171 Years of Greatness! Transatlantic Power!

Well it’s July and if you are anywhere near the Untied States you will see that the whole country is in a frenzy celebrating the 4th of July (I myself, am celebrating on the Queen Mary!!). It’s a great holiday!...Definitely one of the most fun, and its great going to watch fireworks with your family and friends. At the same time, I think, considering the history and importance (not just to us, but to the whole world) behind the day, it’s important to reflect upon the meaning of the Fourth and just what we are all celebrating…CUNARD LINE’S BIRTHDAY!!! (*GEEKOUT TIME!)

Yes, today July 4th, 2011, is the 171th anniversary of the maiden voyage of the genesis of the line, Cunard’s first ship, the RMS Britannia, on a two week journey from Liverpool to Boston via Halifax! Today marks the establishment of the world’s greatest institution, founded on the principles of free trade, timely mail service, global communications, speed, strength, and safety! Today we celebrate the first day of service for the greatest name in travel history!



I will be posting a longer (knowing me, a much much longer article about my beloved Cunard!! So stay tuned!



…oh and I suppose there are also a few people celebrating the United States I think? ;) j/k Happy Independence Day!! During this patriotic time, don’t forget to remember out great Nation’s Flagship, the SS United States, and her current fight for her survival! (((Yesterday, July 3rd, marked the anniversary of her record breaking maiden voyage)))

Queen Mary 75th Anniversary!!!

Just a quick update here!

I just want to let you all know that it is the 75th anniversary of the Queen Mary's maiden voyage!!!! EEEEEEKK!!!! *geek squeal! Oh I love her!

75 years ago today (May 27th 1936) the brand new RMS Queen Mary set off from Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York via Cherbourg! This event was cause for much celebration on both sides of the Atlantic but especially in England. It has been estimated that over a million people lined the shores of Southampton to see her off!

Check out this video!



I will be staying on the Queen Mary tonight (Friday) for this very special occasion. There will be several different events to celebrate and I will be attending!

Sorry for this short post... I have another one coming for later today or tomorrow and soon a full article on the Queen Mary!

The new RMS Queen Mary arriving in New York, New York, June 1th, 1936, surrounded by hundreds of smaller vessels there to welcome the new Cunard Queen!

What’s New? Cruise News!

Well it’s been a few weeks, at least, since I have done one of my updates on the cruise industry, so I figured I ought to do one. So……here you go. I will try to be brief.

Royal Caribbean’s New Order.

This past month Royal Caribbean signed a letter of intent with the Meyer-Werft Shipyards in Papenburg, Germany for an entirely new ship to be launched in 2013 with the possibility for more orders. Dubbed Project Sunshine, the ship will be around 158,000grt- which far out weighs the 120,000-130,000grt tons that I had predicted in an earlier article (SEE HERE)- and will feature some Oasis Class amenities…though RCI has not said which.

Rumors had been going on for weeks that RCI was working on something new. There was even speculation that it would be with the Meyer-Werft shipyard. These rumors were confirmed a few weeks back when Royal Caribbean Chairman and CEO confirmed at an earnings call, that RCI was working on something new, but offered no real detail into the ship. Now, we know where the ship will be built, its size, that it will have amenities from Oasis and we can even guess at some of its dimensions (based on the fact that ships built at Meyer-Werft have several things limiting there size, such as the fact that they are built indoors and then have to sail down river to reach the ocean).

The ships size puts it somewhere between the Voyager Class ships and the larger super-voyager Freedom Class, in terms of size. Some have already speculated that this means that essentially, this ship will be basically a modified Freedom Class ship. I disagree with that, however. The Freedom Class ships where built and partially designed in Finland, this ship will be produced by another yard. On top of that RCI has stated that she will have Oasis touches. If any of these touches are the bigger amenities, they will require an entirely new design to accommodate them. Also, I think considering RCI’s new build history, that they won’t disappoint. Fact is, we will just have to wait and see.

Australia’s Continued Growth

Australia’s cruise industry got another huge boost this week with Celebrity’s announcement that they will be basing the practically brand new, Celebrity Solstice (being launched in November 2008 she’s not even 3 years old yet) in Sydney for the 2012-2013 cruise season. This news comes just weeks after Carnival announced that they will be sending their own Carnival Spirit down under. This really is a big step for Australia as a cruise market.

The Celebrity Solstice is without a doubt, one of the most stylish and sophisticated ships currently in service. The first of the much praised, Solstice class, she is around 122,000grt and features many amenities such as the first grass covered deck at sea, a glass blowing museum and show, and some of the best interior (if not the best) design of any ship afloat. The onboard atmosphere is laid back and casual, but at the same time stylish and sophisticated and a little on the formal side, but very decidedly not stuffy………very Celebrity Cruise-esque. You Australians are really getting a great ship!

The Solstice will operate on 13 and 12 night voyages, starting in December 2012. She will also run a circumnavigation of Australia. (Photo at right - "Celebrity Solstice" by flickr member jens.steinbeisser )

Also in the news for Australia, Holland America has also announced this week that they too, will be basing one of their ships, the Oosterdam, out of Sydney for the 2012-2013 season. Fewer details have been released on her deployment, but according to Cruise Critic she will be sailing 10 to 25 day cruises.

Oosterdam, launched in 2003, is the second ship in the Vista Class. And while not quite as stylish as Celebrity Solstice, she is still a perfectly nice ship. The only sad thing about this deployment is that it represents a further loss for the California cruise market, as this ship, up until now, spends winter spring and fall sailing out of San Diego to the Mexican Riviera (In fact I spent several hours in October looking at the ship in San Diego).

(Photo above - "IMGP8934" by flickr member joshhikes)

Texan Princess

The Port of Galveston, TX, has been growing steadily as a prominent cruise port for several years now, with several cruise lines sending some of their bigger and nicer ships there. Ships like Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas, Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Conquest, and even Carnival's newest ship, Carnival Magic, will call the port home (when she's launched later this year, and after a few month sailing the Mediterranean for the Europe cruise season). Further, RCI’s Mariner of the Seas, which recently left Los Angeles, will be replacing the Voyager of the Seas, in Galveston, later in November of this year. Several smaller, less prominent ships, like Carnival Ecstasy, have also been based in the port.

This past week, Princess Cruises announced that their ship, the Crown Princess, will be based in Galveston, starting in December 2012. The ship is currently scheduled to be there until April of 2013.

Crown Princess, launched in 2006, is one of Princess’ largest ships, and number 7 in the Grand Class series of ships. In my opinion, this ship and Princess Cruises in general, are between the premium segment and the mass market segment of cruising. This makes the ship a step up for Galveston, because up until now, the port has been served by mostly RCI and Carnival, both of which are mass market. The ship isn’t the most stylish…in fact, Princess ships are often described as bland, however, this bland-ness gives Princess something of an advantage as it will offend no one, but at the same time, it offers a great cruise experience. Princess has a very solid and very consistent product. Texas is getting a nice and pleasant ship. (photo at right - "Crown Princess" by flickr member JohnFinn )

P.S. Don’t judge the ship by it exterior…she’s not really ugly but she’s no beauty queen either….she’s interesting and actually, in my own way, I kind of like her looks.

Oceania in Los Angeles

A couple of weeks ago, Oceania’s new ship, Marina, made her inaugural call in Los Angeles…of course I was there. (Check out our photo album! Look for the link on the “photos” page above).
While there is not much to say about my experience with the ship (I just looked at her and took a lot of pictures), there is still a lot to say about this ship. Launched just over one month ago in Miami, FL, the ship is the first new ship to be built by the relatively young Oceania Cruises. Her design is based on Oceania’s three smaller ships - Insignia, Regatta, and Nautica, (all of which are from the “R” Class of ships) – but still, the ship is distinctive in her own way. Her interiors are slightly more modern than her fleet mates, and somewhat flashier (in a good way). Foodies will be happy on this ship, as she is full of some great and exclusive food offerings, including famed Chef Jacques Pepin’s first restaurant at sea or on land.

Already, this ship is getting rave reviews.

Cunard’s Australia Royal Rendezvous

In the last couple of weeks, the Queen Mary and Queen Victoria Royal Rendezvous wasn’t the only one, no, the whole Cunard fleet had their time in the spotlight. In Sydney, the glorious Queen Mary 2, and the new Queen Elizabeth, sailed in tandem into port for a call in Sydney. Thousands of shipgeeks and non-shipgeeks alike lined the shores of Sydney Harbor to watch this great event.

This event has historical implications, as Sydney was home to a rendezvous between the two original Cunard Queens, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, during their heroic war time service in WWII. There was even a WWII veteran there, who apparently saved the Queen Mary from a U-Boat during her troop transporting days.

Cunard is probably the only shipping line in the world that can generate so much interest in its ships (even among non-shipgeeks) wherever it sails to. I was struck by just how many non-shipgeeks were on the Queen Mary, this past Thursday, to see her rendezvous with Queen Victoria.

Both QM2 and Queen Elizabeth are currently on their World Cruises.

Blog News

You might have noticed some recent changes made to our page. If not let me direct your attention to them… If you look to the top of our page, you will see a new menu bar with “Home, Cruise Lines, Ships, Photos, Other Sites, The Shipgeek and Contact Us”.

These changes are in response to the continued growth of our blog and in an effort to offer more things on here. While these pages are still being worked on, you can still use them to find a cruise line, see what ships we think are worthy of note, check out hundreds of cool pictures, look at other great cruise and ship related websites, read about me and my own shipgeek journey, and finally, you can contact us through email for any questions, comments or just to say hi!

It’s pretty amazing to see just how fast the blog is growing! I want to thank all of you readers for your continued support and readership! GASP!!! That word has ship in it!!! :D

(Above photo - "CELEBRITY SOLSTICE" by flickr member steamboatsorg)

Queen Mary, meet Queen Victoria!

Wow! Tonight has been really incredible! It was amazing! It was a spectacle of Cunard's greatness! It was so great, I nearly had a heart attack (not to mention the weird sounds and faces I made, as I “geeked out”).

For those of you who don’t know, the Queen Victoria, which has been based here in Los Angeles for the last few weeks, sailed over to Long Beach to – as Cunard puts it, "rendezvous with her older fleet mate and first Cunard Queen, the Queen Mary." It was beautiful! (*tear).

Now, in the over 40 years that the Queen Mary has been in Long Beach, this is only the second time that one of Cunard’s ships has visited her there. The first time was in 2006, when the great and beautiful Queen Mary 2 came to meet to her namesake and predecessor. That was really, really incredible, and I really wish Cunard would do that again! (even though I don’t think I was far enough along in my shipgeek-ness at the time, to really completely appreciate that moment…nowadays I would be head over heels in love).

It makes me really happy to see Cunard acknowledging the Queen Mary. Often, companies tend to forget about their history and move on. When Cunard does things like this though, it draws attention to their history and the Queen Mary, and in my opinion it shows that they care. I LOVE YOU CUNARD!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!!

Anyways, back to tonight (even though, by the time this is posted it will be last night), or rather today (cause it all really started before night time). In the early afternoon, I left my hometown of Pasadena (about 20 some odd miles north of the Queen Mary) for the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. I was going there to see the Queen Victoria one last time before she left LA.

Upon arrival there, I saw her, the Queen Victoria, looking beautiful while docked at Berth 93 at the World Cruise Center. After fainting a couple of times (from the sheer awesomeness), I took many pictures from many different angles. Then, after being there for an hour, I left and headed on over to the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Luckily for me, the Queen Mary was free today, in honor of the event, so I just walked on.

After squeezing on to an elevator with 50 gazillion other people, I was on. Oh how I love to be on the Queen Mary…there really is nothing else quite like her, and even though I go there often, I never get tired of it. I walked around a little bit -noticing the crowd gathering already- and then bought myself pizza and a cookie (a tradition of mine). After I had finished eating, I went over to the aft boat deck, where many other shipgeeks were already gathering. There we waited for the next hour or so, waiting for the Queen Victoria to show herself. It sounds funny to say (or write) this, but, you really could feel the anticipation in the group. Everyone seemed excited, waving little British flags that had been handed out, and talking about our favorite thing…ships!

I had considered going back to San Pedro, to watch the ship depart from there and then race back to the Queen Mary for the rendezvous, but after figuring that there would be no time to do this, I walked forward to the Queen Mary’s bridge, from where, I could see the Queen Victoria moving in the distance. I took a few pictures, and then went back to the aft decks.

As Queen Victoria made her way on over, more and more people showed up. This actually took me be surprise. I expected a fair amount of people, but to be honest, I didn’t expect as many as we got. Queen Victoria doesn’t have the same “star power” that the QM2 has so I didn’t think she would draw that huge of a crowd. I am very happy to say that I was wrong…there were a ton of people!

(above image - "Queens Victoria & Mary" by flickr member Don & Stella )

Finally, Queen Victoria started to approach us. It was a beautiful sight in the light of the fading sky. The ship was all lit up for the occasion, and I swear there are not many sights more beautiful than a ship, lit up at night, or twilight. She got closer and closer (much closer than the Queen Mary 2 was able to get in 2006) and everyone was scrambling around trying to get the best picture they could. After about 10 or 15 minutes, a fireworks show started up, with fireworks shooting from the Queen Mary herself, her breakwater and a barge floating in the harbor. It was short, but quite beautiful! And very exciting!

After that, Queen Victoria turned around and very slowly sailed away as the crowds dispersed. I was one of the few that stayed and watched her till she was completely gone.

(above photo -"Long Beach, Ca." by flickr member RickWarrenPhotos )

It was a great and fun time. It was also great to be around that many other shipgeeks…we really are a special breed if you ask me. :D

I ended my Cunard night by walking around the Queen Mary which was nice…even though, I kid you not; at one point someone seriously thought that I was a ghost (interesting). And while I have been pretty much to every public space on the ship (not every one though), I did find a few new places (even though I wasn’t really supposed to go into these new places, strictly speaking ;) ).

I am home now, very happy after a great day. There were a couple of bummers though, firstly that I did not talk to anyone there! It’s kind of funny, but believe it or not, I am pretty shy. I wanted to talk to other people, especially some Cunard employees who were there, but when the time came to do it, I had a hard time getting myself to do so. The other bummer is how fast it all went. I have been so excited waiting for this day, and now its over. On top of that, Queen Victoria and Cunard, won’t be back on this side of the continent till December!

Oh well, that aside, I still had a great day!

For more photo's of the event you can check out our Picasa Album https://picasaweb.google.com/104983304629890664189/QueenVictoriaQueenMaryTheMeetingOfTheTwoQueens3311#

This past few weeks. The SS United States, Cunard in Los Angeles, and other industry news!

EEEEEEE!!!!!! I am still glowing! Why? Well if you don’t know by now…Cunards Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth were here in Los Angeles!!! It was beautiful!! Too beautiful........I almost died. But that’s not all that happening lately, nope. There is also news of RCI’s plans for a new class of ships, some small updates on the Carnival Splendor (the one that caught fire), Oceana’s newest ship is out and sailing, the SS United States has been bought and some other news!

Cunard!
AHHHHH!!!!! AHHHH!!!!! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!! Seeing two of the Cunard Queens here in my home town was incredible! The day started off very early, like at 3:30 am early!(…usually I have not even gone to sleep yet at that time.). I got up this early so I would be able to travel from Pasadena to the port (a drive of about 30 miles I’d say) in time to see the Queen Elizabeth sail into port. Unfortunately, when I got there to San Pedro (the port district of the City of Los Angeles) there was some very thick fog and I was not able to see the ship sail in through Angles Gate (the entrance to the Port to Los Angeles), however I was able to go to a park across the quay from the cruise terminal. From here, I was able to see the QE come up the main channel through the fog and dock at the terminal. It was beautiful and I was totally ship geeking out!! (photo at right- "Queen Victoria" by flickr member "Voyager One")

There was only one problem I had. For some reason, it had been decided that the QE would use one of the lower terminals. Let me explain…the cruise terminals at the Port of Los Angeles are arrange in a ‘L’ shape. Two berths are parallel to the main channel, the other terminal and berth is perpendicular to the channel (you see it in the beginning sequence of “The Love Boat”) and it’s perfect for ship spotting as there is a small park and boardwalk located across the slip from it. This later terminal is where I wanted the ship to dock but alas, they docked at the other lover terminal. This terminal isn’t horrible for ship spotting as there is a long walkway that has a good view of the ship but it does put more distance between the ship and you not to mention a large parking lot and a chain link fence. As it turns out, the Sapphire Princess and the Norwegian Star ended up taking the 2 other berths.

As you know, I have my problems with the Queen Elizabeth but seeing her in person was great. I have to admit I am really starting to like this ship (even though I stand by all I have said before) and have never been able to resist a ship in Cunard color. She’s still not as good looking as her sister the Queen Victoria but she’s not as bad as she looks in some pictures. After looking at her pretty much all day she departed from LA in the dark as me, my family (who I dragged along with me) and some other shipgeeks watched.

Next day, it was the Queen Victoria (my favorite of the two)!!! For the sake of keeping this article at a shorter length I shan’t go into the details of the day. I think it will suffice to say, that the day went pretty much like the day before had gone…she docked at the wrong terminal (Disney Wonder got the one I wanted for QV), I geeked out and she was beautiful! I should also mention that despite that fact that the QV had been to Los Angeles before, this was my first time seeing her, which made it very special to me. Unfortunately, I was not able to watch her sail out as I had to get back up to Pasadena but I am sure it was beautiful!!

The only thing that would have made the weekend better was if Cunard had allowed me to visit!!




Royals New Ship?

Speaking about RCI’s better then expected results for the 4th quarter of 2010 and the year as a whole, Richard Fain Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean also stated that RCI is working on a new class of ship.

In his own words…

"I know the question, when will you be ordering another ship is out there, and
it's waiting to be asked -- it almost always is," said Fain. "I have previously
confirmed that while we look forward to a period of slower growth, we do not aim
to stagnate."

“It will probably be the start of a new a series, which
would incorporate our latest learnings about efficiency and about guest
amenities.”

“We’ve been working intensively on developing a design that
reflects our innovative spirit but in an efficient package and we think we are
near an acceptable outcome,”

Of course, the online cruise and ship geek communities like Cruise Critic or my favorite Cruise Talk at Travel Server, have been buzzing with speculation and predictions about this new class of ships. Everyone is sure that the ships will be smaller then the Oasis class (that is pretty much what Fain said) but can’t seem to agree on just how much smaller. Some are predicting ships around 180,000grt and others are predicting a more modest 120,000 to 130,000grt ship. Some speculate that these ships will not have all the bells and whistles of the Oasis Class or the Freedom Class, others say that these amenities (like the Boardwalk or Central Park on Oasis) can and should appear on these new smaller ships as they are what RCI is know for.

If I can throw my own predictions into the mix here… Personally I think that RCI will or should go smaller with this new class; maybe around 110,000 to 130,000grt in size. I also think that while many of the newer features on RCI ships should be retained, I think these ships should be toned down slightly. My reasoning for these ideas is this…I have read many reviews and opinions that have said they would like to see smaller ships from RCI. For many, the Oasis, Freedom and even the Voyager class are just to large for them, they prefer the likes of the panamax (the largest size that can fit in the Panama Canal) Radiance Class ship. A class of ships sized in between the larger classes and the smaller classes in RCI’s fleet could at like a bridge or stepping stone, for people transitioning to the larger ships. A smaller ship also has more versatility then a larger ship. It can serve more destinations and be put to work on up and coming markets, for example, Australia or Asia. Also some destinations like Alaska, Hawaii or other Caribbean destinations, are more suited for smaller ships (if you can call 120,000grt small).

What ever comes out, I am sure it will be great! RCI are know for their newbuilds. Its very exciting!

Oceana’s New Ship!

Oceana (a luxury line) just put its first new ship, the Marina, into service this past week. Oceana is a relatively new cruise line, started in 2003, and up until now has only had 3 “R” Class ships which were built in the early 2000’s for the now defunct, Renaissance Cruises. A few years ago Oceana ordered a duo of new ships for the line. These new ships would be larger and hold more people then the original ships but were still heavily related to them.

A few days ago, Oceana hosted a naming ceremony for the ship at its home port of Miami. The ship was christened by Entertainment Tonight star Mary Hart. After this the ship set off on a preview cruise with travel agents (which are responsible for the vast majority of Oceana’s bookings) and invited guests. So far the ship looks good (maybe a little dated looking in some areas, but that works for Oceana’s passengers) and the reviews are really good.

The United States has been bought…

The world famous Ocean Liner, the SS United States, has recently been bought from its previous owners, NCL, by he United States Conservancy, a group dedicated to the future career and preservation of this American flag ship. (photo at right - "The SS United States coming in" by flickr member "Captain Zenith ")

The sad thing is that most American’s have never heard of this ship, their flagship and Ship of State, the United States (also know as the Big U). They don’t know of its unique mark on the USA’s history, they don’t know of its career or the way it came to symbolize a powerful post WWII United States to the rest of the world.

The United States Conservancy and I would love to change that.

Short history of this ship…
After WWII, the US wanted to build a passenger liner to serve on the North Atlantic and compete with Brittan and France for the passenger trade. The ship was to be safe, reliable, fast…like really fast, and comfortable. On top of this, seeing the way the glorious Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth heroically served the allied forces during WWII, delivering hundreds of thousands of troops to the front, the US wanted a liner that could do the same in a time of war.

The answer to these demands was the beautiful United States, our nation’s new Ship of State. Setting sail on her maiden voyage on July 4th, 1952, she shattered all previous transatlantic speed records (……the Queen Mary’s speed record…-_-…). After that she went on to have a successful but short career. She carried many of the worlds most elite on almost every voyage and never once did she have any kind of mechanical failure delay her. Throughout her career she was an icon of American ingenuity, innovation and power. However due to the emergence of clumsy jet travel, transatlantic travel by ocean liner began to decline. Because of this, the United States Line (her owners) decided to with draw her from service and lay her up. After that she was passed from owner to owner having all her interior fittings removed until eventually she was bought by NCL with the intention of putting her back into active service in Hawaii. These plans never materialized for many reasons and as such the Big U remained laid up in Philadelphia. Through the last few years the United States Conservancy has worked tirelessly to insure that this ship is preserved and protected. In 2009, NCL announced that it was taking bids for the ship which of course attracted the scrap yards. In response to this the Conservancy ramped up its fund raising in effort to by the ship themselves. Luckily due to the generosity of some people and NCL, the Conservancy was able to reach an agreement with NCL where the Conservancy would buy the ship for only 3 million…even though this was less then the bids from scrap yards.

This past week the transaction became final and the SS United States is under the owner ship of the Conservancy. Now comes the real challenge…the Conservancy only has a limited amount of time to raise money and come up with a viable way to save this historic ship. Keeping up a ship is not cheap and to say that this will be a difficult undertaking is a large understatement. But I sincerely hope that they will succeed…this ship is too important for it to just be scraped or laid up forever. It’s a symbol of our country and needs to be saved. I would encourage anyone reading this to donate to the cause or do anything you can to help the Conservancy in this important effort.
PLEASE LOOK HERE... http://www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org/

Anyways, sorry it has been so long since I have written on here. I haven’t forgotten about this blog or my readers (who apparently now number in the thousands :D ).
Hope by the time you finish reading this really really long article that I have the next one ready for you. I currently have 3 other ones in the oven.

Stay tooned!!

Above photo- the SS United States (top) passing her fleetmate the SS America (bottom) in New York City.

A Cunard Day in NYC!

I am sorry about the lack of post over the last couple of days, I am afraid I got lost on the path way of life…basically I was busy so suck it up! ...and I mean that with all the love in the world.

This last Thursday (January 13th) a historic moment occurred as all three Queens in Cunard's fleet met in New York harbor. Lucky onlookers watched as The Glorious, The Perfect, The Alpha, The Omega, The Incredible, The Majestic, The Beautiful and by the Grace of God, Empress of the Seas, Sovereign of the Oceans, Inheritor of the greatest name in maritime history …THE RMS QUEEN MARY 2 (!!!!!), the beautiful Queen Victoria and the lovely Queen Elizabeth, sailed out of New York together. (QM2 is my favorite ship currently in service)

This is only the second time in Cunard history that Cunard has had 3 Queens in New York at once (that partially because Cunard only ever had two Queens up until recently). The Last time was 3 years ago to the day when the QM2, the beautiful Veteran queen of the ocean; QE2, and the brand new Queen Victoria sailed in and then later out together from the port.

The lucky passengers arriving at the port on the QE and QV had just had a special treat as they got to experience a tandem crossing...where both ships crossed together side by side across the Atlantic to NYC. Meanwhile, the passengers on the QM2...well they are just lucky!!!!

In honor of this historic occasion, Cunard’s Commodore Bernard Warner rang the bell (from the original Queen Elizabeth’s engine room) to signal the end of trading for the day at the New York Stock Exchange, the Empire State Building was lit in red for Cunard and passengers and land based onlookers alike, were treated to a Grucci fireworks display as the 3 grand ships lined up in the harbor by the Statue of Liberty.

It was a beautiful event! Seeing 2 or more Cunard Queens together is really something very special. I remember almost 5 years ago when the QM2 met the Queen Mary in Long Beach for the first time! I was there and nearly died from happiness!

Now that the event is over the Queen are heading their separate ways, QM2 on her world cruise (an eastbound one… grrr that means she wont come anywhere near me!), Queen Victoria is on her way here to Los Angeles where she will be based for a few weeks and Queen Elizabeth is on her first world cruise which will also bring her here to Los Angeles a day before the QV. Before that though the QV and QE will be meeting again in Ft Lauderdale, FL, today actually, then they will head off on separate cruises.

Now, I want you all to know that I am trying hard to get permission to visit and review the ships. Its pretty hard to get permission (because of security) but its not impossible, in fact a friend of mine just visited the QE in Southampton. I am trying several different routes to reach this goal…this dream, if you will, but I am not above begging so…ahem…..…PLEASE CUNARD!!!! PLEASE!!!! I WILL WRITE GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE Queens!!! PLEASE!!! I AM YOUR BIGGEST FAN!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!....pretty pretty (QM2 pretty) please? My devotion to you is undying!

...ahem....sorry...for that outburst, I just really do love Cunard! *geek squeal! Anyways whatever happens I will be there at the port to watch as these two ships sail in! It will be a glorious day!

Happy 2011 from Pasadena!!

Well I have had a thoroughly fun, thoroughly Pasadena-ish and thoroughly Cunard-ish New Years so far. Sorry I have not blogged about it yet, but as I am sure you, my dear readers, can understand, I have been quite busy!

Picture at right is from Rambling of a ShipGeek's flickr account. ramblingshipgeek

Any who, late as it is I wish all of you a happy and prosperous 2011 and I hope you had a great New Years holiday! May this year be full of cruises and ships for all of you!

My 2011 started off great, also most importantly to this blog and to anyone reading this, my New Years has been very Cunard-ish like I said. First of all, there was the Rose Parade. For those of you who did not see the Rose Parade in person, or at least on TV, you missed out because it was beautiful! The marching bands were all great, the horses were cool, and all the floats were beautiful (remember that in the Rose Parade, every square inch of visible surface on the float must be covered with some kind of plant material) and of course one float in particular stood out as the most beautiful...CUNARD’S FLOAT!!!

Unfortunately during the parade, the float went by rather fast and I didn’t get to see as much of it, in action, as I had hoped. However I saw enough and let me tell you, it was nice. The Float had won the ‘Queen’s Trophy’ for the best use of Roses (there were a ton of them) and onboard had many people waving and dancing to a live band playing Big Band music, as well as Cunard Bell Boys walking along side the float. From front to back, it had a black and white bow (decorated with different kinds of seed to replicated Cunards livery) flanked by dolphins, made from silver leaf, jumping out of an ocean of blue and white flowers. After that there was a lounge space with bottles of champagne, a ball room with dancers, and a stained glass ceiling with a giant chandelier, a live band and then a grand staircase with a large golden globe and a floral graph depicting the three Cunard Queens. All that remained after that was an area with the Iconic Cunard funnel (which was giving off smoke) and 2 levels of out door deck space. It was beautiful and despite the fact that it went by too fast, I did get a video and some pictures. Both of which can be seen on Ramblings of a Ship-Geek’s Youtube channel and soon, it’s Flickr account!

From Rambling of a ShipGeek's youtube account...

My experience with this float did not end there though, for the very next day I spent ten dollars and did a ton of walking up hill and in the rain (ok no rain…yet) just so I could go to the float viewing and take almost 100 pictures (which are now available to view on our Flickr page) of the float. I also took pictures of the other floats just in case you readers are interested (they will be available on Flickr soon).

After that I expected my story with the float would end, and that I would probably not see it again….But I did!

First some back story…every year a couple of days after the Rose Parade (usually on the second) the floats are taken back to the ‘float barns’ where they were built and decorated. When this happens some of the floats pass down the street in front of our house on their way to one of these barns (so its like we get our own personal Rose Parade right outside our door!). Well this year after the floats passed, my cousin, a friend and I, decided to follow the floats in a car and pick up and flowers that were dropped along the way. Our flower scavenging lead us to one of the barns, the so called ‘Rose Palace’, where we discovered that if you asked nicely they would let you come in and pick what ever you wanted off the floats. We came back home with the motherlode!

With our flower hunting success we decided to go out early the next morning and ask for more flowers. Well next morning comes and as we are standing in front of the Rose Palace we chicken out and decided to go to another float barn in a city called, Irwindale. I am glad we did!....I had a date with destiny.

When we got there we stood outside for about 10 minutes trying to work up the courage to ask if we could go in and look, and pick flowers. Eventually we did and I think you can all guess what float I made a beeline to...yup, the Cunard float! We ended up picking tons of flower from the float and then tons more from the other…a ton a flowers which are now all over the place in my house! I was really hoping that I could take something with the Cunard logo on it but I had to settle for just flowers. Oh well..at least they were Cunard flowers! We were there for about an hour picking flowers and by the time we left my car was full of them.

This is where I finally said goodbye to the Cunard float. But the story of Cunard and me is not over, oh no, it will go on forever until the stars turn cold! I look forward to next years Rose Parade with the hope that Cunard will continue participating in it. But for the immediate future I am looking forward to 2011, QV and QE (Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth) being here in Los Angeles in just a few weeks (LET ME VISIT THEM CUNARD!!! PLEASE!!!...pretty please?), my first cruise, which I am determined to do this year and a great year for this blog to grow even more!

I hope you all have a great 2011 and I hope you continue to read and enjoy this simple blog!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A Cunard New Year! less the 24 Hours Till the Rose Parade!

Well less the 24 hours left until next year! and less the 24 for hours from now I will be watching as Cunard's "Grand Celebration at Sea" sails down Colorado Boulevard here in Pasadena!! It is a pretty exciting time to be a shipgeek and more specifically a Cunard-geek, in Pasadena! I will be posting tomorrow with pictures from the Parade and most of all with pictures of Cunard's float!

For those of you who do not know about or read Cunard's blog... here is a interesting and relevant article.

http://wearecunard.com/2010/12/a-new-year%e2%80%99s-day-grand-celebration/

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Cunard’s Newest ship, The Queen Elizabeth…

Last month Cunard took delivery and put into service its newest ship the mv Queen Elizabeth, named after the original RMS Queen Elizabeth of 1940.

Before I go on, I actually all ready wrote an article on the subject, that I never got around to posting on here. Here it is….

“”Last week Cunard (hehe…..I love Cunard!!!) took delivery of their newest ship, the “Queen Elizabeth”. Now let me say here, right now before anything else is said, that I LOVE Cunard with passion! They are my favorite Line and are by far the greatest in the world with a history that spans over 170 glorious years! (If anyone says their line is better kick them in the shin…hard). My favorite ships in history are Cunard ships, like my all time favorite, The Glorious, The Beautiful, The Perfect, The Way Better Then The Normandie (though she was great too), The Incredible, The Sexy…The R.M.S. QUEEN MARY!!!! Cunard is great…I love them.

Ok now, that being said, I have to admit I am somewhat divided on this ship. First there is the part of me that loves all ships no matter what. They are all beautiful in their own way (yes….even Norwegian Epic). Looking at the current pictures of this ship’s interiors I have to say they look pretty nice and no doubt this ship will do well for Cunard and their parent company Carnival Corp. From a purely ship-critic stand point there is nothing really to complain about, but from a Shipgeek stand point and that of a die hard Cunard-geek I have to say I have some problems with this ship.

My problems are thus… First of all, the name, the name Queen Elizabeth is very significant and historical for Cunard. Two of their greatest ships (and two of the greatest ships in history) have held that name, the original Queen Elizabeth of 1940 (sister ship of the Queen Mary) and the very very famous QE2 (Queen Elizabeth 2). That doesn’t seem like it should matter but it does. Those 2 ships were both unique and beautiful. They were important. This new ship on the other hand is not really on the same level, it is 11th in a long line of Carnival Corp. ships of the same design, the Vista Class (which includes the beautiful Queen Victoria), and is really just another cruise ship. Now there is no problem with that, I love even regular cruise ships, I also really like the Vista Class but considering the history behind the name and the company I would have hoped for something a bit more special then this. Above picture "Queen Elizabeth and Waverley" by flickr memeber "andywsx"

Another problem I have with it is the interiors. Like I said above they are actually pretty nice but there is still on problem I have with them….they are practically carbon copies of Queen Victoria’s interiors! Now, again, don’t get me wrong, I love QV (Queen Victoria) and her interiors however I do have a big problem with them being copied over to the QE. When QV came out, Cunard said her interiors recalled old ships like the Lusitania or the Mauretania and was “Edwardian” (like the Titanic for you non-shipgeeks) in her style. Now the QE on the other hand, Cunard says is styled in the same way the original Queen Elizabeth was,…as an art deco ship. But if the interiors are basically copies of QV’s Edwardian interiors (with really minor modifications) then how can the ship be art deco? Really, looking at the pictures there is only one room on the ship that stands out to me as art deco, the main dining room, but even there its really more of an 1980’s art deco then one meant to recall that of the 1940’s QE.

One other problem I have, and I admit this is more petty then anything, is I find her rather unattractive. The Vista Class is actually quite lovely; QV for example is very good looking. This new ship though has a large structure on top above the bridge and a built up stern (to allow for more cabins and therefore more revenue) which in my opinion gives her a resemblance to Norwegian Epic (poor Norwegian Epic has set the standard for ugly in the industry).

I think, had Cunard given this ship another name like Caronia, Mauretania, or any of the other names from Cunard’s past fleet, this ship wouldn’t bother me. I guess to put it simply I just don’t find it worthy of its name or the history behind it. If you’re not a shipgeek you probably would not understand. I know Cunard is a business and has to do what make the most sense for their guest and their business but still I can’t help but feel this way.

Cunard’s flag ship, the RMS Queen Mary 2 or 2004, holds one of the most important and historical names in Cunard history and indeed, maritime history as a whole and in my opinion she is totally worthy of it. She’s a beautiful and unique, one off design. She’s an actual Ocean Liner (as opposed to a cruise ship, depending on your definition of an ocean liner), she sail the historic transatlantic route between England and New York and she actually is Art Deco like her beautiful predecessor the Queen Mary. She’s proof that a new Queen Elizabeth could have been really special. The Picture above shows the difference between Queen Victoria's profile and Queen Elizabeth's

Well now that I have had my rant…I have to say that I do, in fact, like the QE. She’s a perfectly nice ship, one that I would not hesitate to sail on or hesitate to encourage others to sail on. I am sure Cunard will be very happy with her. I am also sure that many loyal Cunard passengers will enjoy her. Hopefully I will be able to get aboard her someday…maybe if I am lucky, when she comes out here to Los Angeles in a few months on her Inaugural World Cruise!! Wink wink Cunard!!””


….Ok there you have it but now that its been a month since I wrote this and a month since this all happened, I have new things to say about this ship.

First of all I have to admit that even though I stand by everything I said in my above article, this ship has started to grow on me (I have never been able to resist a ship in Cunard livery). The more I see of this ship the more I notice little things about her that I like, Little differences between her and her sister Queen Victoria and little details that Cunard has added or changed on her. I won’t go into detail but I will say that I really do hope to someday sail on this ship and I really really hope that I will somehow be able to visit this ship when she is here in Los Angeles and then write about that visit... *WINK WINK CUNARD!!

Here are some links for you….

http://www.cunard.com/Ships/Queen-Elizabeth/
http://www.cunard.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Queen_Elizabeth

Quick Update

Hello!

I just wanted to post a quick message here saying sorry for the large pause in post. I have been pretty busy with different things including (including a trip to San Diego for the Fourth- no cruise ships! Grrr!!) but please rest assured that I am working on new articles for the blog! I will try and have them posted in the coming days.

Some quick updates on the industry...

-Epic made it safely to New York, was christened on the 2nd by Reba and then took part in Fourth of July festivities there. She is currently sailing to Miami.

-Cunard Line celebrated its 170th anniversary of service. On July 4th, 1840, Cunard's first ship the Britannia, set sail on its maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to Halifax, Nova Sotia and Boston, Massachusetts, thus inaugurating Cunard's long and storied service.

-Though not talked about as much, Holland America's newest ship the Nieuw Amsterdam was delivered to the line by Fincantieri shipyards in Italy and was named in Venice by Her Royal Highness Princess Maxima of the Netherlands.

-Carnival Cruise Lines announced that they will be basing the Carnival Spirit out of the Port of Los Angeles (Yay for my port!! A lot of ships have pulled out of here lately..).

-Carnival has also announced that they will be homeporting their newest ship, the Carnival Magic, in Galveston, TX when she enters service next year.


Like I said I am working on more stuff for the blog, all of which I hope to post in the next few days. I will be talking about the subjects mentioned above and even some more negative things like Norovirus or injury/death at sea so keep on checking for updates!

Thanks!

-Mark