Ark Royal Visit to Liverpool - Thursday 15th January -Monday 19th January 2009

Thursday 15th January - Arrival ETA 13:00 hrs Liverpool Cruise Liner Terminal
Friday 16th January - Open to Public 10:00hrs - 15:00hrs (last admission 14:40hrs)
Saturday 17th January - Open to Public 10:00hrs - 15:00hrs (last admission 14:40hrs)
Sunday 18th January - CLOSED to Public
Monday 19th January - Departure ETD 17:30hrs
The times above are subject to change at Royal Navy discretion.

Additional River Explorer Cruise Information

Two ferries will take to the water for additional cruises in the afternoon of Saturday 17th January, with live commentary from Blue Badge Guides.

River Explorer Cruise services, calling at all three terminals, will depart from the Pier Head at 10am, 11am, 12 noon, 12.30pm, 1pm, 1.30pm, 2pm, 2.30pm, 3pm, 3.30pm and 4pm and will be sailing as close and as safely as possible to HMS Ark Royal.

Live commentary will also run on the 11am, 12 noon, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm sailings on Sunday 18th January

All River Explorer Cruises from when the Ark Royal arrives in the Mersey on Thursday through until Monday will use the cruise duration to sail close to the Ark Royal. Customers travelling on the ferry will get a really close view of her.

Worth a day out on the river,I reckon.

Dava you make a day on the Mersey sound like an idyll! Will you be wearing your straw boater?

Kiddin arn`t yer,it`s the mersey.More like this.lol.

It's safe to say, I'l be there first thing Friday I'm such a geek

Whats the web site were you can keep an eye on the river ?

It's something to do with the Pier Head as there's a webcam on the top of it. I'll have a nose for ya hon.

there is this one but the images don`t seem to be updated that often.

http://www.wirralcam.org/home.shtml

I didn't know there were any blue badges in the Mersey??? Are we talking the blue commemorative plates that get stuck on buildings of hysterical significance?

http://www.britishwaterways.com/liverpool-canal-link/webcam

www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/webcams/liver_cam.shtml

http://www.goandroam.com/webcams/uk/liverpool/ - this gives you a choice of different places to view.

Is the canal link finished yet?

Yes - you get a choice of North, South, East and West views

The build isnt

still a lot of work going on down there

wow thanks some good links there thanks i think i,ll be down there Saturday to take some pics yerrrr

If you go on http://www.itvlocal.com/granada/arkroyal/ you can watch them tying her up at the dockside right now - it's a live feed.

I've just got back from watching her come in - amazing sight, even though I've seen her a few times before, she is still beautiful.

WIsh I could get paid for just standing around looking at a boat all day. Yes its been tied down - now run along and do something useful instead of standing there in your hard hat and hi-viz with your hands behind your back!

What a fantastic day!!! No queues, straight aboard and because there were so few people, you got a lot more detail and the Crew had more time to answer your questions.

Been on the flight deck, fiddled with weapons, been on one of the helicopters and generally walked round with a on my face a mile wide!!!

Loads of pictures, so I'll whittle them down in a while, once I've calmed down I feel like a child who has OD'd on additives

Sounds brill PJ. I bet it will be really busy over the week end.

It was amazing Softy

She is only open to the public tomorrow from 10am until 3pm, with last admission at 14:40. Not sure if they are allowing people on the flight deck tomorrow as there will probably be a lot more people with it being Saturday.

It's well worth a visit though (especially if you are a geek like me). This was my second time on Her and I could quite happily go again tomorrow

From talking to one of the Pilots, I believe that HMS Illustrious is returning in October this year (subject to deployment of course). One for the diary!

Aplogies if another topic has been started...

But wheres the pics??

I put them all on my facebook Joe - didn't want to bore people on here with my geekiness

I'll post them if you really want

I'd like to see them

Get em on

Another vote for the photos.

OK - will post them shortly

If only I had a quid for every time I've heard that

They're in the Gallery