Captain Greybeard

In November, the UK said farewell to the QE2, which sailed from Southampton for the 726th and last time as she headed for retirement as a floating hotel in Dubai. Well-wishers gathered in Mayflower Park and at the Queen Elizabeth terminal, and there were many tears shed by former members of crew, passengers who had sailed on the ship during its 41-year career, and those who simply could not bear to say goodbye to this great British icon. Union Jacks waved as she left the quay for a final firework display.

In June I flew to Italy to join Fred Olsen's latest vessel, Balmoral, for a cruise from Rome to Venice. We had a great time, visiting Naples, Sicily, Malta, Brindisi, Corfu and Dubrovnik. The ship, formerly the Norwegian Crown, and stretched by the insertion of new a 30-metre mid-section, is an excellent addition to the Olsen fleet. Here she is in Messina harbour . . . sailing out of Brindisi at sunset . . . and in Dubrovnik's "new" port . . .

New ships were arriving in the UK with alarming regularity during 2008. P&O's Ventura (below) was launched by Dame Helen Mirren in mid-April. Just two weeks later Sir Steve Redgrave was among the stars at the launch of Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas (below). In June, Holland America Lines' latest ship, Eurodam, paid a brief visit ahead of her naming in Rotterdam by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. I'm looking forward to returning to the Tamarind restaurant (seen here) when I sail on Eurodam in the Caribbean at the end of February.

In New York, QE2 and Queen Victoria were joined by Queen Mary 2 for what was billed as a unique event - the only time the three Cunard Queens would ever be together in the same port. As the ships sailed down the Hudson together, the harbour was temporarily closed to other shipping, and thousands of people watched from Battery Park and other viewpoints in Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey. The spectacular firework display went ahead under a rainstorm as the three ships went their separate ways. Here's the Queen Mary 2 doing a graceful pirouette at Battery Park The [...]

With a new year of cruise holidays just around the corner, there's time to look back on the highlights of 2008. In January, I sailed to New York on Cunard's QE2, with newly-launched Queen Victoria for company. The first couple of days were a bit rough, and QV seemed to be bouncing around a bit more than we were. But the sea calmed after a while . . . . . . and we arrived in New York at dawn on a crisp winter morning. Back on terra firma . . .