I know this was posted before but couldn't find it. I know we will see some wonderful pictures from our good friends across the pond.

"The ships will then form a procession as they leave Southampton and head down the Solent. Where the channel widens, the ships will move into a formation to be photographed from the air before they sail onwards to their various destinations."

Her Royal Highness will visit Southampton and join guests on Oriana, the ship named by HM The Queen at its launch in 1995. Following the reception, she will join THV Patricia to conduct the Fleet Review in her capacity as Master of the Corporation of Trinity House.

Each of the seven ships in the P&O Cruises fleet will depart on a Grand Event cruise and passengers on board will enjoy a special deck party to see them off in style with flutterfetti and daytime pyrotechnics from the quayside. They will leave their berths in Southampton in order and process down the Solent into Southampton Water.

The P&O Cruises fleet will then move into formation to pass THV Patricia at Charlie Anchorage and salute HRH The Princess Royal as they are photographed from the air before they sail onwards to their various destinations.

P&O Cruises managing director, Carol Marlow, said:

“We are honoured to have HRH The Princess Royal visit us on this, one of the most significant days in our history, as all our seven ships gather in their home port on the same day for the first time ever to celebrate 175 years of heritage. As one of our esteemed godmothers* she is intrinsically linked with P&O Cruises and we are privileged that she has agreed to conduct our Fleet Review.

“Thousands of people are expected to line the shores to witness this historical occasion, joining over 15,000 passengers and 6000 crew on board the seven ships.

“I am sure that this magnificent Fleet Review with Her Royal Highness in celebration of 175 years of heritage will go down in British maritime history, providing long lasting memories as we look forward to the next stage in our company’s history, with a new ship being launched in 2015.”

The Grand Event is part of a year of celebrations in 2012, marking 175 years of heritage. P&O Cruises can trace its roots back to 1837 when the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company was awarded the Admiralty contract to carry mail to the Iberian Peninsula and beyond.

Photos on the Hamburg port anniversary 2012

[ 05-17-2012: Message edited by: Ernst ]

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Originally posted by Ernst:
The benchmark for the July 3rd event:

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There has been many big send offs over the years with firework displays at Southampton, so perhaps Hamburg was just copying the UK with their display which was just for the naming of one ship.

Many very large fleet reviews have been done in the UK over the last 600 years, in the presence of a member of our royal family, as will happen again in Southampton on the 3rd July 2012.

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Originally posted by Neil - Ex P. & O. S. N. Company.:

There has been many big send offs over the years with firework displays at Southampton, so perhaps Hamburg was just copying the UK with their display which was just for the naming of one ship.[...]
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Compared to what is now frequently happening at Hamburg the word 'big' simply does not apply for the events at Southampton.

Don't take it too serious - neither Hamburg nor Southampton invented that nor are they competing.

P.S.: I have not been there during these events but I doubt that they are anchoring.

[ 05-18-2012: Message edited by: Ernst ]

As for P&O's event I am not sure what it is going to be for anyone other than those aboard the ships. The 'meet' for aerial photography is off the IOW and not going to be much of a view for anyone unless you manage to get lucky and time a ferry right.

Cunard's event in June might be better with the Red Arrows.

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Originally posted by PamM:
I note P&O are now also advertising the Red Arrows [no approx. timing], but anything else is merely marketing for sailing on one of the 'Grand Event' cruises. What exactly is there for anyone else apart from watching 7 ships sail in a line? It doesn't even mention fireworks.

Pam

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Indeed. I wonder how much the plans have had to be scaled-back following the Costa Concordia disaster: safety mustn't just be paramount, it must be seen to be paramount.

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Originally posted by Tom Burke:

Indeed. I wonder how much the plans have had to be scaled-back following the Costa Concordia disaster: safety mustn't just be paramount, it must be seen to be paramount.

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I doubt that since safety was already paramount before the Costa Concordia accident.
It will be very interesting to see what they actually do. Southampton is not really a good location for such a meeting since it will hardly make a difference that they are all in the same port at the same time giving how far the berths are away from each other.
The only circumstance where having the whole fleet in one place will be when they meet at sea. It's a pity that they are not doing that at a place from where one can watch them from ashore since the only one who can appreciate that will be someone in a plane or helicopter.

Thinking of ship parades the steamboat parades on Lake Lucerne come to my mind. It shows that they do that frequently - the parade involves many interesting manoeuvers and formations (unfortunately there is not too much good material online - most pictures and videos were taken from aboard a participating vessels and that's of course not the ideal point of view).

[ 05-19-2012: Message edited by: Ernst ]

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Originally posted by OceanVoyager:
[...]..if the weather is good![...]

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"Between 9pm and 10.15pm, the ships will reposition, creating a three ship formation around City Terminal."

Then the fireworks will follow.

Here's a link to a page on the .Cunard.co.uk website that gives the details.

[ 05-24-2012: Message edited by: Tom Burke ]

First, the Princess Royal will be in attendance - indeed, she'll be the guest of honour at a reception on board Oriana during the afternoon. Then she'll move to the Trinity House vessel 'Patricia' (one of the honorary posts she holds is Master of the Corporation of Trinity House) and she will review the fleet off the Isle of Wight.

Secondly, all being well the Red Arrows will perform a quick routine. They key thing here will be the weather, of course - the Red Arrows were also planned for the Vunard event earlier in the month, but the weather was too poor so they didn't make it.

The detailed arrangements for departure have been revealed in a 'notice to mariners' issued by the port of Southampton here.

We'll be on Oriana for the event (plus a short cruise afterwards) and we're looking forward to it enormously.

[ 06-27-2012: Message edited by: Tom Burke ]

for Tom: cruising the Noord Zee Kanaal

have a nice time in Amsterdam

If you're only going to have the whole fleet together for one day, why not get them closer in formation like some of these navy images. How incredible would that have been:

Instead all we get is this:

Formation?

They were all line astern down Southampton Water, but the weather meant not many good photo opportunities.

The reason for the above official pic in the Solent was due to the Princess Royal doing a review in the middle onboard the THV Patricia, with guard ship HMS Dragon at anchor.

So, although from the pic, it wasn't all "pretty", there was a valid reason.

In any case, that's still an impressive sight, never to be repeated again for a long time.

Also, the weather prevented the Red Arrows, so, the same as the Jubilee weekend with Cunard, it was a real shame for all concerned.

[ 07-07-2012: Message edited by: OceanVoyager ]