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Aurora shows respect to the last true liner
Copied from the Liners List on Yahoo (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LinersList/) I liked this story as it illustrates what makes an ocean liner different from a modern cruise ship - speed!
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 22:48:14 -0000
From: "stevethomas29" <stevethomas29@yahoo.com >
Subject: Gentlemen-We will follow...
Hi again,
Seeing Aurora and the QE2 together reminds me of sailing back to Southampton on Aurora, across the Bay of Biscay last April at the end of a wonderful Atlantic Islands cruise. It had been a lovely sunny day at sea, when the bay was behaving itself and it was early evening in the Alexandria restaurant astern of Aurora, with panoramic windows around the three sides. Suddenly dinner service was all but halted as our stewards told us to look for the QE2 in the distance behind us, but fast gaining. We were making around 23 knots at the time on a calm sea, with the characteristic gentle pitching of the ship due to the under-currents and effect of stabilisers. It was soon evident that QE2 was moving considerably faster, and was due in Southampton the evening before us. As she approached she grew ever closer on our starboard stern, and at that point our Captain announced that we were giving way for her to pass, and that he'd radioed across with the message "Gentlemen, we will follow in your wake". Needless to say, it's a wonderful sight to see the liner pass so close whilst at speed, and many of us left our tables for a while to grab a quick view and picture from higher up on deck.
It's a regular occurrence for these ships to pass like this on similar itineraries, and indeed, we met Oriana too, in Madeira, but for me who is fairly new to this cruising life, there was nothing routine about it- it was a magical sight to see the QE2 at full speed, from 'my ship' the Aurora. Two ships around 40 years apart, and yet routinely together, forming such a nice spectacle and feeling of continuity.
Regards from Steve.
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 22:48:14 -0000
From: "stevethomas29" <stevethomas29@yahoo.com >
Subject: Gentlemen-We will follow...
Hi again,
Seeing Aurora and the QE2 together reminds me of sailing back to Southampton on Aurora, across the Bay of Biscay last April at the end of a wonderful Atlantic Islands cruise. It had been a lovely sunny day at sea, when the bay was behaving itself and it was early evening in the Alexandria restaurant astern of Aurora, with panoramic windows around the three sides. Suddenly dinner service was all but halted as our stewards told us to look for the QE2 in the distance behind us, but fast gaining. We were making around 23 knots at the time on a calm sea, with the characteristic gentle pitching of the ship due to the under-currents and effect of stabilisers. It was soon evident that QE2 was moving considerably faster, and was due in Southampton the evening before us. As she approached she grew ever closer on our starboard stern, and at that point our Captain announced that we were giving way for her to pass, and that he'd radioed across with the message "Gentlemen, we will follow in your wake". Needless to say, it's a wonderful sight to see the liner pass so close whilst at speed, and many of us left our tables for a while to grab a quick view and picture from higher up on deck.
It's a regular occurrence for these ships to pass like this on similar itineraries, and indeed, we met Oriana too, in Madeira, but for me who is fairly new to this cruising life, there was nothing routine about it- it was a magical sight to see the QE2 at full speed, from 'my ship' the Aurora. Two ships around 40 years apart, and yet routinely together, forming such a nice spectacle and feeling of continuity.
Regards from Steve.