We trundeled down from Funchal on the island of Madeira, to Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the island of Tenerife with the gentle speed of 15 knots, adjusting arrival there to suit the local authorities with their preference for the ferries. This can be quite irritating at times, because if a ferry is delayed, then other ships still have to wait. I experienced that myself once with an extra wait of up to 45 minutes, while everybody could see (including the Harbourmasters office as they have radar) that the ferry in question was still almost an hour away. Our maneuver would have only taken 20 minutes, so we would have been out of the way well in time, but “higher” insights (the harbourmaster sits in a tower high up ……) prevailed and we had to wait. Today the Cunard Victoria was not suffering from that but it was still tight as the gangways were only going out just at 10.00 hrs. and ships complement (security and shore excursion) normally prefer a little bit more time to get “their shop” set up properly. Luckily we did not have to wait for clearance as we were sailing from Portugal to Spain, both in the European Union.

Part of the (large) port of Santa Cruz. Opposite are two ferries with in the middle the ms Costa Fortuna. To the far left one can just see the bridge wing of the ms Ventura. The first white ship is a Car Ferry which was the one causing all the arrival challenges. The much smaller one, in the far corner, is a Fast Catamaran operated by Fred Olsen Lines on an inter island service.

We were far from being alone today. The Canaries are a hot spot for cruise ships nowadays as the islands can be reached from Europa in 2+ days, so guests can avoid having to fly, and if they fly, it is mostly a short flight and then you can do 7 ports in 7 days.  So today the following ships shared the rainly weather with us: the ms Ventura (P&O), the ms Costa Fortuna (Costa Cruises), the Mein Schiff 3 (Tui-Germany), and a small one, the ms La Belle des Oceans of only 5000 tons, she sat tucked away under the stern of the Mein Schiff 3, which is 20 times bigger.  This little one was built for the Japanese market as Oceanic Grace, back in 1989 and after a whole slew of owners, now  sails for Croisi Europe and is on a 7 day cruise around the Canary Islands. So a busy day in port with around 10,000 guests ashore, not counting crew.

The entrance to the Britannia Diningroom. It all looks in very good condition after 18 years of service.

Her Ladyship went ashore to have coffee with the wife of the Chief Engineer of the ms Ventura as they sailed together on the ms Sea Princess (formerly ms Kungsholm) back in the 1980’s. Who does still remember that ship ??  That gave me the time to go around the Victoria as most guests had raced ashore as soon as the gangway was out. Rain or no Rain.  The Queen Victoria has not changed much on the inside since 2007, no “Signature of Excellence” upgrades as HAL has been doing, but carpets had been replaced on a regular basis and the ship has been kept in a very good condition. Next dry dock is in the Autumn of next year and then they do have to do a lot of work on Movie – media etc. as they are running far behind with it compared to the competition.

The theatre as seen from the stage. This is the view an entertainer has when looking at the audience.

A Lounge which I really like is the main show lounge, called the Royal Court Theatre. Laid out as a London theatre from the 1920’s it gives an old fashionished and comfortable feeling  of “yes we will be entertained here”.

One of the murals outside showing the Shaftesbury Theatre, There are several of these located around the entrances to the Theatre.

They only thing that has misfired somewhat (Not Cunards fault) are the private boxes that you can hire for the evening (bellboy escort, champagne and nibbles). A very nice idea but then came the American ADA act which required the railings to be higher and of course to a height whereby the railing is just in your eye view. Cunard tried to avoid this by putting perspex in but this gives a distorted view so only the 2 upper seats in each box can peer over the rim and then it is still not great.  Also you watch the show under an angle  and that is not to everybodies taste. Hence my wife and I opt for the centre seats on the first elevation.

One of the theatre boxes. This is one of the best ones, as it almost views straight forward.

Moving on, behind the theatre on deck 3 is the Royal Arcade, e.g. the shopping area. On the starboard side it has a large store for the liquor, parfume and jewellery and on the same side but past the Queens Lounge it is the Bookshop (about 50% books and about 50% crips and candy). When the Queens came out, books were still a important source of revenue but that has diminished year by year. On the portside is the clothing and hand bag store store with just around the corner the “Cunard Collection” store with Cunard logo wear. Most bought item here (apart from fridge magnets) are the Teddybears, which are different for each ship. I do not know if the shops are doing well, they  never seem to be very busy (except for the liquor sales) but hopefully it works for them. The shops are run by a concession called Hardings and as is normal in the cruise business they pay a fixed daily fee, based on the number of guests on board, to the cruise company.  There are several of these company’s out there, but Hardings, Starboard. Effy and Duffry are the best known ones.

Overview of “The Arcade”. Shops on either side.

Below the shops is the Casino on the portside and the Golden Lion Pub (named after the golden lion in the cunard logo) on the right hand side. The casino is not very big as most British do not gamble. The Golden Lion is bigger than the Casino because most British do like a drink.  The latter space is designed, so it resembles of what most people think a British Pub should look like. At lunch time it also serves Pub-Grub, or pub food, but see my write up of a few days ago, since the menus have been “re-imagined” by Star chef Michael Roux there is not much “Pub” left in the “Grub”.

The Golden Lion Pub, inner side looking aft. There is a small bandstand, and the whole place is about 4 x bigger than seen on the photo. I have been to many a pub in the UK, but never have seen one with so much “chesterfield” leather chairs. Although I am all in favor of it.

When her ladyship came back, it turned out that they had been talking so much, that lunch had been forgotten, so I was dispatched to get something to eat from the Lido Buffet. They were just gearing up for “afternoon tea”.   This is a trademark service of Cunard,  English – High Tea- in the afternoon.  Queens & Princess Grill, get served in the Princess Grill, and the rest of the ship can go to the Queens Lounge. But that has limited capacity and thus waiting lines form. Plus guests who had their tea and finger sandwiches tend to linger, which can make the Queens Lounge a flustrating experience if you are not early. So there is also the Lido Restaurant. The finger sandwiches and cakes you have to get from the Buffet counter, but Ladies go around serving the tea. (This is english “Ceylon” tea, so not too strong, but it tends to thicken and gets darker if the pot of tea is not poored fast enough). It is a wonderful tradition that is nowadays  copied by a lot of companies.  The only problem is that, the brain always wants to eat more than the body feels it is ready to accept. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, But such are the cruising problems in life.

This is another of my favourite lounges and very personal. You need to be into books to see how special this is. The Mary, Lizzie and Vicky still have a  the full library lay-out. On the Anne, although a bigger ship, it is already much less, but still better than on many other luxury ships out there. This two level library with comfortable seats, has a large selection of books, paperback exchange and magazines,  and all is executed in dark mahogany.  Attended for part of the day by a Librarian who also acts as the “internet guru”.

We decided not to go out for cocktails this evening as we had this bottle of sprankling wine from last night. So our butler provided a champagne bucket with ice and together with the 5 pm. canape’s, all was well in the world. Dinner in the Queens Grill was lightly attended again and then we went for the show.  Tonight it was “Sounds of London”, focusing on songs of artists connected to the London area. (Elton John, Adele etc.) For this show they had beefed up the cast  to six singers and even the dancers were singing (or at least giving a very good impression of doing so).  Unfortunately I cannot post any photos as there was once again, this person on the tannoy who advised no photos, no video, no recording.  It is a copyright issue, but it does not make sense to me in a practical way as those who want to record/take a photo will do it anyway, and the artists miss a great opportunity for free advertising.

A few days ago I posted a picture of the Christmas village in the  Queens Lounge. The ship has two more of these displays, albeit smaller, and they are in the Lido. This is one of them.

Tommorrow we are in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, another island of the Canaries, some 87 nautical miles away. It will be a parade as the Mein Schiff 3 and the Ventura will also be there. Weather: dry and partly overcast. Temperatures around 18- 20oC / 65 – 70oF.