Maggie O'Donnell, QE2 Casino girl 1981-1983

[Casinogirls]

Peter... the problem is that everytime I think about my favourite place.. I just hop from one place to another .. as so many have special  memories...  like you Hong Kong was amazing.. the shopping, the floating restaurants.. the night market was something else... and then the bars... we all went to Ned Kelly's one night and too be honest I woke up the next day not remembering a thing.... but in those days everyone took care of you...and I never felt unsafe.. ( only in South America )..
Another place was Singapore.. do you remember Change Alley.. I heard it's not there anymore.. we were so lucky to have all the ports off.. I have heard it's not like that now.. but then again is anything..


I also had some great times in Barbados... when we did the midnight launches... and everyone would get off and carry crates load of booze.. sown to Paradise Beach.. and just party the nght away.... I never could imagine how you guys did it.. and always turned in for work..
When we use to have parties in our cabins the guys would wait until we finished work come to the parties.. and go straight to work serving breakfast still half cut.. Oh!  what laughs... and what bloody stamina we had.. for working hard and playing hard.

That's why my brain probably still thinks I am 35..  LOL !!!

No wonder my nephews still call me mad Aunty Marge... at least we have enjoyed life and have had some amazing experiences
and too be honest I am still wanting to go and travel.. it never leaves you..the best form of educattion anyone can get... Oh! such happy days 

[peter ward]

Oh yes I loved Barbados .We would dock at about 11pm and it would be off to paradise beach with a coolbox full of beer/wine and ice ...a beatbox with loads of batteries ,flip flops and bermuda shorts!
party till it got  light then stagger back to the ship with your hair full of sand ,quick shower then up to the restaurant ! How the hell we got thru the day ....mind you we didn't have to worry to much about breakfast unless we bumped into a few drunken croupiers on the beach who would threaten to come in for breakfast (they never did ).
Nowadays if I have a few drinks at night I can't get out of bed the next day !! you know I'd forgotten all about paradise beach....I remember the hotel bar led onto the beach and once we got told off by security for being to loud for the guests and to cool it or we would be 'escorted out' ..great fun 

[Casinogirls]

Bob Marley blasting out of the beat box... just all these little parties going on up and down the beach...getting so wasted.. came back once... and woke up in bed still in bikini... covered in sand... all in my hair, mouth.. just everywhere....the caribbean was a magical place... loved it all... another great place was St.Thomas. Megans Bay.. great rum punch... Calabash beach in Grenada..
Do you remember that hotel in Acapulco... The Princess... did para gliding on there... now I get nervous if I climb up a ladder..

Gibralter... and the nice monkeys (joke)...lisbon... what was that all about... we went to some strange places in the Med..
hottest place I can remember was the Panama..

Its funny you thought Jay was aloof... as quite a lot of people onboard thought the Casino girls were snobby... but we far from that... maybe a few thought they were somthing and were looking for a rich punter but they were few and far between.

I bought some nice things on my travels... some nice art work... but also some crap !!!  

What about Mother Phillips...he loved us.. and all the old scouse barmen that use to work in the Theatre Bar, Piano Bar... you would order your drinks and cigarettes through them... and of course extras on the side... like crates of champagne.. for cash only and when you came down from work all would be waiting with tea towels  over the top... but it was lots of different people from many places... but you always made sure you kept in with the right people..didn't want my food being edited before it came out LOL !!!

As you say Peter... I cannot drink like that anymore... if I have too much (good) red wine... next day I am hanging.. life has to slow down (a bit)... but doesn't mean you have to stop enjoying good things in life..  

[Rod]

What alot of people did not realize about Barbados was that ALL the beaches were public. The hotels etc could block access to them, but could not deny the beach to you. If you were "creating a nuisance" the would have to have called the cops to have you removed. All we used to do was find a public access point and walk to where we wanted to go. During busy season sometimes the hotels would shut down to non hotel residents..

[Casinogirls]

Don't know all about that as we used to just get off and follow everyone else... remember security watching... but that's about all.  I am sure the beach we used to go in Grenada was private... it was right over the other side of the island..

[peter ward]

you know maggie ,All the times we went to st thomas I always seemed to be working .I can remember only once going to the beach ,I think it was lime bay ? but I always got at least an hour aslhore to go to the booze shops and stock up on my supplies ....I used to drink vodka then and you could buy stolichnya vodka for about $5  a bottle !
I do remember sitting on the forward end getting a bit of sun and the sea plane that used to fly low over the bow as it either came in to land (on the water ) or take off!
 

[Casinogirls]

Hey Peter... all those years onboard and missed Megans Bay.. I slept through a couple of places..used to drink Vodka myself.. all alcohol was cheap..god knows how our livers have survived...loved sunbathing..  could do with some sun now ( anyway )...

what about the midnight buffets...all queing up to get more nose bag.. and the sail away parties...loved them with the steel band leaving the Caribbean.

I have a copy of the Alan Whicker programme as was on there at the time, they were not allowed to film in the Casino or interview any of us, because it was not allowed by the gaming board in those days... which was a shame.. gamblers didn't like the publicity.. like we cared less.

Never been on a cruise since.. often think about it.. but my daughter is always busy.. maybe I'll do one on my own...in the Caribbean.. and see what it all looks like now ..but at least I would a fun punter and not tight with the tips.. 

[peter ward]

One of my favourite stories involves rod stewart .....yes the singer ! He used to travel regularly on the ship (he called one of his albums atlantic crossing after doing a trip ) and my mate terry used to look after him in the queens grill.
At the time he was married to brit eklund (gorgeous) but she wanted to spend the night in the casino and rod got bored , so he  asked terry to take him the crew bar for a drink. So off they went to the two deck pig...this wasn't the fancy castaways bar but the bar were all the old salts drunk . anyway terry sits him down with a load of scousers and belfast lads (we got on great together ) ..the tradition in this pig ,after quite a few scoops was for some one to stand up and give a song so ,it started on rods table ....first guy gets up and belts out a tune then the next ,working round to rod ..then ,out of turn rod stands up and starts to sing and this big irish bedroom steward called paddy mcgee jumps up and shouts ' OI... its my turn sit the f###k down !
whch he did to raucaus laughter ! rod took it in good humour  but I don't think paddy actually knew who he was !!
on another note maggie  , when in singapore did you ever go to Bugis (boogie ) st .got a great story about that ...or the raffles hotel ?

[Rod]

Bugis Street from what I understand, long a thorn in the side of the Singapore Govenment, was destroyed. Not by the Government originally but by a combination of the US, UK and Australian Navies! Then the gubmint stepped in. Now a good old shopping street I believe!

[peter ward]

What a shame , that den of iniquity was a fantastic place ....like the star wars cantina ...all manner of life going on , almost got killed there once but thats another story !

[Casinogirls]

I certainly did visit Boogie Street... on more than once... I also heard it had been shut down and that the Singapore government thought it was a poor reflection upon them.. like Rod states.. a bit of a wild place when lots of Navy ships in.. last time I was there it was madness.. of course we loved it.. and I am sure like all of us I have the stories and photos to prove it. (well some)

As for Raffles.. what a lovely place, had to go there and have a few cocktails - went with a few girls from the Casino and shops.. was a beautiful  place.

Peter I love your story about Rod Stewart.. really funny and if you think how many famous people we have probably met between us over the years, on land and ship for me... it never phases me in the slightest... love all the funny stories..

Intrigued about your last comment...but then again I attract the nutter even when working in Casino's on land.. I could tell you a few stories.. hey ! at least life has never been dull..


Did you ever go to Papa New Guinea.. saw a witch doctor in full dress in a shop whilst there.. bit spooky..

More funny stories please Peter.. check out my FB page.. got more photos of QE2 on there (if you can find me)..LOL !!

[peter ward]

Raffles was like going back in time ,like the last days of the empire. We went inside and it was how you would expect it to be at the turn of the last century , big old whicker chairs  and waiters in white jackets with cloths over their arms and crusty old colonel types reading the sunday times with panama style hats on  ! Had a few singapore slings there (I do believe thats where they were invented).
Anyway that near death experience in Bugis st  ....well it might be a slight exaggeration but it felt like it at the time.....
We all went up to Bugis st and it was in full swing ,the royal navy were in town so there were a lot of matelots around .Also there was about 15-20 australian soldiers too , I got talking to a few of the aussies early in the night and they were telling me that they had just done 6 weeks survival training and this was their first night back and they were out to get blasted !
they seemed ok and were all having a laugh.
 several hours later though the mood had changed ,especially for one aussie with whom I had been talking ( a mountian of a man )a lot worse for drink ...thought  that a bunch of sailors were laughing at him ..anyway to cut it short  I (stupidly) went over to diffuse the situation when he turned on me ,mouth foaming and pulled a knife on me ...I tried to calm him down but he was having none of it and all the matelots had jumped up and so had all the aussies .......it was all about to kick off (with me on the end of a knife) when ,as in all the movies the cavalry arrived ......a jeep flew round the corner ,someone must've informed the authorities and out jumped two royal navy MP's  a marine MP and an aussie MP followed by a van .the MP's waded in grabbed the soldier with the knife and a few others ,threw them in the van told us in no uncertain terms to go back to my ship and dissappeared into the night ! phew ..that was Bugis street

[Casinogirls]

what an amazing story..all in the day of our lives.. bet you were thinking about what could of happened....thankfully I never encountered an experience like that whilst working on the ships..

Loved Raffles.. like you say.. was like stepping back in time and culture.. wish I could do it all over again.... we have been very lucky with all our travels..I love to travel.. anywhere ( Ok within reason)....

Boogie street was a bit mad... and I could see with all the alpha males and alcohol going on equals in many places a disaster !!

I witnessed something similar in Pattaya.. lots of Navy/Army ships in.. then a huge American Navy ship arrives.. you know what that place was like... and by the early hours of the morning everyone was trying to kill each other.. what they didn't realise was how nippy those little Thai fellows ( well I think fellows ) !  were....

Those days were amazing, so carefree and to think we visited countries that in those days were so remote and what people back home dreamed of visiting if they won the pools (in those days ).. happy days  

Did you recognise anyone in my photos... ?  sent you a message on there... ps: loved your website ... what a gift.

Did you ever go to Alaska ?....

[Alan Snelson]

I know this is an old topic now but I recognise at least one of the girls in one photo. I was a photographer from 79 to 82 so our paths might have crossed. I was in cabin 5004 in 1981 but in earlier years was in a cabin surrounded by casino staff I think it was 5042 or 5048. Have attached an even earlier pic of  some of the casino girls with myself and Steve Dean (another photographer) afraid I don't remember any of the girls names now.

[Rob Lightbody]

I know this is an old topic now

We really encourage digging up old topics on this forum, that's the whole point of it!!  Thanks