Departure times - Maiden Voyage onwards

[richc1977]

I was wondering about departure times - if this has been covered elsewhere apologies

What was her departure time on her Maiden Voyage (2nd May 69 - Soton to New York)?

Then in her serivce life, what was her typical Southampton departure time?

[Twynkle]

Hi Richard
QE2 departed Southampton for the final time 'officially' at 19.15 hrs
Earlier, departure times varied - often from Southampton at about 17.00 hrs - or soon after.
When QE2 was away from home, the schedules varied, apparently depending on Port activities, availability of Pilots, Tugs, Shore-side crews etc etc
Often there were stop-overs overnight - sometimes twice in one voyage - e.g The Baltic (Copenhagen and St Petersberg), and late night departures - Liverpool, Fireworks etc
All 'booked' years in advance.

Times of departure were published in every one of the Cunard Brochures
For Soton - try the Port of Southampton Authority site
http://www.southamptonvts.co.uk/
someone there may be able to give you more historical info
And the QE2 Archives in Glasgow might give you the time of both her launch, and 'Mini' Maiden Voyage
http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_71009_en.pdf

Louis (Blue Bombay) will know more from his diary / records too!

Rosie

   

[Louis De Sousa]

What was her departure time on her Maiden Voyage (2nd May 69 - Soton to New York)?

She departure the Ocean Terminal around 12h45 on the 2nd May 1969 and sailed first to Le Havre.Here she made a stop for 2 hours to embark 100 passengers.

On this maiden voyage there was a death of a crewmember.

The ship arrived in New York on the 7th May 1969 just after 3 p.m.

Louis

[Peter Mugridge]

Up until the late 1980s ( I think it was ) she overnighted at Southampton; she would often come past Fort Victoria on the IoW one afternoon coming in and the next afternoon going out.  Fort Victoria was the best vantage point on the IoW for watching QE2 and other large vessels.

And then at some point some rotten spoilsports at Southampton banned the larger vessels from going that way round full stop; everything has to go via the Ryde side now.

[Louis De Sousa]

Then in her serivce life, what was her typical Southampton departure time?

It varied a lot over the years.When she done the 4 days crossing times were different than when she started to 5 days crossing.On the 4 days crossing when arriving from a Eastbound Crossing she would arrive on the 5th day in the afternoon then sail around 21h00-22h00 for the next cruise.When she arrived in Southampton from a English Cruise departure times would normally be around 15h00.

When the crossing became 5 days departures times was normally 15h00 for a crossing and for a English Cruise it varied from 15h00 to 20h00 ( at least times that i have on record ).

Louis

[Louis De Sousa]

She departure the Ocean Terminal around 12h45 on the 2nd May 1969 and sailed first to Le Havre.Here she made a stop for 2 hours to embark 100 passengers.

On this maiden voyage there was a death of a crewmember.

The ship arrived in New York on the 7th May 1969 just after 3 p.m.

This crossing was done in 4 days, 16 hours and 35 minutes, at an average speed of 28.02 knots.

Louis

[richc1977]

Thanks for the info, guys.  You're all very knowledgeable on this.

I did a bit of reading on the newspaper archive sites, the Times I think said she was 15 minutes late.

Off thread a bit.......but I read on the Guardian archive site that she was only 3/4 full!   

[cunardqueen]

[Bob C.]

"the Queen Elizabeth 2 set off on the first of 30 years of crossings..."

I remember the QE2's design life of 30 years being the big talk back in '69 and the early '70's.  Back then 1999 seemed so far away and little did we know she'd be in service for 39 1/2!

[cunardqueen]

And imagine the Maiden voyage not sailing full. These days they sail full with a long waiting list left behind, and selling out in a matter of a few hours, not forgetting the fluid pricing..and chances are you won't know how much you will pay till your agent calls you back with the good news, and probably cabin number yet to be assigned...