“We are committed to Southampton as our main base, but Liverpool is our spiritual home.”
Those are the words of Peter Shanks, Cunard’s President, after word leaked in the Liverpool Daily Post that the Queen Mary 2 may — that’s “may” — start sailing from Liverpool to New York on a one-off, sporadic basis.
The historical significance of this is that when Samuel Cunard founded the cruise line that bears his name, he did so in Liverpool. Somewhere along the way of the succeeding 172 years, Liverpool lost its cruise status to Southampton…at least with respects to Cunard it did.
Who, you may ask, would want to go to Liverpool to start a cruise.
Us.
You can view Liverpool as a somewhat-dirty port city, or you can view it as the spiritual — okay, original — home of The Beatles. We chose the latter, in the days when we trekked around England with three kids in tow, and were richer for it. Because we loved the music, and the history that came with it, we toured and enjoyed the city immensely.
From all that we’ve read, visiting Liverpool is an even better experience today.
This, then, could be a winner for Cunard. Ol’ Samuel would be proud.
DAILY DEAL:
Norwegian Epic
7 nights
May 13, 2012
Barcelona (return): Naples, Rome, Florence, Cannes, Marseille
Inside $699
www.ncl.com