Corinia
by Published on 6th May 2016 05:37 AM
Caronia 47.jpg
Thu Apr 28th At sea in the Eastern Mediterranean between Egypt & Turkey: Booming whistles! Late yesterday afternoon, we left the Suez Canal at Port Said & entered the Mediterranean. It was as if we'd passed through a glass wall – we'd left the Middle East & so goodbye to high onboard security, the stateroom drapes closed at night, dim deck lights & those watchmen with binoculars & portable phones connecting to the bridge stationed along the open promenade deck. But it also became – and almost instantly – much cooler, a sort of Mediterranean air-conditioning. We sailed off in tandem with what the Captain called "our big sister," the Queen Mary 2. For a hour, the two huge liners were side by side & creating quite an occasion: very close range, huge crowds on deck, cheers, picture-taking and rounds & rounds of those booming ships' whistles being sounded. A great day for Cunard and another great day for us – yes, Rule Britannia!
Busy times today onboard the wonderfully comfortable Queen Elizabeth: Today's program includes the likes of Looking 15 Years Younger in 15 Minutes, belly dancing class and (with over 100 passengers entering) a Paper Plane Contest (the glorious Queens Room became the "airport"). And on a more mental note, we've had some stellar speakers these past days including General The Lord Dannatt (Britain's retired equivalent of the Secretary of the Army) and Commodore Jerry Kyd, master of the new, $3 billion, yet-to-be-commissioned Royal Navy super aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.
And move over Len & Bruno: Tonight, I helped judge the Queen Elizabeth version of Dancing With the Stars. (But we are, quite thoughtfully, instructed to be generous & kind – everyone is a winner!)
Golden memories: Marjorie is from Philadelphia. This is her 7th Cunard voyage, but the first six were made over fifty years ago. Over lunch, she recalled: "My aunt & uncle crossed on Cunard every summer. They'd sail from New York in July aboard either the Queen Elizabeth or Queen Mary and then spend two weeks in London and then two weeks with family in Scotland. They always traveled first class. It was all purposefully planned – they would catch the August westbound crossing of the famous Caronia, the Green Goddess. The Caronia made only two or three crossings each year from Southampton & Le Havre to New York. Said to be the most luxurious ship in the Cunard fleet, my aunt & uncle loved the Caronia. It was primarily first class and run like a big, floating country club. They felt the very best of Cunard's staff were on the Caronia. From year to year, barmen remembered how they liked their Martinis. It was truly like the best hotel in London – the ship was run to perfection. But when my uncle died in the early Sixties, my aunt very generously took me as her companion. On three summer trips, we repeated the process: We crossed over on one of the Queens, stayed in London and then Scotland, and then returned on that August sailing of the Caronia. I was a young girl then, but I do remember the Caronia being very luxurious, very proper, very British. It was a world of quiet and order, immaculate white linens and polished silverware, and where all the other passengers seemed to know one another. Yes, the Caronia was really like a great club – but a great club that moved."
(photo shows the legendary Caronia at Naples during a cruise to the Med in the 1950s)
Last edited by Doc Vernon; 6th May 2016 at 05:42 AM.
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