The ShipWatcher Blog

VQE2 – Bug Fixed

2010-11-26T12:13:00.000+10:00

VQE2.com displays a virtual webcam of Queen Elizabeth 2, showing images from the webcam of the classic ocean liner from her sailing days up till November 2008.

Unfortunately we had a bug where the website was accidentally showing images from the webcam of Cunards newest ship, Queen Elizabeth. The confusion occurred because both ships share the same Call Sign.

I’ve fixed the bug, so VQE2 should be working perfectly now.

If you’ve never checked it out before, why not take a trip down memory lane and see what QE2 was doing a few years ago!

New Ship – Queen Elizabeth

2010-10-04T03:20:00.000+10:00

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MS Queen Elizabeth

Cunard has a new ship: Queen Elizabeth.

I’ve added her webcam to ShipWatcher. Click this link to add her to your favorites.

New Ship – Azura

2010-04-11T14:09:00.000+10:00

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P&O has a new ship: Azura.

I’ve added her webcam to ShipWatcher. Click this link to add her to your favorites.

New Webams for RCI

2010-04-01T01:28:00.000+10:00

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I’ve added new webcams for two of Royal Caribbean’s ships: Oasis of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas.

If you’d like to add these ships, just click on “Preferences”, scroll to the bottom of the page, and tick the RCI ships that you want to look at, or click this link to add them to your existing ships.

I don’t think the RCI webcams are very exciting. They just show internal views of the ship, and no view of the sea or the horizon is visible at all. But you might enjoy watching some of the people walking around on the deck, waving at the camera. They’re probably thinking to themselves how lucky they are to be on a cruise ship while we’re at home just watching them.

I hope you enjoy it!

Pacific Dawn in Fjordland

2010-02-24T20:02:00.000+10:00

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Here’s a timelapse video of Pacific Dawn as she cruised through Fjordland in New Zealand this morning.

Pacific Dawn in Fjordland New Zealand

Pacific Jewel

2009-12-19T14:36:00.000+10:00

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I was at a restaurant in Sydney yesterday and just happened to see Pacific Jewel leaving port on her maiden voyage for P&O Australia . Here’s a few photos I took with my mobile phone. It was a gloomy day, and I’m sure everyone on board was glad to be heading north into sunnier weather.

But any time of year, Milson’s point is a pretty place with some spectacular views – especially if you love ships!

Pacific Jewel, (formerly known as Crown Princess, A’Rosa Blu, AIDAblu, Ocean Village Two).

Built in 1990.

Tonnage 69,845 GRT

Length 245m

Beam 32.5m

Draught 7.9m

Capacity 1990 passengers

New Ships – Ocean Village & Ocean Village 2

2009-10-21T10:01:00.000+10:00

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I’ve added Ocean Village and Ocean Village 2 to ShipWatcher.

They’ll soon be transferred to P&O’s Australian fleet, but by adding them now, you’ll be able to watch them on their final voyages for their current company.

You can follow them here:

Ocean Village on ShipWatcher

Ocean Village 2 on ShipWatcher

Hindenburg LZ-129

2009-10-04T12:40:00.000+10:00

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Hindenburg LZ-129

A Postcard from Dan in Georgia. Dan is a kindred spirit who loves Ships, Airships Old Aircraft and postcards.

Thanks for the fantastic postcards, Dan. I’ve sent a couple more in reply.

Hindenburg.

Length: 245m

Beam: 41m

Payload: 500,000 pounds

Cruising speed: 125km/h

Max speed:: 135 km/h

Passengers: 50 crew, 72 passengers

Much has been written about this amazing airship. You can see some great pictures of the interior and read more about her at Dan’s site: airships.net

MV Italia

2009-10-03T13:21:00.000+10:00

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MV Italia

GRT 20,223

Length 609 Feet

Breadth 78 Feet

Built by Blohm & Voss of Hamburg in 1928 for Swedish American Line (SAL) she was named “Kungsholm”. She ran on the North Atlantic route between Europe and North America in the 1930’s.

She was requisitioned by the US Government during World War II and renamed “John Ericsson”. During the war she operated as a troop carrier and took part in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day in 1944.

Sold to Home Lines in 1948, she was refitted and renamed “Italia”. She served until 1964 when she was sold to Freeport Bahama Enterprises who renamed her “Imperial Bahama” and used her as a floating hotel.

She was sold for scrap in 1965.

This is a Postcard from Dan in Georgia. Dan is a kindred spirit who loves Ships, Airships Old Aircraft and postcards. He runs the AirShips.Net website dedicated to the Hindenburg and other Zeppelins.

Thanks for the fantastic postcards, Dan. I’ve sent a couple more in reply!

New Ship: Carnival Dream

2009-09-21T10:42:00.000+10:00

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I’ve added Carnival’s latest ship, Carnival Dream to ShipWatcher.

At over 1000 feet in length, Dream is the largest ship in Carnival’s fleet.

She was built by Fincatieri in Italy, and leaves on her maiden voyage today, from Civitavecchia near Rome.

Even though you might not be able to be there on her maiden voyage, you can still enjoy the view from your computer screen and follow the voyage of Carnival Dream via ShipWatcher.

Schütte-Lanz Airship Over Warsaw

2009-09-12T13:56:00.000+10:00

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Schütte-Lanz Airship Bombing Warsaw

An old WWI propaganda postcard I bought recently which shows Schütte-Lanz Airship SL2 bombing Warsaw in 1914.

The SL2 was 144 metres in length, but she was later extended to 156 meters, with a beam of 18 metres.

She could carry a payload of 8 to 10 tonnes at about 88km/h (47 knots).

“What’s an airship doing in a ShipWatcher blog” you may ask? Especially in a wartime setting. The Schütte-Lanz Airships were the precursors of the more well-known Zeppelins of the 1920’s and 30’s. The ship in this picture (and it IS a ship – even if it does fly) is about the same length as a small to medium sized cruise ship.

In fact, later designs of the Schütte-Lanz Airship reached a length of 275 metres – about the same size as a modern ocean liner, although these later designs were never actually built.

The most famous relative of these flying ships was the ill-fated Hindenburg. A Zeppelin measuring 245 metres in length, capable of carrying 70 passengers at speeds over 130km/h (70 knots). On one flight in 1936, the Hindenberg carried a specially designed aluminium grand piano – the first ever piano to be carried in flight.

Airship technology is now over a century old. Who knows? Perhaps soon we’ll have modern safer airships conducting cruises similar to those of the 1930’s.

Queen Mary 2 in Hamburg

2009-09-12T13:40:00.000+10:00

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DE-404647

A postcrossing post card from Claus in Hamburg.

Claus says that when QM2 is in town, people go crazy, and over a million people may watch her.

She looks beautiful, Claus.

Thanks for the postcard!

NYK Kamo Maru

2009-09-01T17:33:00.000+10:00

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An old photo from fellow cruising adict and friend, Jo.

Kamo Maru was built in 1908 for Nippon Yusen Kaisha line, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi.

Although there is no official record available, she was probably built in the shipyards of Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, Ltd, in Nagasaki.

At just over 8,500 GRT and 470 feet long, she operated as a passenger, cargo and mail ship, regularly visiting Australia, China and other Asian ports. In fact, as you can see from the ad from the Sydney Mail, NYK offered regular cruises out of Melbourne and Sydney via Queensland, Thursday Island, Phillippines and Hong Kong to Japan.

In 1931 The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Kamo Maru had to drop off a passenger from Shanghai who had been diagnosed with Smallpox. The ship was then quarrantined for several weeks at North Head in Sydney while the passengers were monitored to see if anyone else contracted the disease.

In 1936 she was involved in a collision at sea with another vessel while sailing to Sydney.

She continued to visit Australia until the outbreak of war with Japan in 1941.

In July 1944, the submarine USS Tinosa torpedoed and sank Kamo Maru in the East China Sea west of Kyushu.

Thanks for the fascinating photo, Jo!

Primexpress / Karina

2009-08-29T09:49:00.000+10:00

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BE-40049

A postcrossing post card from Judit in Belgium

The ship in the picture is “Carina” (you might be able to see the name КАРИНА in cyrillic on her bow).

Length: 122m, 7600GRT, 328 passengers.

She is currently known as “Rochale One” and operates as a static ship for student accommodation in Amsterdam.

She was built in Nantes, France in 1977 for the then Soviet government and named “Aywasowski”. She operated cruises out of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

She was renamed Carina after she was bought by German company Phoenix Reisen in 1997. She changed hands again in 2000 and was renamed “Primexpress Island”, operating out of Cyprus.

The ship was impounded in the port of Limassol (Cyprus) because of unpaid bills.

She was eventually purchased by a consortium of three Dutch housing companies acquired the vessel, towed it to Amsterdam and configured it for use as hotel accommodation for students.

Her engines are kept in working order, so she is capable of sailing as and when needed.

Regal Princess in Vladivostok

2009-08-28T23:28:00.000+10:00

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RU-62200

A postcrossing postcard from Alla who lives in Vladivostok and actually studies at the University of Southern Qld.

Vladivostok is Russia’s largest pacific sea port, and home to the Russian Pacific Fleet. It is located near to the Russian border with China and North Korea.

Among the numerous naval vessels, you can see two cruise ships. The one on the left is Regal Princess, which was renamed Pacific Dawn in 2007. I am not able to name the cruise ship on the right. My friend Geoff from Oz Cruise Club tells me the ship on the right is Norwegian Wind (now Superstar Aquarius), which cruises the Asia Pacific region most of the year.

Thanks for the postcard, Alla!

HINT: Click on the image if you’d like to see a larger version

RMS Baltic

2009-08-04T17:40:00.000+10:00

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RMS Baltic Postcard

A Postcard from Miry.

RMS Baltic is the twin funnelled ship whose stern is visibile in the picture.

At the time she was built in 1903, RMS Baltic was the largest ship in the world, with a GRT of 23,876 and a length of over 222 metres.

She was the third of a set of four ships dubbed “The Big Four”, abd built for the famous White Star line by Harland and Wolff in Belfast – the same yard that made RMS Titanic.

Her maiden voyage was from Liverpool (the port seen in the picture) to New York in 1904. Her Captain, Edward J Smith was later to be the captain of RMS Titanic in 1912.

In 1909 she rescued survivors of the collision between another White Star Liner, RMS Republic, and SS Florida off the coast of Newfoundland.

In 1912 she transmitted ice warnings to RMS Titanic before that ship’s fateful collision with an iceberg.

In 1929 she rescured passengers of the sinking ship, Northern Light.

She was scrapped in Osaka in 1933.

This postcard was mailed in 1928 from Liverpool to France (see reverse side for details).

So much history in one postcard. How wonderful!

SS Orford

2009-08-02T12:10:00.000+10:00

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Orford Postcard

A postcard from Grant in South Australia.

Built for Orient Lines in 1928, SS Orford was loaned to France during WW2 as a troop carrier. She ran aground in Marseilles while evacuating troops in 1940. It took seven years for her to be refloated, after which she was scrapped.

She made many journeys between Australia and England in the 1930’s. In 1934 she carried Don Bradman’s cricket team “The Invincibles” from Australia to England along with the Australian Davis Cup tennis team.

RMS Orion / SS Orion

2009-08-02T11:52:00.000+10:00

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Orion-Postcard

23,300 GRT, and 203m in length.

A postcard from Grant in South Australia.

Built as RMS Orion by Vickers Armstrong in 1934, she was the first single-funnelled ship to be built for the Orient Line since the turn of the century. She was also the first ship to be painted in the Orient Line’s corn-colored livery, sporting a pale yellow hull.

She was the first British ship to ever have air-conditioning. In fact her entire interior design was ground-breaking in that she departed from the formal english styles found in wealthy British homes of the time, and adapted a more open-air and spacious layout that was better suited to tropical cruising. Wide promenade decks, slideing glass doors, removable walls, and chromium / bakelite fittings made her feel roomier and breezier, which was a welcome relief in the hot ahd humid tropics.

She was launched by the Duke of Gloucester. But, unusually, he was in Brisbane at the time, and the ship was in Lancashire, UK. He launched the ship by pressing a button in Brisbane, which transmitted a radio signal to the dockyards untimatley causing the ship to slide down the slipway into the water – quite revolutionary for the 1930’s.

She served as a troopship during the second world war, and was involved in a damaging collision with Battleship HMS Revenge when Revenge’s steering gear jammed.

She had an extensive fit-out after the WW2, and voyaged to Australia and the USA.

The National Archives of Australia record that she brought many immigrants to Australia during the late 1940’s, and the 1950’s, eventually being broken up fopr scrap in 1963.

What a fascinating history.

New Instant Slideshows!

2009-07-31T15:55:00.000+10:00

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I’ve upgraded ShipWatcher so you can view slideshows of recent images for any ship.

If you have a look under each image, you’ll see a new green arrow that looks like this:

The new "Play Slideshow" but for all ships

Click on that arrow, and you’ll see slideshow of recent images from the database.

ShipWatcher keeps a photo archive of interesting photos from each webcam, but it doesn’t record ALL photos. So if some of the photos you see in the slideshow are older than you expect, that’s because it’s been a while since ShipWatcher automatically captured any photos from it. The best way to make sure there are more photos in the archive is to click on the Camera button () and manually take some photos.

You can run slideshows for several ships at once, but the more ships you select, the longer it will take to display a new picture.

While the SlideShow is running, the green arrow will change to a “Stop” button that looks like this:

Click on the Stop button to stop the SlideShow. The most recent image from the camera will then be displayed.

It took me a while to work out how to do this, so if you use it, please let me know. If I know that people are using some of these new things, I’ll add more fun toys!

Why don’t you try it out now?

New Webcams: Crystal Serenity / Crystal Symphony

2009-07-27T10:51:00.000+10:00

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Thanks to Robert Heuman for suggesting we add ships from Crystal Cruises.

Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony are now available on ShipWatcher. They have three webcams each: forward, port and starboard.

We've Moved!

2009-07-17T20:45:00.000+10:00

This blog has moved!

The new address is

http://blog.ShipWatcher.com/

Please update your browser and RSS reader to the new links. All of our existing articles have moved too.

I'm now using WordPress as my blogging platform, and really like it.

If you've got any comments or suggestions, please let us know.

Suomen Joutsen

2009-07-09T18:02:00.002+10:00

Suomen Joutsen

A Postcrossing postcard from Anne in Finland.

The three masted, full rigged "Suomen Joutsen" was built in 1902. She has a steel hull and plied the trade routes between ports in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Since this was before the days of the Panama Canal, this means she frequently passed through the treacherous waters of Cape Horn on the southern tip of South America.

In 1930, the Finnish Navy purchased this beautiful ship for use as a Training Vessel.

From the mid 1950's she was a stationery seamen's training vessel, but in 1991 she was purchased by the city of Turku and operates as a museum.

What a beautiful grand lady of the sea. And what a gorgeous painting by Håkan Sjöström.

Thanks Anne. You made my day!

Minor fixes to ShipWatcher

2009-06-28T12:07:00.002+10:00

Some of the ShipWatcher features weren't working when you viewed the site using the latest version of Internet Explorer (IE8), so I've fixed those problems.

Basically if you held your mouse over a webcam image, you were supposed to then see information about the ship. This didn't work in IE8. While I was testing this, I found out it wasn't working properly when you used the Firefox brower either.

ShipWatcher should work fine with these browsers now. If it doesn't, please let me know.

I've also applied these fixes to VQE2.COM - the Virtual QE2 webcam site.

Something Old, Something New

2009-06-25T17:08:00.002+10:00

Two postcards I came across this week which highlight how ocean travel has changed over 70 years.

Tegelberg: (Info from Ronald Turner's web page)
Dutch passenger ship
Built at Nederlandscae Sb hij in 1938
Capacity: 640 passengers.
GRT: 14140,
Length: 170.5 metres,
Width: 22 metres,
Speed: 17/18 knots
Converted to a Troopship and chartered for the Ministry of War, Liverpool, in 1942, capable of housing 2681 troops.
Broken up at Kaohsiung in 1968 after 30 years of service.

Dawn Princess: (Info from Wikipedia)
Built by Fincatieri, in Italy in 1996.
Capacity: 1950 passengers, 900 crew.
GRT: 77,500
Length: 261m
Width 32m
Speed: 21 knots

My father travelled on Tegelberg between India and the UK in 1945. He tells me he remembers being aboard the ship, and how all the children were told to stay below decks at one point during the voyage while they buried a recently deceased Italian prisoner of war at sea.

Despite having 1/5 the GRT of a modern day cruise ship like Dawn Princess, Tegelberg was required to carry over 2,000 crew during her war service. One can only imagine how crowded that must have been.

Sailing under the Sydney Harbour Bridge

2009-06-23T21:50:00.001+10:00

Here's a video of our sail-in to Sydney Harbour, past the Opera House, under the Harbour Bridge as the ship's horn blasts a couple of times.

Sydney Harbour is spectacular, and sailing in during the day is a fantastic experience.

Video: Harbour Pilot boards Dawn Princess entering Sydney Harbour

2009-06-23T19:16:00.002+10:00

Here's a video from our recent cruise aboard Dawn Princess.

We arrived late into Sydney, which was fantastic, because we got to see everything in broad daylight rather than in the early hours of the morning.

As we approached "The Heads" at the entrance to Sydney Harbour, the Pilot pulled alongside our ship and jumped aboard.

If you ever get the chance on your next cruise, keep an eye out for the pilot. It's quite spectacular watching them come aboard.

SS Kaisar I Hind

2009-06-23T14:39:00.002+10:00

A painting of ship "Kaisar I Hind" outside the Wheelhouse bar aboard Dawn Princess.

Kaisar I Hind was built in Greenock for P&O in 1914 as a passenger liner.

At 11,430 GRT and 158m (520ft) she had a cruising speed of 18.5 knots, and operated a seasonal passenger service between UK and Bombay.

"Kaisar I Hind" is Hindi for "Empress of India".

Although she didn't have much cargo space, she had electric fans in every cabin, which were very popular with passengers.

She was almost hit five times by U-Boat torpedos during WWI. In fact, she was hit the fifth time, but luckily the torpedo failed to explode.

More info available here:
http://portal.pohub.com/pls/pogprtl/poghistory.display_document.pdf?p_id=1250

Dawn Princess: "A Day in Brisbane"

2009-06-12T09:18:00.003+10:00

Ship Dawn Princess is currently receiving maintenance at a drydock on the Brisbane River.

Brisbane is beautiful in winter, so I thought I'd record and upload a timelapse video from her webcam of a day on the Brisbane River, from sunrise to sunset.

The view is across the river from the cruise terminal where most ships berth. You can see the CityCat ferries zipping across the water all day, taking passengers into the city, and traffic moving up and down the river.

I hope you enjoy it. And if you're looking for a pleasant, relaxing place to visit during June, you can't go past Brisbane!

Coral Princess in Alaska

2009-05-24T11:46:00.008+10:00

I've been watching Coral Princess over the last few days as she tours Alaska.

Her webcam has been sending back some amazing shots of this beautiful part of the world.

If you'd like to look through the webcam archives, just go to http://ShipWatcher.com/Photos and browse away. If there's a specific ship you're interested in, just select it from the dropdown.

If you find any you like, please let me know and I'll let everyone else know about them!

Aurora

2009-05-08T17:30:00.002+10:00

Aurora

A postcard I sent home to Liz and the kids during my cruise between Sydney and Auckland.

The purser very kindly stamped it with the big black ship stamp before I posted it.

Unfortunately Aurora had problems with a thruster bearing during that leg of the voyage, so we missed a few ports, but it was still very enjoyable.

Built in 2000 for P&O, Aurora is 270m long, and over 76,000 GRT. She normally cruises at about 24 knots and usually does one circumnavigation in Feb / March each year.

Pacific Dawn Webcam Slideshow

2009-05-08T15:15:00.005+10:00

Some random shots from Pacific Dawn's webcam visiting some great places in the South Pacific. Browse more photos at http://ShipWatcher.com/Photos

Postcard: RMS Queen Mary 2

2009-05-04T09:47:00.001+10:00

RMS Queen Mary 2
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

A postcard from Wendy, who works on Cunard's flagship RMS Queen Mary 2. This postcard was sent recently while she was crossing the North Atlantic from Southampton to New York.

Thanks Wendy!

Queen Mary 2 was launched in 2003.

She has a length of 345m (1,132 feet) and a tonnage of 148,528 GRT. With a displacement of about 76,000 tonnes, she is the heaviest passenger ship in the world, eclipsing RCI's Freedom of the Seas, which although having a higher tonnage, only displaces 64,000 tonnes.

QM2 cruises at about 30 knots, making her the fastest ocean liner on the seas today.

She's too wide (41m / 135 feet) to pass through the Panama Canal, which means that during circumnavigations she must sail around Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America.

Source: Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Mary_2

New Ship: Carnival Splendor

2009-04-25T10:04:00.003+10:00

I've added Carnival Cruise Line's new ship, Carnival Splendor to ShipWatcher.

To see her webcam, just click on "Preferences" scroll to the bottom and look in the "Carnival Cruise Lines" section.

She has two webcams, although it appears that the "aft" cam is pointing at the swimming pool.

Rotterdam V in Bar Harbour

2009-03-27T21:28:00.002+10:00

Rotterdam V in Bar Harbour
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

A Postcard from fellow ship watcher, Dave.

Built for Holland America Line (HAL) in Rotterdam in the 1950's, she was the biggest passenger ship ever built in the Netherlands.

At almost 40,000 GRT, 228 metres long, she could carry almost 1,500 passengers on Trans-Atlantic crossings, but also with single-class cruises in mind. The staircase and dividing walls were able to be altered to allow passengers to enjoy the entire ship during cruises.

She was the first ship to be built without traditional funnels. an idea which was taken up by P&O when they build Canberra in 1960.

She served for 38 years with HAL until 1997 when she was sold to Premier Cruise Line (PCL), operating out of the Carribean.

PCL went bankrupt in 2000, and the ship suffered an uncertain fate until she was purchased by a consortium of two Dutch companies, Eurobalance and Woonbron.

She's currently berthed in her home port of Rotterdam, awaiting refurbishment as a Museum.

Ships in Storms

2009-03-22T23:51:00.001+10:00

Thanks to Kevin for emailing me this slideshow of ships in storms.

Server problems fixed.

2009-03-22T09:32:00.002+10:00

I apologise for the unavailability of ShipWatcher.com over the last few days.

Our server failed, so we bought a new server, which also failed.

Not being one to give up easily, I've been on this issue since Friday lunchtime, and am relieved to say that as of about 10pm last night, everything is now working fine.

What was most disappointing for me was missing the lovely shots of QE2 as QM2 sailed into Dubai.

On the bright side, we have a larger, faster server so things should run much better than before.

New QE2 News Feed

2009-03-18T14:20:00.002+10:00

I've set up a news feed for information about QE2 at http://qe2news.blogspot.com.

It contains an archive of news stories about QE2, as well as information about the new ship Queen Elizabeth which is to be launched in 2010.

To make it easy for you, I've also added a "QE2 News" section on the lower right section of ShipWatcher and VQE2 just above the "Cruising News" stories.

Enjoy!

Imrprovements

2009-02-22T14:07:00.001+10:00

I've improved the accuracy of the location reports for the following ships:

Queen Mary 2
Queen Victoria
Fram
Arcadia
Oriana

Isle of Pines, New Caledonia

2009-02-20T22:24:00.002+10:00

Isle of Pines, New Caledonia

A postcard from fellow cruise lover, Fiona (Cruisenut) who's on a south pacific cruise at the moment.

She says that the weather is good, and she thinks her ship is beautiful.

They're already planning their next cruise.

Thanks for the postcard Fiona, I've got a nice QE2 postcard here for you that I'll send away soon.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

Auckland's Amazing Acrobatic Tugboat

2009-02-18T16:11:00.003+10:00

We recently sailed from Auckland's beautiful harbour aboard P&O's Oriana which is currently on a world voyage.

The local tugboat captain skillfully helped the 65,000 tonne Ocean Liner gracefully reverse from her berth, and sent her on her way to Sydney.

But after he'd done the job, the Tug Boat captain showed us what he, and his powerful tug could really do.

To the Auckland Port Authority, and their Tug Operators, thanks for giving us a memory that will stick with us for years!

Please forgive the camera movement in the video. It's very hard to hold a mobile phone camera still while trying to celebrate at the same time.

Rob's new QE2 Website / Forum

2009-01-29T12:24:00.002+10:00

Ocean Liner enthusiast, Rob Lightbody has created a new website dedicated to QE2 at http://theqe2story.com.

He's set up a discussion forum at http://theqe2story.com/forum/

Rob's done an great job in preserving the legacy of QE2 for future generations by his photos and recollections. I'm grateful to him for helping me understand why she's such a wonderful ship.

Where old ships go to die

2009-01-28T17:07:00.002+10:00

Here's a CBS video about the ship graveyeards of Bangladesh.

"M/S Funchal"

2009-01-22T11:50:00.002+10:00

A Postcrossing post card from Vitoria in Portugal.

Funchal was originally built in 1961 to cruise between Lisbon, Madiera and the Azores. At 153m in length, she's much smaller than many of today's cruise ships, but she still has all of the essentials, including two restaurants, three bars, a theatre, a library and a casino.

She can accommodate over 400 passengers, and regularly cruises around the world during the Northern winter.

Thanks for the lovely postcard, Vitoria!

Improvements: Speed & Accuracy

2009-01-08T13:52:00.002+10:00

Over the last few days I've improved the response time of most ShipWatcher functions. It should be loading a lot faster now. If you notice delays, please let me know.

One other thing I've improved is estimating where a ship is. Some ships don't broadcast their position. They only tell us where they came from and where they're headed. I've given ShipWatcher a bit more intelligence so that it can guess the latitude and longitude of a ship, even if it doesn't know its exact position. It does this by looking at journeys from other ships that may have travelled a similar route in the past.

If any of the information seems incorrect, please let me know. I can't watch every single ship all the time, so sometimes I don't see when the data is wrong.

New MAP Feature

2008-12-31T13:18:00.004+10:00

I've added a new facility to Shipwatcher so that you can see a map that shows the locations of all the ships that are in the database.

When you click on the "Map" link on any of the Shipwatcher pages, you will see a Google Map that shows blue pins for each ship for which we have info.

If you click on that blue pin, you'll see some recent data, and a recent photo from the ship's webcam.

Why can't all software projects be as much fun as this?

Please let me know what you think.

Fairsea - ASC

2008-12-23T18:17:00.003+10:00

Fairsea - ASC
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

A replica of an old Fairsea postcard I purchased while at the National Maritime Museum.

This is from the era shortly after World War 2 when she was bought by Alvion.

An interesting comparison to this postcard from Lesley that I wrote about earlier this week:

Old Cunard Postcard

2008-12-23T18:15:00.001+10:00

Cunard
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

A beautiful replica of an old Cunard postcard showing RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth that I recently purchased from the National Maritime Museum.

The golden era of Ocean Liners!

VQE2 - A new page for QE2.

2008-12-23T11:46:00.002+10:00

I've added a new page to Shipwatcher dedicated to QE2.

http://VQE2.com shows the Queen Elizabeth 2's virtual webcam. The pictures on the webcam update every one or two minutes, and show webcam pictures that have been captured from some of her many journeys.

I've also gathered all of the Shipwatcher videos of QE2 on the same page so you can watch them without having to search through youtube.

For those of you who haven't guessed it yet, VQE2 stands for Virtual Queen Elizabeth 2. http://VQE2.com is a much easier way for you to get to the webcam photos for this great ocean liner.

If you have any QE2 webcam photos you'd like to add, please contact me at mail [at} Shipwatcher {d0t] c0m. I'll gladly give you credit for the photo on the main page.

Pacific Dawn

2008-12-22T10:04:00.002+10:00

Pacific Dawn
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

A Postcard from CruiseCritic friends Kym and Martin.

Originally built in 1991 at the Fincatieri shipyard in Italy, she was named "Regal Princess", and operated as part of the Princess Cruise Line until 2007.

She was sold to P&O Australia in 2007 and renamed "Pacific Dawn". She currently operates out of Sydney and cruises the South Pacific.

This postcard was sent via Tin Can Mail at Tin Can Island in Tonga.

Ellinis, Fairsea

2008-12-22T09:22:00.003+10:00

Postcards from CruiseCritic friend Lesley. Thanks Lesley!

Ellinis

Chandris liner Ellinis circa 1971.

This one makes a lovely match to another postcard I have of Ellinis here: neilius.blogspot.com/2008/07/arriving-in-oz.html

The "X" on the funnels is a greek "Chi" and stands for "Chandris" - she was part of the Chandris line.

This was the ship that my family migrated to Australia aboard in 1965. She carried many migrants to Australia in her time.

Built in 1932, she was originally named "Lurline" of the Matson line, and had distinguished herself during WW2 serving as a troop carrier, and was fortunate to have left Pearl Harbour in 1941 about 3 days prior to the Japanese attack.

Former Australian PM John Curtin sailed on her as part of a voyage to meet with President Roosevelt.

She was scrapped in the 1980's and parts of her were cannibalized for use on "Britanis" another Chandris ship.

She may not be as pretty as some of the more modern ships, but with a history of over 50 years she touched the lives of many people who, todoay, would probably never have had the chance to cruise.

Fairsea

Sitmar liner Fairsea.
You can read a more detailed history of Sitmar ships here: http://www.prijt-priet.nl/htm/fairsea.htm

Fairsea was built in 1941, and originally named "Rio de la Plato". She was taken over by the Royal Navy in 1941, renamed "HMS Charger" and fitted out as an aircraft carrier. She was later handed over to the US Navy who renamed her "USS Charger" after which she spent most of her war service in the Pacific.

Purchased by Alvion Steam Ship Corporation in 1949, she was converted into a Passenger Liner, and renamed "Fairsea", and operated as a Passenger Liner and Cruise Ship until 1969 when she was eventually broken up for scrap.

Added: More QE2 Photos

2008-12-20T15:52:00.002+10:00

I've added several hundred more webcam pictures of QE2 in Edinburgh and Rotterdam. I've also added the remainder of the Panama Canal Transit.

That takes the total QE2 photos to over one thousand.

I still have quie a few more to add.

Added: More QE2 Webcam photos

2008-12-18T21:51:00.003+10:00

I've added several hundred QE2 webcam images from her last visit to Sydney, and her east-bound approach to the Panama Canal. I've just completed a bulk upload facility so I should be able to add more images more quickly over the next few weeks.

FIXED: Photo page was running slow.

2008-12-18T21:49:00.001+10:00

The Photos page was taking ages to load.

I've fixed this problem by improving the way the database is organized, so you won't have to wait so long for the photos page to load, or to do any searches.

"Ile de France"

2008-12-16T16:46:00.002+10:00

DE-253807
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

"Ile de France", French Line. Built 1927. A Postcrossing Postcard from Maren who lives in the west of Germany on the River Rhine.

The "Ile de France" was the first major ocean liner built after WW1, and was entirely decorated with Art Deco designs. She was considered the most beautifully decorated ship built until the SS Normandie.

Her dining room was said to be magnificent - three decks high, with a grand staircase.

She boasted a gymnasium, shooting gallery, a gothic style chapel and merry-go-round/

Her entrance foyer was four decks high, and cabins boasted beds instead of bunks.

She was the fastest mailship of her time. Not because of excessive speed, but because she had a sea-plane catapult at her stern. When the ship was within 200 miles of land, she would launch the mail in a seaplane. Thus the mail would arrive sooner than if it had stayed aboard the ship.

She had a distinguished record in World War 2, on loan to the British admiiralty.

She was eventually sold to Japansese scrap merchants in 1959.

What a grand old ship.

Thanks for the postcard, Maren!

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ile_de_France

New: QE2 Virtual Webcam

2008-12-12T15:56:00.002+10:00

The big news in the last month is that QE2 is no longer in service.

Normally I'd remove the webcam from ShipWatcher because it's not transmitting live pictures any more.

But QE2 is special, so I've modified her webcam to show images from our archives of webcam images. Rather than showing what's happening now, her webcam on ShipWatcher will show images from her previous voyages.

QE2's "virtual" webcam still updates every two minutes, and the pictures are in chronological order. So as far as possible, it looks like a live webcam.

I have a few thousand images to add to the archives over the next few weeks to make the experience more realistic.

If you have any copies of QE2 webcam photos that you'd like to share on ShipWatcher, please let me know and I'll give you info about how you can add your pictures.

Please have a look at QE2's virtual webcam and let me know what you think - if there are any problems, or if it doesn't behave as expected.

New webcam Photo Database

2008-12-05T14:12:00.005+10:00

I have just completed the webcam photo database.

Instead of uploading photos to Flickr, ShipWatcher now stores photos in a database and lets you search it.

Click on the "Photos" link on the right hand side to see what it looks like.

You can search by ship name, company, port of call, etc, and see where the ship was at any point in time in the past.

At present the images only go back a few weeks, but I'll be adding more webcam photos from my archives soon. Plus I'll be giving you the ability to add your own photos.

I'll be enhancing this over the next few weeks to add a lot more fun things.

Please try it out and let me know how I can improve it.

This move was forced upon me because the folks at Flickr deleted all my photos without warning, and have yet to give me a specific reason.

Two beautiful old ships

2008-12-03T09:57:00.004+10:00

Here's a couple of postcards that Shiona from Cruise Critic sent me.

Marco Polo
Built in the old communist East Germany in 1965 as the "Alexandr Pushkin", she was renamed "MS Marco Polo" in 1991 when she was purchased by Orient Lines. At just under 20,000 tonnes, and 176m long, she was capabile of carrying about 650 passengers. Some unusual things about her: Some cabins had six berths. All cabins had an outside view. Bathrooms had 3 taps: Hot, Cold and Seawater. She also had a reinforced hull to allow navigation through ice. She also was built with potential military use in mind. Her larger than usual storage capacity meant a cruising range of over 10,000 nautical miles.

Fair Princess
Originally built in 1955 for Cunard as "RMS Carinthia", she sailed under a myriad of names: Fairland (1968 - 1970), Fairsea (1970 - 1988), Fair Princess (1988 - 2000), Emerald Fortune (2000 - 2001), China Sea Discovery (2001 - 2005), Sea Discovery (2005 - 2006). Weighing in at almost 22,000 tonnes, she was 185m long and could carry about 1,300 passengers. She was build in the same shipyard as QE2 (John Brown & Co, Clydebank), and was eventually broken up for scrap at Alang in India.

QE2 Final Voyage from the Red Sea to Dubai

2008-11-28T12:36:00.003+10:00

Here's the final instalment from my series on QE2's final voyage.

This one covers the part of the voyage from the Red Sea to Dubai.

A lot of the video is of the voyage, and not much is of Dubai. This was a deliberate decision on my part. It's about a wonderful ship, not about "Gaudy Arabia" (aka Dubai) - an ostentatious city of opulence.

Also, I've tried to keep the video simple. There's much I could say, but I didn't think it needed to be said in the video. QE2 speaks for herself.

I highly recommend a poem posted by "The Real PM" on Cruise Critic, entitled Goodbye. One powerful image from it:

All gone, all gone, the people gone
The Champagne and the bands.
And Gulliver’s made fast at last
By Lilliputian hands.

I've enjoyed recording QE2's webcams, and have fallen in love with this ship even though I never got to see her in real life.

Goodbye old girl.

Video: QE2 from Lisbon to Gibraltar

2008-11-26T13:14:00.001+10:00

Here's another instalment in the series on QE2's final voyage.

This video covers the sector from Lisbon, Portugal to Gibraltar.

There's a really nice sunset in Lisbon, and a pleasant Moonrise after the departure from Gibraltar.

BTW I thought the accompanying song was ironic. I think although we feel otherwise, we never have all the time in the world. Neither do wonderful ships like QE2.

Video: QE2 in Naples and Malta

2008-11-25T13:41:00.002+10:00

Here's a timelapse video of QE2 on her final visit to Naples and Malta last week.

I think the colors on the water are beautiful.

Also, there's a really interesting part in Malta where a ship adjacent to her lets down a life raft and it sails around for a while. It looks quite comical in timelapse!

Video: QE2 Final Transit of the Suez Canal

2008-11-24T15:47:00.001+10:00

She's on her final voyage to Dubai.

Here's a timelapse video of QE2's final transit of the Suez Canal.

Problems with Photos / Flickr

2008-11-23T22:11:00.003+10:00

We're having problems with Flickr at the moment.

For some reason the folks at Flickr deleted all of the photos we've uploaded from here. I'm in the process of getting them to restore them all.

Till that's fixed, I'll be recording all photos locally, and will make a searchable database available as soon as possible.

Send us your postcards!

2008-11-19T11:58:00.012+10:00

If you're planning a cruise, and would like to tell the world about your wonderful trip, or any of the places you've visited, why not send us a postcard?

I'll scan the card, and display it here as a permanent record of your cruise. If you include a return address on the postcard, I'll also send you a postcard in reply.

The address is:

ShipWatcher
PO Box 30
Petrie Qld 4052
Australia

Order Postcards
If you'd like to order some fantastic looking postcards, click on one of the images below:

Free QE2 Ringtone

2008-11-14T13:07:00.003+10:00

Many thanks to fellow cruise ship lover, Tee, for this info.

The Southampton Daily Echo has published an MP3 ringtone of QE2's horn. It's free, and you can download it here.

FIXED: Hurtigruten

2008-11-10T10:13:00.001+10:00

Hurtigruten Ships cruise some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.

They've recently upgraded their excellent website.

I've fixed ShipWatcher to make it easier for you to view their webcams.

New Ship: Ruby Princess

2008-11-10T10:11:00.002+10:00

Princess Cruises has launched a new ship "Ruby Princess".

I've added her webcam to ShipWatcher.

QE2 Postcard from Rob Lightbody

2008-09-05T16:33:00.000+10:00

Postcard sent to me from Qe2
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

A postcard I received Rob Lightbody while he was on his QE2 Mediterranean cruise in August 08.

I'll never get to cruise on QE2 myself, so someone sending a card to me while they were cruising on her is about as close as I'll get.

Thanks Rob, for letting me vicariously share a bit of history with you.

MS Lofoten in Trollfjorden, Norway

2008-08-21T09:00:00.001+10:00

NO-12966
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

The Hurtigruen Ship MS Lofoten in Trollfjorden, Norway.

A postcrossing postcard from Joey in Norway.

I recently received a postcard from Joey's cats, so it was a pleasant surprise to receive a postcard from Joey himself.

Thanks, Joey!

A very welcome post card

2008-07-14T18:27:00.003+10:00

I received this postcard today from Kai in Germany, and I thought I would share it with you.

Kai very kindly sent the postcard via Postcrossing - a website that lets you exchange postcards with random people, and make new friends.

I was pleasantly surprised to receive this card, because I think she is such a wonderful ship.

QE2 visited the Baltic in 2004, when this photo was taken by Wolfgang Kromer.

Kai is a prolific postcrosser. He has sent postcards more than 1.1 million kilometres in the last two years, to make him one of the most active members in Germany.

Congratulations, Kai, and thanks once again!

Get your free ShipWatcher gadgets

2008-05-08T14:18:00.002+10:00

If you have a website or blog, you can now add picture feeds of ShipWatcher photos that continually update every few hours, so that you have frequently changing images to show on your site.

They're available via Google Gadgets here.

Video: QE2 Final Transit of Panama Canal

2008-04-06T13:25:00.001+10:00

Here's a timelapse video of QE2 transitting the Panama Canal for the last time.

What a wonderful ship!

Webcam Removed: Pacific Star

2008-04-01T13:07:00.003+10:00

It's pretty obvious that Pacific Star's webcam is no longer being updated, so I've removed it from the list of available webcams.

New Webcam: Ventura

2008-04-01T13:05:00.003+10:00

I've added P&O's new cruise ship, Ventura, to ShipWatcher.

To see her, click on [Preferences] and select "Ventura" from the "P & O" section.

I don't have her Call Sign yet. If anyone knows it, please let me know as it will enable us to track her location.

Star Princess in the Falklands

2008-03-31T23:59:00.001+10:00

Here's a video of Star Princess on her visit to Stanley in the Falklands last week. It looks like a beautiful part of the world...

Problems with Costa Webcams (FIXED!)

2008-03-23T13:09:00.003+10:00

Costa Cruises appears to be changing their webcams, so it's difficult to get pictures from any of their ships at the moment.

We'll get more pictures from them once they've finished reorganizing their website.

Sorry - but I have no idea how long it will take.

UPDATE: Costa's webcams now are working again.

Slow webpages fixed

2008-03-22T11:18:00.002+10:00

Most of my webpages have been loading slowly over the last few days because of a bug in one of the components I use.

I've finally tracked down what was causing the slowness, so it should all load a lot faster now.

Sorry for the delay!

Pacific Star - Final Voyage

2008-03-19T11:47:00.004+10:00

She has finished her service with P & O and is now in Singapore getting rebadged for her new owners, Pulmantur in Spain.

This is a timelapse video of Pacific Star's final voyage to Singapore. It covers about nine days starting half-way up the Queensland Coast.

My dear wife says it reminders her of how fast our lives flash by.

Hope you enjoy it.

A Tribute to Ship Pilots

2008-03-11T15:05:00.005+10:00

They jump between small boats and ships

Sometimes in the middle of the night

In the middle of the sea

Fair weather or foul

So that we can have fun on our cruise.

This is for those courageous souls who brave the rough conditions while we're enjoying ourselves.

QE2 and Queen Victoria in Sydney, February 2008

2008-02-25T23:51:00.001+10:00

Here's a video I did of QE2 and QV yesterday, from a composite of webcams around Sydney Harbour.

Queen Victoria in Sydney

2008-02-23T14:23:00.003+10:00

Here's a slideshow of Cunard Liner Queen Victoria arriving in Sydney this morning, created by CruiseLover53 and shared on the P&O Australia Board at Cruise Critic today.

Review: Aurora from an Aussie's perspective

2008-02-16T07:54:00.003+10:00

I was only aboard Aurora from Monday morning to Thursday morning. I wish it could have been longer, but time didn't permit.

She's a wonderful ship. Spacious, classy, and very tastefully laid out.

Embarkation:
We stayed at the Hilton. If you're ever travelling to Auckland, stay here. I woke up on the morning of the cruise, and our ship was no more than 10 meters from my hotel room balcony. In fact, I walked out on the balcony and had a bit of a chat with some of the passengers on their balconies aboard the ship.

Here's a picture of the view from my hotel room:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/2264145944/in/set-72157603903495862/

Getting aboard was painless. Wheel your luggage out of the hotel, then 20 meters down the footpath and onto the ship. It took us about 15 minutes from when we entered the boarding gate to when we got aboard.

Our Cabin:

We had a balcony cabin on A Deck. We got upgraded by P&O. (Thanks P&O!!!). The first thing you notice about the rooms is that this ship is designed for voyaging. Oodles of drawers, hanging space, cupboards, nooks and crannies. You could easily live on board for 3 months like some of my fellow travellers.

I'm a bit messy, but here's a pic of our cabin after I'd messed it up a bit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/2264044286/in/set-72157603903495862/

I counted a total of about ten drawers, almost 3 meteres of hanging space, two large cupboards in the bathroom for personal effects, and some cute mirrored cupboards above the dresser, for nicknacks.

We had single beds which were both spacious and luxurious, with feather a duvet / doonah, and feather pillows. There was plenty of room under the beds to store suitcases, so as not to waste closet space.

The room had an electronic variable temperature air conditioner - so you could set the temperature exactly as you wanted it.

The TV had heaps of movie channels, which I didn't watch. But if you're crazy enough to want to do that sort of thing on a cruise, you can.

We had a bar fridge in our room, but the mini bar wasn't stocked. But it did have a bottle of complementary mineral water, which I appreciated. It also had tea and coffee making facilties.

The balcony door was solid, and didn't rattle at all. It had a large handle and childproof lock. Easy for adults to open, but hard for kids to get at.

The two seater couch in our room was most appreciated too.

I should say that my business partners were on C-Deck. They also had a balcony, and it was sized and fitted out almost identically to our cabin, except we had a bath

Speaking about the bath/shower, I appreciated the complementary quality toiletries, large clothes line in the shower, and the good quality taps and fittings. It was clean, and always smelt fresh.

The Crew

Service was excellent. In the restaurants we were waited on attentively.

Our rooms were always clean with fresh towels every day. The waiters remembered us, and our preferences.

There is no auto-tip on Aurora. Basically, you just put a tip in an envelope for the people you want to tip at the end of your cruise.

Passengers

Well folks, what group of people can afford to take three months off and sail around the world? You got it, older rich people.

So the vast majority of the passengers appeared to be over 60, and English.

I didn't meet one rude person on board. Everyone was friendly, polite, courteous and considerate. Not a bogan in sight. It's a totally different feel to the one week cruises that we've been on out of Brisbane. One old lady came up to us during the trip and said in a sweet english accent "So you're leaving us so soon in Sydney?".

"Yes. But how did you know that?" I replied.

"You don't think four handsome young men would get on our ship and we wouldn't notice?".

Very kind of her!

The consequences of this were that the entertainment was more upmarket, aimed at an older audience. It also meant that even though there were lots childcare staff aboard, the ration between cares and kids was about 1:1. One child wanted to swim in the pool, so one staff member swam with him.

There were also quite a few wheelchairs on board. But she's a spacious ship, and this didn't cause any congestion or problems.

Food

Too much excellent food. And all of it free. All the restaurants had a great view of the water. If you didn't want to have dinner in a restaurant, there was also a buffet open most of the day, including dinner time. As well, there were a couple of smaller premium restaurants aboard where you paid a small surcharge for a smaller, more intimate setting.

The wine was priced between £12 and £15 per bottle. That's about the same as on Aussie ships. Everything is priced in Brittish Pounds, so you need to do a bit of arithmetic to work out the price (double it and add half).

The buffet was busy at lunch and breakfast time. I had to occasionally queue for a couple of mnutes, but never had trouble finding a place to sit.

By the way, for formal nights on Aurora, most men wore a dinner jacket, white shirt, and black bow tie. My business partners wore dark suits, and didn't feel out of place. In case you don't have a dinner jacket - just go to Lifeline. I bought mine for $30, and I think it worked out ok

http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/2263251159/in/set-72157603903495862/

Our other nights were smart casual. No jeans, and a collared shirt.

The Ship:

Wow. At 270 metres in length, she's huge! But every inch is good quality. An hour after I embarked, I got depressed wondering how on earth I could explor such a large ship in such a short time. Here's some of the places I loved:

The Atrium. Four stories high, with a water sculpture that takes up all of one wall. Have a look at it here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/2264160096/in/set-72157603903495862

The Promenade Deck. This deck completely encircles the ship. Get out, start walking, and you can go as long as you want. It's wide, with quality wooden decking. As you get to the stern there's an awe inspiring view of the wake, with the raw of water rushing away. You can see a view here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/2263378165/in/set-72157603903495862/

The Terrace.
This is at the rear of the ship. 5 levels of sweeping terraces encircle the stern, which contains a swimming pool, spa, and two bars (The Terrace Bar, and Pennants). There's room here for plenty of people, and lots of deck chairs, and tables. The various kids clubs have easy access to the lower terrace deck. And there's also an enclosed wading pool for littlies. They can play to their hearts content, but can't escape to get into trouble in the bigger pool.

Here's some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/2263389087/in/set-72157603903495862/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/2264249274/in/set-72157603903495862/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/2263419141/in/set-72157603903495862/

The Pools:
There are three pools, numerous spas, plus an extra pool in the bow just for the crew. All the pools have FRESH water and are gently heated to about 29C, so it's very pleasant to swim.

The Crows Nest Bar:
This place is amazing. It sits above the bridge, at the bow, with a 270 degree view of the horizon. There's plenty of room here, with comfortable chairs. Musicians entertained us on our formal night. If you're sailing westward, and it's late afternoon, make sure you bring your sunglasses!

You feel like you can see the whole world from here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/2263483611/in/set-72157603903495862/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/2263486497/in/set-72157603903495862/

The Curzon Theatre
Because Aurora is so wide, the Curzon Theater at the front has oodles of room. The seats are plush red velvet, and everyone has a good view of the stage. I attended a classical piano concert one afternoon while aboard. Allan Schiller played some Chopin pieces. At night we saw a Theatrical Production, "Carnaby Street", which was a musical based on London in the 60's. Plenty of Beatles, and 60's pop music. Another night we had a stand up comic, a cabaret singer and a young Kiwi pop pianist. All of them excellent.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/2264046884/in/set-72157603903495862/

Summary
Excellent quality. Good value for money. It's slightly more than going on an Aussie cruise for a week, but well worth it. Especially if you appreciate quality.

There are many other bars, cafes, nightclubs etc on Aurora, but I didn't get a chance to sample them in such a short time.

I'd definitely do it again. With or without kids.

February is Australia's world-cruise month, so if you're interested in sampling a ritzier ship from time to time, keep your February's free!In fairness to our Australian cruise ships (especially Pacific Sun / Star) I would also cruise on them again too. It's just a different atmosphere. Aurora is stately and classy. Like staying in a five star hotel. Pacific Star was like a seven day new years eve party for me. Lots of fun, a bit loud at times, but well worth it too.

A 3 day cruise is also worth it. It is short, but it's much more fun than going to the beach for the weekend!

Celebrity Mercury

2008-01-19T14:30:00.000+10:00

Jane asked me to do up a video of Celebrity Mercury cruising in NZ and Australia.

The problem was that Mercury doesn't have a cruisecam. So I was restricted to whatever images I could find from on-shore port cams as Mercury passed in front of them.

The Tauranga webcam is remote controlled - you can point it where you like. The problem was I was fighting with a few other people who were trying to control the webcam. So it was hard to get the camera to point where I wanted. It's a good thing these videos didn't record my cries of desperation as someone else grabbed the camera and pointed it elsewhere.

All in all it was very difficult, but here's the result.

I hope you had a great cruise, Jane, and that you enjoy the video!

New Video of the Three Queens in New York City

2008-01-15T14:13:00.000+10:00

It took a few days to capture and mix, plus the webcams kept cutting out on me all the time, and I missed a crucial sail past by QV in front of the Statue of Liberty, but it still worked out ok.

Hope you enjoy it. It will never happen again.

Your photos. Get famous!

2008-01-13T13:34:00.000+10:00

As you can see I've changed the layout of the blog and the ShipWatcher main page to show photos related to cruising. The photo in the banner rotates to a new one every time you visit the page.

Would you like one of your own photos to appear in the banner?

If you've got any good quality, hi-res photos, that are your own work, and are suitable to cropping into an 800 x 150 pixel banner, and if you'd like some public recognition, please send them. I'll put an acknowlegement to you in the photo, and it will get seen as one of the banners when people visit ShipWatcher.

Just email me at mail [at} ShipWatcher {d0t] com. Sorry about having to scramble the address up like that but I don't want any spam

BTW Do you like the new layout?

How to use ShipWatcher

2008-01-12T11:47:00.000+10:00

I've written this in case you need a quick explanation of how to use ShipWatcher. Although I've tried hard to make it easy to use, the whole idea behind this article is to make sure that it all makes sense to you.

What is it?

ShipWatcher collects pictures from cruising ship webcams, and displays them all on one page. It makes the webcam pictures more fun because it lets you do cool things with them - such as taking photos, tracking them on a map, or just finding out more about them. (More about all of this later). The pictures update automatically. You don't have to press "Refresh" on your browser. Every 30 seconds to a minute (depending on the number of ships you look at), the pictures will update.

First time here?

The first time you visit, ShipWatcher picks out half a dozen ships that it thinks might be interesting. Ships are all over the world. Some of them are in darkness because it's night time where they are. So to make it more fun, ShipWatcher tries to pick out ships that are in daylight so you can actually see something :).

It will do this everytime you come back, UNLESS you change your preferences. By clicking on the "Preferences" button, you can select some ships to look at, and ShipWatcher will show you those ships everytime you visit.

What are all these buttons?

On the right, at the top, you'll see some buttons that look like this:

Incidentally, if you hold your mouse over most of the items on the page, you'll get short explanation of what they do.

Click on "Preferences" to display a page that lists all the available ships. You can then select which ones you'd like to look at. (More later).

Click on "Quick Pick" if you'd like ShipWatcher to pick a handful of ships that it thinks might be interesting to look at. It tries to pick out any ships that are near a sunrise or sunset, and displays between 6 and 9 of them.

Click on "Hide Video" to hide the videos that appear at the bottom of the screen. Normally ShipWatcher picks out a few interesting videos based on the ships you've selected, and displays them at the bottom of the page. If you find this annoying, just click on "Hide Videos" to take them away. You can always click on"Show Videos" later if you decide you'd like to see them again.

Click on ">>" to hide the sidebar. The sidebar is on the right hand side of the page. It shows links to other parts of ShipWatcher, plus some news articles related to the ships you're viewing. If you hide the sidebar, there's more room on the screen to display more ships. If you want the sidebar back again, just click on the "<<". What about those links?

Just under the buttons, you can see links that appear like this:

These links appear on all the ShipWatcher pages to make it easier to find your way around.

The "ShipWatcher.com" link displays the main page. (The one with all the ship cameras on it)

"Blog" displays the ShipWatcher weblog. I post articles here to tell you about what's happening with the site.

"Photos" displays the photo collection. ShipWatcher automatically takes photos of a couple interesting ships every hour. It uploads these to Flickr, and tags them with location info, and a brief description of where the ship is. There are thousands of ShipWatcher photos up there at the moment, and we're adding more each day. If you ever want to see a the view from a particular ship at some point in the past, or you want to see what a particular part of the world looks like, have a look!

"News" displays the ShipWatcher News Channel. This contains news articles and videos related to cruising. The News Channel is automated - and is updated every couple of hours. If you want to get the latest cuising news, the chances are it will appear here first. You can also search previous news articles.

"Videos" displays my YouTube channel. I record a lot of these cruising webcams, and turn them into timelapse videos. It sort of takes what you see in the webcam, and speeds it up a couple of hundred times. It's fascinating to watch a ship go through the Panama Canal, or dodge the ice in Alaska.

"Comment" takes you to the comments section in the weblog. In fact you can comment anonymously on any article in the weblog, but I put this link here to make it easier for you to add a comment.

"Gallery" shows pictures that people have taken using ShipWatcher. If you like what you see on a webcam, you can click on the camera icon (see below) to record the photo, and upload it to the Gallery in Flickr. Have a look - some of those photos look like surreal art.

The other links are my personal links. I don't expect everyone to be interested in my personal blogs, but they're up there if you're interested in finding out more about me.

What about the actual webcams?

You can probably see a whole lot of windows like this one on the ShipWatcher main page.

We don't have any control over the picture. If the ship is out of contact, the picture might not update for a while. At night it may be dark and you'll see nothing. Sometimes I've even seen insects on them, or the camera actually appearing upside down.!

Remember - most of the time if you hold your mouse over something, you'll get a quick message saying what it does.

Click on the image of the ship to go to the official page of the ship, as created by the cruise company.

Click on the camera ( ) icon to take a photo of the ship. This captures the photo, displays it for you, and lets you type in your name if you'd like credit for the photo.

Click on the Google ( ) icon to see the actual position of the ship on Google Maps. If we don't know where the ship is, this icon won't appear. Sometimes we can guess the position of the ship based on it's origin and destination, and previous voyages, but if we guess it, we'll tell you in te info that appears on the map.

Click on the Info ( ) icon to get more info about the ship - such as it's approximate location, size, length, tonnage, etc.

If we know it, we'll also show the previous port and last port. In the example above, we've shown it as "Isle of Pines, New Caledonia -> Sydney, Australia". The first link is the name of the previous port the ship was in. The second link is the next port the ship will sail to. If you click on either of these links you'll see a Google Map showing the location of the port. Sometimes, Google Maps can't find the port. In that case it will just show a map of the USA. If we don't know where the ship has been or where it's going, these links won't appear.

How do I set preferences?

When you click on the "Preferences" button, you see a screen in two parts.

At the top is the Query section that looks like this:

This lets you pick out some ships based on what you're interested in.

"Show up to (1,2,3,4,5,6) ships" lets you select how many ships you'd like to see.

"Close to ... (Sunset, Sunrise, Noon, etc)" lets you decide what you want to see. This lets you pick ships that are close to a sunrise, sunset, noon, midnight, etc.

"(Keep Replace) my existing preverences". If you have already have some ships selected, and you select "Keep", any new ships that get found will be added to those you previously selected. If you select "Replace", you lose your previous selections, which get replaced with the new ships you selected.

"(Include Ignore) side / aft cams". Some ships have more than one camera. If you select "Include", then the cameras selected may include views to the side or aft (rear) of the ship. If you select "Ignore" then you'll only see cameras that are pointing forwards.

"Search" - click here to do the query. You'll get a message saying how many ships were found. If no ships matched what you were looking for, you'll get a message saying "0 ships were selected".

If any ships are selected, they will be highlighted and appear in the ship list in the lower half of the page.

The second half of the preferences screen contains the ship list. It looks like this:

Any ships you have already selected will have a tick / check mark next to them. If you don't want to see that ship any more, just clear out the tick / check mark.

Ships are grouped into their respective companies. If you'd like to see all ships for a company, click on the [*] next to the company name. All ships in that company will be ticked / checked. If you later decide you don't want to see any ships for that company, click on the [*] to clear out the ticks / check marks.

When you have selected the ships you want - either by querying for them, or ticking / checkmarking them, click on the "SAVE" button.

If you want to clear out ALL ticks / check marks, click on the "CLEAR" button.

Awesome Photos

2008-01-10T12:53:00.000+10:00

The Liners List at Yahoo Groups has some fantastic photos of ships.

Here's some recent shots of QE2 and QV crossing the Atlantic Ocean in Tandem.

New Ship Watcher News Channel

2008-01-08T21:40:00.001+10:00

I've created a news channel blog exclusively for news about cruising.

To go there, just click on the "News" link in the links section on the right hand side of the page, or go to http://ShipWatcherNews.Blogspot.com.

It shows all the latest news reports, videos and gossip about cruising, and comes with its own built-in search engine from Google.

Please try it out and let me know what yout think.

The whole idea is to give you a place where it's easy to keep upto date with cruising.

It also has its own RSS feed if you'd like to get an immediate notification of any breaking news.

New Fun with "Quick Pick"

2007-12-27T22:53:00.000+10:00

Sometimes when you view the ShipWatcher page, some of the ships are in darkness.

A while ago, we fixed this by adding a "Quick Pick" facility which quickly selected a few ships close to sunrise or sunset. That way you could easily get rid of the ships in the night, and see something more interesting.

But then, if you came back again a few hours later, some of those ships would be in in darkness, and you'd have to click on "Quick Pick" again to get some new ships.

So I've added a new feature: When you click on "Quick Pick" now, you get asked if you'd like ShipWatcher to automatically do a quick pick every time you visit the site. This is handy because it means you ALWAYS get to see ships that are in daylight.

Please try it out and let me know if you find it helpful - I'm always looking for ways to make ShipWatcher better, and I appreciate any advice!

The latest news about cruising

2007-12-26T18:22:00.000+10:00

If you want all the latest news about cruising, check out our latest "ShipWatcher News" (http://ShipWatcher.com/News.aspx) section which gives you the most recent news from all over the world about recent happenings in the cruise industry.

Using Kites to Reduce Shipping Costs

2007-12-16T15:27:00.000+10:00

The "MV Beluga Skysails" is a ship with a difference.

It sports a huge kite that can be unfurled upto 300 metre above the ship, helping it to reduce fuel bills by 20 percent.

The kite's manufacutrers, Skysails (http://www.skysails.info/) claim that the kite system can pay for itself in about three to five years, and is easily installed on any cargo ship.

The 135 metre long Beluga Skysails was launched on Saturday from Hamburg, and will be making a trans-atlantic crossing in early January.

Bugs with some Costa ships fixed.

2007-12-12T16:58:00.001+10:00

I fixed a bug which was causing problems when you tried to display Costa Ships Allegra, Concordia and Europa.

The bug prevented the webcams from being displayed for those ships.

It all works ok now.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

New features: "Quick Pick" and "Show Videos"

2007-12-10T09:24:00.000+10:00

I've added some new features:

1. Click on the "Quick Pick" button to quickly pick a few ships that are worth looking at. The system will choose ships close to either a sunrise or sunset. If there's any space left over, it will add in some ships that are in the middle of the day. This makes it easier for you to avoid picking ships that are in the dark - you can't see much at night!

2. Click on the "Hide Video" / "Show Video" button to toggle the display of videos at the bottom of the page. I've added a few timeplapse videos of ShipWatcher webcams down here. The selection changes depending on which ships you choose. If you don't like seeing the videos, just click on the "Hide video" button. ShipWatcher will remember your preference for next time.

If you've got any complaints or advice about these latest changes, please let me know. My main priority is to make it an enjoyable experience for everyone.

Queen Victoria Webcam now online

2007-12-07T17:32:00.001+10:00

I've added the webcam for Cunard's latest ship, Queen Victoria.

If you can't see it on the main page, just click on the [Preferences] button, select "Queen Victoria" from the "Cunard" section, and press SAVE.

I don't have her callsign at the moment. If anyone knows this, please let me know, because I can use this to get a location for the ship, give you tracking info, and take more meaningful photos.

Till then, please feel free to click away on the camera icon under QV so we can get some pictures of her.

Google Maps problem fixed

2007-11-25T11:07:00.000+10:00

I've changed the way maps are displayed in ShipWatcher, to get around the recent problems that have been occurring with the Google Maps web site.

Rather than going to the Google Maps website, it now pops up a smaller window which shows the map.

If you've got any suggestions about how to make it better, please let me know.

Google Maps problem

2007-11-24T10:16:00.000+10:00

You may experience difficulties when trying to display the position of a ship in Google Maps.

This is a known problem that the folks at Google Maps are aware of. I'm hoping they will fix it asap.

Here's the link if you're interested:
http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Maps-Troubleshooting/browse_thread/thread/f5a56d911022812e

Pacific Dawn Location

2007-11-22T10:56:00.000+10:00

Pacific Dawn does not broadcast its position like most of the other ships, so it's difficult to figure out where it is.

But P&O does publish its last and next ports.

I've built in some intelligence into the system so that it will look at other ships who have travelled the same route, and work out an estimated location for Pacific Dawn.

It's only a rough guess, but I think it should be accurate to within about 100km.

Which means ShipWatcher should be able to take automatic photos of the Pacific Dawn webcam.

New Cruiseline: Hurtigruten

2007-11-18T15:33:00.000+10:00

I've added some ships from Hurtigruten (ASA) in Norway.

These ships are smaller than average, with lengths around 100m.

But they have some excellent cruisecams fore and aft, and give us a view of some beautiful landscapes around the Norwegian Coast.

Bug Fixed: Photos of Pacific Dawn

2007-11-12T12:37:00.000+10:00

There was a bug in the system that prevented people from taking photos of Pacific Dawn. I've fixed that bug, so you should be able to take photos now.

Unfortunately, I'm finding it difficult to get any reliable location info feeds for Pacific Dawn, so until I do that, the only photos that can get uploaded are those you take manually.

New Powerful Search Option

2007-11-08T13:52:00.000+10:00

Shipwatcher now lets you search for ships that are close to either Sunrise, Sunset, Noon or Midnight.

It also lets you show the most popular, and least popular ships.

The info is based on the latest position report of the ship. Some ships don't give position reports very frequently, so they won't be included in the search.

This should make it easier for you to quickly pick bridgecams that contain interesting content.

It's also more fun!

Enjoy.

Neil

Technical info:
The search will exclude any position reports more than 4 days old.

If a ship is moving easterly or westerly, and its last report is 4 days old, the sunrise / sunset queries could have a margin of error of between 1 and 2 hours.

Usually this is only a problem for "Sunrise" queries where the ship is sailing west, or "Sunset" where the ship is sailing east, as in these situations, the ship will still be in darkness.

Allow a margin of error of almost 25 minutes per day based on the age of the location report. So if a report is two days old, the sunrise / sunset times will be out by almost an hour.

Ships travelling North / South won't experience such a large margin of error.

Faster! Faster!

2007-11-05T18:41:00.000+10:00

I installed a Turbo Charger into ShipWatcher today.

It now runs much faster.

(Well actually, I just rewrote part of it to run faster. But "Turbo Charger" sounds better :) )