Waterguy1

Photos below: The classes are held in the Queens Room which provides plenty of space and a great surface. (Talking to DJ Marc at lunch one afternoon, he explained that both the Queens Room and Hemispheres floors were completely refinished during the January refit. They were both very smooth and the right balance between sticky and slippery. Perfect for fencing or dancing.)

Our Instructor: David Pierson of the Queen Victoria Entertainment staff was the instructor for all of the classes. He was outstanding; very personable and professional. Safety was emphasized and enforced, but in a low key sort of way. David found the balance between being too simplistic /repetitious and moving too fast for the class to process and learn the new moves. Time was taken to assess, correct and encourage each participant. While there was an obvious disparity in skill levels across the class, his goal was to get each person as good as they could get.

Summary: Overall, fencing classes on the Queen Victoria were a fun and interesting experience. The level and quality of the instruction was outstanding. And while I did not particularly care for the head-to-head competition, the opportunity to learn a skill/sport far outside of normal life was one of the greatest aspects of the voyage.

Advance -- The ‘advance’ is the basic forward movement.

We advance, albeit very slowly, as we sail between San Francisco and Honolulu. With the basics down cold and our lethal forefingers at the ready we get serious and suit up like real fencers. At this point the class is split up into two groups “A” and “B”. The division of the groups appeared to be based more on where you were standing on the floor rather than skill level. The limited number of fencing outfits available necessitated this division into smaller groups. For the remainder of this WC segment group “A” and “B” met on alternate sea days.

The equipment supplied by QV is very high quality used in competition. The entire kit included the foil, glove, jacket and helmet/faceguard. We were assured that the jackets were laundered after each class – an important consideration because the getup with helmet is very hot and consequently sweaty.

Photo below: The jackets zip from the back and require a bit of cooperation from your classmates to “suit up”.

Photo below: We are schooled in the details of the sport including proper hand position on the foil.

Photo below: The helmet/faceguard is heavy and hot, but very welcome when actually facing the blade of the foil.

Now that we’re suited up we work on basic foot work, simple attacks (lunge) and even simpler defense (parry). While you wouldn’t think that taking a step or two forward or back is all that hard work but it is. The moves are deceptively simple – stand, step forward, step back – but very difficult to master with speed and precision.

Photo below: We pair up and work on basic attack and defense.

My wife and I recently sailed the Los Angeles / Sydney segment of Queen Victoria’s 2015 World Cruise. This was our first sailing on Cunard and our longest (21 days) voyage to date.

One among the many onboard activities offered, and (I think) unique to Cunard, were classes in introduction to fencing. I participated in most of the classes offered on the segment and wanted to share a little bit about the experience.

Classes were held every sea day (14 of the 21 days in this WC segment. The 9 am class start time was a bit daunting to those of us who generally danced in the Queens Room until midnight, it was, however well worth the effort.

En garde - a call to the fencers by the director of a match to assume the prescribed position preparatory to action.

For the first several classes we had about 24 of us in a single group. These classes focused on body position and footwork. The basic en garde stance is very similar to 5th position in dance except with a somewhat wider stance. Not keeping your elbow in close to the body in the en garde position was a common flaw – including mine. Most everyone in the class boarded in LA so we were novices at this learning together at the same pace.

Photo below: Prudently, for the first couple of classes the most lethal weapon they let us have was an index finger.

Photos below: We put our fingers to (non-lethal) effect with the lunge.

We have 9199 on the June 3rd ... Scandinavia & Russia Cruise ... do you have any pictures or comments ... esp. the balcony ... Thanks :)

Martini: The link below has a couple of photos of the portside inside FV on Deck 8 on a 14-day on the Constellation in April. There are a couple of other comments scattered through the other pages but overall the room was outstanding. Balcony was huge! Two loungers, a table and chairs and still plenty of room. Although the corner rooms are bigger and have a side view, they have much more wind when the ship is underway.

http://islandhopping.weebly.com/day-1.html