynote presentation included clips from those early years and the people I worked with including the Chad Mitchell Trio, Ertha Kit, Bobby Darin, Judy Collins and Paul Simon. Then I recounted the story of the formation of the Byrds.

 

My second lecture began with the story on how Miles Davis was responsible for the Byrds being signed to a recording contract on Columbia Records. The 45 minutes seemed to fly by as I told the stories of the songs, the musicians, the movie sound tracks and my current projects. There was little time for questions, but I met with the folks after the lecture and heard about how my music affected their lives. Queen Victoria created a small town feeling for all the guests. There were no strangers on board.

 

In the mornings we always enjoyed the televised shows of Alastair Greener, the Entertainment Director. He kept us informed of the daily lectures, shows and adventures available. There was so much to do, but there were days where we just sat on the balcony and enjoyed the changing colors of the ocean and sky.

 

After a long leisurely dinner with our table mates, we often went to the various dance venues. I have never considered myself a dancer but the elegance of the evenings prompted us to dance the night away to the sounds of some wonderful bands.

 

Queen Victoria captures the grand days of ocean voyages! We are looking forward to our next trip! All the best, Roger McGuinn

 

I’d like to thank Roger again for his wonderful lectures and for taking the time to talk to us on the Blog. Not only is he a legend in the music business but a fascinating person to talk to. Roger was also kind enough to coming on the morning TV show that our guests watch and we thought you may like to see a clip from that:

 

 

 

You can find out more about Roger at his website by clicking on this link. www.mcguinn.com

 

I’ll be back again on Thursday with my regular weekly post and more news from the World Voyages on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Cheers Alastair.

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 254 days

 

As Queen Mary 2 made her maiden call to Cochin in India and headed to Phuket in Thailand, her sister, Queen Victoria had crossed the Pacific to make her maiden call to the port of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. It was the ship’s first visit to the island and what a welcome we received, and certainly beyond our expectations. On the same day a couple from Toronto, Canada had decided to make this an extra special day as well. More of that after our regular feature, Cunard’s history, for the week 5 to 11 February:

 

5 February 1840	Samuel Cunard’s first ship, the 1,154-ton paddle steamer Britannia, is launched at Robert Duncan’s ship yard.
6 February 1924	Aurania III is launched in Newcastle and enters service as the second set of triplets of the A Class liner
6 February 1951	Caronia makes her maiden call to Auckland, New Zealand
7 February 1925	Alaunia II (14,040 Tons) is launched at John Brown’s, Clydbank and enters service on the Canada route
10 February 1977	QE2 makes her maiden call at Nagasaki, Japan
11 February 2008	Queen Victoria makes maiden crossing of the international Dateline

 

Queen Victoria anchored off the island of Maui at about 8am last Monday, and everyone soon flocked to the open decks to see the most incredible welcome from the marine life of the bay. There were North Pacific Humpback Whales everywhere around the ship with approximately twenty of them on view comprising families with their calves.

 

 

We found out that this was no coincidence, as the Whales choose the Maui area and specifically the bay around Lahaina as it is a perfect area for them to spend their winters. Hawaiian water temperatures average around 75 degrees, which is an ideal environment for the newborn calves. The islands shelter and protect the waters and form a shallow basin, as compared to the deep surrounding Pacific Ocean waters with depths of up to three miles. The average depth in the area off Lahaina is only about 300 feet which is perfect for the Humpback Whale. Another reason they come to Maui is that Hawaiian waters are virtually predator free for the Humpback Whales. Their only other predators, besides humans, are Orcas, the Killer Whale, but they are rarely seen in Hawaii as they prefer colder waters. The Humpbacks encounter Orcas on a regular basis when they migrate to the feeding grounds of Alaska in the summer, and as such, about a fifth of Humpback Whales bear scars from Orca attacks. The marine life remained visible throughout the day; it was almost like some of the calves wanted Queen Victoria to join in the fun! Our guests and crew were able to take some fantastic photos from the ship and the tenders which took them ashore; mind you it takes a professional like our Chief Photographer, Marius Botha to get a shot like this.

 

 

The name La haina means “cruel sun” in the Hawaiian language, describing the sunny dry climate enjoyed most of the year. It’s a small town compared with the very busy and cosmopolitan Honolulu, with the focus of activity along Front Street, which dates back to the 1820s and today is lined with stores and restaurants. Banyan Tree Square features an exceptionally large Banyan tree planted in 1873 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the missionaries. It has grown by dropping roots from its branches that then become additional trunks, allowing it to cover two-thirds of an acre.

 

 

 

It’s amazing to think that this is just one tree! It now has twelve major trunks and the symmetry of the tree is apparently maintained by volunteers.

 

While most of our guests were enjoying island tours, two guests from Toronto, Canada were preparing for a day they would never forget, because this was the day they had chosen for their Hawaiian wedding. Corey who recently retired from the Canadian Military, and Amy, who works in finance, met in a nightclub in Toronto just over a year ago. As Amy was already booked on part of Queen Victoria’s World Voyage, the idea of a Hawaiian wedding seemed perfect. Amy’s parents are staying on for the whole World Voyage so they also attended the ceremony on an exclusive beach within a short walk of Lahaina. Amy’s sister and her partner flew to the island for a week’s holiday, so they could also be part of the special day. The setting was idyllic with their honeymoon destination, (Queen Victoria) in the background.

 

 

 

They said that once they had decided on a Hawaiian wedding, the process was actually quite simple and not too complicated. They managed to arrange everything over the internet and all they had to do on the day was arrive at Amy’s sister’s hotel to change, and then walk down to the beach to meet the minister who had arranged their traditional Hawaiian wedding, which they told me involved lots of kissing throughout the ceremony along with exchanges of leis and vows.

 

 

After the ceremony they wanted to do something quite different so they hired a paddleboard before returning to the ship later that afternoon. They had a lot of fun on the tender back as they heard guests saying, “Did you see the wedding on the beach – how lovely”. “Little did they know, that it was us” said Amy. Back on board their room steward Rosie had made a special decoration of kissing swans made out of towels, so I am guessing the word was out!

 

While Amy’s parents continue with their World Voyage after Sydney, the now Amy and Corey McKee-Beglin, will be making plans to move in to their new condominium in September when it is finished. This was Corey’s first voyage and they hope their anniversaries will be back on board; what a great idea! Thanks Corey and Amy for sharing your story with us and we wish you every happiness in your married life.

 

The following day we were back in Honolulu and now Queen Victoria is heading towards the Southern Hemisphere. I’ll be back on Monday and I have a great Blog for you with video from our day in San Francisco. Cheers for now, Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 259 days

 

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

 

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

  

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 264 days

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

 

 

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

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

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

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

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

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 267 days

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 271 days

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

15 January 1972

QE2 makes her maiden call at Norfolk, Virginia, USA

 

15 January 2007

Queen Victoria floats out of her dry dock

 

16 January 2002

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

 

20 January 1950

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

 

21 January 2008

Queen Victoria makes her maiden transit of the Panama Canal

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bottle then smashed against Queen Elizabeth’s hull.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here is the video which captures the event perfectly:

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 280 days

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

<BR>

<BR>

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

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

Breaking News – The Latest Pictures Of Queen Elizabeth

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth - 334 days

 

With just eleven months before our new Queen joins the Cunard fleet and begins her maiden voyage, the countdown to her arrival is gathering pace. Although I’ll be returning to Monfalcone this weekend, Simona has sent me some new pictures, which mark quite a milestone in the construction process. I was going to wait until my visit to ship yard on Sunday before posting any more pictures of Queen Elizabeth’s progress, but then these arrived, so I thought I had to share them.

 

Before that though, I have had some interesting news today regarding another Blog, readers may be interested in. As we mentioned yesterday, Cunard recently won a prestigious Conde Nast award and the Condé Nast Traveler magazine interviewed our President and Managing Director, Peter Shanks. You may be interested to see the interview that Wendy Perrin posted on her “The Perrin Post” Blog on the magazine’s Web site. You can view her story at: http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/blogs/perrinpost .

 

Now back to Queen Elizabeth and as readers of this Blog will know, the ship is being built in blocks and sections which are then added to the vessel literally on a daily basis. This process is so quick that Queen Elizabeth will only spend 6 months in the dry dock before moving to her outfitting berth. A very important block was added this week and here it is being lowered on to the rest of the ship in the dry dock.

 

 

Yes it’s the bridge, where in just over 10 month’s time Captain Wells will assume command, and a couple weeks after that, Queen Elizabeth will begin her maiden voyage. This massive crane carefully lifts this whole bridge section, and slowly lowers it into place.

 

 

Whether it was by coincidence or not I don’t know, but as the bridge was being lowered in to place, a name with over 170 years of history was also being added to the hull.

 

 

 

You can see the iconic letters have been welded on to the ship’s side very recently, and once our new Queen is fully painted and ready to enter service, the Cunard name will look very similar to the lettering seen here on her sister, Queen Victoria:

 

 

Well that‘s it for the moment – but I’ll have lots more including video in about 10 days time and I have a feeling there will be a lot of progress to show you, so I must admit I’m getting very excited about seeing her again. I’ll post something as soon as I can so you can get the very latest news from the visit on this Blog.

 

Meanwhile I’ll be back on Monday with the interview with Queen Victoria’s new Chief Engineer, Ronnie Kier. Thank you again for logging on and please keep those comments and questions coming. Cheers, Alastair.

 

Thank you again for all the comments about my last post featuring the video from the Fincantieri yard in Monefalcone, and here as promised is part 2. I know you have many questions which I will answer when I can, but at the moment I’m afraid I have no more news for you about the various announcements you are waiting for such as,  the ships senior officers, the alternative restaurant or the exact date when Queen Elizabeth will leave the dry dock. However I’ll let you know on this Blog as soon as I do. In the meantime I am hoping we will return with the cameraman again in the next few months so keep logging on.

 

As you read this, Queen Victoria has been having a wonderful Atlantic crossing. She is now just a day away from her 3^rd visit to New York, as the first port of call on her Autumn Colours Voyage. Meanwhile Queen Mary 2 returns to Southampton after her fantastic Mediterranean Voyage, before heading for New York.

 

Before we take you back to see more pictures and video of Queen Elizabeth, here’s “This week in Cunard’s History”, for the week, 25^th of September to the 1^st Of October, which celebrates the anniversary of the first Queen Elizabeth being launched.

 

September 25 2003

 

Queen Mary 2 undertakes her first sea trials.

 

September 26 1934

 

The 80,744-ton Queen Mary launched at Clydebank and becomes the first merchant vessel to be launched by a member of the Royal family (Her Majesty Queen Mary).

 

September 27 1938

 

Queen Mary sails in to New York for the last time completing her final Transatlantic Crossing, with 1,400 passengers on board including the designer John Brown incognito. Shortly afterwards she set sail for Long Beach, California.

 

October 1 1979

 

QE2 makes her maiden call to Boston, Massachusetts.

 

So yes they did manage to get me up one of those incredible cranes which tower 200 feet above the ship yard, but at least we didn’t have to walk up. Believe it or not there was a lift inside the crane’s leg, making the task somewhat easier. And just in case you think I sent someone else up there to take the pictures for me this first photo gives you some idea of how high up we were!

 

 

 

 

From the top we were greeted by an incredible view which immediately made you realize what an impressive operation a shipyard is. Everywhere you looked you could see parts of our new ship. Each carefully numbered block will eventually become part of this massive jigsaw, but in the meantime it waits its turn to either become part of a larger block or be lifted on to the emerging superstructure. Here you can get an idea of the enormity of the project with ship blocks everywhere, and the town of Monefalcone in the distance.

 

 

While Andrew, our cameraman, was filming I was able to take in the views and begin to try and work out which block was which. As I somewhat hesitantly walked across the gantry I got an amazing view directly above the ship in the dry dock.

 

 

 

Looking directly down in the middle I could see on to ‘B’ deck. This area which is just above the waterline is mainly crew accommodation and machinery spaces. As I mentioned in the film on the previous Blog, the large boxes covered in white plastic are crew cabins and bathrooms which arrive as units ready to slot in to their final places. Then moving forward (or up the picture), you can see the ‘B’ staircase which will be right in the middle of the completed ship. Directly forward of that area are the crew lifts and staircase. The very top is the decking of deck 6 with the crew staircase and ventilation shaft in the middle. It may seem like I am sure about all this but have to admit it did take a while to work this all out!

 

In a shed on the other side of the yard, I could just about make out what I think is going to be the aft mooring deck of Queen Elizabeth, and believe it or not these sheds move on tram tracks so the cranes can lift the blocks in and out.

 

 

 

The next block I saw took a bit of working out, and then I realized this is the midships section with the left of the picture being towards the aft.

 

 

 

 

You can make out deck 3 deck of the grand lobby with the guest lifts to the right and the void ready for the elegant library staircase in the top right of the block. It’s incredible to think that this massive section will be lifted on to the main ship in just a couple of weeks. I think this will be the section that will fit on top of the ‘B’ Deck section of the earlier picture.

 

And now, for some more video and this time some very impressive footage from the top of that crane!

 

 

 

 

Well that’s it for the moment but I hope to post some more pictures for you soon and of course another video from Monefalcone in November. Meanwhile I’ll be back on Monday with Queen Victoria’s latest “Star of the Month” who is from our deck department. Coming up I also have an interview with Queen Mary 2’s new Entertainment Director as well as lots more on the way. Cheers for now - Alastair