Author: Richard Smith

It’s in Sicily, in case you have not heard of it before. I’m not sure why Cunard chose the place except that it gives easy access to Taormina and Castelmola. I just wonder if it’s cheaper to anchor rather than dock in Messina or Palermo.

What was a fishing village has no docking facilities. As a result the ship has to sit in the bay at anchor and passengers are taken ashore in tenders. But Jane cannot get into a tender and has to stay on the ship.

We arranged for Kim to go on a four hour tour in the morning as she had not seen the island before. When she returned, I went ashore. Giardini Naxos is said to be a tourist destination. It is not. A sandy beach with rows and rows of umbrellas, but the pizzerias, restaurants and tatty tourist shops are all pretty run down.

One end of the beach was littered with derelict wooden sailing and fishing boats and a rusting Caterpillar truck with its tracks embedded in the sand.

Last year when we came to Sicily, the QE docked at Messina and we left the ship there, flying to Pisa to attend niece Katie’s Lucca wedding to Sam, joining the ship again in Venice. Had Giardini Naxos been the Sicily port at that time our plans would have been scuppered!

I must admit that this time I found a reasonable bar on the seafront with free WiFi and a very pleasant dry white wine and I was able to catch up with some of the emails that the blog produces!

32C was predicted by the Officer of the watch. In fact it reached 36C but it was not a problem. We had been to Valencia once before in 2007 on the much smaller Regent’s Navigator. Because of its size we had been able to dock near to the city and we were close to the pavilions that had been set up on the waterfront to house the America’s Cup competitors who were preparing for the elimination rounds, before the event itself in those waters later that year.

This time we had to dock in the commercial area some way from the city. An ancient looking bus with a wheelchair lift was waiting for us to shuttle us to the city – a 30 minute ride.

Valencia’s old city is a maze of narrow streets and large and small squares. It is delightful.

You may know that in the past the Rio Turia kept bursting its banks and flooding the city. In October 1957 the city was devastated by the worst ever flood and dozens of people lost their lives.

It was decided to divert the river away from the city. A massive exercise, but it was achieved. The original river bed was left in place, as were the many bridges over it. The river bed has now been converted into a 4 mile long area containing beautiful gardens, football pitches, cycle paths, tennis courts and more.

The drop off point for the shuttle meant that we crossed the Serrans Bridge to the very impressive entrance to the old city. This is it.

Within seconds Jane found a small shop that she thought might have sold dolls house furniture and miniatures. It was run by an Englishman who said he had been there for 35 years. It was a very small pokey place and didn’t have anything of interest. Jane and Kim moved on from there and started to tour ladies fashion shops looking for bargains. Here they are!

Valencia is lovely and on a sunny day it is hard to beat.

Our return was in a brand new Mercedes shuttle with a lift. Much more comfortable for Jane who felt much more secure.

The best bit of news was to hear that the Saints had won their Premier league game away to Palace.

I have to tell you about a very worrying incident that occurred last night. Jane woke at about 3.30am. She needed some medication and woke me. This particular drug is kept in the kitchen at home and in my sleepy state I went to the cabin door and out into the corridor thinking I was on the way to the kitchen. I was completely starkers. Luckily Jane realised what was happening and screamed at me to come back, which I did.

The door was a second away from closing itself. I would have been out in the corridor with no key, no mobile and no clothes. Jane couldn’t have let me back in, nor could she have contacted anyone. My only option would have been a trip down six decks to reception! That wouldn’t have been a pleasant experience for the pretty young lady who manages reception at night.

This naval vessel appeared to be protecting us as we left the Solent on Tuesday!

The third night was a Gala Evening (What used to be called a Formal evening). The Black and White Ball for those who still like that sort of thing.

First it was the Captain’s Cocktail Party in the Queens Room. We joined the queue to shake hands with the Captain. We usually avoid that queue because it delays you getting in and that means the initial trays of drinks have been hoovered up.

But Kim had not met Captain Inger before and we had not been with her for a couple of years. The Captain remembered Jane and seemed pleased to see us. We had the standard photo (not very good of me so I haven’t bought it!).

Then followed the usual bun fight to get a drink, but after finding a waiter who remembered us, we ended up with an excess of G and T’s. Why do we go to these parties? They are always the same. Four each voyage. I suppose it’s the fact that Cunard is giving us a free drink (or two if you work at it).

Then it was off to dinner. Would the 3 missing guests be there? Well two were there, meaning we were now up to 7. Two ladies from North America. Karol, who is the Art teacher aboard and her friend Karen who lives in Mexico. They are on the ship until October. I will find out more!

Today from the cabin. A beautiful day.

We are settled in once again. We have our favourite cabin on 7 deck and many of the crew remember Jane. A few of the remember me – but not many! The Master of the ship is Cunard’s first lady Captain Inger Klein Thorhauge. She and Captain Aseem Hashmi alternate – 3 months on board and 3 months on leave (I think).

One of the speakers, Malcolm Nelson, is a former senior Customs Officer. His lectures are based on his career at Heathrow catching drug smugglers. We’ve seen him before but he appears to have a great deal of new material. He is excellent.

And the ship’s Port presenter, Rachael, is also very good. In the past, Port presenters tended to promote tours organised by Cunard, but now their presentations are much more balanced. Rachael’s talks describe the ports and surrounding areas, the architecture and the places to visit with no hard sell on their tours.

At dinner two more guests appeared, Maggie and Gordon from Surrey. Still 3 empty seats!

It was a brilliant start to the next voyage. The weather was good. Amazingly all the packing had been finished on Monday. The drivers arrived on time. Well, Ian Gordon was early and the Taxi was late, so they balanced each other out.

Ian was abused by the jobsworth parking attendant when he arrived at the Ocean terminal. Ian misheard what was shouted at him and sensibly aimed for lane one to enable him to drop the ramp on the adapted vehicle. Jobsworth wanted him in the inconvenient lane three and hurled abuse and was still seething when we drew up just behind. Power gets to these chaps particularly when people don’t obey them.

The luggage disappeared in a shot. We were lucky with the check in and within ten minutes of arriving in the teminal we were going through security. Five minutes later we were aboard Queen Elizabeth. The process is terrific. Congratulations to Cunard.

Jamie Firth of Cunard fame, at present on leave, had once again ensured that we were assigned to our favourite table for 8 for dinner. But for the first time ever, only the 3 of us appeared for dinner. What happened to the other five? We will find out tonight.

Just a week to go. Linda will be house sitting and Kim will be joining us again on a voyage from Southampton to Valencia, Sicily, Venice, Sibernik, Dubrovnik, Cagliari, Gibraltar and back to Southampton

This is a test run as it must be 3 months since my last blog. It’s amazing how quickly those of a certain age forget how websites like this work. It would be great if you could reply to confirm that you have received this.

In the last week of July, our son Mike married his beautiful fiancée Gretchen in wonderful ceremonies in Dubai and at Little Bear, Pangbourne, England. As I write, the happy couple are honeymooning in the Maldives.The Dubai wedding

The ceremony at Little Bear

On Friday 10 August the 3 Queens were all in Southampton together. They left at about 6.00pm and headed for Cowes. It was the last day of Cowes week and as the Queens sailed along together, the Red Arrows carried out a magnificent display above.

Our friends Terry and Jane Smart had, some time before, booked a trip on SS Shieldhall to watch the Cowes Week fireworks. It was to be a treat for one of their Canadian grandchildren who was staying with them. The Shieldhall is a preserved 2000 ton steamship based in Southampton.

SS Shieldhall with the Red Arrows

When they booked they had not appreciated that the 3 Queens would be sailing out together, nor that the Red Arrows would be appearing overhead. They were so excited by the occasion that they have decided that now is the time for them to book their first cruise and not surprisingly they want it to be on one of the Queens!

I will of course be their advisor!

We were very lucky with the group who arrived at Table 311 in the Britannia Restaurant that first evening 17 days ago. This is the group

In the front and closest to the camera is Jeff (with a J) and, clockwise next is his lady Edwina (Eddie), then Kim, Jane, me, Terry (with a Y), Terri (with an I) and Sandy.

They were all great fun and we enjoyed their company enormously.

This is Eddie, with Jane, during the departure from Gibraltar

From time to time I have heard a number of presentations by junior deck officers in the Royal Court Theatre on the subject of navigating ships like Queen Elizabeth. This time the presentation was by the Master of the ship Captain Aseem Hashmi.

He was excellent. He is a brilliant communicator and kept the packed theatre enthralled. It could have been a stodgy subject, but he brought it to life with his clever timing and special sense of humour. Don’t miss it if ever you sail with him on Queen Elizabeth.

I have mentioned his background in the past and the fact that he qualified as a BA Pilot first, but as BA had too many pilots at the time, he switched to the sea. He went to nautical college, and over the next 20 years worked his way up the ladder.

Laura (pronounced Lowra) was the driver. She was pretty and her driving was fine, but her command of the English language was poor. When we booked the adapted vehicle we were told that we would have an ‘English speaking driver’ and that the driver would take us to the Cathedral and a tour of the city and then suggest places outside the City that we might like to visit.

As we drove out of the port I asked her about a brightly painted ferry that had just docked. It quickly became clear that she had understood little or nothing of what I had asked her. It was a pity because we completely missed the Cathedral that we had asked to see. She had deposited us in the old town without telling us that we were within a few hundred yards of the Cathedral. The cobbles, the steep slopes, the parked cars and the vast numbers of tourists defeated us.

But we did see the Church of San Michele.

Cagliari is an industrial town and much of it is not particularly attractive, but we did look down on and later drive around the lagoons on the west side, many of which are used as saltpans.

Nick Brewer was telling me last month that when he was a youngish RAF Officer he did a stint in Sardinia at a base near Cagliari (no ‘g’ as Simon Mayo would say). After 2 weeks of behaving like a bachelor out drinking with the boys and pretending he was younger than he was, he was due to return home to his lovely wife Wendy. He was packed and ready to go when the CO told him his replacement couldn’t come and that Nick would have to stay another 2 weeks. A difficult phone call followed (before he converted back to bachelor mode)!

I think that was the gist of what he told me. If I have embellished the story a little, I apologise.

Laura then took us to Poetto beach which was magnificent. Presumably in holiday periods and at weekends it is packed, but on Tuesday we almost had it to ourselves. After a sunny hour in a cafe on the beach we returned to the town and the port.