Favorite QE2 Configuration : Discuss & Vote in the poll!

[Bob C.]

I'm very partial to the original configuration but have always found the speed stripe to be very attractive and, in my opinion, should have been part of the original paint scheme.

My least favorite was the blue anti-fouling paint from 1978-1980 - so much so that I did not include it in the poll.  I was onboard in 1979 and wrote a very scathing critique to Cunard saying that it was not a traditional Cunard color and how dare they marr the QE2 with it (even then my traditionalist temperment abounded!).  I can only image what they were thinking when they recieved that rebuke from a skinny 17 yo passenger.

[Andrew Collier]

Oooh good question, one thats really hard to answer, gonna have to give this some thought....

Unlike you I didn't mind the blue anti-fouling, but obviously prefered the red, but really didn't like the speed stripe!

Am torn between the Original, the 1984/5 option or the 1987 version, Hmmm....

[Mauretania1907]

Since my one and only voyage was in 1989, I have voted for the 1987 configuration. But to tell the truth, I confess to liking the QE2 in any configuration (except possibly the Nakheel one, but to be fair to them, I reserve judgement, with the comment that QE2 not going to sea would make theirs my least favourite configuration.)

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

I have a poll up in the "Service Life" section asking what your favorite QE2 configuration is with 10 choices based on her major changes over the last 40 years.  There has only been 8 votes in 3 days...

Alas Bob, I have to admit that I am not (yet) able to make an informed choice. Could you envisage a teaching session for those (no doubt few) of us who need a bit of extra coaching? A short guide on the distinguishing features of each of these phases? With a few links to photos perhaps?

Even then, I might still not be able to vote, since I have only known QE2 in her 2000 + configuration...

[Rob Lightbody]

My favourite would have to be a combination 'best of' from all the eras, but surely the original incarnation was the best.

I only was on board in two eras - in 1987 the stern decks seemed a complete mess.  But in 2007 they were hugely improved, the Yacht club was simply awesome, but the Grand Lounge seemed to have been ruined becoming a not very good space for anything much (top and bottom) and the lido seemed a bit like a motorway service station... (it was the dirty-looking tiled floor i think).

[Bob C.]

Could you envisage a teaching session for those (no doubt few) of us who need a bit of extra coaching? A short guide on the distinguishing features of each of these phases? With a few links to photos perhaps?

Isabelle,
    This is a great idea and I'd be happy to take it on.  It will take a bit of doing to find the right photos but it will be a labor of love...

[Bob C.]

Still working on a grander product but thought I'd post this in the meantime.  It's pretty good and takes you through the external changes over the years with the 3 webpages dedicated to it.

Enjoy!

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/QE2-1.html

[Twynkle]

Hi Bob,

This is a wonderful collection - Thank you very, very much.
It feels like a real 'labour of love'!

I think we joined her on the day you left and went from So'ton to Edinburgh, Norway and Amsterdam then home. The weather for us in 2005 was dreadful, your photographs ('outside') show what might have been!
Last year we did an almost identical trip to the one you did in 2005 - weather mixed, with Sognefjord looking magnificent from the pilot joining before sunrise onwards!  I'm trying to put photos on to flickr - it's more than a little time consuming!
Your work is our treat!
Rosie

[caledonia]

I must admit to not seeing the QE2 until 2004 - this is the look that i like, to me she improved greatly when the new funnel was put on - i never liked the original it looked too thin to me ( thought i must admit i would have prefered the turbines to diesel).
The QE2 the first time i saw her was absolute perfection - nothing in my eyes will ever replace her.