The 486-ton Spirit of Chartwell is a small Thames cruise ship with eighteen luxury overnight cabins, of which not too many have heard as yet. Built in 2010, this 217-foot luxury cruiser has been designed in the mode of the old railway Pullman carriages popular in the 1920s, a kind of “Orient Express” on the Thames that even features items from that famous train. Cruising the Thames by day, she remains at Canary Wharf for dinner, providing overnight accommodation for those wishing to stay on board.
The Spirit of Chartwell’s owner, the Magna Carta Steamship Company, also owns the Lord of the Glens, cruising in Scotland. The décor on Spirit of Chartwell includes artefacts from the Lalique-designed Orient Express dining car “Côte d’Azur,” highlight of which is a series of exquisite glass panels of classical figures, together with thirty-three original armchairs that have been painstakingly restored.
She also displays fittings from the ocean liners France, including wall lights in most of the cabins, and Windsor Castle, from which have come two magnificent portholes in the main lounge, bathroom fittings, bar stools and a fine clock. Above this, Spirit of Chartwell’s observation deck offers alfresco dining and the ideal vantage point from which to view the passing scenery, with her opulent lounge bar providing a tranquil retreat from English weather.
The big news broke just before Christmas when Spirit of Chartwell was chosen to be the Royal Barge for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, carrying Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II down the Thames in celebration of her sixty-years on the throne. The pageant, to take place on Sunday, June 3, will see almost 1,000 vessels of different kinds either travelling the Thames or greeting the flotilla as it makes it way downstream. Up to 30,000 flag-waving members of the public are expected to be on board the various passenger-carrying vessels.
Accommodating the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the Royal Family, Spirit of Chartwell will be the centrepiece of the pageant, decorated and adorned for the occasion at the head of the royal section of the flotilla. The Prince of Wales will also play a key role as Patron of the Pageant. The Spirit’s owner, Philip Morrell, who founded Voyages Jules Verne in 1978 and sold that firm to Kuoni in 1998, has donated the use of Spirit of Chartwell to the Queen for the pageant, after which she will return to cruising the Thames.
Spirit of Chartwell’s usual voyage, called “Memories of London,” starts at Canary Wharf, sails downstream towards the Thames Barrier then upstream past London’s iconic landmarks and the Houses of Parliament before returning to Canary Wharf. Calls are made at Greenwich and Tate Britain and an overnight stay is offered in stateroom accommodation. For this voyage, guests embark at noon at Canary Wharf, where there is parking available, and either disembark at 9:30 pm after dinner or remain on board overnight in a stateroom.
This celebratory package includes champagne reception, three-course luncheon, afternoon tea and five-course gala dinner, and is priced from £195 per person for six or £265 per person as a couple. An overnight stay is an additional £75 per person and a further optional excursion from Windsor to Cliveden is available for £95 per person.
For passengers sailing on cruise ships from ports in the south of England, a special 2- or 3-night package will be available as a pre- or post-cruise visit to London’s River Thames. Including both the Spirit of Chartwell and her smaller fleetmate Passepartout, this package will depart on Sundays and cover both the lower and upper Thames.
Travellers will embark Spirit of Chartwell at Canary Wharf in the late afternoon, with the evening reserved for an exploration of London or the theatre before retiring to the vessel at her overnight moorings. Rising in the morning for breakfast among the gleaming towers of the new era, guests will later join the Captain for a champagne reception before sailing downstream towards the Thames Barrier. Lunch will be served while sailing upstream to Greenwich, the first call.
There will be time to explore Greenwich’s Maritime Museum, the Observatory, the Cutty Sark and the village itself before setting off upstream again, passing the famous Prospect of Whitby pub, the wharves at Wapping, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the Millennium Wheel, the Houses of Parliament and Lambeth Palace. Afternoon tea will be served before reaching Millbank, for the Tate Britain Gallery and Westminster Abbey.
A gala dinner will then be served in the George Bradshaw Lounge, during which the voyage will conclude with a pass under London’s impressive bridges, to re-enter Canary Wharf’s West India Dock for another overnight stay.
On the third day, after breakfast, guests will disembark from Spirit of Chartwell and travel by limousine to Windsor for an exploration of the town and castle before continuing on to the Thames-side Oakley Court Hotel. From that hotel’s private quay, guests will embark on the 75-foot Passepartout, a vessel resembling an Amsterdam canal cruiser with very large scenic windows, at both sides and overhead, travelling upstream from Windsor to Maidenhead and Bray, as far as Cliveden Reaches, with its impressive river views up to Cliveden House.
Set in 375 acres of grounds, Cliveden House, once home of the Astors, has hosted every British monarch since George I as well as Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan, Franklin Roosevelt and George Bernard Shaw, among many others. From Cliveden, the Passepartout will return to Windsor in the early evening, for a shoreside sojourn at the delightful Oakley Court Hotel, set of many films, that overlooks a pastoral river scene full of graceful swans, all owned by HM the Queen. Lunch will be served on board and an overnight stay at the Oakley Court Hotel will be optional.
Meanwhile, north of the border, in Scotland, Magna Carta’s third vessel, the 729-ton Lord of the Glens, is another vessel with the appeal of a luxury yacht, with all-round teak-clad viewing and promenade decks and rich mahogany interiors. She features twenty-seven luxury staterooms to accommodate 54 guests, a bar, lounge and a restaurant that accommodates all passengers in one sitting.
The 150-foot Lord of the Glens can navigate both the Caledonian Canal that crosses Scotland and the open sea, and was designed to meet exacting criteria in terms of her dimensions and to satisfy the stringent safety requirements of the UK Marine authorities. To this end, Spanish craftsmen rebuilt the vessel in 2000 using the finest materials and equipment.
The Lord of the Glens’ spring and autumn seasons offer 5-night sheltered water cruising through the Scottish Highlands from £744 per person, while summer offerings include 7-night cruises from Inverness to the Kyle of Lochalsh from £1,481, and 10-night cruises from the Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness from £1,994 per person.
For further details on any of these departures, other than the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, please call The Cruise People Ltd in London on 020 7723 2450 or e-mail cruise@cruisepeople.co.uk.
Celebrity Cruises was delighted to be able to tell us today that due to the award-winning success of Celebrity Eclipse from Southampton, they’re adding a second ship, Celebrity Infinity, which will operate out of the port of Harwich from May 2013.
THE CRUISE EXAMINER at 
