Queen Elizabeth, Arcadia and Royal Princess

Royal Princess was sailing on her maiden voyage this evening, from Southampton to Barcelona and, at the time of writing, is not scheduled to return. Queen Elizabeth and Arcadia also sailed from Southampton this evening, on their respective cruises.

The Attack of the Clones. Or, Send in the Clones for those of a more peaceable nature.

The Deposed Queen

And, finally, the star of the show, the only 'royal baby' which interests me, Royal Princess, which departed on her maiden voyage to Barcelona this evening.

Queen Mary 2 - interior photos

Here are some of the photos I took of the inside of Queen Mary 2 last weekend. I didn't get to see anywhere near as much of the ship as I would have liked, but that's something for next time!

Loads of large posters and displays of Cunard ships and people from the past

First Mauretania - there were a lot of paintings of past and present Cunard ships

Second Mauretania

The sinking of Lusitania

Plaques from ports were dotted about

Sign for the planetarium, which I never got round to visiting. Next time

Veuve Clicquot champagne bar

Winter Garden

Queen's Room sign

The Queen's Room

Main corridor on Deck 2, looking towards Britannia Restaurant

Lifts on Deck 6

Corridor on Deck 2. Note wonky break-glass call point!

Another view of the Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar

Queen Mary 2's bell

The Boston Cup, a.k.a. the Britannia Cup, was supposed to have been presented to Samuel Cunard when his first ship arrived in Boston in 1840 but the cup was actually not ready at that time, and it's not known when it was finally presented to Cunard. It went missing until 1967, when it was discovered in an antiques shop in Maryland, USA. Cunard bought the cup and put it aboard their Franconia, from where it found its way onto QE2, then Queen Mary 2 in 2004. It is located outside the Chart Room.
Info from Chris's Cunard Page

Entrance to Royal Court Theatre

Inside the Royal Court Theatre

Nice bronze impression of QM2 herself

One of the large plastic or glass charts in the Chart Room. Not easy to photograph!

Big Mary - Part 2

After leaving the Corbiere anchorage near Jersey, it was a quiet overnight journey round the Cherbourg peninsula (and Patsy was happy as we spotted Celebrity Constellation in the Channel, on her way to Southampton). It was formal night, a necessary evil of cruise ship travel and a hang over from the old days of ocean travel, so we put our posh clobber on and went to dinner. After dinner was over, we went to the Winter Garden - I wonder why it is called that, when it has a tropical ambience with banana plants and other rain forest vegetation painted on the ceiling? - where Patsy knows the banjo player in the Queen's Room Orchestra, an elderly chap named Stevie. The band were playing jazz numbers which, frankly, I can't stand but it was entertaining to watch Stevie do a charming little dance as he sang a number and it went down well with the other passengers.

We arrived in Le Havre early next morning and found it was pretty busy with ships moving in and out of the harbour. Patsy doesn't really do 'horribles', as she calls anything that isn't a cruise ship, so she left me to it as I photographed the comings and goings.

Hoegh Berlin, built 2005, 68871 GT, IMO 9295842, Bahamas flag

Leto, built 2006, 35881 GT, IMO 9311880, Liberian flag

Mare Picenum, built 2011, 81499 GT, IMO 9449405, Italian flag

V.B. La Heve

V.B. Sainte Adresse

MSC Ingrid, built 1999, 53208 GT, IMO 9181651, Panama flag

Coastalwater, built 2000, 2140 GT, IMO 9205158, Dutch flag

Chembulk Tortola, built 2007, 11534 GT, IMO 9342786, Panama flag

Guanabara, built 2007, 57462 GT, IMO 9384992, Bahamas flag

V.B. Superenzo

Amur Star, built 2010, 8537 GT, IMO 9480368, Malta flag

As we waited to depart in the evening, I tried some more low light photography, including the cracking sunset, plus the arrivals of MOL Celebration and the dredger Victor Horta.

Victor Horta, built 2011, 5682 GT, IMO 9525704, Belgian flag

MOL Celebration, built 2008, 86692 GT, IMO 9321251, Bahamas flag

It had been a glorious day, weather-wise, with sunshine and light winds and the night was clear. I've already posted the photo immediately below but, as I am pleased with it, I'll post it again.

Unfortunately, this didn't last long, and the fog returned sometime before dawn. Queen Mary 2's horn woke me up at about 0400, with one blast every two minutes. I'd not long got to sleep so I wasn't best pleased, especially as I was feeling ill after having drunk far too much in the Golden Lion that night...can't complain, I suppose, as it was self-inflicted!

To be continued...