Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Pictures of Grand Princess in Liverpool TODAY!

cullinp

By cullinp,
in Princess Cruises

Recommended Posts

cullinp

cullinp

Posted
Posted

Hi everyone, I'm a Royal Caribbean cruiser..........5 weeks until Freedom of the Seas :D ......... however I had a treat today when the Grand Princess docked in Liverpool, England.

 

I popped down to the new Cruise Ship dock and took a few photos whilst she was just preparing to depart.

 

I thought you chaps might like to take a look. She's a beautiful ship and the first real cruise ship I ever saw when my Mum and Dad took me to St Maarten on a land based vacation one year!

 

I hope you enjoy the images. http://gallery.me.com/pcullington

 

Happy cruising.

 

Paul.:cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kruisey

kruisey

Posted
Posted
Hi everyone, I'm a Royal Caribbean cruiser..........5 weeks until Freedom of the Seas :D ......... however I had a treat today when the Grand Princess docked in Liverpool, England.

 

I popped down to the new Cruise Ship dock and took a few photos whilst she was just preparing to depart.

 

I thought you chaps might like to take a look. She's a beautiful ship and the first real cruise ship I ever saw when my Mum and Dad took me to St Maarten on a land based vacation one year!

 

I hope you enjoy the images. http://gallery.me.com/pcullington

 

Happy cruising.

 

Paul.:cool:

 

I will be in the area September 09 across the water .I travel across to Liverpool for shopping and groceries from M&S. Looking after my 95 year old mother ......then back to Vancouver then to Bangkok to join Diamond Princess for my 31day cruise.

Many of my relatives from the past were born in Liverpool it holds a very soft spot in my heart.......Kruisey:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
goinsoon

goinsoon

Posted
Posted

Already excited about our TA in April............now I can hardly stand it:D

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your wonderful pictures. I have saved them to our favorites so we can view easily anytime!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cullinp

cullinp

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thank you everyone for the lovely response to the photos, CruiseCritic is a wonderful community and its a pleasure to share with you all. :)

 

Liverpool is the European Capital of Culture in 2008, the new cruise terminal opened to coincide with that. It's great to see these huge beautiful ships visiting a city with such fantastic maritime heritage. In the local newspaper this evening a Princess Exec was quoted as saying that the visit to the city had received excellent feedback, and that they were looking forward to sending a bigger and newer Princess ship into Liverpool next year. You chaps will probably be able to tell me which ship that may be?

 

I'm 28 years old and was stood shoulder to shoulder all the way along the dock with families, office workers and ordinary people who had come to see Grand Princess in dock. A touching moment was with an small frail old chap who was stood next to me on his own, we strook up conversation about the ship and he was asking lots of questions such as where she'd cruised from, tonnage, year she was built etc which I was happy to oblige. Turns out the gentleman had served with the Royal Navy and worked in the shipyards of the city all his working life (and through WW2). I have to admit to feeling very humbled in his presence. This was a very special day for him especially and the journey into the city had taken him 2.5 hrs hours on three different buses! I was trying to convey what a modern cruise liner is like aboard, at that moment I really wished I could give up my place on Freedom next month for him. :(

 

As she left port, the ship blared out "The Leaving of Liverpool" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaving_of_Liverpool) which is an old anglo-irish song, and the blasted its horn to salute the city and the two Tugs that had safely ushered her out into the Mersey estuary. (I've added a couple of video files to the gallery - the quality isn't fantastic but I caught a bit of the Princess exchanging horn salutes with the tugs.:))

 

A memorable day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cullinp

cullinp

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thank you so much for posting these great photos; that was quite thoughtful of you! I especially loved the one with the straight-on view of the stern as she sailed away. The old girl looks good, doesn't she?

 

She really does, great condition and a striking beautiful ship. Skywalkers Lounge is the very top room at the back isn't it? I bet the view is great from up there?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cullinp

cullinp

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I will be in the area September 09 across the water .I travel across to Liverpool for shopping and groceries from M&S. Looking after my 95 year old mother ......then back to Vancouver then to Bangkok to join Diamond Princess for my 31day cruise.

Many of my relatives from the past were born in Liverpool it holds a very soft spot in my heart.......Kruisey:)

 

You can't beat Marks & Spencers for food! :D Have a safe trip and enjoy this special part of the UK.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rdsqrl

rdsqrl

Posted
Posted
She really does, great condition and a striking beautiful ship. Skywalkers Lounge is the very top room at the back isn't it? I bet the view is great from up there?

 

Yes, that is indeed Skywalkers, and the view is great. Not only out over the water: from the far sides of the lounge, you can look back up the whole length of the ship to the bow -- I have an awesome photo I took from that vantage point, it seems as though the photo was taken while hovering above the ship in midair (well, except for the slight blue tint thanks to the tinted windows!). I'd post it except I'm still in the last century and don't have a digital camera yet.

Now I have a question for you: what is that building pictured in the very last of your photos? It looks familiar . . .

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cullinp

cullinp

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Yes, that is indeed Skywalkers, and the view is great. Not only out over the water: from the far sides of the lounge, you can look back up the whole length of the ship to the bow -- I have an awesome photo I took from that vantage point, it seems as though the photo was taken while hovering above the ship in midair (well, except for the slight blue tint thanks to the tinted windows!). I'd post it except I'm still in the last century and don't have a digital camera yet.

Now I have a question for you: what is that building pictured in the very last of your photos? It looks familiar . . .

 

Good question!! That is one of "The Three Graces" and is called the Liver Building

 

The Royal Liver Building (pronounced ˈlaɪvə) is one of the city of Liverpool's most recognisable landmarks. It stands at 90 metres (295 feet) and has 13 floors. Since its completion in 1911, it has overlooked the River Mersey from its waterfront location on the Pier Head and forms one of the 'Three Graces' along with the Port of Liverpool Building and the Cunard Building. It was designed in 1908 by Walter Aubrey Thomas, built by Edmund Nuttall and is one of the earliest examples of multi-storey reinforced concrete construction.[1] This is reflected in the building's Grade I listed building status.

 

The building is crowned by a pair of clock towers: as a ship passed along the river, mariners could tell the time from these. The clock faces are 25ft in diameter, larger than those of London's famous landmark, Big Ben, holding the distinction of being the largest electronically driven clocks in the UK.[2] They were originally named George clocks, due to being started at the precise time that King George V was crowned on 22 June 1911.[3] In 1953, electronic chimes were installed to serve as a memorial to the members of the Royal Liver Friendly Society who died during the two World Wars. During hours of darkness, the clock dials are illuminated.

 

Atop each tower stand the mythical Liver Birds, designed by Carl Bernard Bartels. Popular legend has it that while one giant bird looks out over the city to protect its people, the other bird looks out to sea at the new sailors coming in to port. Alternatively, local legend states one Liver Bird is male, looking inland to see if the pubs are open, whilst the other is female, looking out to sea to see if there are any handsome sailors coming up the river. It is also said that, if one of the birds were to fly away the city of Liverpool would cease to exist, thus adding to the mystery of the birds. As a result, both birds are chained to the domes upon which they stand.

 

The building remains the head office for the Royal Liver Friendly Society. It is reputed to be the Gothic inspiration for both the Manhattan Municipal Building in New York and the Seven Sisters in Moscow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rdsqrl

rdsqrl

Posted
Posted

Thank you! I think the Cunard Building is what I was reminded of, having seen photos of that in various histories. Beautiful building; I love the male/female liver bird myth! I should definitely sail on the British Isles cruise since inexplicably I've missed Liverpool in my many trips to England. Thanks again for the fascinating info!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JWJs

JWJs

Posted
Posted

Paul ~ I enjoyed your wonderful pictures so much and also enjoyed your story about being on the dock with other folks who were there to see the Grand! So nice of you to share.:) Seeing these big ships in port is so exciting. We saw our 1st big ship (Celebrity, Century) docked in Key West Florida while we were on a land vacation. We watched the last two people board and then watched the crew pull up the gangway, pull in the anchors and then watched as the ship sailed away. It was awesome and lonely too because the ship left without us. That's all it took...we are now taking a December cruise every year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cullinp

cullinp

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Does anyone know what time the ship left, we arrived at 5:45pm and it seemed to have departed early (the local paper said it was due to depart at 7pm)

 

Hi, She departed at 5pm - I also read in the paper it was leaving at 7pm??:confused:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
h3rjp

h3rjp

Posted
Posted

We got stuck in traffic for about an hour and a half, so we missed it by about 20 minutes! Least we had a nice 24 hours in Liverpool and these photos do make up for it!

 

Thanks to the op, it makes up for our dissapointment from yesterday

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...