Smithy's Cruise Blog

Queen Victoria set sail on Tuesday 15 November 2016 on time at 5.30 pm and we were soon passing Cowes and on our way into the English Channel.

I had completed the packing on Monday with time to spare. I had no choice because on Monday evening I had a black tie dinner in Ampfield and was being collected at 7.00 pm and I knew that I would not be home until late. So it proved, but I was up early on Tuesday to run through the checklists and finalise the labelling.

The journey to the Ocean Terminal and the boarding process were swift. Apart that is from security. Every time I went through the machine there was a buzz. Take off your belt I was told. No good. Take off your shoes. No good. He was particularly officious but it was his job and I kept quiet and did what I was told. He clearly thought I looked suspicious. Me? Angelic me! Get back on the other side and wait he said. I had nothing in my pockets, so what could it be?

Come through again he said for the 5th time, at which point my brain clicked into gear. I was tired. It's the knee – the metal knee! I went through again and still it buzzed. I told jobsworth about the surgery. He looked at me doubtfully. I pulled up my trouser to show him the 5 inch scar vertically down my right knee. OK he said and that was it. (I must remember to take a copy of William Tice's letter to my GP next time I travel).

Strangely, later, at lunchtime, a lady said that she had seen a German passenger at security, who had become very agitated and was shouting after being asked to remove his belt and shoes. He had taken his trousers off and was starting to lower his underpants before they stopped him. He must have met up with the same official.

Tim and Jean Whitehead, on QV's last cruise, had found a suitable table for us in the Britannia Restaurant, after sending photos for me of relevant tables in the area we wanted to be. A table for 8 and it appears to be a lovely group that we have joined.

Kim, Janes companion/carer, has quickly found her way round the ship and we are developing our care plan as we go.

Tonight is Captain Peter Philpott's welcome party. He was Captain of QV for the first leg of the World Voyage in 2014 when we hit a massive gale and had to miss our visit to the Azores on our way to Fort Lauderdale.

Stewart will be known to many of you. He is the man who collects stamps from around the world featuring Cunard ships. Not only does he acquire them but he assembles them beautifully in albums alongside narrative describing the particular event commemorated by the relevant stamp.

I forget how many albums there are – more than 20 I think, and Stewart has donated many of them to Cunard. In each library on the three Queens there are two of Stewart’s albums displayed in glass cabinets, the librarians instructed to turn the pages each day.

Jane and I first met Stewart and Elizabeth when the four of us (with others) were invited by Captain Paul Wright to dine with him at the Captain’s table on the maiden voyage of Queen Victoria. A very glamorous lady with an American accent was sitting between Stewart and me and eventually I plucked up the courage to ask her how she knew the Captain. He is my husband she replied – and she was!

I have to say that Stewart keeps immaculate records of cruises and events. I have no doubt that if my recollection is inaccurate he will tell me.

Stewart rang me tonight to wish us well on our next trip. He and Elizabeth have just returned from a holiday in Venice, a gift from their family to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. The last time he had been to Venice was when he led a party of pupils on a school cruise starting in Venice in 1965. Elizabeth had never been there.

Stewart was, before retiring, Rector of Banchory Academy – a great school.

We have sailed with the Wilsons on many occasions over the years, the last time being the Baltic voyage last year on Queen Elizabeth which returned to Southampton via Kirkwall in the Orkneys and Liverpool where the three Queens met to celebrate the 175 year anniversary of Cunard.

What I forgot to tell Stewart was that next year we have a cruise on Queen Elizabeth booked in the Med in September involving a visit to Venice. There was a major panic here recently when we received a Keep the Date free card from niece Katie and Sam notifying us of their intended marriage near Lucca, Italy on 16 September 2017. Did it clash with the wedding? Yes, the wedding was right in the middle, so that meant a cancellation of the voyage.

Or did it? When I looked at the itinerary I found that Queen Elizabeth was in Messina, Sicily on Thursday 14 September and after two other ports was in Venice on Monday 18 September.

A rapid tour round the internet and a visit to a travel counsellor means we will leave the ship in Messina and take a taxi to Catania airport. Then a flight to Pisa via Rome, collect a rental car and drive to the wedding venue just north of Lucca. Four nights at the wedding venue, taking in all the celebrations and on Monday morning we will drive to Venice and board the ship again. Perfect!

It is more than 12 months since my last blog. I limped off Queen Elizabeth in early October 2015 fearing that I would need a new right knee.

55 years ago, as a result of too much Rugby and Fives, I tore a right knee cartilage. It was removed at Lord Mayor Treloars Hospital in Alton. No one, at the time, explained how the knee would work thereafter, but work it did, and I continued playing rugby and squash well into my thirties, and then tennis into my mid sixties and I am still playing golf.

But by 2015 the game was up! Pushing Jane around the streets of Barcelona and other European cities became a very painful experience.

Back at home,  I tried some Apostherapy, in the hope that surgery could be avoided, but it quickly became clear that it would have to be the knife.

Nick Fiddian, now retired but the top knee surgeon in Poole for years, directed me towards William Tice in Southampton. Within a week I was in the Spire and the proud owner of a Depuy Attune system right knee fitted by Mr Tice.

There had to be a fair bit of reorganisation at home with a full time live in carer for 3 weeks and then carers twice a day for some months. Now we have a morning carer for an hour each day, Lucy Austin, who is wonderful. But Lucy has a young family, and we have been lucky to find Kim Bigwood, a recently retired nurse, to help with Jane’s care during our upcoming voyage to the Caribbean.

Soon after my return from three days in the Spire, Jane was rushed into Southampton General where she remained for 18 days, 3 of which were spent in the High Dependancy Unit. She needed intestinal surgery. It was a horrid time for her and it took her a long time to get over it.

To get a wheelchair friendly stateroom, I had to book this trip as soon as it was announced 12 months ago. We have the same cabin we had for the 4 month World Voyage back in 2014, so that’s great.

There are plenty of sea days coming up, and some great ports – La Coruna, Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados, Guadeloupe, St Maarten and finally Ponta Delgarda in the Azores on the way home.

I am also pleased to say that Cunard are offering many more tours ashore on this voyage than usual for guests who are reliant on wheelchairs. I had a meeting with Angus Struthers in January at Carnival House and he listened carefully to what I had to say (about the lack of such tours!)

Linda Croucher will again be house sitting while we are away. She is a star.

We leave Southampton on Queen Victoria on Tuesday 15 November. I will be blogging once we are on our way.

Long ago we visited Corfu three times. We stayed in different places and this time we decided to find a taxi driver who would drive us to Benitses, south of Corfu Town, then across to the west coast and Paleokastritsa and finally to the north coast and Roda.

Next we crossed from the east coast to Paleokastritsa in the west. An interesting drive through the hills and then down to what had been a picturesque bay. 

Jane and I had stayed there in the mid seventies before the children had arrived. We could remember that the hotel looked like a prison then. We also remembered that we had met two couples from the U.S. who were university lecturers on secondment from Rutgers in New Jersey to Oxford. We met up with one of the couples and stayed with them at their home in the U.S. a year or two later.

As we drove down the hill I saw the hotel behind a closed gate. Leo stopped the car. It was clear that the place was derelict – broken windows, weeds and trees out of control.

What a great shame.

And the beautiful bay we remembered was tatty and touristy.

Back in the taxi and off to Roda. What had been an average hotel all those years ago was now a large immaculate place with tennis courts, vast swimming pools and smart accommodation. It was Leo who explained to us why the Roda Beach Hotel was successful, while Benitses and Paleokastritsa were full of closed hotels and failed restaurants.

The big problem, which affects him as a taxi driver,  is that the big hotels have made themselves “All inclusive”. That means that the guests pay a fixed amount for their holiday and have no additional costs. Everything at the hotel is included. All meals and all drinks. Not top brands of booze, but as much as you like.

And what happens is that the guests never leave the campus. They eat there and they drink there and at the end of their 7 days they go home. They don’t explore, so they don’t rent a car or use a taxi. The local restaurants suffer and the bars and discos close.

Leo drove us back to the ship by the coast road, round the north and then down through Nissaki to Corfu Town. It was a nostalgic day and revived many happy memories.

The voyage to the berth through the heart of Venice was magical. For some years there has been talk of large ships being banned from the lagoon because of the damage some believe they cause to the buildings. Luckily for us that ban has not yet happened, but is is clear that subsidence is taking place at a rapid rate. There is plenty of restoration work taking place and a new tidal barrier has been built, but it is doubtful that that is enough.

If you have not been to Venice by sea, we can recommend it. Try it for yourselves.

The weather improved by the time we made our way to the Tronchetto Waterbus. 3 Euros in total for the two of us for the 40 minute journey down the Grand Canal and back again at the end of the day. What value! We had been offered something almost identical for 125 Euros each on the ship.

Much of the advertising material said that the bridges in Venice couldn’t be crossed by wheelchairs. Wrong! We could see from the ship that many had ramps across them. We also found that a number of them had infills down one side to enable wheelchairs to cross. We were very pleased to find how easy it was for us.

The vaporetto quickly became packed with tourists, but we had found a comfortable corner and access to an open window for the camera. One other couple from the ship had a wheelchair and were clearly nervous about the trip on the vaporetto. They watched our every move, so that each time I stood to take a photo, they stood too and readied themselves to leave. When we disembarked at St Mark’s Square, they followed. They seemed overawed by the crowds and quickly made up their minds to return to the ship and safety. They missed a great day.

We decided to start with one of the most expensive coffees in the world. In a wonderful position in the square, people watching. 

We then started down one of the side streets off the square, and realised that we had never explored the streets and alleyways before. We went north initially, and often had to do 180 degree turns when an alleyway turned into a flight of stairs. We made great progress and covered miles, eventually turning south again and finding the canal where the gondoliers load up new passengers. There was no shortage of takers.

The dreaded knee has been holding up quite well, with the assistance of doses of ibroprofen. I had thought that Venice might be a difficult day, but it was not. The streets are so well trodden that the cobbles have been flattened and the surfaces are smooth.

Eventually it was time to return to the ship, and the vaporetto ride back down the Grand Canal was just as exciting as the morning trip. We also managed to collect and guide another couple, who had no idea about how to get back to the ship from St Mark’s!

Earlier in the day, while we were near St Mark’s Square, we had seen one of the Holland America ships taking exactly the same route that we had earlier. The Niewe Amsterdam is the same hull shape as QE and QV.

We left the berth at about 18.45 and retraced our steps down towards the lagoon, passing some of the mega yachts moored near St Mark’s. It was a great spectacle.

 

Many years ago, Ian and Carole Gordon, Roger and Jill Wilson and Jane and I, booked a weekend City break to Venice with Thomsons. I guess it was a cheapie, but it was great fun. We all loved the City and had time not only to visit the tourist places but to explore areas where the Venetians live and work.

You will have noticed that it was raining as we sailed up the Grand Canal but the weather was much better once we had gone ashore.

To be continued!

We are in the middle of a very busy six days. No sea days and 6 ports in 6 days!

It has had an eventful history and many of us recall that the differences between Serbs and the Croats led to a horrible war less than 25 years ago. Thousands of people were killed and there were numerous massacres and atrocities.

Churches, monasteries and palaces were damaged, but remarkably the war damage has in the main been repaired.

Inside the walls there are numerous alfreso eating areas, small boutiques and a main traffic free street – Placa. A Dominican Monastery, a Serbian Orthodox Church and the Sponza Palace can be found as you pass along the Main Street.

Dubrovnik is an exceptional place and if you have not been there, it should be included in your bucket list. But do bear in mind that it can get crowded.

That night we celebrated Jane Houghton’s birthday in the Commodore Club. Plenty of excellent champagne before dinner.

Jane with husband Andy. 

Andy and I watched the Saints v Man United on TV in the pub on Sunday. He has not stopped reminding me of the score. I remind him that their first goal should have been disallowed for off side which would have made it a draw!

I can understand why you yachtsmen love to sail in the Ionian Sea. We arrived in Argostoli, the capital of Cephalonia, on Tuesday at 9.00 am. It was a beautiful day.

We were on the berth – a relatively new construction which appeared to have transformed the tourist industry on the island – and a Costa ship was at anchor outside us.

Many have asked not only where we have been, but where we are going.