Cruise Ships Maiden voyage

[thomas michael]

hi graham shaw #5
good evening, how do you manage living in a metropolis the size of london, and with the amount of people constantly rushing about. i seriously would not last a day,
the last time i went there ,was the last time, and will never happen again, its like visiting a foreign country.
tom

[j.sabourn]

#10 An old Italian Proverb ... After the game the King and the Pawn go into the same box. Close to Spikes attitude to life. ? JS

[happy daze john in oz]

It was reported he wanted to be buried in a washing machine!!!!

As to cruise ships, there are plenty of quiet spots where you can hide away from the ever madding crowds.
There is also on most a sanctuary where kids are not allowed, but for some odd reason the majority want to crowd around the pool all day.
But for us , we always manage to find a quiet spot away from them all, table just for two at dinner as well.
Do not wish to hear all the wonderful and marvelous stories some will come out with, lot of one upmanship takes place at the dinner table when you have 6 or
more at it.

[Johnny Kieran]

We've been on plenty of cruises, but I'm going off it now, the ships are too big for me. I don't enjoy all the fun things they have on board these days. I like the peace and quiet, for me it's what being at sea is all about. I know that they all have lots of people in them, but if I can't get a regular quiet spot to spend my time in the sunshine, I don't enjoy the trip.
The last one I used to like was the Oriana, but she was sold to china, there was always plenty of hideaways on deck for us.
Since then they get bigger and bigger, so I think I've had enough. I think I'll buy a caravan in future, that'll please Mrs K.

[j.sabourn]

Never been on one , but they remind me of Butlins Holiday camps which I had to undergo twice for the sake of the kids when they were young. JS

[Graham Shaw]

tabnabThomas #11- London. Simple answer is many Londoners,if you don't work in the City,hardly ever go there. I used to work there for 10 years , for TfL(Transport for London )on my post- seagoing second career . Most of us live in our own little metropolis's (metropolii?) like me in West London,or East London,South London etc,and once you've got over the novelty at first of visiting all the Tourist Sites,and the over-rated and bloody expensive West End shops, and the 'orribly'crowded Oxford Street then the only real occasions for going 'into town' are perhaps to the theatre etc.

Having said that I shall shortly wander off for the day,like I do every year, on my Riverboat Voyage.That's independently,not on a tourist cruise. I buy a day Clipper card,£17.00 for seniors and use the not so crowded,except at commuter times,beautiful Clipper boats-from Putney Pier along the Thames via all the London and Westminster riverside sites ,under all the famous bridges,past the impressive Canary Wharf business district and out to Greenwich. There are toilets and snack bar on board and they can give a good rate of knots when the skippers 'turbo chargers are tickled'where need be to maintain schedule or avoid other river traffic. I always wait until Greenwich though to have a stroll into the Village and have a coffee and tabnab in one of the tea gardens. Then it's off by Clipper on a short hop to North Greenwich/Millenium Dome.There I cross over the River and spend about a fiver one-way on what is called the Emirates Airline,which in fact is an aerial cable car with individual pods giving great views up and down the Thames.This leaves me then at Royal Victoria, yes the wistfully evocative concrete expanse which many of us knew as the site of the Royal Victoria Docks from where we joined or paid off our ships. After lunch I take the Docklands Light Railway and Tube to Waterloo where I have a mooch around and find another unvisited pub by me to have a pint before embarking again on a Clipper from near the London Eye back to West London.
It fulfills my longing to be back at sea,gives great views of London and it's river traffic,without that,for me only, I would stress,not for many others, would otherwise be a claustrophobic ,'unreal' voyage' experience on an ocean cruise.
.... Anyway,those are my thoughts from an exiled Mancunian who chooses to live in London-the capital of the World !

[Keith Tindell]

Just reading that Graham has knackered me !!!, i have not been in London for many many years, would probably bring nostalgia on big time if i went on that river cruise, but sounds interesting. The only really enjoyable cruise i took (cruise is inflating the word ) was on Doubtfull Sound in New Zealand, absolutely beautiful, was overnight on a 50ft ish boat with ten other people. Wildlife was something again.

[Graham Shaw]

Keith # 17.My Clipper Cruise......not really Keith,it sounds hurried when describing it.In fact it's a full leisurely day.I set off at about 8 for the short bus ride to Putney Pier and get home about 7 pm,ready for dinner and a good night's sleep! A great day out.Best done in the spring or autumn on a fine forecasted day of course.

[thomas michael]

hi graham #16
good afternoon, well you are certainly getting out and about, and by all accounts getting your monies worth, as they say its horses for courses,and its
a better answer than my nephew gave gave me, when i asked him what he liked about living there he named all of the art galleries the cinemas,theatres, the resturantes and the huge difference in cultures that he bathes in, i then asked which theatres and galleries and resturantes he used he said well im too busy working at the moment but they are there if i need them, i noted and quoted the fact he had lived in london for about ten years.
tom

[Bryan Portwig]

the ship in questionglobal dream 11.jpg