Wednesday 1 April 2009

1172 WOW QE2 but cruising?

They came from Durham, from Washington and Sunderland, from Gateshead, Hebburn and Jarrow and from all parts of South Shields. I had forgotten they were coming.

As I returned home from hospital for an evening meal and a washing, drying, ironing cycle to get underway, turning left from Ocean Rd into Lawe Road, I remembered why they had all come as the road way was full of cars ahead of me, coming in the opposite direction and parked on either side. The great Ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 I was visiting the Tyne overnight on its 40th Anniversary Journey around the United Kingdom.

Now I must begin with a confession, I have never been into this cruise ship thing. I cannot see the point. I mean so much time spent at sea and all that food and then when you get anywhere it is such a great rush to see anything, and it is non stop extra costs if you do. But there is the romance of the great Atlantic crossings for the rich and the famous, and then there were the slave ships and the Titanic.

I was not best pleased by the great difficulty reaching my house and fortunately there was one parking space in my back lane. I unloaded and then taking my camera made my way along with a stream of other local residents and visitors across to the North Bents Park fairway where I could see over the heads of those standing on the hillside banking out beyond the piers to where the great ship was circling. There were tugs and ferry boats and other craft filling the water alongside the narrow entrance to the river and lots of bright red banners and school children holding red flags. It did not take long to work out that the problem was the fierce wind and the darkening clouds suggested that rain was shortly at hand. There was little point in waiting so I went back home.

First the washing and then an evening meal, two chicken breasts wrapped with bacon and cheese, breaking off after three quarters of hour when the local radio said that onlookers phoning in were saying the vessel was on the move again. I went out but this was a false alarm as it was making another circle along the coast.

I returned to watch England losing at cricket on the TV. I cannot remember what it was that made me look up through the window to the sky and notice it had lightened with smidgens of blue, and the wind appeared to have dropped a little. I grabbed my camera and heard the firework begin and could see the ship head on for the entrance between the piers. As it moved between the piers its horn was deep, long and powerful, the first of several blasts to make sure everyone in the town would know, and before it a special ship launched salvo after salvo of rockets and fire crackers to emphasise the point. . The once fastest and perhaps the greatest of the transatlantic liners was beginning the last cycle of farewell voyages before going on show in retirement at Dubai in 2009 as a floating hotel purchased by its government for 100 million dollars.
She was the Cunard flagship between 1969 and 2004 when succeeded by the Queen Mary.

She weighs over 70000 tons and is nearly 1000 feet in length 294 metres and has a top speed of 34 knots. Her height is over 154 feet over 50 metres. She take over 1750 passengers and over 100 officers and crew. Originally constructed for £29 million the company has spent over fifteen times this amount on refits. The Atlantic crossing was 4 days. 16 hours 35mins on the maiden voyage and Prince Charles the first civilian board on her voyage from the Clydebank shipyard to dry-dock at Greenock. In 1970 she made a record crossing in 3 days 20 hours and 42 mins.

When the ship attended the 25th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel Libyan President Gaddafi ordered an Egyptian submarine to torpedo the vessel but this was countermanded by Sadat.

In 1982 she transported 3000 troops and 600 volunteer drew to the Falklands, refitted at Southampton with three helicopter pads and the public lounges into dormitories.
In 1992 the hull was damaged as she ran aground off Cuttyhunk(?) Island Cape Cod

The ships has travelled more than another 13 times to the moon and back, completing 24 full world cruisers with over 2 million guests.

The 40th anniversary cruise of 8 nights was sold out commencing at 5 pm Saturday and was scheduled to arrive Newcastle at 4pm will depart at 6pm tomorrow, making for Edinburgh and then after cruising the North Sea to Glasgow on 20th where the ship had been built and then to Liverpool 21st the original official home of Cunard where on her previous visit it is estimated one million people viewed her arrival and departure. She arrives back at Southampton on 23rd. Fares started at £1000 to £12500 for a grand suite.

As someone who regular experiences the north sea ferries towering the river entrance on their entrances and exits twice a day the arrival of a large ship is no longer a novelty but one could not help being caught up with the excitement as this awe inspiring vessel entered the narrow river entrance and towered above us. Having reduced speed to enable the four tugs to edge it safely into mooring at North Tyneside it was possible to following its journey up the river and join the crowds who had remained with cars parked on every conceivable space and with all the windows of riverside homes filled with families and their friends. No one was complaining about the length of wait now although the local radio had been inundated with northern humour. It was a memorable WOW.

The local press and the TV gave prominence to the recent with special editions and interviews and this was a fitting moment for the Port of Tyne which covers facilities on both banks at South Shields/Jarrow and North Shields/Wallsend. So I am converted to the concept. Alas no. Take for example the sold out 15 night Mediterranean Odyssey in October 2008, where if you have a reasonable getting up and breakfast you have about 6 at the most 7 hours at Naples and Athens and three hours or so in a morning's stop at Gibraltar and there are only 9 places visited with five 24 hour periods at sea. And the costs. The cheapest single occupancy outside room is £5000 up to £11.500. But I am in a minority of opinion. The Carnival Line has 18 ships, Costa 11, Cunard 3, Fred Olsen 5 Hebridean 2, Holland 14, Island 2, MSC 9, Norwegian 14, Ocean2, Oceana 3. Orient 1, P and Q 6, Princess 18, Regent 4, Royal Caribbean 21, Seabourn 3, Sea Dream 2, Silversea 4, Spirit of Adventure1, Swan1, Thomson 4, Windstar 3, just under 150 vessels. You can share the experience with 6000 other passengers although the vessel is yet to make its first sailing and a three month round the world adventure will set you back from £50000, On one web site listing some 150 the largest cruise ships the majority were build in Finland France Italy and Germany, the UK half a dozen and surprisingly Japan 4 and the US 1. There are 35 under construction to commence sailing over the next 3 years and among the attractions on offer in addition to large theatres, cinemas, choice of a dozen restaurants and a dozen bars and pubs there will be a two storey library, nine hole golf course, a rock climbing wall, and ice skating rink, wedding chapel and of course internet data ports in every state room for Myspace surfing.

Postscript in 2002 there were 25 outbreaks of a virus in cruise ships affecting 2648 passengers, and in January of this year 17% of passengers on board the QE2 went sick.

I had hoped to relearn how to insert photos into Blogs but failed although I did manage to do so in a bulletin

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