CUNARD’s most famous ex-steward, otherwise known as deputy prime minister John Prescott, was guest of honour at a renaming ceremony for Caronia (formerly Vistafjord).
Standing at the dockside on the River Mersey, Prescott gazed up at the old Cunard building and reminisced about his past.
“That’s where I had my medical examination when I joined the company,” he recalled, in a somewhat dewy-eyed manner.
Prescott then proceeded to rename Cunard president Larry Pimentel Larry Pimpernel, to the delight of his audience. Thankfully though, Caronia itself was renamed correctly.
Although the choice of Liverpool for the ceremony was appropriately historic, the decision to sail down to Southampton with hundreds of travel agents, journalists and celebrities on board was not quite such a clever public relations coup. The majority of guests were confined to their cabins with seasickness as Caronia battled through the Irish Sea and the Atlantic in gale force winds, with 28ft waves.
Passengers gained an intimate knowledge of Caronia’s bathroom facilities, but little else.
It was only after the ship turned left into the English Channel that the programme of celebrations could resume.