With apologies to Graeme (and Jenny!) for the delay – here is the rest of our trip!

 

Saturday 23^rd 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 24^th 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 25^th 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 26^th 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 27^th 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!!