THE SCOTTISH ADVENTURES OF A CRUISE SHIP ADDICT

Another ship has been hijacked by the Somalis. Something needs to be done about this. This is a popular shipping route, not just for cargo, but for cruise ships. Back in November 2005 Somalian Pirates tried to attack the cruise ship Seabourn Spirit, which is owned by Seabourn Cruise Line, part of the Carnival Corporation, who own lines such as Cunard, P and O, Princess, Holland America and Costa. Seabourn is an up-market cruise line so it is quite possible that the Pirates knew there would be rich picking on board this ship. Thanks to the crew's quick thinking, the Pirates were scared off when the ship's officers ordered a loud acoustic bang to frighten the Pirates off. Luckily it worked. There is increased cruise ship activity in the area as this is an up and coming cruising area. Its an area cruise ships enter after transiting the Suez Canal or when on world cruises or visiting places around the Indian Ocean. Can you imagine the scene if these pirates boarded a cruise ship? T

Tuesday 11 November 2008 - Southampton The QE2's late arrival caused its own set of problems. Passengers' luggage was late in being unloaded, which meant passengers were late disembarking. Normally this would annoy us because we'd want to get home, but as we were in no hurry to leave the QE2, we didn't mind. After breakfast, Nana, Agnes, Evie, Campbell and I ensconsed ourselves in the Lido (informal restaurant). We had food, we had toilets, we had the ability to go outside - we were set up quite happy for the long haul!! We realised quickly that we wouldn't get off the ship before 10.30am so we made a pact that we would try to stay on board and watch for the flyover, when a plane was to drop a million poppies over the QE2. Indeed, as 11am approached, there was no indication that we would be called. We all went outside to watch the ceremony for the minute's silence, and then I went up to the Yacht Club deck to see the plane. I didn't actually see it drop popp

Tuesday 11 November 2008 - Arriving into Southampton Sometimes you don't realise you are in the middle of an historic event until it happens! It's just the way of the world, I guess, being in just the right place at the right, or even wrong time. At 5.30am this morning I arrived on the Observation Deck of QE2 to watch her final arrival into Southampton. But nothing was happening! I could see the Fawley Oil Refinery to my left, but the ship was going nowhere. I was confused. At this point, QE2 should be just about arriving at the berth next to the QEII Terminal. I spoke to Gerry, who, like me, is also a shipping enthusiast. His reply was "This Queen ain't going anywhere, she's run aground". Minutes later, Captain McNaught made an announcement that indeed QE2 had run aground. He added that it happened when the "QE2 was turning a very tight corner. The wind caught her stern and pushed her onto soft clay". But he also stressed that we were not to worry..

Monday 10 November 2008 - At Sea Usually I'm the one who is badly seasick but not this time! I wasn't feeling too great, but Campbell was worse. Even Nana noticed it at breakfast when Campbell didn't say a thing. Not like him. He left breakfast rather abruptly when the cooked items came! Later on I found him in bed, in a state, groaning like the first person who had ever suffered from seasickness. You know the type of man-flu thing! It didn't help that we were in the Bay of Biscay in bad weather. It was awful. The QE2 corkscrewed and then at various points listed over to one side. A couple of time I thought, that's it, we're all gone. By the late afternoon, we had rounded the top of France and were in the English Channel. The weather and the waves started to calm down. I finished out packing. Campbell showed his face, and did some of his packing. Nana celebrated her 70th Birthday on board today. We put Happy 70th Birthday Banners on her room door, and decorated

Sunday 9 November 2008 - Vigo This is at least my fourth time in Vigo, but it is the first time I've actually got off the ship. Usually Vigo is on the way out after a bad crossing of the Bay of Biscay, or its on the way back when it is the last port before Southampton. I've learned the hard way to pack on the last port day of the cruise. There is nothing worse than feeling seasick and the ship is rolling, and trying to pack a case. Believe me, not to be recommended! As QE2 wasn't leaving Vigo to 7pm, Evie and I had a sleep in the afternoon and then Campbell took us into the town. There is a massive shopping centre two minutes walk from the ship and the first shop was a wine shop! Well I was at home! I also bought a beautiful necklace there with huge blue, clear, red and black beads. The weather was awful. It rained and rained. This was a taste of things to come!

Saturday 8 November - At Sea By this time, we have got into a routine. Breakfast, Evie goes to nursery, I have some free time, lunch, sleep, swimming, dinner, drinks, get Evie, bed. I tried to do some University work this morning, but it was impossible to find a table to work from. I eventually shared a table outside the library with a lady compiling lists about dogs. Don't ask! I find this really peculiar about QE2. You don't take a cruise on QE2, you take a voyage. They have planned entertainment, but not to the same extent that you find on cruise lines such as P and O or Princess. This is because they assume that as a Cunard customer, you do not leave your brain at the dockside when you board, and that you will find something constructive to do, such as reading a book or just relaxing. They don't feel the need to keep you entertained all the time. My favourite joke was from the Captain: He was referring to Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas, which was docked wit

Friday 7 November - Gibraltar/At Sea Well, I finally managed to get into the Boardroom this morning for a few hours. I missed getting off the ship at Gibraltar because I had a lecture in the afternoon. As I haven't been lecturing much on ships this year, I needed the practice. It also didn't help that I hadn't performed the Queen Elizabeth lecture for a couple of years. We all met in the Mauretania Restaurant for lunch. Nana, Agnes and Evie went shopping, Campbell went booze shopping. Half the crew ended up in Morrisons supermarket. At 2pm QE2 slipped her moorings in Gibraltar and headed for the sea.  At 3pm I started my lecture about the original Queen Elizabeth liner (1938-1968(out of service)/1972(destroyed by fire). Parts of the original Queen Elizabeth are on board QE2, such as a 20ft high painting of the Queen Mother, a painting of our present Queen and Duke of Edinburgh when they were young, and bas-reliefs which were (I think) in the Cabin smoking room. The original

6 November 2008 - At Sea Do you ever have one of those days when nothing seems to go right? That was my day today. I just notification that I was doing a lecture - tomorrow, 3pm - and I needed to work on my talk. The only places to work on QE2 is the business centre (full of people), the computer room (full of people) and the Boardroom. Every time I tried to get into the Boardroom, someone was in there trying to use the WiFi internet. Then Campbell announced that he didn't want lunch in the Mauretania Restaurant. I mistakingly mentioned that I think they had an alternative dining venue in The Golden Lion Pub on board. The Golden Lion is the main place where all the smokers on board congregate and you cannot find a place to sit down. Worse than that, you have to pass through it en-route to the Mauretania Restaurant and clothes end up smelling of smoke and you can hardly get through the fug (smoke). Its a horrible place.  Campbell ended up in a mood and dragged Evie and I off to the

5 November 2008 - Athens In the distance, behind the cruise ship Thomson Spirit, a funnel appeared with a picture of the hauntingly beautiful Mona Lisa. I recognised her instantly. Not because of the picture, but the ship underneath her. This was the old ocean liner Kungsholm. Kungsholm has played a major part in my life (almost as much as the Cunard Queens). She was built at John Browns Shipbuilders in Clydebank, the ship before QE2. Between her and QE2, the shipyard went bust. After a while travelling transatlantic for the Swedish America Line, she was bought by P&O Princess and renamed Sea Princess. I took my first ever cruise on her in 1986, and I visited Ephasus, Santorini, Jerusalem and, of course, Athens. I owe her a debt of gratitude because it was through her that I first developed my love of Greek history and architecture. In 1995 we was moved to P&O cruises and became the Victoria. I travelled on her again in 2001. I was almost 6 months pregnant at the time and made

4 November 2008 - Zakinthos, Greece QE2 anchored in the bay and we were all transferred by tender (lifeboat) out to Zakinthos Town. She looked beautiful and resplendent in the bay. A proper ocean liner. I had been in Zakinthos about 18 years ago with two friends from University. I thought it would be a great holiday. They could lie on the beach, and I could go and look at Greek Temples as I was (and still am) into Greek history and archaeology. The island disappointed me. Their main resort, Laganas was like Blackpool with sun. We stayed in Argassi which was still quite nice, but getting commercialised. As for the temples... the whole place was flattened by an earthquake in 1953, so there was nothing. We went for a tour of the island... nothing. The only mildly interesting place was Zakinthos Town because it still retained a little Greek charm. Yeuch! After getting the tender at 11.30am I wandered aimlessly around some shops and then back onto the tender at 12.30am for lunch. Nothing to

Monday 3 November 2008 - Dubrovnik, Croatia This is my third visit to Dubrovnik. I love the place. There is something magical as you approach the battlements and the walled city. This was the first place I ever visited when I went cruising. Back in 1986 Agnes and I flew to Dubrovnik to cruise on Sea Princess for a week, visiting Izmir in Turkey, Athens, Santorini, and Corfu. That was before the war and they had a little cable car which took tourists up to the top of the hill. You could get a wonderful view of the city. This is where I also met 'my little church'. I'm not at all religous, and I don't usually visit religous buildings, unless they are Greek Temples, but I always visit this little church in Dubrovnik. Evie came along with me. We counted the steps up to it - she got 36 and I got puffed out and needing resuscitation. Until then Evie had been fairly quiet, but as soon as we got in the church she felt this sudden urge to babble!  After leaving the church we hea

Sunday 2 November 2008 - Messina Messina on a Sunday is not the greatest place in the world. Sunday in a Catholic country means everything is closed and not much is happening. Our resident explorer, Campbell, was not about to sit down and watch the world go by. So as I was posting the last blog to you, he, Agnes and Evie, dragged a rather hesitant Nana off to visit the mainland of Italy by rail ferry.  Nana is the sort of person (a bit like myself) who is not in the least bit adventurous, but once you have shown her the way, she knows it all. Well, it was Nana who tried to communicate with Italians who couldn't speak English with a series of hand-gestures, and Nana who got them on the right ferry home! So much for not wanting to go! After I had written the blog, I wandered off to look at the ship berthed in front of us... Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas. I reckon she is about 100,000 gross registered tonnes. I think she has flume rides and an ice rink. She will certainl

Friday 31 October 2008 - At Sea/Cagliari, Sardinia Evie went off Trick or Treating with the nursery staff and came back with a bag load of sweets. Dressed as a Pirate, I thought she might be made to walk the plank, but no, instead they did a far worse thing... returned her to us! Debi and Liz from the nursery took her out to the Sports Deck and Evie demanded sweets with menaces from the sports staff, and then off to the shop, where she was supplied with more sugar-induced rocket fuel!  Cagliari was wet! In fact, we were drenched. Campbell decided to take us all out for a walk. We went up hill, and up and up and up until I said I'd had enough. On our walk back down we got even more soaked. Instead of sightseeing, we met half the passengers fro the QE2 inside a department store! In the evening Evie and I dressed up as witched (Nana didn't need to as that is how she normally dresses! Only joking). Everyone admired our hats! Many of the public rooms on QE2 had turned into halloween

Saturday 1 November 2008 - Naples/Pompeii This was one of the highlights of the trip. Since studying O Grade and A Level Classical Studies at school, I had always wanted to visit Pompeii. I was definitely not disappointed. The ruins are quite something else. I thought it was going to be a couple of rows of shops and maybe a house, but there is streets and streets. I even had a seat in the Amphitheatre. Evie took Oscar with her and I ended up carrying him. I was showing Evie some ancient wallpaper - drawings on the plasterwork which brightened up the houses. One thing that I didn't realise was that it was originally a Greek settlement. I was surprised however to find out that the sea was once the same level as the walls at Pompeii. The town is quite a bit above the sea and about one mile inland. It just shows that global warming and cooling has been happening for centuries. Evie got bored half way around the ruins and ended up helping the tour guide, Ornella, by holding up her "