Double edged sword I spose, on the one hand, here I'll be on a day at sea (which you can't beat!), and on the other, its not too often there are the 2 Queen's alongside, together with 2 ex Cunarders, and a P&O vessel...

...I'll leave it for you to decide where you'd rather be!!!!!

Patsy/Gaz, if you will see them, hope the weather is sunny and you enjoy the occasion.

a) which ships?; and

QE2 departs 12:00 for refit in Germany, Oceana & Saga Rose and Oceana 17:00, QM2 18:00 and finally Saga Ruby at 18:30.

Latest times on the day via http://www.southamptonvts.co.uk/shipping_movments.asp

If you've got a marine band scanner, channel 12 (118.20) is the channel for VTS.

I'd recommend getting to Mayflower Park in the morning as the two Saga's will be on 101 berth (right next to the park), behind on 105 will be QE2, and 106 will be Oceana.

I'd then jump on the Hythe ferry at 11:40, for a grandstand view of QM2, pop round to the Marina and then you will be in a superb spot to view QE2 passing QM2 at around 12:20.

If you'd rather use your car, get round to Hythe anyway for the passing of the Queens, same location for the Oceana and Saga Rose passing QM2, then get yourself down to Calshot where you get to be really close to the ships as they head from Southampton Water into the Solent.

If you do come down, hope you have a wonderful day, and you may bump into Patsy or Gaz on the Marina.

quote:

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Originally posted by Patsy:
You can rely on me to get squillions of pics, Andrew! !

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Look forward to seeing any anyone gets on Sunday.
... and have a great cruise Andrew. Just don't think of that Poseidon Poster

LOL! But Ernst, I tape it all anyway. That's what parents are for.

I'm not going down for the arrivals now. Be better if we had a car then could keep warm. The times are just ridiculous with no public toilets nearby. Will be going for the sailings though, rain or no rain. I've already posted these elsewhere but in case you miss it, here's the cams in case you don't know them:

QM2 cam

QE2 cam

Oceana cam

quote:

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Originally posted by Patsy:
Bon Voyage tomorrow, Andrew!

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Thanks Patsy & Pam for wishing me Bon Voyage! I'm working tonight (yuck!) and will hopefully pop out of the office to see Arcadia arrive before I finish (I am a Ship Planner in the Container Terminal).
I am really looking forward to it, I hope we sail before the Black Watch so I can get some photos as we pass.
I will raise a glass as we pass Hythe!

ABP Have issued the following Press release re Sunday:-

20/04/2006
SOUTHAMPTON TO WELCOME FIVE SHIPS ON ‘CRUISE SUNDAY’

Associated British Ports’ (ABP) Port of Southampton will welcome a quintet of cruise ships on Sunday, 23 April. The arrival of these ships marks the first time that five cruise vessels have gathered simultaneously at any UK port since 1966. It marks an early highlight of the 2006 cruise season, which is already shaping up to be another record-breaking year for the port.

The ships scheduled to call at the port are Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2, P&O’s Oceana and Saga Cruises’ Saga Rose and Saga Ruby.

Coinciding with the arrival of the cruise ships, ABP is working in conjunction with Southampton City Council to provide open-top bus tours of the port for the public. The tours will run every hour between 10am and 5pm from Mayflower Park, Southampton, and will give local residents the chance to see the ships close up. Although the tour is free-of-charge, ABP is using it as an opportunity to encourage people to make donations to local charity Naomi House Children’s Hospice, a charity the port has been supporting for a number of years.

In February, ABP announced that Southampton had broken its long-standing record for the number of deep-sea cruise passengers handled over the course of one year, after 702,356 passengers passed through the port in 2005.In March, Southampton was delighted to win an award for ‘Best Turnaround Port Operations’ at the world’s largest cruise conference, held annually in Miami, Florida. The port is also thrilled at the prospect of welcoming Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas on 29 April, which, at 160,000 tonnes, is the world’s biggest cruise ship.

Doug Morrison, ABP Port Director, Port of Southampton, said: “Having five of these ships call at the same time shows just how popular Southampton is as a turnaround cruise destination, and also how well-suited we are to accommodating this scale of demand.”

He added: “Even just one cruise call is good news – not just for the port, but for the whole city of Southampton – so five of them all at once represents a very special day indeed.”

I will try to take plenty of photos on the day which should be on my fotopic site on either Monday or Tuesday http://lfj862w.fotopic.net it contains pictures of my other hobby but that will bore you!

Heres to a fine day!

quote:

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Originally posted by annnthony:
We'll be aboard, switching ships to the Crystal Serenity. Will any other ships be in Southampton that day?

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Black Watch will be there too. QM2 is scheduled to arrive first so the other 2 will sail past, be up early. BW will leave before CS though, and will be berthed between CS & QM2, so you won't get a chance to photograph her departure.

quote:

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Originally posted by cruiseshipluver:
pardon me but since when did QM2 and Qe2 have webcams?????....i am very late on this.....
cruiseshipluver

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They have not been on line long, a few weeks perhaps, so you haven't missed much. See links to the left.

I've now looked at our cruise ticket for Crystal which indicates our pier information as "QE II Terminal"......I assume that is not corrrect.

We sail at 6PM. Doesn't QM-2 also sail at 6PM? If so, I guess we may get some "trailing" photos.

[ 04-23-2006: Message edited by: annnthony ]

We went yesterday, took a coach load of 32 up, parked in Mayflower Park, and stayed there until about 4, we saw Lizzie go just before 1, we also went on teh free bus docks tour yesterday as well, and that was fascinating!

I took plenty of pics, so will post to my fotopic site a bit later for those that are interested.

But the sight of seeing Oceana, then Saga Rose, QM2 and Saga Ruby go down the water almost virtually in convoy was excellent!

After leaving Mayflower Park we went over to Hythe Pier and went down the end to photograph them going by!

It was an excellent day!

As for getting up at 2am Patsy to see them that is just insane! :-) But I woudl do that in my main hobby (buses) so we must be as mad as each other!

Will post link when my pics are up.

Those that atteneded yesetrday, did you enjoy it as well?

Enjoy, and do let me know your comments!