Cruise Ship and Ocean Liner Expert

I was first offered a chance to speak on TV news about the QE2’s retirement back in 2008. It was a bit of a daunting prospect; the camera, the journalist… what if I made a mistake? But as soon as they started recording and asked me about the ship, the nerves went away. I was speaking about my passion except this time, it was reaching thousands of people… epic! Since then I’ve been interviewed as a cruise ship, ocean liner and aviation expert many times. I still get a few butterflies, but I love it! Some highlights are shown below. If you’d like me to be involved in your documentary, news piece or radio show, get in touch.

P&O Anniversary

Working with P&O Cruises in 2023 on their 90th anniversary celebration was a fantastic experience. We worked with the leading Australian cruise brand to develop a wonderful review of their 90 years of local cruise history. A year of celebrations was launched aboard Pacific Encounter in April 2023 and I was invited to attend to speak with the media about P&O’s long and significant contribution to the Australian travel experience.
Channel 9 Coverage: Viewable via Twitter: Twitter: Click Here
Channel 7 Coverage:

QE2 Documentary (Channel 5)

Chris Frame QE2 DocumentaryThis was a lot of fun! During the QE2’s 50th Anniversary Celebration I was invited to contribute to a new documentary being produced for Channel 5 in the UK.

The two-part documentary follows the history of QE2, from the idea behind a dual-purpose liner, through her construction, service life and ultimate retirement.

I was filmed at Sea City Museum in Southampton. We had just left the Cunard Queen Elizabeth after the QE2 50th Anniversary Celebration voyage, and had to run from the taxi in the rain to get to the museum in time for the interview!

Two and a half hours later, the interview was wrapped up and I gave a lecture at Sea City about QE2’s service life. After what felt like a long wait to see how the filming turned out, the documentary was released in February 2018!

You can check it out here. 

BBC

Chris Frame Heir Hunters BBCThis has to be one of my favourite media experiences. In 2015 I was interviewed for BBC television’s Heir Hunters show. The show follows a team of experts searching for the heirs to lost fortunes. In this episode the key link was a connection to the Cunard Line. I spoke about the history of the Cunard Line and its significance in the transatlantic race.

I was invited back to Heir Hunters for an episode that aired in 2018. This time the topic was convoy shipping during World War II. The episode is available to watch on BBC iPlayer, however if you’re living outside of the UK you can see a preview of the episode. Click here to view.

Sky News Live Interviews

I’ve been invited to speak on Sky News about Cunard’s Royal Rendezvous Celebrations in Sydney Harbour. These were live interviews in their Sydney ‘studio’, which in actuality is the interviewee sitting in a small room with a lapel mic and ear piece speaking to an unmanned camera. But despite the rather daunting setup it was a brilliant experience and the interview lasted for about 15 minutes; though at the time it felt much quicker. As they say, time flies when you’re having fun! The first interview focused on the Royal Rendezvous of Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth while the other piece covered the Cunard 175 Celebrations.

ABC Conversations with Sarah Kanowski

One of the best shows on Australian talkback is ‘Conversations’ – a show that dedicates an hour a day for an in-depth chat about someone or something interesting. It was a real treat to be invited to share the ocean liner story on the show… I only wish we had two or three hours! The interview was broadcast nationally across Australia in 2015 and replayed in 2018. You can listen to it online regardless of where you live – click here to listen.

Sunrise (2017)

I was aboard the P&O cruise ship Aurora when Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth met in Sydney Harbour in early 2017. Channel 7’s popular morning programme Sunrise was covering the visit of the two ships, and spoke with the journalist covering the event about the history of Cunard’s Queens in Sydney.

This history dates back to World War II when both the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth met in the harbour to collect Aussie troops bound for the middle east.

With me being at sea, it looked as if a television interview might be impossible, however thanks to the high quality satellite internet signal aboard Aurora and modern wonders such as Skype, we were able to film my interview from the middle of the Great Australian Bight aboard Aurora, and it was streamed to Channel 7.

The video can be viewed by clicking here.

BBC Television – Inside and Out (2017)

2017 marked the 50th Anniversary of the QE2’s launch, which was a big deal for us. Rachelle and I had a book due out in September all about the QE2, and I was scheduled to lecture aboard the Queen Elizabeth during the QE2 50h Anniversary Celebration Cruise.

To celebrate the ship’s anniversary, the BBC show ‘Inside and Out’ produced a tribute episode all about the ship and her impact on Southampton. I was interviewed aboard the Queen Mary 2 about the history of QE2; and the show also featured Captain Ian McNaught, the ship’s last master, as well as Bob and Francis Spears who sailed on QE2 over 40 times.

The picture below is of the four of us aboard QM2. You can see the BBC Episode here.

Southern Cross News Hobart (2017)

When QM2 visited Tasmania for the first time, I was interviewed by Southern Cross News about the ship and her impact on the Hobart economy. I had actually left QM2 that morning to fly home and so the interview was conducted in the airport carpark just moments before I was due to catch my flight!

Nine News (2015)

During Queen Mary 2’s call to Perth, Western Australia, I was lucky to lead a media tour of the ship and spoke with Channel 9 about the history of this great liner.

Nine News Adelaide (2015)

During Queen Mary 2’s call to Adelaide in South Australia, I was asked to host a media tour of the ship. Here, I spoke with Channel 9 about the history of the QM2.

Nine News Adelaide QM2 Interview (2014)

Back in 2014 I was interviewed aboard QM2 as part of a feature being done for the ship’s visit to Adelaide. It was great to share some QM2’s historical insights.

Channel 9 QM2 Interview (2014)

During Queen Mary 2’s call to Perth, Western Australia, I was invited to speak about the significance of this ship, the largest and most extravagant ocean liner ever built.

Business News Podcast (2016)

In 2016 I showed journalist Mark Pownall and photographer Attila Csaszar from Business News around the Queen Mary 2 while it was in Fremantle, Western Australia. The purpose of the tour was to show Mark the interior as he was writing a piece about our book – QM2: A Photographic Journey.

During the tour we got chatting about my connection to Ocean Liners and cruising. Mark invited me to speak on his popular Business News podcast about the impact that cruising has in Australia, the big cruising trends and my love of ocean liner history.