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Any news on QE2 ?


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I may get the flames- but really- old QE2 should have gone to the breakers long ago! She is not the icon the first Queen Mary was!

The style of the 60ths and 70ths- did have no appeal to me! I sailed her towards the end of her heydays- old, outdated and tired! Legend or no Legend!

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You are right , she was looking outdated and I hope the internal work makes her look smart again. As for the exterior, she looks the same minus the lifeboats ( which are still around the ship) and I am pleased to see it . So there’s big tall hotels in the area , not everyone likes them and like boats that are restaurants or floating hotels in the UK , people go to them because they offer something different. They don’t want to see a lifeboat outside the window as one does at sea as it serves no purpose. I stayed in the penthouses and the lifeboats did obscure the view . Ultimately she would have never sailed again and I for one am glad she wasn’t broken up. Yes she could have been brought back to the uk but Cunard needed the money and no one in the uk could have afforded that and the money spent on her that Dubai owners have. Yes , it might not work but seeing her bright and shiny in the new marina where she can be seen for miles , she looks like she did and it’s the start of her new life.

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I may get the flames- but really- old QE2 should have gone to the breakers long ago! She is not the icon the first Queen Mary was!

The style of the 60ths and 70ths- did have no appeal to me! I sailed her towards the end of her heydays- old, outdated and tired! Legend or no Legend!

 

That's just factually incorrect I'm afraid. Whether you liked her or not, she was an absolutely massive icon. A household name. Arguably the last ship that will be a household name.

 

On her original turbines, she covered a greater distance than the previous 2 Queens combined. She then covered another 3.4 million nautical miles to reach a record that will probably never be broken.

 

And then there's her impact on the cruise industry. Everyone thought they were mad to build a huge cruise liner in the jet age, but they did, and she succeeded. For a while, she was the only one in service. Think about that for a moment. Look at it now. Many experts credit her with having a profound effect on the modern cruise industry. And without a shadow of a doubt, there'd be no Cunard today without her.

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I'm with you Rob. Remember the story about Mickey Arison on the bridge prior to closing the deal for Cunard seeing thousands lining the harbor on arrival to a port and asking the Captain if something big was going on today. The answer, of course "yes, QE2 is arriving". When launched, she was the latest, greatest and most modern. She had the state of the art equipment and decor for the age. To say she was old and run down, after 40 years continual service, is a bit like mocking an old war veteran. Damn glad I was able to sail on her throughout her career.

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Guest SilverHengroen

I would have to concur with RAL72 and Jim Avery that, while her original (interior) design might not have been the most timelessly beautiful, the ship herself is incredibly special, both being shaped by and herself shaping the transition from sailing as transportation to sailing as leisure. No modern ship aside from Queen Mary 2 is anywhere close to compatible in terms of being a unique and specialised design.

 

At any rate, ‘tired’ looking is irrelevant as this is the perfect opportunity to fix that. Dubai have had plenty of time (and I expect money!) to reconfigure and redecorate the ship as something special and outstanding. I was hoping for a return to her original exterior appearance which was one part of her original design that did look very cool, but I guess the penthouses are too lucrative to lose. I wonder if the suites on one deck could be reconfigured to offer in-hull balconies like QM2’s 4,5 and 6 deck rooms? It would only really mean enlarging the oval windows slightly and partitioning a ‘balcony’ off inside...

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I would have to concur with RAL72 and Jim Avery that, while her original (interior) design might not have been the most timelessly beautiful, the ship herself is incredibly special, both being shaped by and herself shaping the transition from sailing as transportation to sailing as leisure. No modern ship aside from Queen Mary 2 is anywhere close to compatible in terms of being a unique and specialised design.

 

At any rate, ‘tired’ looking is irrelevant as this is the perfect opportunity to fix that. Dubai have had plenty of time (and I expect money!) to reconfigure and redecorate the ship as something special and outstanding. I was hoping for a return to her original exterior appearance which was one part of her original design that did look very cool, but I guess the penthouses are too lucrative to lose. I wonder if the suites on one deck could be reconfigured to offer in-hull balconies like QM2’s 4,5 and 6 deck rooms? It would only really mean enlarging the oval windows slightly and partitioning a ‘balcony’ off inside...

 

 

 

The problem is Dubai doesn't have the money- that's why it's taken nearly a decade of her rotting in the heat.

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I have not visited here in a while so seeing this thread is very puzzling.

 

On July 18, 2017 I booked Queen Elizabeth for January 3-19, 2019 Southampton to Cape Town. So I am hoping we are discussing two different ships. Queen Elizabeth 2, being turned into a hotel, and Queen Elizabeth that is taking me back to Africa.

 

We have done a number of crossings on Queen Mary 2, but have not sailed on either of the other ships.

 

Thank you for any responses.

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I have not visited here in a while so seeing this thread is very puzzling.

 

On July 18, 2017 I booked Queen Elizabeth for January 3-19, 2019 Southampton to Cape Town. So I am hoping we are discussing two different ships. Queen Elizabeth 2, being turned into a hotel, and Queen Elizabeth that is taking me back to Africa.

 

We have done a number of crossings on Queen Mary 2, but have not sailed on either of the other ships.

 

Thank you for any responses.

 

Yes, you can rest assured this discussion is about a different ship than the one on which you have booked your 2019 voyage to Cape Town.

 

The ship this thread is discussing is the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) which was part of the Cunard fleet from 1969 to 2008. The Queen Elizabeth you will be travelling on joined the Cunard fleet in 2010 and as such is the newest member of the Cunard fleet.

 

For a brief introduction to the QE2 (being discussed here), you may want to check out this wikipedia article.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_2

 

Regards, John

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I may get the flames- but really- old QE2 should have gone to the breakers long ago! She is not the icon the first Queen Mary was!

The style of the 60ths and 70ths- did have no appeal to me! I sailed her towards the end of her heydays- old, outdated and tired! Legend or no Legend!

 

Our first crossing on the QE2 was in 1973, after the suites were added and the forward-facing lounge removed. But the ship was still in her original modern style. As a person with traditional tastes in ships, I was not impressed. But this did not keep us from returning for other crossings.

 

By the time of our last crossing, just seven months before her retirement in 2008, the QE2's décor was looking more appealing to me. Just one example: in 1979 we travelled First Class and had our meals in the Columbia Restaurant. The service and food were excellent, but as for the ambience of the room - it was lacking. Plain would be a good description. Later the room was re-named Caronia and redecorated to look like an ocean liner's dining room.

 

It is a matter of personal taste, but the QE2 did not look "tired" to me; she never looked better.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest SilverHengroen

I believe it is 9 years this month that QE2 set sail from Southampton for the last time, I couldn’t see anything from either Cunard or Dubai acknowledging this though. I did find some rumblings that an opening to the hotel will be happening imminently though. Hopefully what they have done will be a pleasant surprise, I wonder if they could have addressed the dearth of luxury suites on board by converting the Lido into some? It certainly won’t be needed as a casual restaurant in the ship’s new role. They could even have 2/3 looking aft with their own section of the Q deck terrace as a balcony!

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Guest SilverHengroen
She sailed from Southampton on November 11th and arrived in Dubai on the 27th.

Ah yes of course, I recall the Remembrance Day poppy drop and all. You’d have thought Dubai might have done something a couple of days ago to mark the anniversary of her arrival if she’s to be opened soon?

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