Warm greetings from sunny Dubai

[Shantanu]

Hi all;

I live in the UAE and work with an Inbound Tour Operator based out of Sharjah. We have been priviliged to be appointed as Carnival's official shore excursion agent since the 90's and I am fortunate to have enjoyed a brief tour of QE2's public areas (as well as QM2 & QV) during her calls to Dubai. And now she's a dream neighbor  who I drive past every day that we have ships in port.

I fell in love with the aura really, surrounding the grande dame and was doubly fortunate to have Cmd Ronald Warwick's book 'QE2: The Cunard Line Flagship, Queen Elizabeth II' at hand, when she made her last call in November last year, so I could have it autographed by the man himself.

Tour staff onboard the last voyage very kindly gave me a commemorative set of menus which lovingly describe QE2's origins, how her naming came about and other facts and figures. A treasure for sure!

I look forward to learning from all you experienced staff and guests out there and to sharing whatever local information comes to light regarding her new role, if you don't hear of it in the press first 

[Chris]

Welcome Shantanu! Great to have you aboard.

I hope you will be able to keep us up to date with QE2 during her stay in Dubai.

If you have any photographs of our beloved ship please post them here for us all to see. It's quite easy to upload images as shown below.

Great also to hear you met Commodore Warwick - he has a very deep appreciation for QE2 and is a fantastic person to speak to about Cunard, QE2 and shipping in general.

Kind regards,

Chris.

[Twynkle]

Hello Shantanu!

Welcome aboard - It's great that you have joined us.
We all love QE2 here  - so you have joined many QE2 Supporters
If you have stories, pictures and news of QE2,
it will be really very good to see them!
In the meantime,
hopefully you will find lots on the Forum that will be of interest to you.
Rosie
 

[Shantanu]

Hey Chris & Rosie;

Thanks for the warm welcome. I've archived all of QE2's pics since the decommissioning. Will try to access them asap.

I didn't actually meet Cmd Warwick. Apologies if I gave that impression. The onboard tour staff got me his autograph.

I can post some recent pics by early November as I've got ships coming in then.

Cheers,

S

[Chris]

Looking forward to seeing the pics!

[Blue Bombay]

Warm greetings too but from a cold and rainy Germany.

Welcome onboard and looking forward for those pics.

Louis

[Shantanu]

Hello everyone

Here are a couple of pics from last week.

Brgds, Shantanu

[Blue Bombay]

Shantanu,thank you very much for those pics.Do you manage to get inside?

Louis

[Matt]

Thanks for the Photos!

Matt

[Chris]

Fantastic shots, thanks for sharing!

[Shantanu]

Hello

No. To my temporary regret, I haven't managed to get inside. Some of the gangways look really messy with various equipments, step ladders and other cleaning quipment blocking the entrances. I'm trying to arrange for the Port Agent to get me in sometime in the near future.

BTW she has been moved further up the quay to the very end of the line (perhaps berths 34-35) and the golden flower pot is replaced by a grim-faced security guard and a terse sign outside the gangway saying "casual visitors are not permitted aboard the ship ..." etc.

I will post several more pics right after this if you're interested.

Brgds, Shantanu

[Blue Bombay]

Please do post. 

Louis

[Matt]

BTW she has been moved further up the quay to the very end of the line (perhaps berths 34-35) and the golden flower pot is replaced by a grim-faced security guard and a terse sign outside the gangway saying "casual visitors are not permitted aboard the ship ..." etc.

I will post several more pics right after this if you're interested.

Brgds, Shantanu

Yes, we saw via the Marine traffic website that she has been moved right to the end, Do you have any ideawhy? Was it due to the fact that there were 4~5 cruise ships in the port last week?

They really dont want anyone on board!!! 

Looking forward to the photos!!

Cheers,
Matt

[Shantanu]

I think you're right, Matt. We had the Costa Luminosa, AIDAdiva and Azamara Quest alongside so naturally QE2 must have been moved further up the quay to allow the others easier access to the Cruise Terminal.

Brgds, Shantanu

[Blue Bombay]

Thank you very much for those pics.

I have two questions wonder if you could help out.Do you know how many people are onboard? And does she have her lights always on at night? or is it just when ships are in?

Thank you very much once more.

Louis

[Matt]

Thank you very much for those pics.

I have two questions wonder if you could help out.Do you know how many people are onboard? And does she have her lights always on at night? or is it just when ships are in?

Thank you very much once more.

Louis

I Second that i would also like to know!!

I think you're right, Matt. We had the Costa Luminosa, AIDAdiva and Azamara Quest alongside so naturally QE2 must have been moved further up the quay to allow the others easier access to the Cruise Terminal.

Brgds, Shantanu

Yes it sounds right, also on the 4th of December the Costa Europa, Aidadiva, Nautica and Silver Wind were all in port!

As i said before, does everyone get this access that you had to see the QE2 externally, or only employee's?

Regards,
Matt

[Twynkle]

Hello Shantanu
Very many thanks to you.
The images are superb, particularly of the great bow of QE2
These are a lovely early Christmas present!
It wouldn't be surprising if they get moved,
they may well get their special topic on the Forum
and they'll be welcomed gratefully by people from all over the world!
Rosie

[Jem]

Thank you so much for your latest photos, she looks so graceful. I would just adore to see the proud bow slicing its way across the Oceans again.

[bswan]

Thanks for the wonderful photos. Nice to see her still gleaming in the sun. She should be out travelling the seven seas.