Home again

Just back from a lovely 22 night cruise to the Caribbean on Oriana. Since I had no free internet access I'll be posting my blog retrospectively so here is the first instalment:-
Oriana – Caribbean Transatlantic 25 September – 17 October 2012

I arrived at the Mayflower Terminal at just past 11am and was sipping champagne in the Oriental Restaurant by 11.40. Apparently boarding starts now at 11am. The Peninsular lunch was excellent with plentiful wine, champagne and orange juice and free newspapers. The age range includes lots of younger people from 20s upwards by the look of them.

So – my single cabin! Well, it’s nearly perfect – if only they would get a woman’s opinion before completing the design though! There is plenty of storage – so much that even I (with my four bags!) cannot fill it! – A 3 ft hanging robe with top shelf, four deep wide drawers with cupboard with shelves over, four wide shallow drawers beside the dresser, a shallow drawer over the knee hole and eight narrow shallow drawers either side of the 4 foot bed. The bathroom has two corner cupboards and shelves under the basin. There are two hooks on the back of the door and twin bedside lamps. The fridge is over the dresser drawers and a flat-screen TV on top. There is plenty of room for my 2 large cases to fit under the bed. Straight out of my cabin door and turn left and I am on the deck by the Terrace Pool and Sunset Bar (where a sailaway party is in full swing!)

The downside? – the wardrobe rail is so low my evening dresses trail on the floor by about a foot and the lighting in the bathroom is so dim I thought there must be another light I hadn’t switched on – but sadly no! WiFi in the cabin was good, but no mobile phone signal.

 

Captain Pembridge has warned of increasing movement through the ship for the next two days. There is also a strike in Ponta Delgada so we are calling at Madeira first instead. This means every call throughout the cruise will be a day later than originally scheduled and we only get half a day in the Azores and a full day now in Madeira.

I am in the Oriental Restaurant on a table for 8 in the middle. Unfortunately it is an oblong shape so we will have to move round to talk to one another, although there were only four of us tonight – all singles and good company, one who had never cruised before. I wandered round the ship for a little after dinner. Oriana is rocking a little now but just enough to lull one to sleep.

Book launch

Yesterday Andrew and I were very pleased to be able to launch our new book on Oriana & Aurora at the new Sea City museum in Southampton. The city was busy with the Boat Show opening that day, as well as three cruise ships in port - Azura, Celebrity Eclipse and Oriana.

Our first customers were Richard and Anthony from Boston, USA, who had flown over to join Oriana on her cruise to the Canaries. As ship enthusiasts, they wanted to sail on a traditional cruise ship while there are still a few around! They will be taking the first copy of the book on board the ship!

And when Oriana returns, I will be lucky enough to be joining her on her voyage to the Caribbean. 

Talking of my cruises- since my post about booking a cruise on Ocean Countess, CMV have sold her and are replacing her with Discovery. I suppose I was both disappointed and pleased at the same time. Disappointed not be sailing on the original Cunard Countess but pleased to be trying the original Island Princess. We will just have to wait and see what her winter refit brings though !

Oriana & Aurora Book

Finally, after what seems an age since we sent the completed text, we have a launch date for our new book on Oriana & Aurora - the last two cruise ships built for P&O before it was taken over by Carnival UK, and the ships that took the company (and its passengers) into the new millennium! Sadly I doubt if their ilk will ever be built again, as it seems that new ships grow ever larger. For me, around 2000 passengers is a perfect size - large enough to be stable and offer plenty of facilities (including dedicated cinemas, mostly lacking on new ships) but small enough to get to know people and not to have long queues at the buffets or if tendering.

It's hard nowadays to realise quite how innovative and spectacular Oriana was when she was launched in 1995, but she was yet another P&O ship that influenced all future new-builds for the company. Intended to replace the much-loved Canberra, in fact they sailed alongside each other for some years and it was Aurora that finally replaced the Great White Whale as Canberra became affectionately known.

The book is packed full of beautiful photos and should make a great souvenir for anyone who loves these two traditional ships. We are launching it at Sea City Museum in Southampton on Saturday 15th September beetween 11 and 2 if anyone wants to come along and say hello.

Holland America Line

Last week I was able to visit the Holland America Line ship, Maasdam, in Southampton. It is the second HAL ship I have visited, the other being Prinsendam when she visited Avonmouth, Bristol, last year.

I have to say I do like the HAL product, even though I have not yet sailed with them. The two ships I have seen have been a nice size (54,000 tons in the case of Maasdam), but seemed very spacious inside, with lots of places to sit and huge libraries. the lunch in the main restaurant was excellent (three courses with wine) and service good. When we asked if coffee was served the waiter said no, but he would go and get some for us. 

The decor is elegant and restrained, with lots of antiques and art work around. I particularly like the large libraries, with internet access and coffee bars. The observatory bar or Crowsnest, has some leather reclining seats facing forward in the centre which looked exceedingly inviting. As Southampton was a way port and the ship was sailing full, we were not able to see cabins, but a lovely American couple invited us in to see their suite.  Again, this looked very comfortable with a huge balcony, but I especially fancy the Lanai cabins. These are on the promenade deck and have french windows out to the deck and two reserved steamer chairs per cabin. the glass is mirrored so totally private. Personally I think I would prefer this to a balcony as it is quick to nip out onto the deck for photos, and you have the whole length of the prom deck, rather than be confined to a small balcony area.

Needless to say, a HAL cruise has been added to the bucket list!

More photos of the ship may be seen here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharonsshiptravels/sets/72157630874681022/with/7700983598/

Another cruise booked!

It’s been a busy week or two, ship wise.  Attracted by the offers on at present, I booked a short cruise on Ocean Countess for next year.  The big plus, as far as I was concerned, was the attraction of sailing to and from Bristol, or to be more precise, Avonmouth, I visited Holland America Line’s Prinsendam when she called there last year and although cruise facilities are basic – to say the least – the opportunity to sail down the Bristol Channel was too good to pass up. This Channel has the second highest tidal rise and fall in the world, second only to the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. It is dotted with dangerous sand banks, as well as the islands of Steep Holm, Flat Holm and Lundy.  It used to be at the centre of a thriving paddle steamer trade in summers past, as they would carry holidaymakers between the Victorian and Edward piers of Clevedon, Weston-super-Mare, Penarth Minehead and Ilfracombe. I remember sailing these waters on the Bristol Queen and Glen Usk  - getting splashed by the spray from the paddle wheels.  It was a huge treat to go down to watch the engines – pounding away like beam engines and exuding that distinctive smell of hot oil. Sadly all these boats are now gone. The last surviving sea-going paddle steamer, the Waverley makes a few visits each summer though . My last steamer trip was on the Balmoral, up the River Avon to Bristol proper in the 1970s.

Anyway – back to Ocean Countess.  Built in 1976 as Cunard Countess, at 17,000 tons, she will be smallest ship I have sailed on.  To berth at Royal Portbury dock, Avonmouth, ships need to be able to fit through the locks so it is only the smaller cruise ships that can call there.  The ship had many mixed and often poor reviews, but I am going with an open mind and will report in due course on this blog.

End of a long saga

I was very sad to learn that Saga Ruby will be leaving their fleet in 2014.

I have never sailed with Saga but my first ever cruise, way back in 1977, was with my parents on Vistafjord as Saga Ruby was called at her launch. She was then a newish and very stylish liner in Norwegian America Line's fleet of two (with Sagafjord). 

Our cruise to the Baltic kick-started my love of cruise ships and cruising. My favourite memory is of sitting on deck on a lounger and being tucked up in a wool blanket (woven with NAL lettering) by the deck stewards and being brought mugs of steaming bouillon. It could have been 1877 rather than 1977. This must have been on our second cruise on her to Spitzbergen and Norway, since we had temperatures in the 90s in the Baltic!  

I didn't cruise for many years after that, but when I was able to start travelling again, I chose to sail on Caronia - as Vistafjord was then named. She was then sailing under Cunard colours. This was an amazing experience - a one-class cruise ship, but Grill-Class throughout.  I was seated on the staff-captain's table and the service was amazing - place-cards at table every night so we all got to rotate around the table and talk to each other. In Cadiz the most spectacular Flamenco dance troupe came on board to perform. It was on Caronia that I first sailed into Venice, standing on the proper wrap-around promenade deck under the bridge as the mists cleared to reveal this Medieval masterpeice. In Dubrovnik, the scars of the then recent war were still evident. From the top of the Rock in Gibraltar, the red funnel of this tiny 26,000 ship was barely visible, even on a bright autumn day. 

Caronia at Venice

As Sir Hugh Casson once said, "Ships alone invite and receive an affection that is almost personal in its intensity.’ Why is this?  Why do tears well up in my eyes at moments such as the QE2 leaving the UK for the last time?  They are only large chunks of metal after all, but perhaps the throb of the engines is like a beating heart, as they carry people to places they may have only previously dreamed of seeing.

P&O 175 Grand Event

At last, the culmination to all the preparations, including our book.
It was long and exhausting but worth every minute, despite the horrible weather!

Andrew was picking me up at 3.20am so I had set the alarm for 2.45, but woke up at 2.30 so got up anyway! Hardly worth going to bed really, but surprisingly I had slept! We drove to the Holiday Inn by Dock Gate 8 to pick up a couple of his friends who were going on GA cruises and had booked the same 4.30am Red Funnel excursion to see the ships sail in. As we were taking the car on board, we had to be there by 4am. We joined the line of cars and waited, and waited , and waited...while lorries boarded a regular sailing and the Red Eagle had to stand off till this one departed. Then we realised the reason for further delays as instead of parking the cars on board in straight lines, they were making every one perform a u-turn and park facing the way we drove on!. Meanwhile, three of the ships had arrived and berthed! Officially Andrew and I were on board to sign books, but we were hoping to get a lot of photos as well, despite the fog, mist, rain and general gloom! In fact, between dashing up to watch and photograph the vessels, and spending half an hour on the bridge chatting and photographing, we sold/signed 26 copies that morning.

Arcadia arriving at dawn

The last of the seven ships arrive.

When we got back at 7.30am, we drove off, took Andrew's friends back to their hotel and set off with cameras etc to get the ships from port. After a quick breakfast in M&S, and some more photography, A went off to the container port, with the intention of climbing a crane for more piccies (although the fog put paid to that) and I spent a bit longer round Mayflower Park etc, before getting the Hythe ferry back to Caryll's. I was hoping to have a break and a rest there, but Radio Solent decided they want to record an interview with me in their studio at 1pm, so........back to the Hythe Ferry. Hythe Town and waterfront is normally (in my experience) a quiet village-like area but today it was heaving. Not only were there coachfuls of visitors but it was market day, and the ferry had given up running a timetable and was sailing when full (the pier train was making two trips per ferry-load instead of the usual one). This meant I was late arriving at Town Quay to get the free City Link bus to close to the studio. I made it just about for 1pm and we recorded a very short interview about P&O, the book and cruising in general (all the media people seemed to be playing up the possible drop in numbers after Costa Concordia!).


Now, I was stuck with two and a bit hours to spare, not long enough to get back to Hythe and back again for the 4pm Red Funnel sailing. I was also lugging round a heavy bag full of photography equipment! Lunch in M&S I thought. Then back to Mayflower Park in case the visibility was any better... then a long wait at the passenger boarding entrance to the Red Funnel ferry. The weather again closed in and as we were updated on the Red Arrows appearance on - off - on - off) we also had an announcement that the harbour master didn't want us going up into the main docks to see Adonia swing and start the procession, due to poor visibility. So we floated about opposite Hythe Pier for a bit until the ships started to loom through the mist. It wasn't total and constant obscurity, There were periods of brightness thank goodness and we were able to see the fireworks, but could only listen to the wonderful sounds of the ship's hooters as they all passed each other. All around were hundreds of small vessels including a pretty Thames Sailing Barge. The first event ship out was HMS Dragon and THV Patricia with the Princess Royal on board. She was going to take the salute at Spithead. Adonia led the procession of P&O cruise ships out, followed by Ventura, Arcadia, Oriana, Aurora, Azura and Oceana. We stayed in position for a bit to see each ship up close on our port beam. As Azura began to leave the Ocean Terminal we speeded up to the head of the procession again and up to Calshot, taking position off Cowes to hear the ships each receive a gun salute from the Royal Yacht Squadron.

Out of the shelter of Southampton Water the wind was greater and it was raining and very cold, although the visibility was hugely improved. By now I was physically shaking with cold and wet! But no-way was I going to miss the next bit - the salute. As they rounded the Brambles bank, the ships took different courses to split into two ranks and pass Patricia alternately port and starboard. It was a moving and fabulous sight and I will confess to a lump in the throat. Just before Oceana (the final ship) arrived I was called in to sign books, and didn't make it out again, although truth be told, I was so cold and achy by then I didn't mind any more. We sailed up as far at Portsmouth, getting a wonderful close-up to Patricia as she was heading there to offload her passengers. People poured back inside Red Eagle to warm up and get dry. There was a very good live band on board as well as a barbeque on the car deck - a real celebratory atmosphere. After initial disappointment that the event might be a wash-out, it turned out to be a memorable and once-in-a-lifetime event, that I would not have missed for anything. I seem to have taken some 700 photos, so in due course will edit and post them - so watch this space