The show must go on. Welcome Queen Elizabeth!

So the Queen Elizabeth is almost here, and Cunard are pulling out all the stops to ensure that every aspect of their new ship has the wow factor! As for the entertainment onboard you can expect everything from Shakespeare to Neil Simon. Cunard has announced a huge range of production shows as well as topical news quizzes to be staged in the blue and gold, art deco-themed Royal Court Theatre......



For the first time, actors are being included among cast members of the newly formed Queen Elizabeth Theatre Company (most lines just have singers and dancers).

As for the rest of the line-up:

Lovers of Shakespeare will be able to enjoy an abridged version of "Twelfth Night," while there will be a taste of more contemporary drama with a Neil Simon triple bill, featuring a scene each from "Last of the Red Hot Lovers," "Plaza Suite" and "The Odd Couple," each linked by its setting either in an apartment or a hotel suite. The audience will have a chance to meet the actors for a Q&A at the end of each show.

Two more production shows include "The Piccadilly Line," centred on a tube carriage on the London Underground, and "Hotel Royale," set against the backdrop of a fading hotel with some unusual and quirky staff and guests. Sound familiar? Basil Faulty anyone!

"Sing," based on the Singers in Concert shows on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, will feature covers of popular hits from musicals, pop and light classics.

"La Danza" is a dance-themed production show in the same vein as Apassionata and Dance Passion, running respectively on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria.

Finally, a specially written panel quiz show based on the format of the BBC's "Have I Got News For You" will also be staged during the day.

Actual scheduling of all the shows has yet to be announced, although we know some will be followed by theme parties, for example, a "London Swings" sixties night will always coincide with "A Slice Of Saturday Night".

Roll on October!!

The Joy's Of Shipbuilding!

Did you know many of the most famous passenger liners in history were built in the British Isles? To be honest, I was actually aware of this, I’m sure most of you were, but I had no idea just what personal hardship and sacrifice went into this by the shipbuilders. I was watching a program on BBC 4 the other night called, the men who built the liners......
 Now anyone interested in the history of liners/shipyards this is one to watch. (It may possibly be repeated on Bbc iplayer). The documentary was about the several shipyards along the banks of the Clyde. The show combined personal accounts and archive footage to evoke a vivid picture of the unique culture that grew up in the Clyde shipyards. Despite some of the harshest working conditions in industrial history and dire industrial relations, it was here that the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth and the QE2 were built. Such was the Clyde shipbuilders' pride in their work, and the strength of public support, that in 1971 they were able to defy a government attempt to close them down and win the right to carry on shipbuilding.

In 1972 heaths government announced that UCS (upper Clyde ship builder's) would go into liquidation, even though they had a full order book. Rather than take this on the chin Union leaders and the shop stewards had other plans. Immediately the famous UCS work-in began at the Clydebank yard. The men of the ship yards would take over every aspect of the yard's work, including orders, purchasing, and the building of the ships. It was a phenomenal situation that captured the imagination of public and press, and by the next week the other shipyards of UCS were conducting their work-ins. It was accepted the men had won this round of the battle they controlled their shipyards.

What they had no or little control over was cash. But that was not to remain a problem, from other shipyards around Britain and the world, from other unions in Britain and around the world, through mass media campaigns, and from a supportive public the cash came in to aid the historic work in. Even John and Yoko Lennon donated £1000. By August over £46,000 had been collected. But this was just the start. Public support gathered like a snowball, demonstrations attracted people from all over the UK and the government even found itself criticised by its own friends in business who accused the government of seeking to bash the workers and little else. That these same business would lose thousands of pounds owed to them if UCS was liquidated may have had some bearing!

I will not drone on any longer, the government did cave in to public support and gave UCS more money, however in the end this was not enough as many of the ship yards would soon close, and where the was once 50 yards on the Clyde only about 2 now remain! Unfortunately the Golden era of British ship building was over, and most of what we have left is just memories.

No Hobart for Cunard 2012!

Cunard Have decided to mix up their 2012 world cruise itineraries to keep things fresh for their past passengers. Hobart, a world cruise favourite port, has been dropped this year from the world cruise itinerary. Cunard have announced that Hobart will be replaced by other Australian ports, as their passenger ships have visited three times out of four years, and they want to keep things fresh....

This is nothing new really; Cunard does regularly change its world cruise itineraries, it’s just bad news for the local economy. I was reading an article and it advised one visit alone by one of the Queens injected more than $500,000 into the economy. This just shows you the pulling power of Cunard. The blame game has already started, as all are not convinced that Cunard pulled the port for the above reasons, and the real reason was Cunard losing confidence in the port authorities. A former Tasmanian auditor-general David Kirby blamed the Tasmanian Ports Corporation, a private company. He has called on the Tasmanian Government to exercise strong control and direction over the operations at the company and has said " To lose the confidence of the world's most famous cruise line represents the ultimate disgrace for our port of Hobart and a damning indictment on TasPorts and its miserable stewardship record,"

So not to happy then, but in my view rightly so, this is a big cash cow to loose, Many Australians, have a huge interest in the royal family, so the thought of a royal ship coming to port would draw many in. Plus losing the huge injection of revenue into the local economy by the vast amount of cruise passengers coming ashore must be a bitter pill to swallow. Mr Kirby has said strong control was needed to prevent further damage to the port of Hobart and financial harm to the southern community. "TasPorts is steadily dismantling the port, neglecting to maintain assets entrusted to it and is turning away cruise ships by its negative policies," Luckily for Tasmania other cruise ships do still visit and I’m sure Cunard will be back at some point, as many of their clients find Tasmania a very important and interesting place to visit. We will just have to wait and see!

New Queen Elizabeth news!

If you’re like me, and very excited about what the new Queen Elizabeth is going to be like, then read on. Bit by bit are finding out about some of the ships new features, and the latest word, is that Cunard have commissioned a huge art piece to be focal of the new Grand lobby......

As you are probably aware Cunard's new liner, the Queen Elizabeth, will be a sister to Queen Victoria. For all you past Queen Victoria passengers you probably remember the grand lobby aboard Queen Victoria, you know that it's the first part of the ship passengers normally see when they board, and your eye is drawn directly to the main staircase to the huge artwork at the landing. So when designing Queen Elizabeth, Cunard knew they wanted something special there, since it sets the tone for vessel and the entire voyage. They wanted something that said, "Britain," and something that said, "Cunard." So they employed David Linley to create a marquetry to become focal point of Queen Elizabeth’s grand lobby. I personally think that this is an excellent idea, as first impressions go a long way, and a lot of passengers will remember their first experience on Queen Elizabeth. Please see below and artist impression of what this may look like.

Wales to New York with Cunard!

 

If I told you that Cunard were offering a transatlantic crossing from Wales to New York, what would you think? Would you think that I’m talking rubbish, or maybe that Cunard are looking to make things convenient for the welsh? Well on recent visit to see family in Pembrokeshire west Wales, I was having a walk around Fishguard harbour with my girlfriend and daughter. Half way around I come across, various signs, containing small snippets of information about the history of Fishguard. On one of these plagues, it told of how since August 1909 the famous Cunard liner 'Mauritania' inaugurated a transatlantic service and up until the outbreak of the 1st World War in 1914.......
 Various other Cunard Vessels called in regularly at the port as Fishguard is the nearest British port to New York. When Britain declared war on Germany, the admiralty sent out an order requisitioning the Mauritania and Lusitania as armed merchant cruisers. After the war however, Cunard had decided that they would no longer be using Fishguard as a base of operations, and that was that. So who knows, maybe if not for the outbreak of world war 1, then the "Classic" Cunard transatlantic crossing would be Fishguard to New York.

Ghostly stories from her majesty!

Spooks at sea? Doesn’t sound very pleasant to me! But don’t worry I will not be scaring you off the Queen Mary 2 anytime soon. Now the Queen Mary, that’s a completely different story! The original Queen Mary is now permanently docked in long beach California, and is used as a floating museum, so be warned if you decide to read on, that the following paragraphs may put you off Cunard all together................
 As I approached this subject I found out that more and more stories were coming to light, some of which I will share with you, but please if you have any experiences or have any stories please share them on my blog below. One story is said to concern the spirit of John Pedder. John was a 17-year-old crewman who was unfortunately crushed to death by a watertight door in 1966 during a routine drill. It is said unexplained knocking has been heard around this door, and a tour guide, who worked on the ship had seen a dark figure as she was leaving the area where Pedder had been killed. She even saw his face and recognized that it was Pedder from his photographs. The eerie cry of an infant in the third-class children's playroom, is said to be heard, echoing down the corridors, And an apparition of a young woman in an evening gown dancing alone in the Queen's Salon, is said to have been seen on more than one occasion.




Perhaps most disturbing is that, ghostly voices and laughter have been heard by the ship's swimming pool. One employee saw the wet footprints of a child appearing on the pool deck... with no one there. Over the years fifty people reportedly had died onboard, and it is said some still remain. So I suppose when booking your 2010 cruise it may be worthwhile considering picking a newer ship and steering clear of all older ships! but that is only if you believe in that kind of thing I suppose!