With
apologies to Graeme (and Jenny!) for the delay – here is the rest of our trip!
Saturday 23rd May – Day at
Sea.
What a busy
day! Nesta went off to a RADA workshop at 10am whilst Ian gave the Intermediate
Bridge lesson at 10-30am a go. Nesta enjoyed her class, but Ian wasn’t at all
impressed, either with the standard of teaching or the other participants… He
was more confused than ever once the lesson finished!
We met up
after our classes and found we had missed breakfast. Unfortunately, lunch
didn’t look all that inspiring but we forced ourselves to eat something – if
only to soak up all the free alcohol we were going to drink!
1-45pm saw
us in the Queens Room for a demonstration of how to paint by David
Porteous-Butler. He doesn’t use a brush but puts the paint on the canvas with
various pallet knives. His technique was brilliant and it was amazing how much
of a picture he painted in just over 45 minutes.
We then went
into the Art Gallery where Captain Wells unveiled David’s specially
commissioned work of art celebrating the Three Queens visit to Liverpool. This
did involve a free glass of champagne and at 3pm we had to leave to go to the
Britannia Restaurant for our free wine-tasting event. We tried four Argentinian
wines and liked the Pinot Grigot but not the Chardonnay. Bizarrely, we didn’t
like either of the Malbecs on offer – but they were the cheapies at only $40 a
bottle! Thank goodness there was cheese with the wine – as our small portion of
food earlier wasn’t doing that good a job in soaking up the alcohol!
After the
wine tasting we went up to the library and queued up to get a book Gary and
Jenny had given us signed by the Captain. We took the opportunity to thank him
and Stephen (the Deputy Captain) by giving him a greetings card we had bought
in Oban portraying a large ship along the lines of “size matters!” (Nesta
thought it was funny, anyway!!) Fortunately the Captain seemed to like it!
Back to the
cabin for a little rest before getting into our finery one more time and going
down to the Art Gallery for yet another fizzy drink where we talked to David
Porteous-Butler about the possibility of buying the demonstration picture when
he’s finished it and then into the Captain’s cocktail party (yes, you’ve
guessed it – with free glasses of wine)
The cocktail
party was packed – only 20% of the passengers on board haven’t sailed with
Cunard before and the number of nights spent on one of the three ships by all
the people in the room totalled more than 500 years! (That’s loyalty for you)
Our contribution of 123 nights seems paltry in comparison to the couple who won
the “most number of nights on board” prize with 1834…
Although
Ryan got us a couple extra drinks we slowed our intake down a bit as we had
been invited to dine at the Senior Officers’ table (with, as you might expect
all the wine you can drink!)
Nesta was
sat next to Ib Nielsen – the Staff Chief Engineer – who is Swedish, but that
meant that no-one else had much chance of a conversation with him! The other
officer was Roy Sturrock (also a Staff Chief Engineer) who is taking over from
Ib when we get back into Southampton. It was his first “table” and he had been
feeling really nervous about meeting Cunard customers and he was pleasantly
surprised at how “normal” we were! In recognition of this he invited us both to
the pub after the meal - where he bought us three pints and sung in the karaoke
(well, he is a Geordie!)
A good day!!
Sunday 24th May 2015 –
Liverpool.
This time it
was Ian’s turn to be up at the crack of dawn and watch us sail into the Mersey.
We were parked at the Pier Head before Nesta woke and announced she had a
hangover! (Apparently she didn’t remember drinking the third pint in the pub so
felt that this final drink was the sole reason for the hangover…)
After a
breakfast of paracetamol, ranitidine and black coffee she joined Ian in a walk
around Liverpool – but for some reason she didn’t seem to enjoy being shown the
different offices that Ian has worked in! (No pleasing some people).
We then went
back down to the waterfront and visited some of the free museums and sat and
watched the crowds who were already congregating. There were lots of
interesting stalls and street entertainment but after about four hours ashore,
Nesta decided that it was time to have a lie down! Back to the ship we went
where Ian watched the last football of the season (and wishes he hadn’t) whilst
Nesta recuperated to ensure she was ok for the evening’s entertainment.
We had time
for a quick snack in Kings Court and then went to the theatre to see “The
Beatles Experience”. These were the tribute band that had been on the ship
between Brisbane and Sydney (well, the George had changed!) and this time they
sang songs from 66-70. They were excellent and said that they’d be reprising
songs from 62-66 tomorrow when the three Queens are dancing in the Mersey!
We then went
outside and found a good spot on the steps between decks 7 and 8 where we had
an uninterrupted view of the light show projected onto the “Three Graces” (The
Liver Building, The Cunard Building and The Port of Liverpool Building) and the
following fireworks display.
Monday 25th May –
Liverpool.
We didn’t
get off in the morning as the Queen Mary 2 was sailing at 10am… The Pier Head
and the waterfront were already packed as we went out into the river and sailed
towards the mouth of the Mersey, between New Brighton on the Wirral side and
Crosby. There were lots of people on both beaches despite the cold weather (and
we later discovered that Ian’s oldest friend Ian was there with his family).
We turned
180 degrees and waited for the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria to join us.
They sailed past us and we joined on behind and - with a water spouting tug in
front and behind - we sailed in convoy back into Liverpool.
We stood on
the observation deck 11 which afforded us a great view. Once the ships were in
position (with the QM2 in front of the Three Graces) we began our synchronised
180 degree turn. Bizarrely, when the three ships rear ends were pointing at
Liverpool, one glass of free champagne for everyone was provided!
As the ships
continued their turn, we headed down to Deck 8 aft where the Beatles Experience
had played as we sailed away from Liverpool, and the Queens Room Orchestra was
now due to play during our ballet on the Mersey but - importantly - we could
also see the sky, as we didn’t want to miss The Red Arrows.
We climbed
up on the poolside right next to the band and danced and waved our flags. We
also got recorded for posterity on the Ship’s Voyage DVD!!
The ships
completed their turn and then the Elizabeth and Victoria came alongside the
Mary in an arrowhead formation, finally finishing off with all three ships a
line abreast in the Mersey in front of The Cunard Building. Apparently there
was never less than 130 metres between us – but it seemed a lot closer than
that to us!
We took lots
of photos and Nesta managed to get a picture of The Red Arrows as they flew
overhead. It was now time for the QM2 to leave again, on our way to St Peter
Port in Guernsey, and the Elizabeth berthed with the Victoria anchoring in the
middle of the river. There is going to be another light show and firework
display tonight, after which the Elizabeth will leave and the Victoria will tie
up and stay overnight. We understand Tom and Elizabeth (Heather’s mum) were on
the Queen Elizabeth, so we probably waved to each other!
As we were
later leaving Liverpool than originally planned, once we had crossed the Bar we
steamed at an average 24 knots but still won’t arrive in St Peter Port until
lunchtime tomorrow.
We had to
get ready for our last ever formal night (and yet more free drinks). Our first
stop was the Art Gallery where we weren’t able to buy the David Porteous-Butler
demonstration picture after all. We thought he had agreed to negotiate with us
about a price but he decided to sell it to someone else instead! Oh well… we
probably couldn’t have afforded it anyway…
Whilst
talking about money – we are having a difficult time spending our free on-board
credit! (Could it be something to do with all the alcohol we are being gifted?)
We even tried to book a future trip across the Atlantic – but they wanted real
money for this, instead of our on board credit, so we declined!
After the
Art Gallery, we headed “round the corner” – as the captain would say – and had
a chat with Stephen (the Deputy Captain) on our way into the cocktail party. He
was buzzing and said that it had been his “best day at sea – ever!”
We managed
(again) to drink more than our fair share at the party – but that didn’t stop
us from ordering one last bottle of Mullygrubber with our meal in the
restaurant.
After the
meal, we headed up to the Winter Gardens for a last pint with Ryan and to
listen to “Ghost Stories” from RADA. Strangely we haven’t seen Lee this entire
voyage but I suppose it might be because we haven’t been to any of his shows!
Tuesday 26th May – St
Peter Port, Guernsey.
We joined
the queues in the photo gallery to spend our credit on some photos and an
album. We also picked up our copy of the Voyage DVD which includes shots of St
Peter Port (which is really impressive as we’ve not arrived there yet!)
We anchored
off St Peter Port at 12-30pm and then queued … and queued for a tender to take
us ashore. We overheard a passenger saying that the ship should be renamed the
Queue M2… Declan, from the entertainment team, has been on since November and
has been excellent all around the world in getting us ashore and back again.
This however was the last straw (he gets off tomorrow) and even he lost his
cool with all the chaos!
We got
ashore eventually and were told by the local tourist information that the
number 92 service bus travels around the island for the amazing price of £1 per
person! The ship’s tour which we would have booked, if it hadn’t been full, was
$60 per person…but at least we would both have had a seat! (The bus we
travelled on was very popular which meant that Ian had to stand the whole way
round!)
After our
bus trip we walked to Castle Cornet (another of the ship’s tours) where Nesta
bought a new bag.
Guernsey
exceeded our expectations and we were talking about going back there for a
proper holiday until we realised that there are very few pubs on the island!
The hotels have bars but there isn’t a Wetherspoons! Ian Platts’ (Schofield)
daughter works in Guernsey and apparently the only thing on the island that
isn’t expensive are the busses!
We got back
on board at about 5pm and we pulled up anchor to “potter” our way across the
Channel back to Southampton.
For our last
night on board we had booked the “Coriander” Indian evening in the speciality
restaurant. It was busy and there were lots of the crew in (including Captain
Chris, his wife and three children). We had a window table, so we saw the
sunset over the Channel Islands as we ate. Fortunately they seem to have sorted
out the issues they had at the end of the world voyage and it was a really nice
meal.
Despite our
best efforts we have $10-34 left in our credit account but neither of us could
face a nightcap before bed – lightweights!
Wednesday 27th May –
Southampton.
For the
second time there are so many Platinum and Diamond guests on board that there
is no nice lounge or priority disembarkation for us! Our instructions are to
sit in the Royal Court and disembark at 10-45am – which is fine as our train
isn’t until 12-27pm.
We went for
a late breakfast and sat in Kings Court watching people leaving the ship. At
10-15am, when we were about to go into the theatre, there was a shipboard
announcement advising us that disembarkation was complete and anyone left
on-board were to go ashore straightaway!
By 10-30am
we were off, luggage collected and in a taxi heading for the station. On the
way to the station, Nesta received a call to pre-interview her for a 111 job
that she had applied for – so maybe she will have another job soon!
We got to
the station an hour and a half before our train was due but when we asked if we
could catch an earlier train was told that it would cost us £30-25 each instead
of the £7 our pre-booked tickets cost. We decided to wait!
When the
train arrived – it consisted of just the one carriage! Fortunately we got a
seat next to our luggage and the train rocked, rattled and rolled back to
Temple Meads. Rather than get the bus we decided that – as it was our holiday –
we’d get a taxi home…
Oh well –
that’s another journey over. Thanks for reading our blogs…wish us well in
getting back into real life now!
Bye!!
