Great Stirrup Cay, St Kitts and Cunard's Queen Elizabeth

Norwegian Cruise Line's private island, Great Stirrup Cay, keeps changing. Despite a hurricane last fall, Norwegian continues to make noticeable progress on its ambitious plans to develop this Bahamian island into a vacation paradise. New beaches have been created and landscaping has been done to the finished sections.

More is to come but the changes that have been made already call for an update of our profile of Great Stirrup Cay. Indeed, we have added another page to this section of Beyondships. The tour of GSC begins at http://beyondships.com/NCL-GreatStirrupCay.html

We have also updated and expanded our coverage of another island - - St. Kitts. We have added some additional places of interest and taken a look at the Frigate Bay area. We have also re-arranged material in order to make it more reader-friendly and more consistent with our recent cruise destination profiles. The St. Kitts section begins at http://beyondships.com/Ports-StKitts-1.html

Finally, we have updated our profile of Cunard Line's Queen Elizabeth with anew menus page http://www.beyondships2.com/queen-elizabeth-menus.html and a new daily programs page. http://www.beyondships2.com/queen-elizabeth-daily-programmes.html

Cunard Celebrates The Diamond Jubilee and The Beatles

This week the focus is on celebrations.

            In early June, Cunard Line participated in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations marking the 60^th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II accession to the throne.  There were celebrations throughout the UK for this anniversary ranging from local street parties to a concert with a series of mega-stars outside of Buckingham Palace.

            Considering the long connection between Cunard and the Royal Family, and this monarch in particular, Cunard decided that it had to do something more than just send a card to mark the occasion.    Therefore, it planned a spectacular event where all three of its Queen ships would meet together in Southampton.

            Because of the legendary reputation of the Cunard Queens, their rare gatherings have been recognized not only by ship lovers but by the general public as special occasions.  The first gathering of three Queens occurred in New York in 2008 when Queen Elizabeth 2, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria were all in port together.  A few months later, the same three ships met in Southampton but because QE2 was there for a re-fit rather than to begin a voyage, the meeting was considered unofficial even though it generated significant attention.  Then, shortly after the new Queen Elizabeth entered service, she met with Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria in New York with all three ships exiting the harbor in a grand procession.

            For this year’s celebration, Cunard planned to have all three ships enter and exit Southampton harbor together.  In addition, there would be a display by Britain’s precision flying team The Red Arrows and a fireworks display as the ships left Southampton.  There would also be a day-long radio broadcast from the roof of the Carnival UK building which overlooks the harbor.   Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate.  It caused the cancellation of The Red Arrows performance and interfered with the fireworks.

            Still, it was a spectacular event.  The stars of the show in their black and white liveries and Cunard red funnels were majestic.  For those onboard the three ships, the proximity of the ships to each other was indeed an awesome sight.

            Beyondships’ photo essay of the celebrations (including a slide show) is at http://www.beyondships2.com/cunard-royal-jubilee-celebrations-part-one.html

            A much different type of celebration was the performances by The Beatles Celebration onboard Queen Mary 2 during one of her recent transatlantic crossings.  The Beatles Celebration is not just another Beatles tribute band but a show in which the performers place the audience in an imaginary Beatles performance.

            This show was particularly appropriate for Queen Mary 2.  While not mentioned as much as Cunard’s connections to royalty and its connection to the celebrities and movie stars of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, Cunard has a substantial connection to The Beatles and to the so-called British Invasion music of the 1960s.  In addition, a performance of this caliber fits nicely with the ship’s overall quality level.

            Beyondships’ review of The Beatles Celebration, including an interview with the cast, is at http://www.beyondships2.com/cunard-qm2-beatles-celebration.html          

Designing Queen Mary 2; Queen Elizabeth Photos; Photo Guide to St. John USVI

We have several things for you this week.



To begin, we have an extensive interview with Stephen Payne. Mr. Payne is the naval architect who designed Queen Mary 2 for Cunard Line. QM2 is a unique ship. She was built to do regularly-scheduled transatlantic crossings. This meant that she had to have the strength and power to cope with the uncertain weather of the North Atlantic, arrive as scheduled and be comfortable for her passengers. No one had designed such a ship, i.e., an ocean liner, in more than 30 years when Payne was given the task of designing QM2.



In addition, QM2 had to be able to do cruises as well as transatlantic crossings and do them as well as any contemporary cruise ship. Thus, Payne also had to incorporate into his design all of the new thinking and technology of a modern cruise ship.


Finally, the ship had to be superlative. She was following in the wake of a line of great ships that included Mauretania, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and QE2.



I have sailed on Queen Mary 2 many times and can say that Mr. Payne’s design clearly accomplished these objectives. The ship is impressive to behold and her ability to handle seemingly any weather condition is amazing. Also, she can more than hold her own cruising as I’ve seen her do in the Caribbean, the Norwegian fjords and around Britain.


Beyond the success of his design, Mr. Payne has an interesting life story. It is one that supports the theory that you can live your dream if you remain faithful to it.


I’ve divided our interview with Stephen Payne into three parts. Part one is a profile of his career and is posted at http://www.beyondships2.com/qm2-stephen-payne-interview-part-one.html In Part Two he discusses designing QM2 - - the concept and why things are the way they are on the ship. It is at http://www.beyondships2.com/qm2-stephen-payne-interview-part-two.html Finally, in Part Three, he discusses the future of QM2 and of passenger ships in general. http://www.beyondships2.com/qm2-stephen-payne-interview-part-three.html


The next item we have this week is a new photo essay on Cunard’s latest ship, the new Queen Elizabeth. I encountered her at the beginning of her 2012 world cruise as she made a swing down through the Caribbean. The weather cooperated and yielded a good light for photo taking. http://www.beyondships.com/QE-photo-Caribbean.html



Leaving Cunard aside, we have a cruise destination photo guide of St. John in the US Virgin Islands. The smallest of the three main U.S. Virgin Islands, St. John is also the least commercially developed. Most of the island is a national park. Consequently, its beautiful white sand beaches and its lush green mountainsides are largely unspoiled. Our photo guide begins at http://www.beyondships.com/Ports-StJohnUSVI.html


Finding a cruise that goes directly to St. John may be difficult. The island has no cruise terminal or pier. However, it is plainly visible from St. Thomas and it is a short ferry ride between the two islands. In fact, most of the ships that call in St. Thomas offer shore excursions to St. John.


So, while we are on the topic of St. Thomas, we have expanded our cruise destination photo guide of that port to include some more of the attractions in Charlotte Amalie such as Blackbeard’s Castle, the 99 Steps and the Synagogue. The St. Thomas guide begins at http://www.beyondships.com/Ports-StThomas.html

Cunard's Queen Elizabeth - - Profile and Photo Tour

This week we focus on the new Cunard Line ship Queen Elizabeth. At approximately, 91,000 gross tons, she is the second largest Cunarder ever built although she is still much smaller than fleetmate Queen Mary 2. However, size is not what makes this ship special.

The new Queen Elizabeth is the third Cunard ship bear the name. First, there was the giant ocean liner that was built as a running mate for the original Queen Mary. This ship was named after Queen Elizabeth, the consort to King George VI, who after her daughter came to the throne was known as the Queen Mother. The ship was considered the height of luxury and elegance for her time. She remained the largest ocean liner ever built until Queen Mary 2 entered service in 2004.

In the 1960s when Cunard was building a ship to replace the original Queen Elizabeth, the plan was to name the replacement ship Queen Elizabeth. However, at the naming ceremony in 1967, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed “I name this ship Queen Elizabeth the Second.” Whether Her Majesty meant to name the ship after herself or merely was memorializing the fact that there had already been a ship called Queen Elizabeth is something only she knows. However, in order to distinguish the ship from the monarch, Cunard put an Arabic 2 rather than a Roman numeral in the name. The Queen Elizabeth 2 or QE2 as she came to be known was the most famous ship in the world during a service life that lasted nearly 40 years.

The new Queen Elizabeth was named by Her Majesty last October. The name honors the two earlier ships. However, as Cunard has pointed out, it also carries the Queen’s name and is “her ship.”

All of this is a long way of saying that the new ship has a special name with a unique heritage. Tradition matters very much at Cunard.

The name is not the only thing that is special about the ship. She is based on the design that was used for Cunard’s Queen Victoria. However, she is not a mere clone of her fleetmate. Whereas the Victoria’s interior was art nouveau inspired, the Elizabeth is art deco. Moreover, it is a sumptuous interior that speaks of elegance, sophistication and luxury.

The Queen Elizabeth profile page is at http://www.beyondships.com/QE.html The multi-page photo tour and commentary, done largely with my new Nikon, begins at http://www.beyondships.com/QE-Tour-1.html