Guest Blog

Dr Seth Gopin

Art Historian

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Cunard speakers are a privileged lot.  We have a “captive” audience, a wonderful lecture hall, and subjects that run the gamut from astrophysics to my subject of art and architectural history. 

My journey as a speaker with Cunard started a decade ago on the Queen Elizabeth 2.  As an art historian, a seasoned Rutgers University lecturer, and frustrated actor, I had all the right ingredients.  My range of topics cover New York City skyscrapers to Egyptian art and architecture, and this allows me to sign up for Transatlantic crossings as well as segments of the World Cruise.

Generally planning begins six to nine months earlier when we decide on a ship, locale, and topic.  The excitement starts when I fly to meet the ship. It is always fun to walk on board and see familiar faces and comfortable surroundings. 

The morning show is always fun to tape.  Whether it is Wake Up With Ray (or Amanda or Paul), I talk about my lectures and books.  En route to New York, I enjoy giving tips about what to see and experience in my vibrant city.  I don’t mind admitting that it was lots of fun on board Queen Victoria to be a taster for the Cocktail of the Day and am volunteering gladly to do this again. 

As a historian of French Art, I love giving extra talks to the Francophone passengers.  Sometimes there are only 10 in the audience but at other times my talk will draw 80 and fill one of the small spaces in Connexions.  I have discovered that there are lots of nooks and crannies on the ships where we can gather to look at art or buildings and talk. The French guests are so appreciative of having these special lectures and I am sure they are amused by my American-accented French. 

I want to put in a plug for the great technical staff on the ship.  The good people in Illuminations, the Royal Court Theatre, and the TV studio work very, very long hours and really go the extra mile (or kilometre) to make sure our lectures run as trouble-free as possible.

For me, the best part of the experience and the reason why I keep coming back are the guests.  Whether in my post-lecture “office hours” in the Commodore Club or in the corridors of the ships, I find that the Cunard travellers are engaged, lively, and articulate.  I loved meeting the teens who came to chat about architecture, the retired medical doctor who wanted to look at Michelangelo’s David with me from an anatomical viewpoint, and a retired architect who wanted to talk about his total dislike of 1960s modernism.  They and my many tablemates have been not only entertaining but also intellectually stimulating. Some have become good friends.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating (and on board Cunard Line we certainly eat wonderfully), and the proof of how much I enjoy lecturing is that I have already started planning my 2012 voyages.

  

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 147 days 

As I am still on leave, I am pleased to enclose a Blog from our WeAreCunard correspondent on Queen Mary 2, Gun Sukwanna, who is also the Social Hostess; that’s coming up. Meanwhile, Queen Victoria has settled in to her summer season, having just returned from the Canary Islands, and has now just started her 2010 TOGs voyage to the Mediterranean. Yes, legendary broadcaster, Sir Terry Wogan and his intrepid team are sailing on this voyage, joined by over 350 of his TOGs (Terry’s Old Geezers and Gals). This follows the hugely successful voyage in 2008, and you can find out more about the TOGs and what happened last time by clicking on this link to the first of five Blogs posted during that voyage. 

http://wearecunard.com/2008/11/ 

Unfortunately I am not able to join them this year as I am involved in some of the preparations for Queen Elizabeth at Cunard’s head office in Southampton. But fear not we’ll have lots of stories and pictures from the team on board throughout the voyage which calls to great cities including Barcelona, Monte Carlo and Civitavecchia for Rome. More of that soon, but now it’s time to go to our flagship for a guest Blog. 

               Guest Blog  

               Gun Sukwanna, Queen Mary 2 Social Hostess  

  

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In April, Queen Mary 2 began her transatlantic season, sailing from New York to Southampton, accompanied by a quintet from the Juilliard Jazz School. Cunard and Juilliard announced their partnership earlier this year, which includes performances and Cunard Insights enrichment programmes with jazz alumni, faculty and students on eastbound Crossings during 2010. 

 

Pictured with Entertainment Director Ray Rouse (centre) are the featured performers on the first crossing (from left): saxophonist Tony Lustig, Artistic Director of Jazz Studies Carl Allen, trumpeter Brandon Lee, drummer Aaron Kimmel, Executive Director of Jazz Studies Laurie Carter, pianist Kris Bowers and bassist Phil Kuehn. 

The Juilliard School established America’s standard for education in the performing arts, beginning with music in 1905. In 1951, its Dance Division was established, with combined training in contemporary and ballet technique. Juilliard became part of Lincoln Center in 1968, and added a four-year drama program. A residence hall – the School’s first – was completed in 1990, and in 2001, Juilliard broke new ground with the addition of its jazz programme; a graduate programme in Historical Performance. The programme began late last year, the same year that Juilliard inaugurated its partnership with the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Currently more than 800 young artists from 39 states (plus Washington, D.C.) and 46 foreign countries attend Juilliard. You can find out more on Juilliard’s web site: www.juilliard.edu 

  

During the crossing the quintet performed in the Chart Room as well as a special matinee performance in the Royal Court Theatre. They also delighted Queen Mary 2’s Officers with a performance in the Officers’ Wardroom.  

Recently Queen Mary 2 also made her first call of the year to Hamburg, Germany which coincided with the City’s celebrations marking over 800 years of Harbour Fest. Anyone who has sailed on Queen Mary 2 to Hamburg will know how much the city has taken Cunard’s flagship to their hearts, so it was great to be part of these wonderful celebrations as you can see from this picture of the flotilla of ships escorting her that night. 

    

It’s always a special occasion when Queen Mary 2 makes a maiden call, and that was certainly the case on her recent call to Elsinore in Denmark. The city is situated at the narrowest point of the Sound Strait, where Sweden almost meets Denmark, so understandably it has rich shipping traditions.  Elsinore is very proud of its history, with the most visited attraction being Kronborg Castle, made famous as the Elsinore Castle in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It was quite a sight as Queen Mary 2 made her approaches to the historic city. 

     

Kronborg’s primary function was actually not as a royal’s residence, but rather as a grandiose tollhouse, collecting taxes from the ships passing through the narrow Sound for more than 400 years. The Maritime Museum, which pays tribute to the country’s maritime heritage, is also housed at Kronborg Castle and is Denmark’s national maritime museum featuring an outstanding collection of model ships and paintings. The Old Town has numerous timber-framed houses and restored cobbled by-ways, and the main street called Stengade, is one of Denmark’s oldest pedestrian and shopping streets. Another major attraction is the Karmeliterklosteret, a 15th Carmelite Monastery, which is one of the best preserved medieval monastic buildings in northern Europe. 

The maiden call was celebrated in style with a special welcome on the pier side by the Hot Jazz and Sweet Swing Band that performed traditional jazz. There were also actors portraying Hamlet and Ophelia on the Kings Quay giving guests the opportunity to take a photo with Hamlet and Ophelia with Kronborg Castle as the perfect backdrop. 

Later that evening, as Queen Mary 2 ended her maiden call to this wonderful Danish port, she passed Kronborg Castle, and was saluted with dansk løsen, which is a traditional three gunshot tribute. 

     

Thank you very much Gun for a great update; we look forward to hearing from you again soon. I’ll be back in a day or so with news from the TOGs voyage on Queen Victoria, and hopefully I’ll also have more news soon from Queen Elizabeth in Italy. Thank you as always for all your comments and questions; please keep them coming. Cheers for now Alastair.

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 168 days

 

Firstly I hope you like our new look and more interactive Blog. A big thank you to Richard, Matt, Shelley and Lisa back in Southampton, for managing to incorporate so many ideas in to the new look Blog as well as making it easier to read. I’d love to hear what you think, along with all your comments and questions as always.

 

Both our Queens have settled in to their summer seasons, with Queen Mary 2 making her first westbound Transatlantic Crossing and Queen Victoria on her first voyage to the Iberian Peninsula. However there are still a few stories from our World Voyages that I’ll be sharing with you over the next week or so, as well as what’s new on board and ashore.

 

Now it’s a great pleasure to hand over to Queen Mary 2’s Social Hostess who managed to send me a post about the last few days of Queen Mary 2’s World Voyage before she went on leave in Southampton, so it’s over to Freda.

 

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

 

As Queen Mary 2 approached Southampton last Thursday, she came to the end of her 2010 World Voyage; we’d like to bring all our avid bloggers up to date with the latest.

 

We asked our guests to make the 2010 World Voyage Charity Country Fair the best ever and they jumped up to the challenge!  The atmosphere in the Queens Room was pure Country Fair, with the full range of typical stalls hosted by guests and crew alike from ‘Hook the fish’, the flower booth, the coconut shy, and the wonderful 5-minute massage run by the housekeeping team, the florist, the entertainment staff and the Canyon Ranch Spa respectively; to Numerology, the Human Fruit Machine, ‘Guess the weight of the cake’ and the ‘Book stall’ all hosted by our guests, to name just a few of the activities on offer. 

 

  

 

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The ‘Second Hand Rose’ stall could have easily filled the entire starboard section on the upper level and was all but empty by the end of the afternoon. All supported by the delicious offering from the Corner Cafe with cream teas, crepe suzettes, chocolate coated strawberries and the most tempting display of beautiful cakes, pastries and sandwiches. And what a fantastic result!  A phenomenal $18,426, made up of $11,776 from the fair and $6,650 from the auction of things that money can’t buy, such as dinner at the Captain’s Table, blowing the ship’s whistle, a Queen Mary 2 life ring, the full World Voyage navigational chart, Queen Mary 2’s Sunday ensign – enthusiastically bid for and taken by the on board Protestant Priest – and much more. 

         

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This picture shows just some of the nautical items that were available for our guests to bid for, while Captain Bates discusses raffle prizes with guests. As you can see from the next picture, there was even an authentic coconut shy!

 

 

Added to that were the superb contributions from the crew, who somehow managed their own midnight auctions and raised $2,340 (part of which went to the Crew Welfare charities). The total of Queen Mary 2’s charity donations for the whole World Voyage came to the magnificent total of $26,020.05, which has been split between this year’s four nominated charities:

 

The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

The Prostheses Foundation of Thailand

The Seaman’s Institute of Brooklyn, New York

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution

 

 

 

Then it was – Time to Dance – Queen Mary 2 Style!

 

Queen Mary 2’s answer to Strictly Come Dancing, we gave our guests their moment in the spotlight on the largest dance floor at sea.  To the delight of the packed Queens Room we were entertained by ten superb dance performances from the traditional waltz to the Viennese waltz and from the quickstep, to the jive and the Argentinean tango! Ten nervous couples put themselves at the mercy of our tough panel of judges, led by Entertainment Director, Ray Rouse – a fellow of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance and two of the talented Royal Cunard Dancers, Kelly-Rhian Scott and Katie Woolnough, assessing their technique, timing, interpretation and performance.

 

 

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It was such a rewarding experience to see such polished and elegant routines that for many, was entirely the result of their time on board with us for our 2010 World Voyage. Heart-warming reinforcement indeed for those who select Cunard for the ballroom and dancing!  

 

 

Our runners-up – Jean Baker and Gentleman Dance Host, Dennis King who performed an outstanding quickstep.  Jean’s radiant smile lit up the entire ballroom and did not slip once! Meanwhile here are the well-deserved winners with their Argentinean Tango; Cecile Lanthier and Steve Groleau.

 

 

What better way to celebrate the end of a truly legendary, elegant and memorable World Voyage than to send us spinning us into the 2010 transatlantic season – the glamorous finale with Renato and Katy to whom so many of our guests wish to pay a special thank you for their dancing expertise and inspiration.

           

                                             

Thank you so much Freda for another great Blog and congratulations to everyone involved in those fantastic events; it’s great to see so much being raised for these very worthy charities.

 

I’ll be back on Wednesday with a blog about some of the events during the last week of Queen Victoria’s World Voyage and on Thursday I’m delighted to tell you that I will have brand new photos from Monfalcone in Italy where Queen Elizabeth is currently under construction. Cheers, Alastair

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 198 days

 

I know I was going to post my pictures about Queen Victoria’s call to Shanghai, but today I received some great pictures and Guest Blogs from Peter Shanks and Captain Nick Bates, sharing their amazing few days with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Archbishop joined Queen Mary 2 in Port Louis, Mauritius on 20 March and I’ll let Captain Bates take up the story:

 

Guest Blog – Captain Nick Bates

 

On 21 March Queen Mary 2 was at sea between Mauritius and Durban, and of course since it was Sunday, part of the Captain’s duties is to officiate at the Cunard Interdenominational Church service. This has been a tradition on Cunard ships for over 170 years. As usual as I stood on the stage of the Royal Court Theatre adjusting the microphone, making sure my order of service was properly arranged. I looked up to a packed house, only to spot Archbishop Desmond Tutu himself sitting just a few rows from the front of stage. Well I thought “no pressure here this morning”. Thankfully the service went very well with the Staff Captain Alan Nixon reading the first lesson and for the second reading, Bill Gibson one of our very talented musicians gave a beautiful rendering of Swing Low Sweet Chariot. After the service I invited the Archbishop and his wife up to the Bridge to blow the ships whistle.

 

 

 

What an absolute delight he and his wife were, their lively sense of humour had us all enjoying the moment on the Bridge and something we will all remember for a long time to come. To commemorate the occasion he was also kind enough to sign our Visitor’s Book.

 

 

 

Cunard’s President and Managing Director joined Queen Mary 2 in Durban and he continues the story:

 

Guest Blog – Peter Shanks – President and managing Director, Cunard Line

 

I thought I would share my experiences of South Africa this week where I joined Queen Mary 2 as she travelled from Durban to Cape Town for her maiden calls. We had Archbishop Desmond Tutu travelling with the ship and it has been very special indeed for all of our guests.

 

It is the first time I have been In South Africa since living here as a child many years ago. A country of enormous change, huge challenges but when you are here you sense an overriding sense of hope, not least with the Football World Cup fast approaching.

 

I joined the ship on day 79 of her 103 World Voyage, with New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Sydney behind her and Cape Town, Rio and Barbados still to come. I realised even from my short visit that in going on a World Voyage you really do get an insight into so many cultures and experiences right around the world.

 

Archbishop Tutu had agreed to do a lecture onboard as part of our Insights programme. We have had some famous and influential people sail with us in the past, but here we had something very special indeed.

 

You could have heard a pin drop at the two of his events in a packed Royal Court Theatre. At the end of each session we witnessed a truly emotional standing ovation; he touched all of us just briefly but left his mark for ever. It is not often we are lucky enough to be in the presence of a world statesman. He really does not hold back. It’s not my place to express any political views, but I wanted to share with you some of what he shared with us.

 

Archbishop voted for the first time when he was 63; can you imagine how that must have felt after so many turbulent and difficult years. He told us of his visit to see Ronald Reagan in 1984 at the White House where he asked for sanctions but nothing happened. He told us of his visit to Margaret Thatcher in London in 1987. ‘We spoke for 50 minutes; me for 20 and she for 30. Nothing happened; the lady was not for turning’. He then spoke of February 1990 when the South African Government announced change and the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years in captivity. ‘Wonder of wonders, we kept pinching ourselves to make sure we were not dreaming; don’t wake me up I love this dream’.

 

He went on to speak of the 27th April 1994 as ‘a magical day – a day like no other when all races of South Africa voted in the first democratic election and for President Nelson Mandela who was free at last’. At that moment in the theatre, we went from silence to an instant round of applause; it was quite a moment.

 

He had shared with us some of the stories from the bad old days. One of the lighter moments was when he described an early visit to London with his wife. They were lost and went up to ‘a London Bobby’ to ask for directions. ‘The policeman called me Sir and my wife Mam, so over the next few days we kept asking for directions even when we knew where we were going’

 

I am a big rugby fan and there cannot be many people who don’t remember Nelson Mandela wearing the springbok jersey as they won the world cup.

 

Now things are so much better and it was very moving to hear him talk of the future. ‘Young people are amazing, they will make poverty history, they will care about the environment’ And as for the rugby, well he proudly told us that South Africa have won the world cup twice , have a black coach and the recent best player in the world accolade went to a black South African player.

 

He finished the lecture by saying ‘You know things in South Africa could be a great deal better, BUT – things in South Africa could have been a lot worse’. And then he stopped. Everybody in the theatre sat stunned in silence, in awe of what they had heard in the last hour, in awe of a great man and reflecting on the privilege of being in the presence of such a decent, warm and generous human being. And then a standing ovation that took everybody by surprise.

 

Two days later, whilst at sea between Durban and Cape Town, he entertained us all during a face to face interview with Ray Rouse, our Entertainment Director.

 

 

 

Some of the fun moments from that included;

 

As he was introduced wearing one of those modern headphone microphones he said ‘I look like Madonna’

 

 

 

Asked about whether South Africa would win the Football World Cup he said ‘Patriotically Yes – Honestly No’

 

He spoke of the importance of laughter. He is famous for his wonderful laugh; ‘laughing keeps your head the right size’. He went on to tell how once he was in San Francisco and an excited couple rushed up to him and said, ‘Pleased to meet you Archbishop Mandela – that made me laugh – two for the price of one’

 

Each year on our World Voyage we take our full cruisers ashore for a thank you dinner in a spectacular location. This year it was in Cape Town in a beautiful vineyard for over 700 of us. Archbishop and his wife joined us for dinner and the setting was perfect. Imagine the moment, a beautiful setting for dinner, surrounded by beautiful scenery and mountains, beautiful young local dancers and Archbishop stood to give a moving grace. As he spoke my eyes fell not upon our many loyal guests, but on the many young local waiters and waitresses, mostly school children and students. It was when I was looking at them, bursting with pride and listening intently that I realised that this country has a great future and that we really were in the presence of a great man………

 

I walked Archbishop and his wife out to their car towards the end of the evening to say our goodbyes and thanks. When I got back to the table I discovered he had written in my menu card ‘God Bless You Peter’

 

There is no more to say.

 

Best Regards, Peter Shanks

 

Thank you Peter and Captain Bates for you Blogs, certainly a remarkably historic occasion to be a part of. Peter mentioned Queen Mary 2’s World Voyage Dinner and I hope to have some pictures from that wonderful event soon. Meanwhile I’ll be back on Monday with the promised pictures from Shanghai and then later in the week, an interview with Queen Elizabeth’s Staff Captain, Hamish Sunter. Hopefully we’ll also have some new pictures of Queen Elizabeth in Italy, very soon. Cheers for now Alastair.

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 426 days

Wow! I have just seen the second video capturing some of the great moments of James Taylor’s Transatlantic Crossing from New York to Southampton. Again thanks and congratulations to Brian O’Connor and Eric Allen, for a fantastic video which features interviews with Captain Nick Bates, Entertainment Director Ray Rouse and of course James Taylor himself, as well as clips of his performances and interview. For those who were there it’ll be a great memento of a legendary voyage and for the rest of us…….. well we wish we could have been there to witness another amazing event in Cunard’s history. See the video below:

Meanwhile I’ll be back tomorrow with more news from the Queen Elizabeth keel laying ceremony. Cheers Alastair