Her Majesty The Queen greeted the staff on the ship named for her on Monday. An accidental tourist of sorts, I was there with them.

Right Place, Wrong Time?

I am not sure whether I was in the right place at the wrong time or the wrong place at the right time, but either way, last week I was separated from my journalistic colleagues, who earlier had filed outdoors and taken their seats in the grandstands to see Britain’s Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, send her namesake ship into service.

What all of us had hoped for was a close encounter with the Queen, and we knew we wouldn’t get that outside. We were told she would tour the ship, but details were intentionally vague, and it was only after all passengers, including my colleagues, had left the ship for the naming ceremony that the Monarch, dressed in a blue dress and hat, boarded Cunard’s sparkling new ocean liner.

The fact that I ended up inside instead of outside and caught in the Queen’s gaze was a combination of luck and poor planning.

My Failure To Launch

The story began on the balcony of stateroom 5009. With a better vantage point of the staging area than the grandstand offered, I had hoped to film the Queen as she christened Cunard Line’s 90,400-ton Queen Elizabeth, delivered just days before.

The balcony certainly would be more comfortable than the grandstand, and besides, cameras were not allowed past the security checkpoints. I could think of no reason not to stay on board and film.

Just to be sure, I had asked if it would be okay if I stood on my balcony to film, and the consensus was that I could. No one had a clear answer – until minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to begin. That’s when I heard a knock at my door. My room steward walked in, surprised to see me, and told me that I had to clear the room and that the drapes must be drawn over the balcony doors and not opened until the ceremony had ended.

I quickly consented, thinking that if I failed to, a sniper’s Royal bullet would take me out. Before exiting, however, I asked if it would be okay if I left my video camera on the balcony and set it to record. With no objection from my room steward, I pointed my camera toward the stage, pushed the record button, and bolted down to the lower decks, rushing to get outside.

As I was on my way to exit, I noticed that in the ship’s Grand Lobby, the balconies were lined deep with Cunard employees. They were awaiting the Queen, who, I learned, had boarded her namesake and was touring the ship.

Queen Elizabeth II. Photo by Diego Bormida www.diegobormida.com

After 15 minutes or so, she appeared in the center balcony of the Lobby, acknowledging the mix of ship officers, waiters, and bellhops, and facing a large mural of the ship she had named 43 years before.

As she proceeded to the Queen’s Room, she passed before me, not 10 feet from her. Her eye caught mine, briefly, but nonetheless the Royal eye had met mine, a claim that none of my colleagues would be able to make.

After several minutes, the Queen and her consorts began to file outside to greet the hundreds of people awaiting her in the stands, patiently watching black and white footage of Cunard ship namings of the past. I tried to follow, but was told that nobody else could leave the ship. I was also not allowed to go back to my balcony, and so I headed to the Royal Theater with the Cunard crew, where we watched the naming ceremony on a large screen.

Outside, the ceremony, as my colleagues would remark later, was a much more subdued affair than the last two Cunard ship christenings. The Queen said fewer than a dozen or so words, including the requisite, “I bless her and all who sail on her,” before sending a bottle of white wine (not champagne) smashing onto vessel’s ship’s bow. It broke on the first try, not mimicking the misfortune Bowles experienced with the Queen Victoria.

The two-level theater I shard with Cunard’s crew, however, was filled with excitement and a palpable sense of pride. They cheered loudly, and at the end of the ceremony, shouted out in unison, “We are Cunard!” On that day, we certainly were.

Continuing a grand royal tradition, Her Majesty The Queen officially named Cunard Line’s newest ocean liner, Queen Elizabeth, last week during a regal ceremony before more than 1,500 guests, celebrities and dignitaries.

“Today marks a milestone in British maritime history and the continuation of a longstanding tradition of Royal Namings of our Cunard Queens,” said Peter Shanks, president of Cunard Line. “Our grand celebration today reinforces Cunard’s renaissance as one of the oldest names in passenger shipping now operating the youngest fleet in the world.”

With a capacity of 2,068 guests and an estimated total cost $634 million, Queen Elizabeth features many unique Cunard traditions linking her with her sister ships and their predecessors, together with all the modern day luxuries Cunard’s guests have come to expect.

The new vessel features elegant double and triple height public rooms on a grand scale, luxuriously endowed with rich wood panelling, intricate mosaics, hand-woven carpets, gleaming chandeliers and cool marbles.

Art Deco features pay homage to the original Queen Elizabeth, reflecting The New Golden Age of Ocean Travel.

A 40-second video overview of stateroom 5009 on Cunard Line’s new Queen Elizabeth.

Queen Victoria IN Gamla Stan, Stockholm, Sweden

Today, Cunard Line’s Queen Victoria was anchored in Stockholm, Sweden, in the middle of the harbor that fronts Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s Old Town. The ship was a spectacle for all to see. A couple of years ago, I attended Queen Victoria’s christening ceremony and filed this report.

The Duchess of Cornwall. Camilla, who named Queen Victoria in Southampton

To truly get the feeling of what it is like to be aboard Cunard Line’s new Queen Victoria, it helps if you think of hats. Hats crowned nearly every woman’s head during Queen Victoria’s naming ceremony in Southampton, England this past December.

Wide-brimmed, narrow-brimmed, floral and feathery, hats of all types adorned heads turned toward the stage, where [then] Cunard Line President Carol Marlow, in her stylish hat, acknowledged The Duchess of Cornwall. Camilla, as she is more commonly known, dispatched a bottle of bubbly against the hull of the new vessel and launched Queen Victoria into service. Of course she did so wearing what else? A hat.

Hats even prevailed in the days following the ceremony. On Queen Victoria’s maiden voyage, women put themselves in fanciful headdress for the Royal Ascot Ball’s ‘hat parade.’ Queen Victoria herself would have approved. Britain’s longest-ruling monarch was particularly fond of hats and even ’set the fashion’ for the styles of headdress that Englishwomen favored, according to a 1901 article in The London Mail.

If the emphasis on hats seems somewhat antiquated, then you’ve gotten my point. Queen Victoria (the ship, that is) presents the perfect backdrop for those who long to return to the golden age of ocean liner travel, when ships were steeped in elegant grandeur and when hats were in vogue.

Not A Cruise Ship At All
Indeed, as I strolled the decks of Queen Victoria, dressed in a tuxedo, a glass of champagne in hand, I felt as though I were witnessing a harmonious marriage between theatrical stage and ocean-going vessel. It was as if Disney had met Titanic — and given it a happy ending. None of it felt fake or contrived.

In fact, Marlow says that the 2,014-passenger Queen Victoria evokes grandeur without grandiosity, glamour without glitz. It is not a cruise ship, but an ocean liner. She speaks of voyages, not cruises, and in her mind, all of these distinctions are important ones. You might say that Queen Victoria provides an experiential escape rather than a contemporary get-away.

On board Queen Victoria, I could easily imagine myself on a grand ocean voyage. How could I not? The nostalgia of yesteryear surrounded me. Walking into the two-deck Britannia Restaurant, for example, I stopped to admire the magnificent centerpiece: a stylized Art Deco, revolving globe, 10 feet tall. It was wonderfully evocative of Cunard’s rich history of plying the world’s oceans.

Featuring original artwork, wall sconces, polished wood, bronze, mirror and gold leaf ceiling, Britannia was inspired by the dining car on the Golden Arrow, the glamorous train that linked London and Paris.

While there is no ’steerage’ class on Queen Victoria, there is something that evokes the ‘class structure’ on ocean liners of the past. On Deck 12, the smaller Queen’s and Princess Grill dining venues are reserved for guests in Queen’s and Princess’ suites (there are 127 suites ranging from 335 to 2,131 square feet). These traditional dining venues are accessed by private elevator, keyed by a stateroom card.

Perhaps the most nostalgically evocative space is the Royal Court Theatre. Designed to resemble a grand West End theatre, it features a first at sea: 16 private viewing boxes that overlook the stage. Seating two to eight guests each and spanning three decks, the private boxes are furnished with elegant armchairs and cocktail tables.

The $50 per couple charge for the private boxes includes many extras: a pre-show cocktail in a private bar as well as complimentary individual-sized bottles of Veuve Cliquot champagne and truffles. Should anything else be required during the show, a velvet pull cord summons the bell boy. You rang sir?

A Slice of Britain
Just outside the Royal Court Theatre are the Royal Arcade shops, an elegant shopping area designed to capture the feel of London’s Burlington Arcade. The Royal Arcade is anchored by a free-standing clock built by the same company that built Big Ben. It issues Westminster chimes on the hour.

Flanking the clock on either side is a dramatic staircase with intricate wrought-iron detailing. With such attention to detail, Queen Victoria appears to be as much setting as it does ship. I imagined myself walking through London as I crossed the Royal Arcade to The Golden Lion, a British Isles style pub, where bartenders dispensed draft bitters and stouts and a chalk board listed such English comfort food as bangers and mash, fish and chips, and ploughman’s lunch — all at no additional charge. The pub has an authentic feel with its red carpet and dark woods.

Anglophiles will find Queen Victoria to be their cup of tea, and of course, white-gloved service high tea is served daily in the formal ballroom known as the Queen’s Room. Cunard bills the afternoon tea as one of the its most ‘civilized customs.’

Proceeding even deeper into Anglophilia, I made my way to Churchill’s Cigar Lounge, an intimate area that features a selection of cigars and after-dinner drinks as well as photos of Winston Churchill himself. I also visited the Art Deco-inspired Veuve Cliquot Champagne Bar that overlooks the Grand Lobby and features several rich canvases depicting the launch of the original Queen Mary. Cunard’s history is depicted, in fact, throughout the ship and particularly in the well-executed Cunardia, featuring exhibits of Cunard memorabilia.

The Grand Lobby, with its triple-height ceiling, sweeping staircases and sculpted balconies, evokes the ambience found on Cunard liners of the past. An attractive bronzed-effect representation of Queen Victoria emerging from a sun and earth motif graces the staircase landing.

Accessible from the Grand Lobby, The Library offers a selection of more than 6,000 books and spans two decks — with the upper and lower levels connected by a spiral staircase.

Double and triple-height public rooms, dark woods, deep rich reds, shades of yellow and gold characterize Queen Victoria’s interior. But for me, Queen Victoria will forever be cast in sepia. That’s because she evokes the image of the bygone days of cruising, a grand and rich era when ocean liners carried the names of queens and when special occasions brought out ladies wearing their magnificent hats.

New York has nearly always been the final destination for European liners that began Transatlantic cruises in 1840. The city has seen ships bring waves of immigrants and scores of millionaires and movie stars. The Big Apple has welcomed the world’s greatest sailing ships, stately icons that symbolized a time of great glamour, elegance and tradition.But the advent of transatlantic jet service in the late 1950s put the oceangoing liners out of business, and transatlantic cruises slowed to a trickle. Though cruise ships still sail into New York’s harbor, Queen Mary 2 is the only one regularly cruising between Europe and America.

The journey between Southampton, a bustling harbor in southern England, and New York takes only six days. Leaving Southampton, quite near where the Mayflower departed in the 1600s for the land that would become America, today’s cruise passengers sail past some of America’s greatest icons when entering New York’s storied harbor — the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Manhattan’s towering skyline. Within an hour, they will disembark a few blocks from Times Square, having completed a classic cruise — crossing the Atlantic.

For nostalgia buffs or anyone that longs for the elegance of a bygone era, a transatlantic cruise is an absolute must.

The voyage starts in New York, and after a call in Fort Lauderdale, the ship will head to the Caribbean and South America, calling on Barbados, Brazil and Uruguay before arriving for an overnight stay in the magnificent city of Cape Town in South Africa, the ship’s second visit to this exceptionally beautiful destination. From there she will sail to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean before an exploration of Australia that culminates with an overnight stay in Sydney. The ship continues on to New Zealand and Guam before sampling some highlights of China and Japan en-route to an overnight stay in Hong Kong, followed by visits to Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and India en-route to Dubai. From here, Queen Mary 2 will call in Egypt before making a transit of the Suez Canal that will take her to European calls in Italy, Monaco, Spain and the United Kingdom, her last call before ending her 103-day odyssey in New York.

Segment voyages aboard Queen Mary 2 range from 15 to 25 days, and consecutive segments can be combined.

Both the QM2 and the Queen Elizabeth will be in the early stages of world cruises, and the Queen Victoria will be preparing to transit the Panama Canal on the way to Los Angeles. While certainly a marketing milestone for Cunard, the three ships do stand out as the standard-bearers of the glory days of ocean cruising, and any time they are in the same port, let alone the gateway to the New World, it’s a special event, particularly for the guests on board. We believe it will be more than a little special.

For her first world voyage, Queen Elizabeth will offer a complete 103-day circumnavigation of the globe from her home port of Southampton, crossing the Atlantic en route to New York. U.S. and Canadian guests may choose to join the cruise in New York, Fort Lauderdale or – after the ship transits the Panama Canal – Los Angeles.

From the west coast, Queen Elizabeth will continue her westward journey to the ever-popular city of Sydney, where she will be docked overnight, and then the South Pacific and New Zealand. From there, it’s on to the exotic ports of Asia, including Singapore, Bali, Vietnam and Thailand as well as another overnight stay in Hong Kong. Then the ship sails on to Malaysia and India before calling on Dubai, also an overnight, followed by a visit to Oman for a Suez Canal transit. This will be followed by visits to the wonders and antiquities of Egypt, Greece, Italy and Portugal en-route back to Southampton. From Southampton, North American guests can rendezvous with the Queen Mary 2 and take in a legendary Transatlantic crossing to complete their personal circumnavigation of the globe.

Segment voyages of 12 to 25 days are also available if it seems too difficult spending more than three months living in luxury on a gleaming, new ocean liner. Of course, these segments can also be combined.

Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 will be the place to see and be seen for filmmakers and actors connected with the Tribeca Film Festival. As the new official cruise line of this important New York film festival, Cunard Line will offer exclusive film programming aboard specific transatlantic cruises this year and next, and many of the actors, directors, producers and others involved with these films will be on board for discussions and presentations.

An annual event, the Tribeca festival starts today in New York, and it runs through May 3, with more than 80 films to be screened. Cunard is sponsoring the World Documentary Competition, with 12 documentaries participating, and the grand prize winner will enjoy, among other awards, a cruise with Cunard. Later this year, Cunard will bring elements of the Tribeca Film Festival experience to the high-seas with enrichment programming aboard the flagship Queen Mary 2 transatlantic sailings Nov. 5 this year and April 29, 2010.

Cruising clearly enjoys a strong and devoted following quite capable of recognizing a significant event. Cunard Line says it accepted reservations for all 2,000-plus berths in just 29 minutes on April 1 for the the October 2010 maiden voyage for the new Queen Elizabeth, easily making it the fastest-selling voyage in Cunard’s 170-year history.

The voyage sold out faster and involved more guests than QE2’s final voyage, which sold out in 36 minutes in June 2007. More than half of Queen Elizabeth’s remaining maiden season, comprising six voyages from October to December 2010, was sold within the first two hours.

Queen Elizabeth’s maiden 2010 season will consist of six voyages calling on 32 ports in 18 countries. The maiden voyage will depart from Southampton on Oct. 12, 2010, en route to the Atlantic Isles. The ship will then embark on five celebratory inaugural voyages, for which space is still available but selling fast.

Cunard Line is the only cruise line that still offers regularly scheduled transatlantic cruises. Have you crossed the Atlantic by ship?