Arcadia in San Francisco

San Francisco – 8 May 2011.


Hello Nigel is with you once more, this time from San Fran!

We arrived here yesterday morning and are sailing for Seattle at 7.00pm this evening. A two day call in to this amazing city is always wonderful for the passengers; they would have had a full weekend here! In 1776, the Spanish established a fort at the Golden Gate (the opening of San Francisco Bay), and a mission named for Francis of Assisi on the site. (If you were not aware Assisi is in Umbria in Italy.) From that day on the city grew and it is now the 13th most populous in the USA, it is also the centre for liberal activism in the USA.

Our passengers have so much choice of shore excursions here, Alcatraz Island is always a firm favourite, but they would have also been tempted by a Movie Tour, China Town by Night, The Napa Valley, or the world famous tallest and oldest trees in existence, the Giant Redwoods Tour. If I was a passenger my choice would have been San Francisco by Helicopter, what a sight this majestic city must be like from a few hundred feet up!

We are now on day 27 of our The Grand Alaskan Adventure, it really is a voyage of a lifetime, with so much already experienced and seen and so much more to look forward to. I thought you might like to know how we have been entertaining our passengers during this first leg of this voyage, and view a few photos of ports of call, events and activities and celebrities we have been carrying. Since leaving Southampton on 12 April our in-house Headliners Theatre Company have performed nine production shows for our passengers. They have seen nine different cabaret acts and two concert pianists. Four local entertainment groups that I booked through our port agents - a Folkloric in Madeira on 15 April, a Steel Band in St Lucia on 23 April, the Barbados Bagan Doo Flicky Show on 24 April and the Tom Lepps Jazz Band last night here in San Fran.

We have had Bridge, Art, Craft, Dance, Language Teachers and no less that 10 Guest Speakers. We have five bands on board and a cocktail pianist.

There has been as much for our passengers to do, or not to do, depending on their preferences!

I do hope you enjoy the photo gallery today, it’s a real mix!


On 20 April at sea we had the final of our passenger boat building competition; eight days before this we invited our passengers to build a boat! Teams of passengers went to work and the final at the Aquarius Pool was a great deal of fun with hundreds of other passengers turning out to watch!

A group shot of all the boat builders, and top row far left myself, top row far right Entertainment Officer Graham Cook.

Some of my team at the boat building competition, left to right, Entertainment Assistant Shan Osman, Assistant Cruise Director Elaine Coles, Entertainment Officer Kaylie Hodges, Entertainment Officer Graham Cook.

The boat building judges, left to right, Deck Cadet Chris Rowles, 3rd Officer Andrew Rennie, 2nd Officer Andrew Walker, Staff Electro Technical Officer Terence Kearney and myself.

The winning boat and owner!

The race is on!


The shots below were in St Lucia on 23 April.

The ‘Rum Shop’, passengers and ships company enjoy this bar just off the ship; you can just drink or even have a sing!

Left to right me, cabaret act violinist Chris Watkins and Deputy Cruise Director Nikki Hooper.

What a lovely end!

The Harmonites Steel Band. I booked this band through our local agents in St Lucia to play at our Aquarius Pool Area; the passengers loved having the sounds and atmosphere of the Caribbean on board for the afternoon.

Our Celebrity Entertainer this leg of The Grand Alaskan Adventure was the gorgeous Bonnie Langford, she joined us in Barbados 24 April and left in Aruba on 26 April, she performed the evening of 25 April. Bonnie has showbiz running right through her, she is a phenomenal dancer, singer and actress, her first stage appearance was at four months old!!! You will remember Bonnie from Doctor Who, Opportunity Knocks, the film Bugsy Malone, the TV series Just William, and numerous musicals such as Cats, Peter Pan,The Pirates of Penzance, and Chicago. In 2006 Bonnie was a celebrity contestant in ITVs Dancing on Ice.

Bonnie and I in one of the Palladium Theatre dressing rooms before performance her on 25 April.

Celebrity Guest Speaker Sally Kettle and I in my office on 26 April. Sally has twice rowed the Atlantic Ocean, once with her Mother! She is an inspirational speaker and does a great deal of corporate work in this role. Sally gave two talks to our passengers and I also did a chat show with her.

Celebrity Guest Speaker Bill Tidy MBE and I in my office on 4 May. Bill is the UKs best loved cartoonist, but is also a writer, author and journalist. Bill gave three talks to our passengers.

Thank you for reading the blog today folks, I shall be back in a few days from Alaska!!!!

Nigel