Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 105 days

Firstly thank you again for all the comments; this has been our busiest month to date for comments which is great news, so please keep them coming. I have given Queen Victoria’s latest Star of the Month, Noel Aquino, your many compliments, and he wanted me to say a huge thank you to everyone who wrote such lovely things about his work on board. Needless to say his family are also incredibly proud of him. 

It’s also exciting to hear of so many of you joining us on Queen Elizabeth during her maiden season, so I’m looking forward to seeing you all there; not long now and you’ll be delighted to hear that I have more pictures to show you soon.

Meanwhile this post is all about Queen Victoria’s recent call to Venice, where she left as Cunard’s newest Queen, just two and a half years ago.

I was giving a commentary from the bridge and I had a magnificent view of our entrance to the city and then the Statzione Maritima with the Marghera shipyard, where Queen Victoria began her life, directly ahead of us. If you haven’t yet seen it, a wonderful video was made last September when Queen Victoria made one of her visits, and you can see it again on this link:

 http://wearecunard.com/2009/09/queen-victoria-returns-to-her-birthplace/

Captain Paul Wright then made an incredibly skillful turn, as we then headed back along the same route. This visit was to be a very special one, as we would not be docking at the regular Statzione Maritima, but actually right in the city, only a short walk away from St. Marks Square. This is indeed a rare privilege and gave us some incredible photo opportunities.

    

This view is from St. Marks and what a view it is, of Queen Victoria dominating one of the most amazing city skylines in the world. Venice is without question one of the most photogenic cities you could ever visit, where upon every turn there’s a view that’s reminiscent of a Canaletto painting.

 

The weather wasn’t at its best when we arrived, but the beauty of Venice shines, whatever the weather; the colours and light are just stunning. I managed to get off the ship a bit later in the day, and by the time I reached St. Marks the water had started to rise creating a rather different scene……….

I have visited the city many times, but have never seen this before, although apparently it does happen reasonably frequently. So the choices are, try and walk around it, or simply take your shoes and socks off and paddle. I’m sure you can guess which option I went for!

Yes that is me clinging to a lamppost! You have to admire a city that, whatever the weather, life goes on and of course as the saying goes, the band played on:

Yes that is an orchestra and waiter in somewhat optimistic mode, hoping for some passing tourists with the same resilience as theirs. Walking back to Queen Victoria and getting closer, you really sensed the scale of the ship compared to the centuries old buildings around her.

This was particularly the case when you walked a couple of streets back to see the iconic red funnel rising above the rooftops.

It was then time to be back on board, but then we were treated to a beautiful sunset, so I had to take advantage of a few more photo opportunities:

And this is the view of Queen Victoria with the landmark St. Marks Campanile, to the left and the entrance to the Grand Canal further to the left. 

 

Then it was time to be back on board to savour the moment as we had a special Sailaway party planned with some wonderful Italian food from our talented on board Chefs, to the sounds of Andrea Bocelli playing on the Lido deck, all framed by a perfect view of a stunning sunset over this magical city.

 

It doesn’t get much better than that does it? What a treat it was and yet more very special memories for our guests and crew.

That’s it for now but I’ll be back on Thursday as usual with a regular weekly Blog as well as more news and pictures from Queen Elizabeth. Thanks again for all your comments; please keep them coming.

Cheers, Alastair.

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 130 days

Welcome to another Blog which returns to Queen Victoria and the recent TOGs voyage, in the final post from what was clearly a very successful Mediterranean Voyage. More of that in a moment, but firstly thanks again for all the comments, it’s always great to hear from you, especially at the moment with the excitement building towards Queen Elizabeth, with more news coming soon.

I am settling back on board Queen Victoria as she heads north to the Baltic, visiting ports such as Copenhagen, Tallin and St. Petersburg where we will be docking at the brand new terminal. I’ll post a Blog on our visit. Meanwhile Queen Mary 2 is heading across to New York and as I mentioned in Tuesday’s Blog we’ll both be in Southampton on 14 June for one of those fantastic moments when our home port is able to welcome both Queens on the same day.

Before we get to the final post from the TOGs voyage here’s this week in Cunard’s history from 4 to 10 June.

June 4 2008

Queen Victoria makes her maiden call at Helsinki.

June 5 1965

QE2’s keel is laid at Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (John Brown), Clydebank. She is assigned job number 736 and is constructed on the same slip way as Queen Mary 30 years before.

June 6 1973

QE2 makes her maiden call at Messina, Italy.

June 7 1906

Lusitania is launched at 12.30pm and is named by Mary Burns, Lady Inverclyde who was the wife of Cunard’s late Chairman.

June 7 1998

Cunard announces ‘Project Queen Mary’ – a proposal to build the biggest ocean liner ever built.

June 9 2005

John Cleese joins Queen Mary 2 for a Transatlantic Crossing

After the success of the Weekend Wogan show and the live auction, Sir Terry Wogan and the TOGs continued to raise funds as well as creating more fun memories… Mr and Mrs Packham were the very first winners of the live auction. This piston ring donated by the Chief Engineer, raised £650! From left to right on the front row are Alan Dedicoat, Mr Packham, Janet and Mrs Packham and on the back row, Charles Nove, holding the piston ring, and John Marsh

Talking of Janet and John Marsh, they signed books on the Monday morning and told me later, that to their surprise, they got more than four people in the queue! The team held a ‘silent auction’ in the Grand Lobby with items such as an amazing collage of the three Queens that the kids on board had made for Children in Need and beautiful paperweights made by the Engineers on board from the piston ring. Alan Dedicoat donated his time to have afternoon tea with three people…. he couldn’t believe it when it exceeded £200!

In another fundraising idea to raise even more cash, Jean Savage decided to get her locks chopped off in front of everyone! Here she is with Simon Mathose, one of our Hair Stylists from the Cunard Royal Spa, and her new look.

I’ve been told by the ship’s company that the atmosphere on board was fantastic; buzzing with energy, laughter and friendship, and as Queen Victoria approached Southampton and the end of the incredible voyage, everyone was exchanging email addresses, telephone numbers along with promises to keep in touch and come back again. For Sir Terry and his TOGs the only way to say good bye and thank everyone, was with a drink, so all the TOGs were invited to join Sir Terry and his intrepid team for a Farewell Cocktail Party in the Queens Room.

As you can see it was a star studded event, including from left to right are John Marsh, Amanda Reid, Alan Dedicoat, Janet Marsh and Charles Nove.

 

Then with the help of Pudsey at his side, Sir Terry then made a short speech thanking everyone who had made this incredible voyage possible.

 

 

Everyone was delighted when it was announced that the voyage had raised an amazing £83,000 which would help children in the UK.

I was there to meet Queen Victoria when she returned to Southampton and Sir Terry was kind enough to invite me to his suite to have a chat about the voyage and our cameras were there to capture the moment. I’m delighted to post this Video Blog featuring that interview and some other footage from the voyage including clips from the live Weekend Wogan show in the Royal Court Theatre.

 

 

Thank you to Sir Terry, and of course congratulations again to him, his team and the TOGs as well as the Queen Victoria Officers and Crew for this fantastic achievement, and for making it another truly memorable voyage. I’ll be back next week with some great stories from Queen Mary 2. Cheers for now Alastair.

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 154 days

Many guests who have sailed on board our ships and enjoyed seeing familiar faces amongst our crew, may have wondered what life is like for them in their daily jobs. For one guest recently on Queen Victoria, this curiosity became a reality.

At the Country Fair event which takes place every year on our Queens’ World Voyages, there are numerous activities aiming to raise money for the charities chosen by the ship’s company. One of those events is where guests are invited to buy raffle tickets to become a member of the Entertainment Staff for the day. Believe it or not this proved to be very popular, and the lucky winner was Joanne Brown, a retired schoolteacher from Vero Beach, Florida. After her day, I had a chat with her to see how she got on.

Firstly we chatted about life before becoming a member of the Entertainment Staff. For many years Joanne taught children with special needs, and has three children of her own along with six grand children. Although she is an experienced cruiser, this was her first voyage with Cunard, joining the World Voyage in Fort Lauderdale in January. She told me that her longest voyage before this was just 14 days, so she wasn’t sure how she would enjoy being on board for over a hundred days, but she says she loved every minute and is now a complete convert to Cunard.

Her friend for 60 years, Jane Upchurch had travelled on QE2, and travelling with four other friends she invited Joanne to join them. At the Country Fair she was helping the team sell raffle tickets for the Grand Prize Draw and next to her; Queens Room Vocalist Paul Ritchie was selling raffle tickets to become Entertainment Staff for the day. She told me; “Having been a tour guide conducting orientations, I thought I could do this and as you see I’m not that shy, so I thought it was a great idea. I would get to go behind the scenes and have a chance to do something really different. In the last few years I have been working through my bucket list, and so far I’ve sky dived, zip lined across a gorge, but this was probably the most fun I have had so far and I’ve made so many new friends”

Joanne’s day began receiving her schedule from Assistant Entertainment Director, Amanda Reid.

Finding your way around the guest areas of Queen Victoria is a big enough challenge, but Joanne’s first task was to explore the crew areas of the ship. She told me she found this really fascinating and here she is in one of the galleys with her guide, Entertainment Staff Nico Lansdell and Executive Chef, Bernhard Stumpfel.

Then it was time for Joanne’s first activity and a quiz in the Winter Garden. In preparation for her big day, she had researched her questions before taking on our World Voyage guests, who said that they had really enjoyed the activity with the twist of a fellow guest as Quizmaster.

Having given out prizes to the winners, Joanne headed to the Queens Room and her debut as a Bingo Caller. Under Nico’s guidance she operated the machine and called the numbers.

As prize money was involved she told me she was relieved that it all went smoothly and once the winners had been paid, and the event completed, it was time for lunch. The Entertainment Staff eat in the Officers Mess Room, so Joanne joined some of the team and chatted about her morning over her meal. From left to right, around the table with Joanne is, Simon Maycock, Melonie Jones, Chris Thomas, Amanda Reid and Nico Lansdell.

She said she was very impressed by the welcome she received from the Staff and Officers in the Mess. After lunch Joanne met up with resident DJ, Gary King to find out about her next activity; Darts in the Golden Lion Pub. This was her first experience of the game and as she told me later, it all went very well as you can see from this photo of her in action.

Joanne’s daughter is an anchor for Channel 10 in Miami, so we thought it would be fun to invite her as a guest on the Queen Victoria Live daily TV show with yours truly.

She told me all about her day so far and how delighted she was that everyone amongst the ships company and her fellow guests had accepted her so well in her temporary role. After the filming she told me how much she enjoyed her moment of fame and couldn’t wait to get home and tell her friends about the experience.

During the evening she worked with the Entertainment Staff in welcoming guests to the Royal Court Theatre Box Programme, and then later joined them in the Golden Lion Pub for the evening game show to wrap up her night.

Chatting to her the next day, Joanne told me how much she had enjoyed her day with the highlight being the morning Trivia. She was still being recognised around the ship, with guests asking her about her day. Joanne said; “While I was having my haircut in the salon another guest turned to me and asked “Where do you work on the ship?” I had to explain!”

She was still enjoying her new found fame by the time Queen Victoria reached Southampton, and then Joanne joined Queen Mary 2 to take her back to New York.

I’d like to thank Joanne for being such a great member of the team on the day, and for chatting to me afterwards so I could post this story.

I’ll be back on Thursday with a Blog featuring an amazing celebration for a guest who celebrated his 100^th birthday recently on Queen Victoria. Hopefully I’ll also have more news soon from Queen Elizabeth in Italy as well as posts from both Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Thank you again for all your comments and questions. Cheers for now Alastair.

 

 Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 160 days

Although I’m at home enjoying some leave I’ll still be keeping you up to date with what’s going on both at sea and ashore. Thanks for all your great feedback, especially about our new look Blog, please keep it coming.

Just before I left Queen Victoria, I received some photos of Queen Elizabeth in the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone Italy. While Queen Mary 2 heads back across the Atlantic to her homeport of Southampton and Queen Victoria heads south to the Canaries for her first voyage there of the summer season, Queen Elizabeth is only just over five months from her Maiden Voyage. In this Blog I’ll show you some of the newest exterior pictures and then on Thursday we’ll have the interior updates.

Currently in her outfitting dock you can see some of the external progress of our new Queen with the balcony doors in place and many of the glass panels on the balconies themselves.

 

Her hull is receiving another coat of the traditional Cunard Federal Gray paint, and the big white metal supports on deck 4 will be for the life boats which have just arrived with one already being lifted in to place.

 

If you look carefully you’ll also be able to see one of the ship’s tenders which are used in ports where Queen Elizabeth won’t be able to dock. Moving on to the top decks on the ship this view is looking up from the deck ten Quoits Court, to the Sports Deck.

 

 

As you can see from the same view on the right on Queen Victoria, the big difference between the Queens will be the canvas canopy over the court which will cover the whole area on deck eleven forward. The canvas will be fitted later, but the support structure looks like it’s nearly complete. From the forward part of deck eleven looking aft you can see the main mast.

 

 

 

The scaffolding is in place so the various pieces of navigation and satellite equipment can be installed, and then it will end up looking like the one on her sister that you can see through the Paddle Tennis Court net.

 

 

Moving aft and down to deck ten is an external view of the Yacht Club with the windows still covered with protective plastic.

 

 

The right hand picture of the same space on Queen Victoria shows the work left to be done such as the railings and lighting and woodwork finishes. The next two photos show a very different view on the two ships, with the Pavilion and the Garden Lounge on the new Queen Elizabeth.

 

 

 

The stunning vaulted roof is nearly complete and the supports behind it are ready for the satellite domes to be installed for television and communications. Inside the Garden Lounge the venue is taking shape with the glass panels in place with the lighting fixtures yet to be installed.

On Thursday I’ll post the latest pictures of how the inside of our new Queen is progressing, again with comparisons to her sister. I’ve also got some great posts to come including a feature with Joanne Brown who became an Entertainment Staff Member for a day, an interview with Daniel Bowden who recently celebrated his 100^th Birthday on board Queen Victoria, as well as a profile of the Queen Victoria Chef who was recently named Barcardi Chef of the year. Cheers for now Alastair.

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 189 days

 

With just 27 weeks to the day until Queen Elizabeth joins the fleet, the excitement is building and I’ll have more pictures to post on Friday. Meanwhile having visited the exciting city of Rio De Janiero Queen Mary 2 is now heading north to the Caribbean and Barbados. Queen Victoria spent her Easter celebrations in Dubai and is now heading back to Salalah in Oman.

 

In last Thursday’s Blog you may recall the visit by some of our guests and crew to the Pattaya Orphanage. Very closely associated with the Pattaya Orphanage is the Father Ray Foundation who are currently helping over 850 children and young adults with disabilities or have been abandoned and deprived of a normal, loving, and productive life. We had been contacted a few weeks earlier by Ajima Chavalit-Thamrong from the Foundation saying that the children would like to perform for our guests on board as a thank you to Cunard guests and crew for all their support over the years. The afternoon began with nearly ninety children coming on board to be met by the Master of Queen Victoria, Captain Christopher Rynd, who posed for a photo with the children and helpers from the foundation, and we presented them with the photo at the end of the afternoon as a memento of the day.

 

 

Before the performances our food and beverage team had laid on a wonderful spread of sandwiches, cakes and cookies with juices and soft drinks all set up in the crew recreation room which acted as a Green Room for the afternoon. Lisa and Thomas and other members of the Entertainment Team had done a great job in decorating the venue and the kids had a great time playing with all the balloons.

 

 

The Father Ray Foundation, whose motto is “We never turn a child in need away” was founded in 2003 by Father Raymond Allen Brennan, C.Ss.R., a Catholic Priest of the Redemptorist Order in Thailand. The Foundation’s aim is to make a positive difference in the lives of underpriviledged children, young people with disabilities and the poor of Thailand and they currently have several ongoing projects.

 

Many of these projects were represented in the afternoon’s performance which opened with the Pattaya Redemptorist School for the Blind school which was established in 1986, and offers an education at primary and secondary levels to those children who are blind or severely partially sighted. They sang beautifully and played a traditional Thai instrument called the Angalung

 

The Father Ray Children’s Home was established in 1990, and provides assistance to under-privileged children who lack proper care from their own families. In the home, children shall have a normal daily living, access to an education, medical assistance and good quality meals. There were three performances from this group, firstly a modern”Hip-Hop Dance” routine and then later some rather more traditional dancing. The third performance was an exhibition of Muay Thai (Thai Boxing).

 

 

The more recently opened Father Ray Children’s Village, which looks after orphaned and less fortunate children aged from birth to 12 years old, performed a traditional dance from Isaan in the north east of Thailand.

 

 

The next performance was the Cloud Dance and a special rendition of Que Sera Sera by the Father Ray Day Care Centre. The project opened just two years ago and provides caring services for small children aged 2 – 5 years old who are from poor families living in risk environmental areas. Their performance was absolutely enchanting.

 

 

The final performance was from the Redemptorist Vocational School for People with Disabilities which was established in 1984. The school offers vocational training courses for physical disabled people aged 17 – 35 years and to date has successfully graduated over 2,000 students who are now earning a living and contributing to Thai Society. Their performance of Wheelchair dancing was really incredible showing amazing talent as well as strength and versatility.

 

 

The audience loved the whole show with so many guests telling me how impressed they were by the children. A few days later I received this lovely message from Ajima.

 

Dear Khun Alastair,

I would like to say a big thank you to you and all the staff on the Queen Victoria for such a memorable day yesterday. The children had a wonderful time, and for most of our children and students it was the first time they had ever been on a ship (me too). Thanks also for providing all the wonderful snacks; the children really loved all the sandwiches, cakes and jellies. Many of the younger children slept during the short journey home, but some of the older children had eaten so many wonderful cakes there was no chance they were going to sit still.  Thank you again for everything and we all wish you and all on the Queen Victoria a very safe journey, and we hope to see you all again next year. Kob Khun Ka, Sawasdee ka. And Warmest Regards

Ajima

 

Our thanks to Ajima and everyone at the Foundation for such a great show. You can find out more about the Father Ray Foundation by clicking on this link: WWW.fr-ray.org

 

It was certainly one of those special days on the World Voyage and my thanks to Dee from our on board photo team for capturing these great images. I’ll be back tomorrow with some news and pictures from Queen Mary 2 and her time in South Africa and their Full World Voyage Dinner. Cheers for now Alastair.

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 217 days

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 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