Author Topic: QE2 Carrying Cars  (Read 43644 times)

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Offline Twynkle

Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #45 on: Aug 21, 2010, 11:33 PM »
I would be interested to know when the last car was carried, and whose it was!

And the make / model too!
Were any of the ship's company allowed to bring there own cars, or bikes too?

Do you think it was possible to use your own car for 'shore excursions'?
Just to think of taking it out for a spin - on and off, all the way round the world...

Offline Isabelle Prondzynski

Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #46 on: Aug 24, 2010, 07:36 AM »
Do you think it was possible to use your own car for 'shore excursions'?
Just to think of taking it out for a spin - on and off, all the way round the world...

I have a vague memory (wonder is it right?) that only Southampton, Cherbourg and New York had the facilities to load and unload cars into and out of the QE2.

I also suspect that, even more so than on car ferries, cars would be tightly parked together and one could not have extracted one car to go for a spin, without unloading quite a few others too  ;D  . And then, there was the car hidden under rubbish bags, mentioned somewhere in the Forum (if only I could find it...)!

Offline Twynkle

Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #47 on: Aug 24, 2010, 09:01 AM »
There's one thing about days at sea when sailing westbound - they are all 25 hour! I was up and drinking tea in the Pavilion at 5-00am this morning! I hate to think what will happen when we're sailing eastwards again and when we move to cabins at the forward end of deck 2.

As we're at sea again today I'll comment about some of the things on the ship.

The Cruise Director
The CD for this trip is David Pepper. He reminds us of a rather poor version of Ted Bovis from Hi De Hi! To say that his delivery of a punchline was poor would be to pay him a compliment! He is factually inaccurate - for example on the breakfast show this morning he was saying that the QE2 once had the capacity to carry 80 cars. He then went on to say how these were regularly loaded at Liverpool.

I think the garage facility on QE2 was limited to about a dozen cars (I haven't got the books with me to check the exact number) although it was certainly never as high as 80 - unless you want to count Matchbox cars! [I was wrong on this point – when first built she could carry 80 cars – but they were never loaded at Liverpool. I correct this point later]

I do not think Liverpool has ever offered a RORO facility for Cunard; it has certainly never offered one for the QE2 (although I stand to be corrected). It is only this year that the QE2 has been able to dock in Liverpool until the cruise terminal opened it was a launch port.

Isabelle
Here are Malcolm's thoughts too.
I don't remember reading about the buried car - will keep an eye out for it!
Don't you think that going for a wee spin round some of the Islands of the Carribean, Monaco - or the Isle of Skye even, in 'the Rolls' would have been a good additional perk for passengers?!
Rosie.

Offline Isabelle Prondzynski

Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #48 on: Aug 24, 2010, 11:00 AM »
And then, there was the car hidden under rubbish bags, mentioned somewhere in the Forum (if only I could find it...)!

Found it!

Dear Captain McNaught,
I was a passenger aboard one of your very first voyages in command of the QE2.  I was crossing westboung ex-Southampton 26MAY03, arriving NY 1st June 2003.  I had a personal vehicle on board (an M-reg Volvo 850 Estate), and a dozen pieces of hold baggage, which in Southampton had been removed ostensibly for security reasons from the vehicle and placed in the hold baggage room (against my preference that it all be together).  Mid-voyage I bumped into you on deck, and asked you if I could have all my hold baggage put back into the vehicle so that on arrival the vehicle could just conveniently be driven off (per my original plan) in one easy neat operation with all baggage aboard.   You said politely but firmly no, citing security reasons.  The irony was that, in Southampton when they removed all the baggage from the vehicle they evidently could not lift the ten-ton exercise bike so they left that in the vehicle (the fly wheel of which could easily have been stuffed with C4 explosive).  So, I ended up having to decant all that hold baggage, pay a porter to move it in the lift downstairs in New York, and then re-pack everything in a rush.  When they opened the stern hatches, there was my vehicle -- covered in black garbage bags!  (The garbage bags in the 70s I used to watch staff throwing off the stern in the middle of the night, leaving a wake of garbage bags in the cean as far as the eye could see.   My question:  Was your real reason for saying no the eminently practical problem of getting to the vehicle under all that garbage, or was/is there a real security policy impediment?  If the latter how do you explain the exercise bike?  In the end that inconvenience cost me a computer (broken by stevedores as they slung it and other hold baggage down the belts).  Just wondering.   No hard feelings.  Wish you the very best in your new position.

So now, we know that in 2003 she was carrying a car  ;D  .

I wonder are there any later memories of cars on board?

Online Michael Gallagher

Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #49 on: Aug 24, 2010, 12:11 PM »
2003 was the last year she carried cars as that was her 'Farewell Transatlantic Season' - her first 'farewell'.

Cars under 5,500 lbs: £1,400 one way (£2,800 roundtrip)
Motorcycles: £810 each way
Bikes and Tricycles: £50 each way

Offline Isabelle Prondzynski

Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #50 on: Aug 24, 2010, 12:58 PM »
2003 was the last year she carried cars as that was her 'Farewell Transatlantic Season' - her first 'farewell'.

So, Speedbird178 was among the last to have his car carried!

Michael, are you telling us that the transatlantic was the only route on which she carried cars? In which case, I suppose, Rosie's idea of taking the car for a spin would have worked! Load your car in Southampton (or Cherbourg), unload in New York, take it for a drive round the city (or beyond) and load again same afternoon (or next month or whenever) for the return trip.

I wonder whether anyone ever did that?

I suppose those who could not bear to be parted from their car would also have been happy to know it was safe on board (rather than standing round all alone at home) and only a lift's drive away  ;D .

Michael, was the Maybach the only car that was carried out on deck, or were there others too?

Online Peter Mugridge

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Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #51 on: Aug 24, 2010, 01:15 PM »
I thought the Cherbourg call was at most only a couple of hours long though?
"It is a capital mistake to allow any mechanical object to realise that you are in a hurry!"

Online Michael Gallagher

Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #52 on: Aug 24, 2010, 01:19 PM »
Isabelle - cars were only carried on the Atlantic; just like dogs, cats etc.

To my knowledge the Maybach car was the only one stowed on deck.

Peter - Cherbourg calls were only for a few hours as you say.


Offline Isabelle Prondzynski

Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #53 on: Aug 24, 2010, 01:46 PM »
Peter - Cherbourg calls were only for a few hours as you say.

On the assumption that the Cherbourg call was after Southampton and before the Atlantic crossing, I still don't suppose that anyone who loaded their car in Southampton for shipping to New York, could have taken it out for a spin in Cherbourg?

Did cars (other than perhaps the Maybach?) ever travel unaccompanied, or were their drivers always on board too?

So, never any cars on the world cruises? No one who ever took a car on QE2 say from Sydney to Hong Kong?

The spaces which served for cars during Atlantic crossings must then have had many other uses during the rest of the year -- and also after QM2 took over the "car ferry" service.

Online Michael Gallagher

Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #54 on: Aug 24, 2010, 02:28 PM »
It is my understanding that only cars were taken on the Atlantic.

On several occasions over her life QE2 would carry collections of cars (Rolls Royces etc) that would be taken to Europe or the US for exhibitions so not all of these would have been accompanied by a fare paying passenger.

The rules about carrying cars changed somewhat about a decade ago so it was decided not to build garage facilities in QM2 and I don't think demand for cars in QE2 warranted facilities being built into QM2 in the end.

When built QE2 could carry 72 cars but the car space was whittled down over the years when things such as a garbage plant (non existant nor required in 1969) were needed to be built into the ship. QE2 was always the biggest car ferry in the world!

Offline Bob C.

Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #55 on: Aug 24, 2010, 02:42 PM »
Don't ask me to produce a photo but I have seen cars being lifted from the Q Deck hold hatch before.  I would suppose that this could still be done if QM2 and modern day ships had holds w/ hatches on the fo'c'sle.

Just one more reason QE2 is the last of her kind!

Speedbird178

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Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #56 on: Aug 30, 2010, 10:23 PM »
Some folks seem interested in a little detail, so here goes:  Whereas in the old days a car was just part of one's baggage, I had pay around 1,000 Pds Stg to have it carried.  I had to show up at Southampton port with only minimum fuel still in the tanks the day prior to scheduled departure, and allow a chap to steam-clean the underneath, for which I had shell out something like 30 quid.  They gave me a certificate.  Then I left the car (a Volvo 850 Estate) with them, and returned to my nearby hotel on foot, for the night.  The car was stuffed to the gills, some 16 pieces including a heavy Finnish-built exercise bike.  The next day sombody told me they had had to remove all the contents of the vehicle purportedly "for security reasons" and stow it as "hold baggage."  A baggage room run by a kind Russian.  Visiting him frequently, I got to know him quite well, so well he kindly affixed high-priority tags on all the baggage so that they were offloaded early on in the disembarkation along with the First Class baggage, so I had a running chance of getting "on the road" at a decent hour.   On arrival, immigration and customs officials came on board immediately after we docked.  I was questioned.  It took about 2 minutes.  When they heard it was a personal vehicle, that was all they wanted to hear.  Stamp.  Stamp.  Done.  They had no interest in the steam-cleaning certificate.  They were much more interested in getting served a huge pot of hot delicious fresh coffee.  Outside (1st June 2003) it was raining cats and dogs, and they were cold and groggy.  I was among first off the vessel, and quite quickly had all my baggage on a big trolley which I paid a porter to taken in a freight lift down to the lower level where all manner of provisioning vehicles were positioning to load the vessel during the turnaround.  The first sight of my car, before someone could drive it off, was of it covered in black garbage/rubbish bags.  Took me about an hour to re-pack it.  Vessel had docked at about 7 am.  I was away by about 9:30 / 10:00 am.  The customs/police folks at the gates didn't give a monkey's what I had in the vehicle. 

Online Rob Lightbody

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Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #57 on: Sep 01, 2010, 09:15 AM »
Speedbird - thanks for your fascinating "real life" contribution!  I always wonder and, still do I guess, how you can drive a British car on the US roads and vice versa - is there anything else you have to do before you hit the highway in a British car?  I always wanted to take my wee Mini with me across the Atlantic - oh well...

Michael (flagship) - in Reply 37 above, your first photo shows what appears to be a yellow turntable, but covered with lots of permanent looking equipment... can you (or someone who's familiar with the area in later years) explain a bit further about what we can see in that photo?

Thanks.
Passionate about QE2's service life for 40 years and creator of this website.  I have worked in IT for 28 years and created my personal QE2 website in 1994.

Speedbird178

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Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #58 on: Sep 01, 2010, 06:38 PM »
The main problem, as with driving on the continent (of Europe) is overtaking (passing).  Without a passenger to provide advice as to what's ahead, it is an inherently dangerous maneuver.  Requires real caution, and power in your vehicle, to be safe.  The real fun is in encounters with people, eg filling up at a gas station.   Folks cannot believe they are looking at a driving wheel on "the other" side.  Many Americans are very, very provincial, and look at you and your right-hand-drive vehicle like you've just arrived from outer space.  Mailman are constantly harassing  you with offers to buy your car, on the other hand, because that is just what they need to drop off mail in mail boxes through the car's right-hand window.  My first American girlfriend was extremely embarrassed to be seen driving in the right-hand drive vehicle (then again, maybe it was me?!), and preferred not to.   The most interesting encounters are with police, when you have only a British driving licence.  It is entirely lawful to be driving a British-registered vehicle on a British driving licence for up to a year.  Whatever you've done to atract the atention of police, you'll in all likelihood get a pass (a warning at worst), because they have nothing to hang on citation/ticket on (unless you're so gormless as to give them your real curent mailing or physical address.  So, real name, but address North Pole.  It was fun.  Until the car was totalled about a year after I had "imported" it; a little 16-year-old who'd had her licence for about a week who cut across me left-to-right causing me to T-bone her passenger side, when I had right of way.  No injuries, thank God, but a tragedy nonetheless.    My Volvo 850 Estate was only 9 years old, and had only 45,000 miles on it.  Declared a constructive total loss, because the repair costs would have exceeded its current market value (cheque for $9,000 dollars).   That at least avoided me havign to confront the real problem with driving a "temporary personal importation" vehicle in the States, which is that technically you are responsible for exporting it eventually back out of the country, or for paying import duties on it.   

Offline Isabelle Prondzynski

Re: QE2 Carrying Cars
« Reply #59 on: Sep 18, 2010, 12:00 AM »
Here is another mention of a car carried on deck (though perhaps very briefly only!) :

It was 17 July 1995 and the cruise had been planned to have QE2 in South Queensferry to see the tall ships. Also that day HRH Princess Anne lunched on board at a SBAAT function (Scottish Business thingy). The helicopter brought a car out to the ship that was being auctioned and it was placed on the deck. Later that day QE2 led the Tall Ships out of the Firth of Forth.