Let the waves rule in your celebrations
YOU don’t have to stay on terra firma to enjoy the Jubilee. Book a cruise and you can have all the fun without any of the preparations – or clearing up.
With that extra bank holiday, your celebratory getaway won’t make much of a dent in your annual leave allowance, either.
There is a host of opportunities to sail from UK ports, setting off in late May and early June, on cruises where you can watch all the pomp in London from a sun bed.
Whether you are an ardent royalist or simply fascinated by the House of Windsor, the Round Britain & Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebration cruise aboard Ambience is the one for you.
Sailing around the British Isles, you can hear Royal biographer Penny Junor and Dickie Arbiter, former press secretary to the Queen, among other experts giving an insight into palace life and talking about the history and future of the monarchy.
Ashore, you can explore parts of all four of the home nations, in Belfast, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Skye, Orkney, Anglesey and the Isles of Scilly – as well as Guernsey and Honfleur in Normandy.
The 12-night cruise, sailing from Tilbury on May 26, is from £1,516pp, including drinks and gratuities (ambassador cruiseline.com).
Princess Cruises is pushing the boat out on its sailings from Southampton over the Jubilee weekend, aboard Emerald Princess and Sky Princess, so make sure to pack your best red, white and blue outfit for the Royal Night knees-up.
Sweet treats will include Pimm’s and strawberries and the winning dessert in Fortnum & Mason’s Platinum Pudding contest.
Rest assured, you need not miss a moment of the celebrations on land. Screens on the sun decks will show live coverage of Trooping the Colour, the service of thanksgiving from St Paul’s Cathedral and the Platinum Party at the Palace. Choose to sail on Sky Princess and you can hear a talk by Grant Harrold, a former butler to the Prince of Wales, and enjoy Princess’s own take on the Royal Variety Show in the theatre. Emerald
Princess sails for 12 nights on June 2 on a British Isles with Orkney Islands cruise. Fares from £599pp. Sky Princess sails for seven nights to Scandinavia on May 28, from £729pp, and again for seven nights to the Norwegian fjords on June 4, from £619pp (princess.com).
Hebridean Princess, the Queen’s choice for a family cruise for her 80th birthday, is sold out for the cruise over Jubilee weekend, but you can join her equally luxurious stablemate, Lord of the Highlands. First you will sail through the Scottish Highlands on the Caledonian Canal, then among the lochs of Scotland’s west coast and the sounds of the Inner Hebrides, a favourite destination of the Queen and Prince Philip for summer holidays aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. On June 5, the bunting will be out for a ‘street party’ on deck to celebrate with all the parties back home. A seven-night, all-inclusive Highland Waterways Discovery cruise from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh on Lord of the Highlands, departing on May 30 costs from £3,850pp (hebridean.co.uk).
With the Union Jack proudly on the bows of the six ships of the P&O fleet, there is no doubt there will be celebrations galore in the first week of June.
All the ships will be sailing round trips from Southampton in May and June apart from Azura, offering fly-cruises from Valletta, the Maltese capital where the Queen spent two happy years as a Navy wife when Prince Philip was stationed there from 1949 to 1951.
Azura will sail on a two-week fly-cruise from Valletta on May 26, with fares from £1,399pp, including flights. A no-fly cruise to the Mediterranean aboard Britannia – launched by the Queen in 2015 – sails from Southampton on May 29 for 14 nights. The cost is from £1,319pp (pocruises.com).
Fred Olsen promises lots to mark the Jubilee across the fleet. A Norwegian Fjords & Mighty Waterfalls cruise aboard Borealis sails for nine nights from Liverpool on May 25. Fares are from £1,499pp (fredolsencruises.com).