We recently caught up with Captain Connery, on board Queen Victoria, to see what life’s been like during our operational pause…
What a difference a year makes!
This time last year we were docking for an overnight in Buenos Aires, during our South America voyage, and getting ready to go ashore to enjoy the most talked about night of the voyage, our ‘South America Gala Event’.
A year on, here we are sitting happy at anchor in Babbacombe Bay, Torquay. It’s no Buenos Aires but still it’s not too bad.
Maintaining the ship
Here are some photos from around the ship of our wonderful crew carrying out their daily work onboard:
One of the biggest maintenance jobs that’s been done onboard over the past few months was the ‘end-for-end’ of both 350 meters anchor chains. This is something we normally do during refit in a dry-dock, The team on board managed to do the job while at anchor in Weymouth and Southampton with the help of a local shoreside anchor handling ship.
Making the most of more spare time
During my leave, over the past year, I’ve been asked by many people what my days are like onboard now that we’re in this lay-up and have no Guests onboard. I tell them that half my job is the same – I still have 97 crew members to look after and need to keep the ship and crew safe and well. However, the other half of my job, which is the Guest focused side, has got a bit quieter these days which does mean I have a little more time free in the evening. Before our operational pause I would have had a Cocktail Party or a Captain’s Table to host. Alternatively I would just be walking around the public areas in the evening, taking the time to stop and have a chat with our wonderful Guests.
So, having some more free time I thought it would be a great time to learn how to play a musical instrument – that’s why I’ve started to learn the concertina (squeeze box). This now takes up a lot of my spare time. The Deputy Captain, whose cabin is next door to me, might disagree with me on this one, but I do think since I picked it up for the first time last August, I can now play something that sounds like music. A little more practice and I should be good to go to do gap filler in the Royal Court Theatre if needed!
How’s crew morale on board?
Don’t worry, it’s not all work onboard. The team still have some down time in the evening and there’s lots going on, from social distanced bingo, quiz nights, chess and table tennis tournaments, and we even had a Deck 9 aft BBQ when the weather was good.
Santa Clause in quarantine
I do think Christmas 2020 is going to be one of those that we won’t forget in a long time, no matter where you were in the world. On board Queen Victoria all the officers and crew made the most of the ship being in lay-up and enjoyed the festive season together. The Food & Beverage team put on a fantastic Christmas Dinner for everyone to enjoy. For me it was very nice to spend the day and evening with crew and you’ll be glad to hear that even Santa Clause got to visit everyone onboard (after doing his two weeks of quarantine first.)
Looking forward
I think I speak for all when I say that the biggest thing I’m looking forward to in 2021 is for the day the first Guest comes up the gangway again and we set sail from Southampton on another spectacular Cunard voyage to the wonderful destinations we explore.
Thank you Captain Connery for sharing, enjoy your annual leave with friends and family, and see you back on board Queen Victoria in April! Next week we will hear from our Technical colleagues on board Queen Mary 2!
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