Lucky, Lucky Me I Would Have Done It For Free by Ian Fraser

I was only three months old my parents took me on board my first ever cruise on board the British Cruise Liner the S.S. Canberra and there started firstly not only my love of that ship, but secondly my love of cruise ships in general. For the next 22 years I basically went on board Canberra whenever I could get the opportunity, whether it be just on a turnaround in Southampton or on a 28 night cruise across to the U.S. I was there for Canberra’s greatest moment, the day the Great White Whale returned from war against the Argentinians in the Falklands back in 1982, my family being the first civilians to walk up the gangway at Southampton as she came alongside to present a medal to a cabin steward who we had known for few years.

In 1986 we cruised on her and spent time getting to know this family from Scotland quite well, husband and wife Alex and Cathy and their three boys, Mark, Jason and Darren. That man, Alex was manager of Aberdeen FC and me and my brother got on really well with the boys because we were of a similar age. For the next 27 years, Sir Alex as he became known, went on to manage Manchester United and became probably the greatest ever football club manager there ever was. He over the years kindly helped me with school projects I did on the cruising industry by answering questions on his views on cruising and when I worked at Wimbledon FC and we played Manchester United he came and said hello to me.

Over the years I made many friends on Canberra, many of whom I’m still in contact with today, I also took this beautiful young lady on a cruise with me on Canberra (in fact Canberra’s penultimate cruise in 1997) and planned on the very last night to propose to her and then tell our parents the very next day in Southampton. Sadly that evening shortly before I went propose, news started to break that Princess Diana had been involved in a serious car crash and I felt it wouldn’t be appropriate to get down on bended knee at that time with everyone in shock so I put it off for a few weeks. 22 years later (and two daughters), I’m still married to that wonderful person.

I did get to spend one more night on Canberra, her last night in Southampton in fact where the crew put on this amazing party and the following morning the tears flowed as we finally departed the Great White Whale.

So you may ask yourself what has this got to do with a book review ? Well, in 1992 as a sprightly 17 year old I was on board Canberra with my parents for a 17 night cruise. I remember so clearly that there was this Scottish Cruise Director called Ian Fraser on board who I got to know during the voyage and he could never stop laughing or having fun. I especially recall two events on that cruise with Ian, firstly knocking him off the greasy pole with a pillow case full of balloons suspended above the lido swimming pool after an epic battle. The second will stay with me for ever, it was fancy dress night, the Stadium Theatre was packed and me and some friends I had made on board, walked on to stage dressed as a nun (me) and monks (the friends), the monks proceeded to rip off their outfits to reveal nothing but swim shorts and bow ties before turning to me where I stripped out of my nuns outfit to reveal full make up and a lime green bikini. Ian just split his sides laughing along with the audience before ribbing the captain about what I may do to him later !! His laughter and enthusiasm left such an impression on me, I’ve never forgotten it.

Over the years that followed I saw Ian a couple of times working on Oriana and when I worked for Carnival UK as Group Head of Pensions & Payroll our paths crossed a couple more times. Recently I found from ex P&O employees Facebook group that Ian was publishing a book about his time working for P&O and I made contact with him to let him know about The Witterings of A Cruise Ship Reader website and asking him if he would like me to review his book. Gladly Ian responded and we chatted on the phone swapping tales from Canberra and beyond and I could have honestly listened to him all day long.

So, Ian agreed and very kindly sent me a copy of his book ‘Lucky Lucky Me I Would Have Done It For Free’. In it Ian talks about how he ended up working at sea from his roots up in Scotland, starting off as an entertainments officer on board the original Oriana before moving onto the Canberra and Sea Princess. Ian provides some really interesting insight into life onboard along with some very funny stories involving other crew members, romantic encounters with ladies, grumpy passengers, meeting his wife and those who helped not only inspire his career but develop it also.

For those that have travelled on P&O cruise ships over the years, you will hear about some very familiar names throughout the book from Captain’s to Chief Engineers to Doctors to other entertainment officers and entertainers. Ian also speaks about some of the wonderful passengers that he has met along the years and formed friendships with (including the Ferguson’s) along with getting to meet not only his, but many of our own sporting heroes from the world of football, cricket, rugby and horse racing to name but a few. His interactions with certain celebrities also makes you open your eyes a bit about either how friendly or offish they can be (The Jimmy Saville story is one particular chapter I found interesting), and his friendship that developed from his early days on board with Lord Geoffrey Sterling of Plaistow (once the Chairman of P&O Cruises) and his family which is still so strong today.

Being an entertainments officer and a Cruise Director has certainly given Ian so many great life experiences and the opportunity to visit some wonderful places around the world, sometimes more than once, and as he talks about some of these it gives you thoughts and ideas about visiting these places too. Ian also talks candidly about how much the cruising industry has changed so much in recent years especially in the entertainment side of things. Ian has always strived for perfection in all that both he and his teams around him have done to deliver that great passenger experience. It is hard to believe today that it used to be quite normal for the Cruise Director to be part of the on stage shows and other entertainment on board whereas nowadays many of them have to spend a lot of time working in a back office on board organising things and attending meetings rather than actually doing the entertaining.

To read ‘Lucky, Lucky Me’ you do not have to have necessarily known Ian or cruised on any of the ships that he has worked on. On its own, Lucky Lucky Me is a very interesting read especially if you love cruising or are even thinking about working on board a ship in the entertainments team. It is a real page turner with so many laugh out loud moments and once you start reading it you won’t want to put it down.

Now as you know I always act impartial when rating the books that I read and have given some pretty low ratings but also some very high ones too. So how does Lucky, Lucky Me, I Would Have Done It For Free’ by Ian Fraser rate ? Well for me this is a massive massive 10 out of 10 and whether you are going on a cruise this year or not, or if you have never cruised before, I cannot highly recommend this book enough as a great read. This book can be read anywhere or anytime on board, and if on a P&O Cruise ship I am sure if some of your fellow passengers see you reading it and they have cruised over the years they will be asking you about it.

I am sure that from just having a brief telephone conversation with Ian that there are many many more stories he could tell about life onboard and I so hope he follows this up with a sequel of stories and anecdotes from his time on board.

So where can you purchase this book from and how much does it cost ? Well to buy a copy of ‘Lucky, Lucky Me I Would Have Done It For Free’ you will need to email the author yourself, Ian Fraser at iandmfraser@hotmail.co.uk and the cost of the book is an absolute steal at £10.00 (plus £2.00 postage & packaging). Please note also that Ian will be on board Oriana giving talks about his life at sea and his book between 18th June and 5th July and then again between 18th July -31st July, so if you are onboard feel free to say hi to Ian and maybe buy his book then.

I hope you have enjoyed the review and if you do read it, I hope you enjoy ‘Lucky, Lucky Me’.

For now, Happy Reading 😊

Canberralover