Saturday 17 December 2016 – A busy cruise ship schedule for Liverpool in 2017

This year has been a busy year for Liverpool’s Cruise Liner Terminal, bringing in dozens of cruise ships, tens of thousands of passengers, and millions in revenue for the city. The coming year is set  to be just as promising for the city’s growing cruise ship industry. According to Cruise Liverpool’s preliminary 2017 schedule – which covers up to 14 October 2017, there are twenty-nine vessels due to visit the city on sixty-one occasions between them.  Four of these vessels will be making their inaugural call to Liverpool.  The ship Magellan was also due to make its inaugural call at Liverpool in June 2017, but ended up making it on the 9 August this year when the vessel was forced to take refuge in Liverpool from storms in the Irish Sea. She will be visiting Liverpool six times in 2017.  As you may know if you are a regular visitor to my blog or my YouTube channel, I photograph and video many of the cruise ships when they are in the Mersey and I will be continuing to do that next year, trying in particular to capture those ships I haven’t managed to photograph or video on previous visits to the city or those ships here for the first time.  Below is each of the cruise ships scheduled to visit Liverpool next year, with photographs sourced from the Internet.  I have also included links to previous blog entries on some of these ships. The schedule is preliminary and is subject to change.

Boudicca (Fred Olsen) (13)

Thursday 5 January

Friday 9 June

Wednesday 5 July

Thursday 13 July

Friday 21 July

Saturday 29 July

Monday 14 August

Monday 28 August

Tuesday 29 August

Wednesday 6 September

Friday 22 September

Saturday 30 September

Saturday 14 October

Saga Pearl II (Saga) (2)

Sunday 19 March

Tuesday 25 July

Le Soleal (Ponant) (2)

Friday 28 April

Thursday 4 May

Aida Vita (Aida) (4)

Sunday 14 May

Saturday 19 August

Saturday 2 September

Saturday 16 September

blog entry

Silver Whisper (Silver Sea) (2)

Monday 5 June| inaugural visit

Tuesday 13 June

Magellan (CMV) (6)

Tuesday 6 June

Thursday 15 June

Tuesday 27 June

Saturday 8 July

Saturday 15 July

Tuesday 5 September

blog entry

Prinsendam (Holland America) (2)

Wednesday 7 June

Saturday 12 August

Nautica (Oceania Cruises) (2)

Thursday 8 June

Sunday 17 September

blog entry

Caribbean Princess (Princess) (3)

Saturday 10 June

Friday 28 July

Wednesday 9 August

blog entry

Seven Seas Explorer (All Leisure) (2)

Sunday 11 June

Tuesday 19 September

MV Voyager (Prestige) (1)

Monday 12 June

Eclipse (Celebrity) (1)

Wednesday 14 June| inaugural visit

Saga Sapphire (Saga) (2)

Friday 30 June

Thursday 3 August

Queen Elizabeth (Cunard) (1)

Tuesday 11 July

blog entry

Disney Magic (Disney Cruise Line) (1)

Friday 14 July

blog entry

Minerva (Swan Hellenic) (1)

Thursday 20 July

Journey (Azamara) (1)

Saturday 22 July

Silhouette (Celebrity) (2)

Saturday 22 July

Thursday 17 August

Adonia (P&O) (1)

Monday 24 July

Zuiderdam (Holland America) (1)

Saturday 5 August| inaugural visit

Marina (Oceania Cruises) (1)

Tuesday 8 August

blog entry

Artania (Phoenix Reisen) (1)

Thursday 10 August

Symphony (Crystal) (1)

Firday 18 August

Marco Polo (CMV) (3)

Sunday 20 August

Friday 1 September

Friday 29 September

Rotterdam (Holland America) (1)

Thursday 24 August

Pacific Princess (Princess) (1)

Saturday 9 September | inaugural visit

Crown Princess (Princess) (1)

Thursday 14 September

Albatross (Phoenix Reisen) (1)

Wednesday 20 September

Amadea (Phoenix Reisen) (1)

Thursday 28 September

Below is a video of some of the many cruise ships to have visited Liverpool during 2016.  It can also be viewed on YouTube

Tuesday 13 December 2016 – Christmas trees around the world

Here in Liverpool city centre we have two public Christmas trees, a traditional one on Church Street and an artificial illuminated one on Paradise Street (above). I thought it would be interesting to Google some of this year’s public Christmas trees from around the world. You can be the judge as to which is your favourite from the photos below, or at the video on my YouTube channel. (also below)

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BERLIN, GERMANY

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BETHLEHEM, PALESTINE

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BOURNVILLE, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND

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BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

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BYBLOS, LEBANON

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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

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LEGOLAND THEME PARK, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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LONDON, ENGLAND

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MADRID, SPAIN

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MILAN, ITALY

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MUNICH, GERMANY

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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PARIS, FRANCE

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PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

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RAKVERE, ESTONIA

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RAMALLAH, WEST BANK

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SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

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STRASBOURG, FRANCE

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

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TOKYO, JAPAN

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VANCOUVER, CANADA

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VILNIUS, LITHUANIA

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WARSAW, POLAND

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WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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ZGHARTA, LEBANON

Wednesday 7 December 2016 – Terracotta warriors, giant puppets & tall ships: Liverpool thinking big for 2018

The terracotta warriors of Xi’an (photo: the Guardian)

Liverpool is already building up to a year of spectacular events, exhibitions and anniversaries in 2018. That year will see the city mark the 10th anniversary of it being European Capital of Culture, the 20th anniversary of the Liverpool Biennial contemporary arts festival, and the 30th anniversary of the opening of Tate Liverpool.  The city will also welcome the return of the Tall Ships and the spectacular Giants puppets created by the French company Royal de Luxe which proved incredibly popular in 2012 and again in 2014. Today, in China, Karen Bradley – the British culture secretary – has put the icing on the cake when she announced that an agreement has been made for a selection of the the  terracotta warriors in Xi’an in China will visit Liverpool in 2018, the first time they’ve been seen in the UK since 2008 when they were on display at the British Museum.

 

Around 120 objects, including terracotta warriors themselves, will form the exhibition at the World Museum Liverpool between February and October 2018. It will be paid-for exhibition, but will no doubt prove incredibly successful. The British Museum exhibition in 2007/8 was seen by over 800,000 people and was the Museum’s second-most popular exhibition ever, after the 1972 Tutankahmun exhibition. The warriors were first discovered in 1974 when a man was digging a well in Xi’an. Since then over 8000 have been uncovered. The life size figures were created to accompany China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang into the afterlife. Each has individual clothing, hairstyles and facial expressions. Of the cultural coup for Liverpool and the UK, the culture secretary said:

 

“The terracotta army represents one of the most significant archaeological excavations of the 20th century, and I am delighted that a selection of the warriors will be coming to Liverpool for the first time in 2018. I am sure that the exhibition will be very warmly received by the people of Merseyside and beyond as Britain welcomes back the terracotta warriors.  The exhibition will also encourage an ongoing cultural exchange between China and Britain, further progressing the relationship between our two nations and strengthening lasting ties.”

 

Liverpool’s exhibition will be hoping to achieve the success achieved by the British Museum and will no doubt highlight that the Liverpool exhibition will include objects never seen in the UK before. Also, the Liverpool show will differ from London’s in that it will cover the pre-unification Qin kings (307 to 221BC) and the first emperor’s legacy in the Han Dynasty (206BC to AD220). The World Museum Liverpool is especially pleased to have been offered this tremendous opportunity.  David Fleming, the director of National Museums Liverpool, said the organisation was “highly excited.” He said that as Liverpool has Europe’s oldest Chinese community it was especially pleasing that the terracotta warriors were coming to the city. He continued:

 

“Following the success of our Mayas Exhibition in 2015, and the reopening of our Ancient Egypt gallery in 2017, this is a significant time for World Museum and National Museums Liverpool. It is really important that we stay in healthy dialogue with our international colleagues.”

The Blackie & Chinese Gate on Nelson Street in Liverpool China Town

Beyond Liverpool, the agreement with China is part of an ongoing process of strengthening cultural ties between the two countries. This comes after a difficult period with China and after Prime Minister Theresa May’s suggesting that we could be entering a “golden era” of relations with China after she met Ma Kai, a Chinese vice-Premier. The Guardian wrote of the increasing cultural ties between our two nations:

 

“The UK has been using culture as a soft power tool in China for a number of years. This year, for example, the Royal Shakespeare Company embarked on its first major tour of China and the British Library has organised exhibitions with literary treasures such as Shakespeare’s First Folio and Charlotte Bronte’s fair copy manuscript to Jane Eyre. Bradley also visited the McKinnon Hotel in Shanghai where the theatre group Punchdrunk is about to open its hit show Sleep No More with Chinese partners.”

The giants in Liverpool in 2012 – Giant Uncle on Dale Street, Giant Girl in Anfield & Xolo the Dog

 

The terracotta warriors are certainly a big coup for Liverpool which, in recent years, has gained a reputation for staging world-class and spectacular events. The return of the Giants to the city for the third time is especially significant as it shows that the Royal de Luxe company holds the city in special regard as it has chosen only Liverpool to host its giant spectaculars in the UK. In 2012 they brought three of their giant puppets to the city – Giant Uncle, Giant Girl and Xolo the Dog – as part of the Sea Odyssey spectacular.  The three paraded around the city’s streets, parks and docks, drawing hundreds of thousands to the streets from around the country and world. In 2014 they returned with Giant Girl, Xolo the Dog and the spitting and farting  Giant Grandma to mark the anniversary of the beginning of World War One in an event called Memories of August 1914. The giants are set to return to Liverpool  in 2018 as part of the city’s Eighteen for 18   plans for exhibitions and events to mark the 10th anniversary of the city’s European Capital of Culture status in 2008.

The giants in Liverpool in 2014 – Giant Grandma at Queen Square, Giant Girl on Renshaw Street & Xolo the Dog at Falkner Square

 

As if the terracotta warriors and the return of the giants weren’t enough, the return of the ever-popular Tall Ships to Liverpool in 2018 will round off what promises to be a fantastic year of events, exhibitions and celebrations in the city.

The Tall Ships at Liverpool on previous occasions, including (left) off Crosby Beach in 2008 (photos BBC)

 

Further reading & links:

 

• China’s terracotta warriors to return to UK for first time in nearly a decade | The Guardian website, 7 December 2016. Used for source of quotes in this post.

 

• Terracotta Warriors come to Liverpool in massive coup for city | Liverpool Echo website, 7 December 2016

 

• Giants in Liverpool | Playlist of videos on my YouTube Channel

Saturday 26 November 2016 – A fog-bound Albert Dock and Pier Head & Liverpool Christmas Market after dark

Around noon today I went to the Albert Dock and Pier Head to take advantage of the thick fog that had descended on Liverpool overnight in order to capture some photos and video. Many years ago, around about 1984, I captured the Liver Birds on top of the Liver Building in Liverpool from the Mersey Ferry in mid-river. It was peering out of a dense fog that obliterated the entire building except for one of the two Liver Birds which peered out of the gloom. This was my all-time favourite photo but sadly I have long since lost it. Ever since I have hoped to recapture the moment, but have failed to do so and today was no different. The Liver Building was almost completely obscured from more than about 30 feet away and when close enough to make it out, it was shrouded in a white haze that didn’t capture well in the photo below. Nevertheless, the fog allowed me to capture some nice photos, including the sun’s light diffused – making it look larger – over Salthouse Dock in the picture above.

Above: a tall-ship in Canning Half-Tide Dock, the Liver Building, and the sun peeking through the fog from Mann Island

Above: The Port Authority Building and The Beatles Statue, both at the Pier Head

Later today I nipped to St Geroge’s Plateau on Lime Street to take some photos of the Liverpool Christmas Market after dark.

LINKS:

• Fog-bound Albert Dock & Pier Head – PHOTOS ONLY  /  VIDEOS & PHOTOS (video also at top of this post)
• Liverpool Christmas Market – PHOTOS ON FLICKR  /  PHOTOS ON YOUTUBE  (above)
• Liverpool Christmas Market & Shrek-Inflatable (20 November) – YOUTUBE (below)
• Related BLOG entry (20 November)

Sunday 20 November 2016 – Giant inflatable Shrek at Liverpool’s St George’s Hall and Liverpool Christmas Market

As part of the promotion for the upcoming Dreamworks Lights Lantern Experience event at St George’s Hall in Liverpool, a giant inflatable Shrek has been secured to the roof the Hall. It peers out over the columns and looking out across St George’s Plateau and Lime Street. At the moment Liverpool’s Christmas Market is also taking place on the Plateau. The Dreamworks event begins next weekend and runs until the middle of January. You can read more about it and book tickets at dreamworkslights.com. I nipped down to St George’s Hall today to photograph the Shrek and take some video of the Christmas Market. You can see the photos on my FLICKR site and the videos of the Christmas Market on my YOUTUBE channel. The video is also above.

Monday 14 November 2016 – Liverpool’s St Johns Market reopens after rebuild

St John’s Market has been closed for a few months while it undergoes a complete rebuild on the existing site. Today it reopened after the multi-million rebuild.  I had a wander around this morning with my camera. The market is now on two floors instead of one, although the upper level was still not completed in time for today’s reopening. It has a clean, modern feel to it but still has a sense of a labyrinth – at least on the lower level – with corridors here and there which is reminiscent of the previous market which could be difficult to navigate around.  The upper level from what I could see today doesn’t seem to have this problem, with stalls laid out simply around a balcony overlooking the lower level.  Traders were anxious for the market to reopen in time for Christmas shopping, yet today only a few of the stalls were actually occupied and open for business. No doubt the market will soon be bustling again as traders move back in.  The previous market had many unoccupied stalls – whether due to the economic situation or simply, I feel, because the labyrinth nature of the old market made some stalls difficult to rent as they were tucked away in a little-used part of the market. Hopefully the new market will see less empty stalls. First impressions I had today were positive in the main – a little less white might have been more to my taste.

Watch the video I took today (from which these photos are taken) on my YouTube Channel. The video is also at the top of this post. You can watch a video, made by Paul Frost, walking around the new market on his YouTube Channel. Watch a video, again by Paul Frost, of Ken Dodd reopening the market.

Sunday 13 November 2016 – Remembrance Sunday at Liverpool Cenotaph

This morning I went into Liverpool city centre to watch the Remembrance Day service and to film and photograph the events, in particular to get footage of the veterans and regimental march-pasts and the poppies and tributes left at the Cenotaph and in nearby St John’s Gardens.  I filmed the regimental march-pasts last year  but the quality was bad as my video camera was rubbish. This year I was able to get much better footage.  There was a large crowd gathered on Lime Street and St George’s Plateau – on which the Cenotaph is located next to St George’s Hall.  There was the usual religious service and an opera singer performing a couple of songs. The two-minute’s silence at 11am was marked at the beginning and end by a salvo from an artillery gun situated nearby on Islington next to the Steble Fountain and Wellington Monument. The two-minute’s silence was observed immaculately by the crowd. Following the service, the regimental and veteran march-pasts paraded out of St George’s Plateau and along Lime Street and into the city centre.

Above: Some of the many memorials in St John’s Gardens

After I’d filmed the march-pasts I went home, only to come back not long after to capture some photos and footage of the Cenotaph and St John’s Gardens. I would have waited after the march-pasts earlier on but you couldn’t get near the Cenotaph right away so I decided to come back. When I got back into town I  wandered around St John’s Gardens photographing the various memorials to regiments, battles and wars in the gardens. Having done this I timed walking round to the Cenotaph  perfectly for just as I was back on St George’s Plateau the first of some Orange Lodge marches was arriving at the Cenotaph. Different Lodges marched from different parts of the city to converge on the Cenotaph to perform their own Remembrance service. I filmed them and also got photos and film of the poppies and tributes around the Cenotaph itself.

Above: An Orange Lodge band arrives at the Cenotaph, and poppies on the Cenotaph

Above: The Cenotaph and St George’s Hall, and statue of the Earl of Beaconsfield beneath a “We Will Remember” banner

I have put my photos and videos from today on Flickr and YouTube. You can view the video of the veterans and regimental march-pasts HERE, (or at the top of this post), or the Orange Lodge videos HERE. (also above) You can view all the other photos and videos I took at the Cenotaph and in St John’s Gardens on YouTube HERE, or below, or just the photos on Flickr HERE.

Thursday 20 October 2016 – ACL container ship “Atlantic Sea” gets a Royal Christening at Liverpool.

For the first time in over 50 years a ship received a Royal Christening on the River Mersey today when the latest ACL container ship, MV Atlantic Sea, was named by HRH Princess Anne, the Princess Royal. It is also rare to see a container ship at the Liverpool Cruise Terminal, which made the Atlantic Sea’s presence at Liverpool today even more special. The Atlantic Sea is the first vessel to receive a Mersey Royal Christening since Princess Alexandra named HMS Devonshire way back in 1960. Liverpool’s status as a port has declined dramatically since then and has only now started to recover to some extent. The opening of the Cruise Liner Terminal and ACL’s decision to base its European operations in Liverpool are two important examples of that revival. ACL’s new European headquarters building has just been completed on Duke Street in the city and its workforce has doubled in the last three years. It also great to see the name Liverpool proudly beneath the name Atlantic Sea – something that is also rare these days for shipping lines operating internationally.

There have been some protests by the RMT union against the lack of British seamen on board the Atlantic Sea, and there was a small demonstration at today’s naming ceremony calling for ACL to use more British people on their ships. ACL’s response to this is to encourage British people to apply for jobs on their ships. For more information on the RMT’s SOS 2020 campaign click HERE.  ACL has been associated with Liverpool throughout its 50 year history. Since 1969 Liverpool has been the base of its Atlantic schedule. Perhaps the company’s most famous ship was the Atlantic Conveyor, which was built on the Mersey at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead. Sadly, during the Falklands  War in 1982, it was sunk after being struck by an Argentine Exocet missile attack – costing the lives of 12 men, including the ship’s Captain Ian North. Captain North was one of six Cunard seamen on board the requisitioned ship as it sailed to the South Atlantic. A memorial to the loss of the Atlantic Conveyer can be found in Liverpool’s Parish Church, St Nicholas.

Above: Princess Anne at the naming ceremony and the moment she Christened the ship. Liverpool Echo photos.

Princess Anne named the ship at around 12.30pm at a ceremony at the Liverpool Cruise Liner terminal watched by crew members, dignitaries and a few hundred people along Princes Parade which overlooks the landing stage. When she named the ship with the customary bottle of Champagne coloured smoke was let off next to the stern of the Atlantic Sea and Royal Britannia and other rousing music began playing over a p.a. system.  The actual ceremony was also broadcast over the p.a. system. The Princess Royal was then taken on a tour of the ship. I was there in time for the naming ceremony but you could see little from Princes Parade and I wasn’t that interested anyway. I was there to get some video and photos of the container ship which, as I have said, is a rare visitor to the landing stage with container ships usually only going as far as Seaforth a few miles north at the mouth of the Mersey in Liverpool Bay.  The Atlantic Sea was huge with an interesting design that ensures the stability and safety of the numerous containers stored on her deck. A series of wall-like structures along the deck and triangular-shaped wedges around the edge of the ship ensured that the containers stayed in place in heavy weather.

I wanted to go back down to the Pier Head this evening, or possibly across the River Mersey to Woodside, to video the fireworks display that was being laid on to celebrate the River’s first Royal Christening in 56 years but I was unable to make it. You can watch an excellent video of the display  by Paul Frost on his YouTube channel.  The Atlantic Sea set out into the middle over the River at around 6.30pm and the fireworks were set off before she sailed out of the River to continue her career as the latest vessel from the ACL.  A couple of more interesting videos of today can  be viewed on YouTube on the channels of Phil Anderson and AL Stirling.  My videos and photos of the vessel at the landing stage are also on my YouTube channel. You can view some more of the Liverpool Echo photos on my  Flickr site or you can read a related article on the Cruise Liner Terminal’s website.

Monday 10 October 2016 – Beatles sites and Sudley House with my brother in Liverpool

I spent a few hours today with my brother, visiting Sudley House before going to see John Lennon’s and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes and the gates to the Strawberry Field – a former Salvation Army home and now a prayer centre. Sudley House is a magnificently preserved merchant’s home from the 19th century and features original period furniture and paintings, including one of the world’s best collections of pre-Raphaelite paintings. Built in 1824 and modified in the 1880s it contains the personal collection of George Holt, who was a ship-owner and former resident at the house. The paintings are still in their original setting and includes works by Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, John Everett Millais and J. W. Turner. The house has been in the hands of the city of Liverpool since it was bequeathed to the city in 1944 by Emma Georgina Holt, daughter of George Holt. It was originally built for a corn merchant, Nicholas Robinson who was Lord Mayor of Liverpool in the late 1820s. It then passed to his daughters and when they died in the 1880s George Holt became the owner. There is a debate over the original architect. National Museums of Liverpool suggest it may have been Thomas Harrison because of certain features in the two-storey ashiar building. The  art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner suggests the original design was by John Whiteside Casson and was modified by James Rhind when George Holt bought the building. The jazz singer, George Melly – who was related to the Holt family – spent many times at the house when he was a child in the 1930s when Sudley House was owned by Emma Holt. The house was re-opened in 2007 after a refurbishment and now contains galleries for temporary exhibitions and rooms for educational groups.

My brother at Sudley House

I have been to Sudley House twice before, once  with a friend shortly after it reopened in 2007 and again in 2013, but had been planning to go with my brother for probably over a year before we finally got round to doing so today. It was Brian’s first visit, though he thinks he may have been there when he went on a bus tour around Liverpool with George Melly some years ago. However, after visiting today he can’t be sure that it was Sudley House, or  thinks it may have been Sudley House but  that he only got a quick glance of the building from the outside during the George Melly tour.

Brian with George Melly some 25 years ago and me in the Dining Room at Sudley House

When I last went to the house there was what I thought was a temporary exhibition of twentieth-century women’s eveningwear. Today the exhibition was still there, though it has been expanded and is now focused only on the eveningwear of the 1930s. Called Putting on the Glitz, it features many fabulous examples of eveningwear from the decade.  As well as that exhibition and the magnificent paintings, there are also displays of period children’s toys and costumes as well as period furniture, fixtures and fittings throughout the house. Sudley House is tucked away on Mossley Hill Road in the Aigburth district of south Liverpool and is easily passed-by. I’m sure there are a great deal of people in Liverpool itself who have never heard of, let alone visited this magnificent Victorian treasure – now managed by National Museums of Liverpool.  Definitely worth a visit. Entrance is free and you can read more about the house on the official website.

“The Windmill” (oil on canvas, about 1830-60) and “Morning”  (oil on canvas, c.1846).  Both paintings are by Thomas Creswick and can be found in the Morning Room

Examples of 1930s eveningwear in the Putting on the Glitz display at Sudley House

My photos from Sudley House can be seen on FLICKR and on YOUTUBE you can view both the photos and the videos I took. The video is also at the top of this post.

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After we’d visited Sudley House we went up to Menlove Avenue to see “Mendips”, the childhood home of John Lennon. He lived at the house from 1945 to 1963 with his Aunt Mimi. After “Mendips” we walked the short distance down Menlove to Beaconsfield Road where you can find the gates to the Strawberry Field Salvation Army home, immortalised by The Beatles in their song “Strawberry Fields Forever”. I have written about the gates before in my blog.   We then went to Forthlin Road off Mather Avenue to see No. 20, which was Paul McCartney’s “proud family” home as a child. I was surprised that Brian had never seen either homes or the Strawberry Field gates, so today turned out to be a little Beatles tour for him.

John Lennon outside “Mendips” in 1952 and superimposed with Brian today. You can see just what a wonderful job the National Trust has done in restoring the house to its appearance when Lennon lived there.

The two of us at the Strawberry Field gates on Beaconsfield Road and below at 20 Forthlin Road

You can view my photos as a photo animation on YOUTUBE  (also above this section of this post) or the original photos on my FLICKR site.  Yesterday would have been John Lennon’s 76th birthday and, by coincidence, today is the anniversary of the death of Eleanor Rigby whose grave can be found in St Peter’s Church yard in Woolton, Liverpool. She died in 1939 aged 44. It was in the nearby St Peter’s Church Hall that Paul McCartney and John Lennon first met in 1957. Paul maintains that the name wasn’t inspired by the gravestone but it makes a good story, which you can read HERE. There is now a sculpture of “Eleanor Rigby”  – inspired by the song not the woman – on Stanley Street in Liverpool city centre. It was designed by the singer Tommy Steele who offered to make it after a performance in the city in 1981. He accepted a fee of just three pence and the sculpture was unveiled in December 1982.

Friday 16 September 2016 – MS “Nautica” cruise ship at Liverpool Cruise Liner Terminal

Berthed at Liverpool today was the Oceania Cruises liner MS Natuica.  She went into operation in 2000, then operated by Renaissance Cruises, and has also been part of the Pullmantur Cruises fleet (2002-2004). Since then she has operated for Oceania Cruises with a port of registry in the Marshall Islands. The Natuica weights over 30,000 tonnes and is approximately 593 feet long by 83 feet wide.

She can carry 824 passengers on her nine passengers decks along with 386 crew.  The Nautica was once the target of Somalian pirates while sailing in the Gulf of Aden in November 2008. Thankfully, she was able to escape without injury to either its passengers or crew.

The busy season of visits by cruise ships to Liverpool’s Cruise Liner Terminal is now running down as Autumn sets in. Between now and the end of the year there are only three different cruise ships visiting the River Mersey, although together they will visit the city on twelve different occasions. Those three ships will be the Marco Polo, the Black Watch and the Boudicca.  The last of these ships is due to visit the city on no less than eight occasions before the year is out. The Marco Polo is due three times and the Black Watch on just one occasion on the 27th December. You can view the Cruise Liner Terminal schedule online.

As always you can view my videos of MS Nautica’s visit on my YouTube channel (also at the top of this post) and my photos on my Flickr site. I went back to the Pier Head this evening, hoping to catch the Nautica sailing from Liverpool. I got there just in time to catch her departing. Watch a short video of her leaving on YouTube. (below).

While back at the Pier Head I also took some photos around the Pier Head and Albert Dock as dusk was descending over the Mersey. You can view the photos and videos on YouTube, or just the photos on Flickr.