Tenders

[mickey g]

Only one of my three QE2 voyages used a tender, the August 2008 Biscay voyage. We dropped anchor some two miles off Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, having just belted across the Bay of Biscay from Le Verdon (instead of La Chappelle).

The boarding of the tenders was quite chaotic and time consuming and my plans for showing my friend around the island were completely screwed up, thanks to our delayed arrival in St Peter Port.

My irritation of the tender screw up was very short lived, a good lunch saw to that.

The sea was choppy and on both legs I was filming on the upper deck of the tenders, fabulous.

Back on board QE2 I filmed a few comings and goings of the tenders and then a complete raising of one into its derricks.

Looking back I realise that it was part and parcel of the QE2 experience and I for one am extremely grateful that I experienced a tender transfer with, I believe, a bit of a difference.

[Andy F]

I have a feeling yours may well have turned out to be the last visit to Guernsey Mickey.  The final call to the Island was planned for October at the culmination of the short Biscay/Bilbao cruise but I seem to recall this was cancelled due to bad weather. 

[Malcolm]

Looking back I realise that it was part and parcel of the QE2 experience and I for one am extremely grateful that I experienced a tender transfer with, I believe, a bit of a difference.

I agree - one is an experience. Once you've done several you realise that chaos is always there and it becomes very irritating. We tended to look for trips where there were as few launch ports as possible.

[Malcolm]

I seem to recall this was cancelled due to bad weather. 

Most of her calls at Guernsey were cancelled due to bad weather. It makes you wonder why they kept Guernsey as a port of call.

[Glengavin]

I used to love the tender trips - the chance to get some great photographs and to appreciate the immensity and beauty of QE2.

Can only think of one I didn't really enjoy and then I was sitting at the stern of a particularly fumey tender.

Last tender port ever was Zakinthos on the 4th of November 2008 (Mediterranean Odyssey).

[cunardqueen]

On my med cruise in 2007 one of the ports we had a tender service, all appeared quite calm but only when you were down on the pontoon thingy did you become aware just how bad the swell was, sitting uptop on the tender it became clear that loading passengers was taking longer than normal, must have been about 20 mins we sat there and the crashing against the pontoon broke one of the tender windows.
Some of the old dears did struggle to board.
On the round UK voyage last year in South Queensferry a few of the pipe band were returning to shore, one of them was asking 101 questions about the ship, l gave him a daily programme, you would have thought l had given him the world .

[Andy F]

Can only think of one I didn't really enjoy and then I was sitting at the stern of a particularly fumey tender.

Probably the same one I always seemed to end up in lol, slowly being gassed by the noxious fumes as I made my way to and from the ship.  Ah, all part of the experience I suppose but agree it was worth it for the photo opportunities and seeing the ship as she was meant to be viewed.

[Chris Frame]

My first experience with Tenders was in 1998 during the trans-Panama segment of the 1998 World Cruise.

We sailed from Fort Lauderdale to Cozumel (Tender), Cartagena (Tender) and also tendered at Acapulco.






--

I had to wait 10 years before tendering aboard QE2 again despite many voyages in the interim. That was during the unforgettable Mediterranean Sojourn where we tendered at Zakinthos.



I must say that I loved the tender rides as it gave an unforgettable view of the magnificently elegant QE2… it was perfect.

[Twynkle]

It was  a bit choppy in Iceland!
We'd needed to wait with 3 other Tenders for nearly half an hour
alongside QE2 before it was safe enough for us to leap onto the pontoon
It was great!


https://www.flickr.com/photos/watch_keeper/sets/72157617128582781/

[Andy F]

That was during the unforgettable Mediterranean Sojourn where we tendered at Zakinthos.  I must say that I loved the tender rides as it gave an unforgettable view of the magnificently elegant QE2… it was perfect.

Agree Chris and a superb shot this is too!

[Chris Frame]

Thank you Andy - but your shot of the bow is superb!

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

I loved the tenders for... everything! Always looked forward to the anchor ports.

The excitement of disembarking by boat, the view of QE2 from various sides, the ride across the sea in a much smaller vessel, the arrival at the port itself and the view back to QE2, the stories of the area which you got during the ride when your tender was not a QE2 lifeboat but a local boat, and finally, I loved watching the tenders being hoisted up again until they were safely stowed in their davits.

Anchoring and tendering made these ports such very leisurely affairs (though extra busy for the crew, I recognise)... and the joy of being able to see small ports not equipped with a berth for QE2, was lovely too. I would not have missed them for anything!

[Twynkle]

Photo of Tender No 9

http://inphotos.org/lifeboat-9-on-the-qe2/

[Louis De Sousa]

Heres the old tenders,they were removed in 1994

[Chris Frame]

Alpha & Beta!

Do you know what became of them?

[Louis De Sousa]

Alpha & Beta!

Do you know what became of them?

I have no clue Chris

[Twynkle]

A discussion about the Tenders (Alpha and Beta) as well as about the Magrodome.
 
http://www.travelserver.net/travelpage/ubb-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=000266

[Twynkle]

Do you think  / hope that the QE2 tenders will be kept in tact and in the same places when she is put to another use?

[Bob C.]

Queen Mary's are.  We can only hope the are left in place as the life boats are as much a part of QE2 and anything.  There would be no character without her bearing the mark of an ocean going vessel - aka her life boats, tenders and the red crash boats.

[Cruisemarsh]

I remember being on the QE2 when she anchored off Anstruther, Fife in 2000 for the Open at St Andrews. I shall never forget the tender ride to and fro the ship. It was choppy as anything and you thought the actual tender was going to capsize, we actually lost a lifebelt. Also, passengers were caught out on one of the evenings she was there as the harbour tide was too low for a tender to get in and out and so they had to wait until the tide allowed for the commencement of the tenders again.

As for taking photos, a tender ride was the best place to view the entire ship and to get some wonderful phots of her magnificent profile.