QE2 Story February 2011 Newsletter

[Rob Lightbody]

TheQE2Story.com Newsletter

Welcome to the first QE2Story newsletter for 2011 - keeping you up to date with the latest happenings to the QE2 herself and here at our lively discussion forum.
 
Happy Birthday to TheQE2Story
 
It is now 2 years since the forum launched and the first intrepid members made their first few postings – in that time our 27,713 posts in 1,587 topics have been viewed 3,043,919 times.  We’d like to thank everybody for your fantastic help & support in that time, which has resulted in the site getting a great reputation from all sorts of important people.
 
800 days in the sun and counting…
 
As of tomorrow, QE2 has spent 800 days in Port Rashid, Dubai.  For many of us, this has meant 800 days of waiting, wondering, frustration and trying not to speculate or spread unfounded rumours.  The waiting continues.  But she still looks wonderful.  Forum member Alistair visited her 2 weeks ago and got up close, and we have a photo taken just yesterday of her from the quayside.
 
Friday Flee!
 
On Friday 28th a terrific sandstorm blew up suddenly in Dubai.  From what we can gather, QE2 appears to have lost her mooring lines at this time, due to the strong wind, and departed from her berth!  We have photos of her being held in place by tugs but the photo mentioned above shows her intact and back in place.  Those who said she appeared to not want to leave Southampton when she ran aground, can now also say that she appears to wish to leave Dubai!  Click here to go to the forum topic to find out more.
 
Abundant Badges
 
Our superb new badges have been selling well, and feedback from those who have received theirs has been extremely positive.  They have already made their way to various corners of the globe.  Click here to go to the forum topic to find out more.
 
A new concept for saving QE2.
 
QE2 can’t become a static hotel without major work costing possibly hundreds of millions of dollars/euros.  But what if this money was spent instead on refitting/rebuilding her for further service?  
It appears, from talking to experts, to not be as impossible as you might imagine - in fact its something that Cunard was looking at doing themselves in the early noughties.  What is the reason for thinking about this?  The potential earnings are greater which means that the return on investment should be greater too – this should make finance for this project easier to come by in these difficult times.  After 800 days of nothing happening to her, financing is perhaps proving hard to come by.  You can join the debate about this by clicking here to see our topic.  I also prepared a mock press release to stir the imagination a bit.
 
Get together #1 – Tall Ships Race at Greenock, July 2011
 
As mentioned previously, we’re going to have a summer get-together at the Tall Ships event in July in Greenock.  Click here to find out more.
 
Get together #2 – QM2 2 day cruise from Southampton, October 2011
 
As mentioned previously, some of us are going on this short 2 night cruise to France to sample QM2, and to meet other forum members.  Click here to find out more.
 
Cunard World Cruises past and present during Middle East Crises
 
Both the new QE and Cunard flagship QM2 are timetabled to travel through the Suez Canal in 2 month’s time on the homeward leg of their world cruises.  There is a chance they may have to re-route via South Africa in the unfortunate event that the troubles in Egypt continue – an addition of many thousands of miles.  In 1991 QE2 had to do this when the first Gulf War broke out and her speed reserve meant that she was still able to arrive back in Southampton on time (were any of you on board for that trip?).  What will happen to the new ships if they have to reroute?  Click here to discuss in our Sea Shanties section.
 
Everything Else
 
There has been a lot going in the various sections of the forum – have a browse around and see what sparks your interest.  Unlike other internet forums, we encourage you to dig up old topics that interest you, and reply to them.  The forum itself is becoming the story of the QE2 from everybody’s memories.

And finally...
A quick wee word about "Netiquette".  If you are linking to content which is on another site, please just post a one sentence summary of what the link's about, and the link itself.  This means that the reader goes to that site to read the content, which is only fair. We would expect the same from other sites which link to information on ours!
 
Cheerio for now!
 
- Rob Lightbody and the forum moderating team.