Saga Rose Greenland Voyager August 2007

[Kapricorn]

Fran, I cropped the head of the statue off the photograph and multiplied it 300X. Here's a closer look at her serene demeanour.

 

Donald.

[Kapricorn]

Conte is correct! I went through several books in my library until I found a photograph of La Normandie in Peter Wall's Ocean Liners. It was at the head of the stairs to the Grill.

 

Donald.

[Saga Ruby]

Ships cat - I was interested that you chatted with a "deck cadet" on your QE2 voyage. I have no idea what a deck cadet is, how they dress to be recognized, or what their duties are. I would like to hear more on that subject.

 

I was a bit surprised to hear that the weather in your ports was already hot. I know that April and May can be rainy in Europe and that June, July, and August can be quite warm, but April? Were the locals complaining about the weather?

 

Ruby

[CGTNORMANDIE]

THANK YOU CONTE AND DONALD!!!

 

It must be my dyslexia kicking in. Just goes to show you what can happen to your brain when you don't keep up your studies...LOL. At any rate...it is always nice to talk about the NORMANDIE. I enjoyed the SUMMIT very much...especially the Normandie Dining Room. We had one of the best meals ever. My gift of the lapel pins seemed to work magic...as my party of eight was seated in the wine vault. I would definitely go back to the SUMMIT given the opportunity.

[Kapricorn]

Ruby, Europe isn't the only hot area weatherwise. One of my friends recently returned from a cruise to Alaska and remarked that it was HOT in Ketchikan and Juneau.

 

Donald.

[Saga Ruby]

Ruby, Europe isn't the only hot area weatherwise. One of my friends recently returned from a cruise to Alaska and remarked that it was HOT in Ketchikan and Juneau. Donald.

 

Okay, Donald, pull up a chair and let's talk. "Hot" in Texas is 80* at night and high 90s or 100s in the daytime. I personally know it's hot when I can take a shower with only the Cold water faucet on which is where we are "at" in Texas right now. I'm keen to hear what you Canadians call "hot."

 

Digression - In Norway in 2005, the locals were talking about how discouraging that June summer was. It was still quite cold and they were still wearing their winter clothes. The Norwegians have about 90 days to wear shorts and tees, so they were unhappy.

 

No doubt that global climate change is amongst us and will be for the foreseeable future.

 

Ruby

[Host Sharon]

Ships cat - I was interested that you chatted with a "deck cadet" on your QE2 voyage. I have no idea what a deck cadet is, how they dress to be recognized, or what their duties are. I would like to hear more on that subject.

 

I was a bit surprised to hear that the weather in your ports was already hot. I know that April and May can be rainy in Europe and that June, July, and August can be quite warm, but April? Were the locals complaining about the weather?

 

Ruby

 

Hi Ruby. A deck cadet is a trainee officer - starting at cadet level and hopes to one day be a captain. They wear normal ship's officer uniform without any badges of rank though. I am not sure they have set duties as such. It sounded a bit like being a trainee doctor in a hospital, in that she was spending a month in different departments on board to get a feel for what everyone did. Somewhere in my liner collection I have a propectus published by British India Line in the 1950s for deck cadets. I'll dig it out and see what it says.

 

As for the weather, well what I call hot and you call hot will be very different I suspect. It was in the mid 80sF, which was very hot to me!! We were lucky though in that the previous week up to the day before we berthed, it had been raining heavily in each port, and I understand it began raining again as we left, so no, the locals were not complaining. I was there late May early June so it should have been warming up nicely but not guaranteed sunshine.

 

I have put a few of my photos here.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sharonp40/CruiseOnQE2ToItalySouthOfFrance

 

Interesting reading about the Normandie. I have some menus from her in my collection. I guess it's one reason I love the QE2 so much in that she is the last real ocean liner, in no way a cruise ship.

[Host Sharon]

By the way I meant to say, I googled Mona Lisa and a sale appears to have been agreed in 2009/10 for her to go to a Swedish businesman, who plans to restore her to her Kungsholm appearance and moor her as a floating hotel probably in Gothenburg. I am busy keeping a list of ex-cruise ships, soon to become floating hotels so my friend and I can work our way round them - QE2 in Dubai, SS Rotterdam in Rotterdam.......Mona Lisa in Gothenburg?

[Druke I]

Reference Deck Cadets, I know that P&O (UK) has a very extensive Cadet program for prospective officers. I'm not surprised that Cunard also has such a program - there is some exchange of officers between the Cunard, P&O (UK) and Princess fleet now that they are all under the Carnival house name.

 

I believe that the various civilian Maritime Academies in the US have similar Deck Cadet programs for the Merchant Marine - the Maritime Academy in CA., at Benicia, is now part of the California State University program.

 

Midshipmen from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, do some of their summer training aboard ships of the fleet, and I think that is the Naval equivalent of Deck Cadet training.

[Saga Ruby]

Lovely photos and they tell a great story of your voyage. My family was in Pompeii decades ago and there were few green grass areas or lawns as seen in your photos. It reminds me of the sweeping hills of Port Arthur Penal Colony in Tasmania.

 

I was smiling at your pix of the Venetian chandelier and the toy store, but stopped dead on "Red Carpet Treatment." Is that the pier entry point to the QE2? I'm so used to gangways or cruise terminal entryways - if that is indeed the side of the ship, it looks like one is entering a nice shopping mall. Is the door on the left behind the crew where you walk into a lobby of some kind?

 

Ruby

[seabourndt]

got my ticket for SAGA RUBY trip on 29th june ex newcastle, just a pice of card aND 2 LUGGAGE LABELS!! different thesev days. i got a free upgrade too despite thinkingh i wasbgoing to be in my old cabin i was on CARONIA never mind.

dave

[Host Sharon]

Lovely photos and they tell a great story of your voyage. My family was in Pompeii decades ago and there were few green grass areas or lawns as seen in your photos. It reminds me of the sweeping hills of Port Arthur Penal Colony in Tasmania.

 

I was smiling at your pix of the Venetian chandelier and the toy store, but stopped dead on "Red Carpet Treatment." Is that the pier entry point to the QE2? I'm so used to gangways or cruise terminal entryways - if that is indeed the side of the ship, it looks like one is entering a nice shopping mall. Is the door on the left behind the crew where you walk into a lobby of some kind?

 

Ruby

 

Glad you enjoyed them Ruby. The red carpet was on the Cannes jetty. We tendered ashore from the ship. I have never been to Tasmania but my friend spent about 6 months there as one of her ancesters was an original settler (not a convict!) and she was researching her family history.

[Host Sharon]

got my ticket for SAGA RUBY trip on 29th june ex newcastle, just a pice of card aND 2 LUGGAGE LABELS!! different thesev days. i got a free upgrade too despite thinkingh i wasbgoing to be in my old cabin i was on CARONIA never mind.

dave

 

Have a great cruise Seabourndt on my favourite ship - Caronia!

[franu]

ships cat Picture postcards pale in comparison to your photos. I sit and marvel at your perspectives. They catch the essence of my soul. Thank you for the great pleasure I had from viewing them.

Fran

[Kapricorn]

Ships cat, you have an eye for fabulous photography! I greatly enjoyed inspecting the pictures in your album.

 

Donald.

[Host Sharon]

Thanks Kapricorn. I have to say I do enjoy it - the photography that is - ever since my dad bought me my first camera when I was about 7. Where other people might have nightmares before a holiday about missing the ship - I have them about leaving my cameras behind !! I usually take a few hundred pictures...trouble is now with digital cameras...I take even more!!!

[Saga Ruby]

As I read the thread on this forum about the crewman's death on Saga Rose, I was thinking, "Not Matteo, not Matteo." He was the brilliant Father Christmas who so bravely stood on my bed last August in staggering seas off Greenland to remove that blasted bolt rolling around in the overhead.

 

I am desperately sad to read of this unidentified crew member's death. The Saga crew and hotel staff is what makes the Saga Sisters so very special.

 

Ruby

[Kapricorn]

That was an unfortunate accident, and indeed a bad start to Saga Rose's cruise. It is likely to dampen the spirits of the passengers for the first few days.

 

I checked just now on eBay about the Empress of England's passenger list for her 1959 Caribbean cruise, and it is very interesting that itineraries in these days are not as port-intensive as they are now. For example, on her 21-day round-trip cruises from New York City there were only 9 ports, and on two-week cruises only 5 ports.

 

When I was on Galaxy last March, I didn't step ashore at the last port, Aruba, simply because I was tired of going from one port to another practically every day. Fifty years ago, cruise planners knew that passengers were aboard mainly for the experience of relaxation and pampering aboard ships. How unfortunate that nowadays in this fast-paced world most people don't know how to relax, and they complain that they have nothing to do and are bored on sea days.

 

Donald.

[Druke I]

I also am amazed when people complain about being bored on sea days.

 

I've yet to find my self bored. I love sea days, and am perfectly content doing little or nothing. I love to find a comfortable chair, sit and watch the ocean and people, and perhaps catch up on reading.

 

I've also been known to stay aboard while in port - skipping the hustle and bustle of yet another port.

[Saga Ruby]

Back in the day, when I was too young to realize the intricacies of running a ship, I used to see a quiet sailor who walked all over the ship, on all decks, all the time.

 

At dusk one evening, I happened to see the sailor use a key to open a "clock" and wind it. A kind soul explained to me the duties of the fire watchman, that he was clocking in to prove that he was doing his rounds. Nowadays, we rely on electronic sensors, video cams, fire alarms.

 

Has anyone ever seen a fire watchman on their cruises?

 

Ruby

[Druke I]

I've also seen Firewatchmen, both on Princess and Holland America, but must admit it has been awhile.

 

When we sailed on Nautica, I did not see any, but presume if there were any, they made their rounds after I had turned in for the evening.

 

You may well be right - another human job replaced by sensors, CTVs, etc.

[Kapricorn]

I usually take a few hundred pictures...trouble is now with digital cameras...I take even more!!!

 

Do you bring several memory cards to insert in your digital camera? I bring just one. Usually I snap four or five photographs of each particular scene, and then each night I carefully inspect these and keep one or two of the best of each, deleting all the rest. My limit on each cruise is the 105 photographs which can be on a memory card.

 

You have an excellent eye for focusing your camera. I snap away, and then I crop out some of my most interesting photographs. For example, on the recent Ryndam cruise, these five examples are among my favourites. I wish that I could've shown them full size, but you will get the general idea.

 

1) one of the birds which accompanied the ship for half an hour out of Mazatlan. I am unable to identify it. Its lower beak is shorter than its upper beak.

2) Radiance of the Seas departing Cabo San Lucas. A ski-doo had roared across the bottom of the photograph, and I liked how the sailing ship was within the triangle between that and the wake of the departing cruise ship.

3) Two sailing ships in San Diego. I liked how the seagull flew by in the bottom right corner, giving another idea of motion.

4) A seaman cadet lowering the flag after departure from Cabo San Lucas.

5) Early morning fog.

 

Has anyone ever seen a fire watchman on their cruises?

 

I don't think so, but, then, I may have seen them without realizing that they are fire watchmen.

 

Donald.

[Host Sharon]

Great photos Donald.

No I don't have lots of cards. I have one 1gb for my digital SLR (which I don't always take with me), one 1gb card for my pocket digital camera, which I use on board and for places where you are not supposed to use flash (like churches) since it is great in low light, and my trusty film SLR, for which I usually allow one film per port roughly.

 

Like you, there are often about 3-5 photos I especially like per holiday. I have not had much success posting thumbnails here before, but if it works here are three of my favourites.

 

 

 

[Host Sharon]

Oh dear - I do not know what I am doing wrong but it has never worked for me.!!

[Kapricorn]

Oh dear - I do not know what I am doing wrong but it has never worked for me.!!

 

When you are in the "reply to thread" box (where you type your messsages before posting them), scroll down below that box to "Additional Options." Click on "Manage Extensions" and then "Browse" to select a photograph, and finally click on "Upload."

 

Do give it a try, or was that what you did?

 

Donald.