Meeting Commodore Rynd

Tuesday 29^th April

My bed was comfortable and I was weary from dancing the night away, as well as sleepy from a few short nights before leaving home. I kept waking up and deciding I was not ready to even look at the time. I finally checked my iPod at 11am and decided I’d better get up if I wanted to make the breakfast buffet before the banana bread was cleared away.

I’ve found quite a few people aboard from previous cruises. It’s always good to see a familiar friendly face, though there’s always the trepidation in case one of the nasty few might have been tempted by a cheap offer. Luckily not, this time.

On the internet there’s a site called Cruise Critic where people can ask questions and post comments about all things cruising. People also meet up on the first sea day of a cruise, which is a chance to get to know new people. Sometimes I go but sometimes I don’t bother. I wanted to this time, in order to put a face to a name I had seen quite often on the site threads. I was glad I went as the organiser, Jim (or CapnPugwash as he calls himself on the internet) had arranged for the fleet commodore to come and visit us. Jim had won the quiz that morning along with the commodore’s wife, and had invited her to come and meet us. It seems she sent her husband instead!

Commodore Rynd is a lovely man. He spent about 15 minutes with us. He told us of the special events of this voyage. When we reach Lisbon, all three Cunard ships will be berthed alongside each other. We will sail out together in the famous line. Later a helicopter will take photos of the three ships in their trademark position, with Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth level with each other while Queen Mary 2 sails between and slightly ahead. Balloons will be released for the photos. Again, we will sail into Southampton together at the end of the voyage. That night there will be fireworks as the ships leave Southampton. As we sail from Lisbon to Southampton, we will be within sight of each other. Ships have to keep a certain distance from each other or there is the danger of the passing ship sucking another ship towards it. It happened when the Titanic left Southampton. The Titanic’s passing caused a moored ship to break its ropes. (Afterword: We only saw one lone balloon at sailaway. I heard later that Cunard had cancelled the balloons for environmental reasons. I think that's a good idea as balloons could give bad indigestion to the fish!)

I’m sorry I didn’t have my camera with me to take a photo of Commodore Rynd, but here are some of the Commodore Club where we met up.