I was quite pleased to find that Captain Christopher Wells was going to be the master of Queen Mary 2 during my transatlantic crossing last month. Chris had been an officer on Queen Elizabeth 2 during the 1990s and from numerous voyages on QE2, I knew him to be an intelligent and articulate officer. After QE2, he went on to stand-by Queen Mary 2 while she was being constructed and then, after a brief time at Princess Cruises, he was given command of P&O Cruises Oriana. This year, he has been dividing his time between relieving Commodore Bernard Warner on QM2 when he is on leave and being master of P&O’s Oceana.
These days, with the financial power of Carnival Corporation behind Cunard and Cunard’s focus on providing a sea experience that invokes the grand ocean liners of the past, it is easy to forget Cunard’s struggles during the 1990s. Cunard’s management then did not know what direction to take the company and as a result, tried many different, sometimes misguided, approaches to trying to survive in the new emerging cruise industry. At the same time, it was always questionable how much financial support the then-parent companies of Cunard could or would provide. QE2 and Cunard survived in large part due to good officers like Chris Wells who were able to manage the ship and evolve QE2’s unique character to fit the times.
I was also anxious to talk to Chris about his experiences during the construction of Queen Mary 2. Cunard had not built a ship since QE2, almost four decades earlier. Who made the decision to build the most expensive passenger ship ever built? Was Carnival Corporation just a reluctant financer or a partner in the enterprise? Chris was there. He would know.
Just after QM2 was built, Carnival Corporation merged with P&O Princess. This opened new opportunities for Cunard officers in the wider fleet. Having spent his entire passenger ship career with Cunard, what were his impressions of the other lines?
Leaving history aside, we also talked about his style of command and about the retirement of QE2 from the Cunard fleet.
Cunard is very proud that its ships are British registered and fly the red ensign of the British Merchant Navy rather than a flag of convenience. As an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, Chris has a warrant to fly the even more prestigious blue ensign over any merchant ship that he is commanding. Consequently, the blue ensign has once again been flying on QM2.
This was not the first time that the blue ensign has appeared on QM2. When the ship was new, Commodore Ronald Warwick received a special warrant to fly the blue ensign even though he was no longer a serving member of the Royal Naval Reserve and he flew the blue ensign on QM2 for a short time. I am not aware of any other of the ship’s masters flying that ensign. Indeed, as I recall, the blue ensign has not been flown prior to that on the Cunard flagship since Commodore John Burton-Hall flew it on QE2 in the mid-1990s. It is a very rare thing.
My conversation with Captain Wells is at http://www.beyondships.com/QM2-Wells-1.html In addition, I have added some new items to the Queen Mary 2 section of the website including lunch and dinner menus from the Todd English Restaurant, a menu from Sir Samuel’s, and a recent daily programme. http://www.beyondships.com/QM2.html
During my journey, I encountered all three of the Cunard Queens. Accordingly, in the not too distant future, I will be adding a great deal of new Cunard material to the site including interviews, photos, menus and other items of interest.
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