Not to be reproduced without permission
Updated 28th February 2009
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| About Us | ||||||||||||
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| I'm Patricia. I was born in December 1969, the same year the QE2 had her maiden voyage. We moved near Southampton in 1972 from Kent so I suppose that and having a grandfather and great-grandfather who were dockers in Liverpool meant it was fate I would end up loving modern cruise ships and the old liners. My dad had been based here in the army during the early 1960s and saw many of the old liners, including the impressive debut of the beloved France, which he still tells anyone who'll listen about today. The first ship I ever saw was the France when my dad dragged me down to see her leave Southampton for the very last time in 1974. I was totally captivated by her sleek lines, grace, elegance and style. Unfortunately he never took any photos and it was 24 years before I got any of her, by then renamed and rebuilt as Norway. But from then on I was hooked on the ships and would watch them come and go from my bedroom window. I would even stop if I saw any from the playground of my junior school to watch. I have to admit my interest waned from 1991 until Canberra's near imminent end in 1997 because there were just other things to do. I made more of an effort but it still wasn't anywhere near as much as it had been since 2005 after promising a friend in Merseyside I'd get off my backside that year! I used to dream of going on a cruise, with Canberra being the one I wanted to go on the most, but my fear of heights always | ||||||||||||
| bothered me. It wouldn't have been any fun if I couldn't ever go out on deck. But thankfully touring Arcadia (IV) in October 2005 showed my fears were groundless. So October 2006, exactly 52 weeks after touring Arcadia, I had my first cruise on the QE2. 2007 heralded a whopping seven cruises, four of which were on my own. Talk about making up for lost time! Then in 2008 Amy and I had one when I visited her to see the QE2 in LA a few months before she flew over here for our QE2 Fjords cruise. I also fell in love with a wonderful man on that QE2 trip so that ship will always hold a special place in my heart. I'm glad too I have a dad who's interested in ships as well otherwise going down to see them wouldn't be nearly as much fun, as he's found out the couple of times I couldn't be with him. | ||||||||||||
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| Hi I'm Amy. Born and bred in Los Angeles, I could have lived my whole life not going down to San Pedro to see a cruise ship leave harbor. Fortunately for me, my father grew up in Boston in the 1930s where he watched many of the famous liners visit that port. He especially became fond of the Cunarders when he lived in New York City in the 60s, so it was natural that when QE2 came to Los Angeles every year for her world cruise, it was down to the docks to see her. The first time I saw her was at dawn on a cold January day in 1983. I was five years old and my father got us up at five in the | ||||||||||||
| morning to drive the hour from Hollywood to San Pedro. That morning, as the sun rose in the east, it flashed upon a red funnel and a sleek black hull that shined and sparkled. I was hooked. It wasn't until 2004 that I would get to board her as a passenger after having watched her all my life. They say having is not so great a thing as wanting, but in this case it isn't true. Having traveled aboard her and loving the experience, I'll keep coming back for more, and my love of that one ship has led me into an interest in all passenger ships, with a special affection for Ocean Liners. | ||||||||||||
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| © Copyright Patricia Dempsey & Amy Blume 15th August 2006 Not to be reproduced without permission Updated 28th February 2009 |
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