From 2005 in Tenerife, by Javier Salmones, a great Spanish photographer.
9/05/2008
9/04/2008
THE QE2 IN DUBAI: THE PALM JUMEIRAH PLANS (2)
My sources in Dubai confirm that the reclamation for the pier is expected to finish by the end of 2008, with the entire project scheduled for completion in 2010, as Manfred Ursprunger, CEO of QE2 Enterprises of Nakheed confirms in this video interview.
There will a new theater for Western shows.
A new Club.
A new Spa.
And a lot of new spaces.
As Manfred says, the QE2 has had many changes in her history, so Dubai will provide the last ones.
My experience with the hospitality industry in the UAE tells me that the new QE2 will quite different but also become a magnetic and magic place with the best quality services.
It will not sail, but it will excel.
9/03/2008
THE QE2 IN DUBAI: THE PALM JUMEIRAH PLANS (1)
As you know, the QE2 was bought by Dubai World company Istithmar World for $100 million last year.
According to the Gulf News in Dubai:
According to the Gulf News in Dubai:
Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai World, recently visited Southampton and toured the world-famous Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) between voyages.
Bin Sulayem also met the captain, staff and management of the cruise ship, who are busy preparing for her final voyage to Dubai in November, where she will be transformed into a permanent attraction as a floating hotel, retail and leisure destination at Palm Jumeirah.
The Dubai World chairman also met Manfred Ursprunger, chief executive of QE2 Enterprises, the Dubai World company set up to oversee the refurbishment of the vessel, and reviewed plans to create an unmatched experience of luxury in Dubai with the QE2 as its centrepiece.
He also discussed the installation of a museum dedicated to the celebration of the QE2's history and heritage.
QE2 CAPTAINS (2)
It seems that on September 10th, Captain Ian McNaught will replace Captain David Perkins.
Captain McNaught returns, and will take the ship through the end of her sailing life.
Watch and listen him here at the celebration concert in Liverpool Cathedral 21st September 2007.
Buckingham Covers has this brief bio about the last QE2 Captain:
Captain Ian McNaught is the youngest captain of the Queen Elizabeth 2 in the ship's history. He completed his initial cadet training at Fleetwood Nautical Colleges and spent four and a half years as a deck cadet with BP Tanker Co. He found life on board a deep-sea tanker to be rather monotonous, so he signed on with the Bibby Line, first aboard the general cargo ships Warwickshire and Herefordshire and later the gas tankers Hampshire and Wiltshire. By 1979, he felt that this latter type of ship was not for him and he joined Hull Gates Shipping, an English coasting outfit based at Grimsby. He stayed eight years until the company was sold when he applied to Cunard for a job. He joined the QE2 as second officer on September 2, 1987 and stayed with the ship for two years before serving on several other Cunard liners. He became the QE2's Staff Captain in 1999. In the summer of 2001 he was appointed Captain of the Sea Goddess I, but later that year he rejoined the QE2. Then on December 15, 2002, he was to leave the QE2 to become supernumerary on the Caronia in preparation to take over as Captain in May. But while still aboard the QE2 on a World Cruise, Cunard President Pam Conover arrived at the Port of Singapore to appoint him Master, the same day that Captain Ron Warwick was leaving the ship for the last time. Captain Paul Wright finished the cruise as Master, and he too joined Captain Warwick as Master of the Queen Mary 2 then under construction at St. Nazaire in France. Captain McNaught is married with one son. Home is the town of Washington in North East England, only seven miles inland from where he was born.
QE2 MEMORABLE PASSENGERRS: MISS KATSUKO
Reading different Cunard forums I found these nuggets about Miss Katsuko.
She was an exceptionally elegant Japanese lady that often used to have table 6 at the Queens Grill, in the corner, when she travelled on her own but now has a friend she travels with.
Katsuko was in 2003 on her 49th cruise with the QE2 and she was presented with a nice bouquet by Capt. McNaught at a little party .
Previously some years ago she cruised with her mother, and has received many small gifts over the years.
In the memories of a fellow passenger, "Katsuko's formal dress is traditional Japanese and I would challenge anyone to find a more elegantly dressed and sophisticated lady on the ship."
In the picture, Miss Katsuko is on the right of center.
She was an exceptionally elegant Japanese lady that often used to have table 6 at the Queens Grill, in the corner, when she travelled on her own but now has a friend she travels with.
Katsuko was in 2003 on her 49th cruise with the QE2 and she was presented with a nice bouquet by Capt. McNaught at a little party .
Previously some years ago she cruised with her mother, and has received many small gifts over the years.
In the memories of a fellow passenger, "Katsuko's formal dress is traditional Japanese and I would challenge anyone to find a more elegantly dressed and sophisticated lady on the ship."
In the picture, Miss Katsuko is on the right of center.
9/02/2008
A QE2 CABIN CAVALCADE
What's a "cabin cavalcade"?
Well, something very popular in many ships.
Including the QE2.
In brief: passengers looking inside other passenger cabins.
"Horsing around in fellow pax' cabins..."
You can call it "cabin voyeurism."
But the best explanation (and perhaps the best way to see many real QE2 staterooms)is in this amazing video.
THE QE2 & QM2 LAST ATLANTIC TANDEM CROSSING
The QE2 Last Atlantic Crossing will be a very special one.
The QM2 will tandem with the Grand Dame of the Seas.
Both they will leave from separate New York docks:
The QE2 from the Manhattan Hudson River Pier.
And the QM2 from the Redhook Brooklyn Terminal.
At the same time: 5 pm ET.
Sunset will be on that day at 6:15 pm ET.
In the first picture by S. Warwick you can see the QE2 and QM2 together in the Manhattan (25-apr-2004).
It was the first visit of the QM2 to New York.
In the second picture by Chief Officer Robert N. Groom, MV Freedom, they are crossing in the same direction.
This time will be the last one.
BEST HOTELS IN NEW YORK TO SEE THE ARRIVAL OF THE QE2
Two suggestions for hotels with the best views:
Ritz-Carlton in Battery Park (Lower Manhattan)
Hotel Le Blu in Brooklyn.
Ritz-Carlton in Battery Park (Lower Manhattan)
Hotel Le Blu in Brooklyn.
9/01/2008
HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THE QE2?
A passionate and well crafted description of the QE2 for a Cunard Hotel Cadet:
The QE2 is like an old club one returns to time and time again.
The passengers seem to share a common view with regard to the art of living which to many other people may seem outdated.
I do not know how to put this concept into words; the ship is a legend for a reason and many of the passengers are legends in their own right, perhaps they attract one another.
I have never sailed on another ship where every voyage did not have the most extrordinary people onboard.
The passengers on the QE2 dress on a formal note not because they are required, but out of respect for their surroundings, fellow passengers, and for the simply reason it is who they are.
The service is understated and spot on.
The cuisine lives up to the Cunard press of the finest dining experience at sea on every voyage I have sailed.
The Queens Grill onboard and the penthouses are private and not on display which I treasure.
My final point is that the crew of the QE2 has such a tremendous pride in their lady and their duties, this is felt from the moment you step onboard.
Pride in service is something that cannot be taught or forced and is so very rare.
A vast difference than performing duties based on job requirement.
A QE2 SOUVENIRS FEVER?
A QE2 regular writes:
"We kept hearing passengers whispering about what they would like to remove from QE2 for safekeeping and to preserve the ownership of the memorabilia in the UK.
I saw several folk with screwdrivers and noticed one of those cheap plastic QE2 logo clocks hanging off by an elevator one day, we wondered if it was just falling off or whether someone was trying to take it into private ownership.
There isn't really much which is a good souvenir, even the milkjugs or teaspoons are not marked QE2.
And anything bigger, like the original paintings are quite big (also it is definitely nicking)."
Oh, dear!
THE QE2: PICTURES OF HER VISIT TO DUBAI IN 1997
These are pictures from March 1997 of the QE docking for the first time ever in Dubai waters.
In the first you can see the Port Rashid Tug Boats giving a traditional welcome to the QE2
In the second, the QE2 had to be turned around so the ship was able to sail from Port Rashid.
And in the third, the QE2 was berthed safely alongside Quay 2 but the Passenger Terminal had yet to be built so the passengers disembarked into buses.
Cunard didn't know at this time that ten years later the QE2 will be sold for $100 million dollars to an UAE state-owned company.
Any of you was there in this first visit to Dubai?
Any memories from that day?
In the second, the QE2 had to be turned around so the ship was able to sail from Port Rashid.
And in the third, the QE2 was berthed safely alongside Quay 2 but the Passenger Terminal had yet to be built so the passengers disembarked into buses.
Cunard didn't know at this time that ten years later the QE2 will be sold for $100 million dollars to an UAE state-owned company.
Any of you was there in this first visit to Dubai?
Any memories from that day?
A CRUISE FOURM FOR THE QE2 IN HER LAST EVER TRANSATLANTIC CROSSING
The excellent CruiseCritic website has plenty of forums, but if you are going to be in tha Last Atlantic Crossing (October 16-22), this is your best one:
QE2 HER LAST EVER TRANSATLANTIC CROSSING includes a list-in progress with the names and decks of some of the forum members that will be aboard.
They are planning, of course, all kind of celebrations.
A must read forum for QE2 fans!
WHERE IS THE QE2 BRIDGE LIVE CAMERA?
The answer is from Rob Lightbodys's fantastic blog.
Today, sailing the Mediterranean sea and heading to Athens.
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