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We are warming up for our voyage to the Baltic. We are sailing on Queen Victoria and leaving Southampton on Tuesday next 9 May 2023.

You may have read about Queen Mary 2. She arrived in Southampton some 10 days ago. She was struggling at the end of her World Voyage with engine problems. But that same day she was due to depart for New York – a Transatlantic with massive numbers intending to sail west to New York and a week later a similar number intending sail on her back to Southampton.

 

These ships are under pressure to perform almost without a pause Queen Mary 2 finishes a 4 month voyage and that evening is expected to sail away on her next scheduled voyage to New York. It’s relentless until the time set aside for a refit. And it doesn’t always work out, but in this case, although the 2 transatlantics had to be cancelled, the engineering work was completed quickly.

 

Amazingly, to fill the gap, Cunard managed to put together a 5 day Coronation voyage from Southampton to Liverpool and back on QM2. The prices were exceptionally good value. The marketing was rapid and within 24 hours of the cruise being put together the QM2 was sold out. She left on Tuesday and no doubt the passengers will have watched the Coronation on big screens around the ship.

But back to Queen Victoria. Jane and I have almost certainly spent more time on QV than any other ship. We were invited to the naming of the ship on 7 December 2007.

She was named by Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, who will be Queen Camilla by the time this is published. Two days after the naming ceremony Jane and I were aboard the new ship for her Maiden voyage to Northern Europe

After an early start we were ready for Janes driver, Jane Strother and Area cars superstar Gary.

Gary always moans about the amount of kit that we take with us, moans that he only keeps the large taxi/van to accommodate us and that it costs him money to do so. But he is great value. He is a great Le Mans fan and in the short drive to the Ocean terminal, Southampton, he told me of the difficulties in getting tickets for this years race which celebrates its 100 year birthday.

But I suspect that he will get to Le Mans with his Dutch friends who he befriended some 20 years ago at the race meeting.

If, like me, you like getting aboard your ship early, beware. Cunard have moved their timings. When we arrived at the terminal, we were told that baggage collections wouldn’t start until 11.30am and that checking in would start then or later. We managed to creep into the checking in hall before it opened (to get a coffee!) but there was still too much hanging around. I like to get onto the ship and start the unpacking process and have some lunch.

We did get aboard in time for lunch and what a pleasure it was to have something prepared by somebody else. But more of that later.

Dining on QV has changed. Now, the main dining room on Deck 2 is set aside for ‘Anytime dining’ where you can wander in between set hours and are taken to an empty table. Different waiters every night and different companions. We prefer the old system where you sit at the same table for the whole voyage and have the same people sitting with you. That of course can be good if you like the others, but not so good if you don’t!

The old system operates on the upper floor of the main dining room now and that is where we have been allotted an excellent table for 8.

Sam, my blog coach, tells me I should ignore Jetpack and get back to WordPress so I will get him to publish this as I have been struggling.

After a day at sea reminding ourselves about the taste of good food (Jane has to suffer recipes created by me – with the assistance of Waitrose, M&S and Cook – when we are not at sea) and also reminding ourselves of our favourite venues on the ship we arrived this morning (Thursday 11 May) in Gothenburg.

We thought we had been here before, but when we studied the map of the city we realised we had not.

On our last cruise there was a major problem in Dubrovnik when no adapted shuttle buses were provided. It is recorded earlier in the blog. I was livid and my displeasure was made very clear at the time. I thought that Cunard would have learned from that. I was wrong!

When it is too far to walk from the ship to the city, Cunard supply shuttle buses to get everyone there. And for those who are totally dependant on wheelchairs they supply either buses with ramps/lifts or vehicles adapted to take a number of wheelchairs at time.

That is what they used to do and what they should still do.

Before breakfast I decided to go ashore and check out the shuttle arrangements. There were a number of buses lining up marked ‘Shuttle’ and I saw one with a wheelchair sign on it. So all looked fine.

After eating we all went ashore. Queues were beginning to form and as we joined the shuttle queue, a blue bus departed with a lady in her wheelchair sitting in the middle of the bus by the central door.

The trip into Gothenburg was to take 30/35 minutes each way. A few buses came, filled and left, but none took people in wheelchairs. We eventually established that the only shuttle bus that took a wheelchair was the blue one we had seen earlier. That meant that only one wheelchair dependant person could be taken into the city every 60/70 minutes. And the same would occur on our return.

We waited an hour and the blue bus came back. The ramp was opened up and we squeezed Jane in her wheelchair into the small space available for one wheelchair.

Gothenburg is lovely but sadly just about every footpath and surface was cobblestone. A rough ride for Jane. But we found the beautiful cathedral

and we also found an amazing foodhall/market. It was a warm, sunny day and it was lunchtime. All the seating around the eating establishments appeared to be filled with young business men (everyone looks young to me these days) and young blonde women (every young Swedish woman is blonde – why is that?)

We had excellent coffees and people watched.

I’m not sure that I have mentioned Kim so far. We couldn’t come on cruises any more without her. It is 7 years since we were lucky enough to find her and Kim has been on every cruise with us since then. The arrangement that we have established over the years works really well for us all. And Kim’s nursing skills and expertise are regularly needed.

Jane felt tired and had a headache as a result of being shaken up by the cobbles so we set off through the amazing foodhall we were sitting alongside and made our way to the boarding area for the shuttle buses.

Guess what. The organiser revealed that the blue bus had just left. No additional wheelchair buses had been taken on through the day. No effort had been made by Cunard to find wheelchair adapted taxis or vans. We had no choice but to wait for the blue bus to come back, standing in the sun with no cover. An hour waiting.

The only excitement was that during the wait I saw that Allan Stewart was wandering along towards us. He is a Scottish comedian who has been a regular on Cunard ships for decades. The problem for us is that his act has never changed. The same jokes, the same dance steps – everything the same for as long as we can remember. As he approached I held out my hand to greet him. ‘Ah Mr Stewart, good to see you again. They tell me you have a new act’. He grinned. ‘No, Cunard won’t let me change it’ he joked in reply. And he hasn’t changed it.

While we were waiting a young man driving a mobility wheelchair arrived in the queue. I explained the problem – that we expected to be waiting about 30 more minutes and that he would probably then have to wait a further hour.

When we eventually boarded, he followed Jane up the ramp and tried to force his way in. There was no room and he had to reverse off.

When we got back to the ship I went straight to the tour office. After a short time it was my turn and the man behind the counter looked familiar. I told him I wanted to see the Tour Manager. He said he could deal with it and that the Tour Manager was not available. I asked the man his name. He said it was Richard which confirmed to me that he was the man at the centre of the fiasco in Dubrovnik last year. The Tour Manager must have heard that someone was making waves and appeared and listened to my complaint.

The main line of the defence for supplying only one wheelchair space in only one shuttle bus was that there had been a tram derailment and that Cunard’s local bus supplier had to supply buses to help out the tram company. A novel defence but Google reveals that in fact it was not a tram derailment but a train derailment and that it occurred that morning 300 kms away in a place called Trelleborg in the south. No doubt many other bus suppliers nearer Trelleborg could have supplied any buses that the train company needed. I asked why Cunard and it’s supplier had made no effort to hire adapted vans that could accommodate a number or wheelchairs at a time.

The Tour Manager was a nice man and he apologised profusely. He understood why I was upset. Cunard provides a number of adapted cabins for wheelchair users and it knows that they want to get into the ports rather than sitting on the ship. It has to make a much bigger effort, as it always did in the past.

You all know that I am a Cunard man. I am saddened that Cunard is not looking after its elderly clientele. We have a large number of ports ahead of us and the test will begin in Helsinki on Saturday.

Cunard set aside 2 days at sea for the voyage from Gothenburg to Helsinki. Here to help is my map.

Gothenburg is highlighted on the western coast of Sweden. From there we sailed south, past Copenhagen (which we visit as our last port), then round the southern part of Sweden. Next we sailed north towards Helsinki, which is highlighted in southern Finland.

The weather has been amazing. The sun has been shining almost continuously although it has been chilly. The sea has been like a millpond.

This was taken from our cabin on Saturday evening, just before dinner, as we passed two vessels travelling even more slowly than we were. At noon on Saturday, the Captain said that our average speed on the segment to Helsinki would be 13 knots.

We are due to be alongside In Helsinki at 7.00am on Sunday for our two day visit.

Earlier in the voyage, as I was about to enter a lift on 6 deck, a man came out of the lift. I recognised him, but couldn’t place him. Initially I thought he might be someone from Southampton but he was not. We exchanged names and I left in the lift.

When I thought about his name, Bill Boyle, I realised that Jane and I had met the Boyles on a Cunard ship long ago. For years Jane kept a record in the back of our address book of the names and addresses of people we had met on holidays and it revealed that we had met them on Queen Victoria.

I had a feeling that we had met as guests of the Captain Paul Wright, the first Captain of QV on its maiden voyage. It was the occasion when we first met Stewart and Elizabeth Wilson. I emailed Stewart about meeting the Boyles and within a short time this appeared – a photo of the guests on that particular evening.

A couple of days ago I bumped into Bill and Jane. Their cabin is 4 away from ours on the same deck! We were all rushing off to lunch, so we agreed to meet for coffee the next day.

We arrived here at 7.00am on Sunday. Mothers Day here in Finland apparently. A clear blue sky and the sun shining. Breakfast has developed into a regular routine. We eat breakfast in the Lido because we never manage to get Jane up and ready before the restaurant closes. But that’s not a problem because the omelettes cooked in front of you by the pretty young lady chef in the self service Lido are wonderful. For me, fruit follows and then some croissants and coffee.

Today was a big test for Cunard and it’s transportation abilities. It passed, I’m pleased to report. As we left the gangway there were two shuttle buses waiting and no queue. One of the buses had a ramp and Jane was soon settled in for the 20 minute journey from the port into town.

We had been warned that we would have to contend with more cobblestones and that proved to be the case. Close to the drop off area for the shuttles was a Sunday market which was fun (but mostly standard market tat), but the marketeers were very friendly and of course their English was impeccable.

We moved on towards what appeared to be some form of place of worship, but when we arrived we found that it was at top of a high hill and as we had to push the wheelchair, we moved on. It was time for coffee. We were close to a ferris wheel, which turned occasionally but appeared to be unoccupied for most of the time.

After an excellent coffee we rumbled on through bumpy side streets and eventually discovered a magnificent square, Senate Square, where the pavements were flat and less exhausting for Jane. On one side is the Government Palace, and in the centre the Lutheran Cathedral of St Nicholas.

And in front of the Cathedral the impressive statue of Alexander ll

In the square Kim and Jane were talking to staff from the “Hop on Hop off” bus outfit. They confirmed that their buses all now have ramps and areas for wheel chair users to sit. We will probably try that for our second day out in Helsinki tomorrow.

We arrived here at 7.00am on Sunday. Mothers Day here in Finland apparently. A clear blue sky and the sun shining. Breakfast has developed into a regular routine. We eat breakfast in the Lido because we never manage to get Jane up and ready before the restaurant closes. But that’s not a problem because the omelettes cooked in front of you by the pretty young lady chef in the self service Lido are wonderful. For me, fruit follows and then some profiteroles and coffee.

Today was a big test for Cunard and it’s transportation abilities. It passed, I’m pleased to report. As we left the gangway there were two shuttle buses waiting and no queue. One of the buses had a ramp and Jane was soon settled in for the 20 minute journey from the port into town.

We had been warned that we would have to contend with more cobblestones and that proved to be the case. Close to the drop off area for the shuttles was a Sunday market which was fun (but mostly standard market tat), but the marketeers were very friendly and of course their English was impeccable.

We moved on towards what appeared to be some form of temple, but when we arrived we found that it was at top of a high hill and as we had the push wheelchair we moved on. It was time for coffee. We we close to a ferris wheel, which turned occasionally but appeared to be unoccupied for most of the time.

After an excellent coffee we rumbled on through bumpy side streets and eventually discovered a magnificent square where the pavements were flat and less exhausting for Jane. On two of the sides there appeared to be government offices and on the third side the Cathedral.

And in front of the Cathedral the impressive statue of Alexander ll

In the square Kim and Jane were talking to staff from the “Hop on Hop off” bus out fit. They confirmed that their buses all now have ramps and areas for wheel chair users to sit. We will probably try that for our second day out in Helsinki tomorrow.

Exactly eight years ago in May 2015, we were last in Tallinn. Five years earlier we had made our first visit and were not very adventurous on that occasion. We made our way to the Lower Town and settled on that. Manual wheelchairs can be very testing when cobblestones and hills are involved.

But in 2015 we made it to the top and were pleased we did. Of course today we had Kim to share the load.

It was raining when we set off from the ship. The journey time to Lower Town in the shuttle bus was 10 minutes each way. Yet again most of the buses couldn’t take a wheelchair but we were told that there were 2 that could. Sorry to go on about this. When one turned up, it didn’t have any sort of restraint to keep Janes chair in place, so your blogger stood holding her chair to ensure that she didn’t set off on a mission of her own.

There were still cobblestones galore, but it was sometimes possible to find a pavement that was flattish. Dropped kerbs are rare though. But I taught Kim how to negotiate big kerbs!

It was still drizzling when we reached the main square, which is halfway up the hill. Entrances to cafes and other hostelries usually involve a step or two to get in, but there were awnings for us to sit under in the square, and we settled on one with a smiley host for our coffee and sudoku.

Tallin is the Capital of Estonia. The walled Old Town is packed with medieval buildings that have gained UNESCO status. It is well worth a visit.

On the way back to the shuttles we passed a small market which only appeared to be half open. It was mostly women’s clothes. Of course Jane managed to find something of interest, but luckily the lady stall holder didn’t take credit cards and I had not taken many Euros ashore. Shame.

The weather was not good when we arrived on Wednesday morning. It was raining and it was cold. We were on the berth by 7.30am and briefly the sun came out. But not for long. The ship was moored starboard side on which meant that we could look down on the activity on the quay where numerous coaches were beginning to assemble.

I prefer it if our cabin is looking out over the quay. Generally I book our cabin on the starboard side because, in the main, Captains seem to prefer to moor starboard side on. Jane will tell you I’m wrong about that and uses this voyage as an example because for the first three ports we were port side on.

What I particularly enjoy about overlooking the quay happens in the early evening. We are told to be back on board at a certain time, say 5.30pm. The ship will usually be geared up to sail away 30 minutes later. The staff at the gangway will know at 5.30pm if passengers who went ashore have not returned. If it’s a coachload on a Cunard tour caught in evening traffic, then the ship will wait. But if it’s a few individuals, then their names and cabin numbers are read out across the loudspeaker system and if they are aboard and the computer has not recorded it, then no problem. It is the others who have forgotten the “All Aboard” time who create the most fun.

Sometimes you can see them ambling along without a care in the world until someone shouts out that they’re late and the ship is sailing. Panic sets in, and if they are able to do so, they run! I know I shouldn’t enjoy it, but I do.

If they are very late, they are left behind and have to find their own way to the next port. We have seen that happen.

In Stockholm the Shuttles and Hop on/off buses were appearing, as well as the tour buses. We decided to have breakfast before deciding on the mode of transport.

It was still raining. We decided to take the Hop on/off bus. If it stayed really wet we could remain on the bus. The city was busy, lots of traffic and plenty of red traffic lights. When we reached the Old Town and the Royal Palace we left the bus. The approach to the Old Town appeared steep and cobbled so we found a bar with coffee and settled down to the days sudoku.

The barman produced what appeared to be shot glasses alongside the coffees. The clear liquid in the glasses turned out to be a sweetener and not liquor. Pity – some alcohol might have rejuvenated us.

We then set off up the hill to the Old Town. It was not too difficult despite the cobbles. Quaint narrow streets and quirky shops. A wig shop which the ladies thought might appeal to me! Cheeky.

We then found the Royal Palace. Impressive but because of the large number of coaches outside indicating vast numbers of tourists in the Palace avoiding the rain, we decided not to enter but to return to the ship.

Soon after 6.00pm we set sail. During the day I had checked out previous visits to Stockholm. I had forgotten that on a cruise exactly 5 years ago in May 2018 there was a problem which resulted in the ship being turned away. If you look back in the blog, clicking on May 2018, you will see what happened.

On this visit we were asleep as the ship sailed into Stockholm in the early morning and had not appreciated the distance between the Baltic and the City of Stockholm. The journey is through narrow channels between the 50+ islands that make up the City.

On Wednesday evening we set off on the journey back to the Baltic Sea. It was very similar to those trips down the Norwegian Fiords with houses dotted about amongst the trees.

Some were clearly holiday homes but some were substantial and well established. There were jetties and boats everywhere, but very few people about. These scenes stretched for miles and 2 hours after we set off from Stockholm it was more of the same.

And then it was the open sea and time for dinner.