Did you meet your wife/husband/partner on/through QE2?

[Oceanic]

Oceanic, I have merged your question with an earlier topic. You may find quite a few answers there -- and maybe a few new ones will follow below .

Congratulations to you and your wife and your soon to be born child! How did you meet each other, and how did you continue your romance after you disembarked QE2?

Me and my wife met by pure coincidence as it turned out, we had both decided to go out on deck after dinner and we ended up in close proximity to each other, I being the awkward late-teenager that I was sparked up possibly the most terrible small chat I could muster and we got to talking; After that we both had a "few" drinks and exchanged phone numbers before going back to our cabins. We kept talking for the rest of the voyage and as luck would have it we both resided in Southampton at the time so we simply continued to meet and talk until I worked up enough courage to ask her on an actual date, and a few years later I asked her to be my wife.
And now at 27 I have a child on the way, I am eternally grateful to Cunard and QE2 for giving me the most fantastic wife possible and the opportunity to bring a child into this world. We are finally closing in on a name for our daughter and we should have it by tomorrow, if so you can expect the chat forum to gain an extra topic!

     

[Brandon Sterkel]

What an fascinating story, Oceanic! Looking forward to seeing what name you chose for your daughter!

[Peter Mugridge]

I wonder about Elizabeth being the name...?

[Terry Foskett]

Yes I met my future wife Karina in October 1975 on board QE2 in what was then the Double-Down Room. I was PRS then. Sadly she is no longer with us. She died in 2011.

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Yes I met my future wife Karina in October 1975 on board QE2 in what was then the Double-Down Room. I was PRS then. Sadly she is no longer with us. She died in 2011.

Thank you, Terry, for telling us. I am sorry for your loss of Karina. But you spent 36 years together after that first meeting... .

I would love to hear the story... was it love at first sight? I suspect that the glamour of the Double-Down Room, which I never had the pleasure of seeing in real life, added to the excitement of the experience.

[Terry Foskett]

Our relationship continued ashore for some time as she lived in the US and I lived in the UK. So it took a lot longer before we were married.

[Alan Dutton]

I met my Wife Barbara on the QE2 in June of 1977. We both played hard to get, and in 1980 I came over to America and we got married in 1980 in New York. Unfortunately she passed away in May of 2019.
It was a lot different those days on the ship. Officers were encouraged to mix with passengers, which we did all the time. We even got the prices of drinks in the bar reduced by about 60% to encourage us to mingle.
My colleague Ken Adams also met his wife like me and we both left the ship the same year in 1980.

[Lynda Bradford]

Thanks for sharing your story Alan.  Fantastic to learn how many people met their spouse or partner on QE2. 

Also good to hear how Officer at that time were encouraged to mix with passengers and that the drinks prices were reduced to encourage.  This is something that is missing on the new Cunard ships.  The Officers are at the organised Cocktail parties and if people want to stand in the middle of the Queens Room to chat with the officers they can do so.   But on QE2 I always felt the Officers mixed with passengers a bit more and in some cases lasting friendships were formed.

[Rod]

When I was an Apprentice/Cadet on board the ship in 71/72, for some reason we were being "supervised" by Francis Milroy, a 2 1/2 stripe, female Officer who worked in the Bureau/Pursers Office.
I couldn't figure that one out either as we were Engineer Cadets.
  Once, at a meeting with her, in our accom, she showed me the Officer "Blue Book". Where she had got hold of it I had no idea. On the page she showed me, there was a line that had been heavily underlined and I quote exactly: " Officers, who in the course of their duties, are engaged in conversation by passengers, should, as quickly and as politely as possible, should break off that conversation and return to those duties."