2nd Bridge visit on Tuesday 29th July 2008

[Thomas Hypher]

Hello everyone,

I've just found and scanned the letter from Captain David Perkin's secretary inviting me and my Dad (who wrote a letter to Captain Perkins a few days before on the voyage) up to the bridge at 3pm. It was amongst the daily programs and menus etc etc from most of our voyages on QE2 and QM2 that my Dad recently gave to me for archiving and because they're now family heirlooms and in QE2's case, history!

We met at A Stairway where a group of fellow passengers had gathered but due to not being meant to tell other passengers we all waited in silence despite knowing we were all visiting the bridge!

QE2 July 2008 - my 2nd bridge visit by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr


And the scanned envelope:

QE2 July 2008 - my 2nd bridge visit by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 July 2008 - my 2nd bridge visit by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

Our cabin was one of the very forward passenger cabins on Three Deck (also the longest passenger deck) on this final voyage aboard.

Thomas

[Thomas Hypher]

And here are all my photos from this visit (including the duds for the record  ) - my Dad didn't take any photos sadly as he focussed on video for our final voyage and a DSLR camera may have been frowned upon for a bridge visit without prior permission (as a professional would use one). Was my Dad's first visit to date and my second. I realise I have posted some of these photos before but this is for the sake of completeness and who can get bored of QE2! My photos are far from good in quality though, however I would've taken more if my camera's SD cards had allowed (and for the rest of that final voyage!) given it was the end of an era. I remember having to delete some photos to take others, that was annoying!


QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

[Thomas Hypher]

The famous webcam (and live feed onboard):

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

[Thomas Hypher]

And the slightly embarrassing photos to finish  :

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Great photos, Thomas! I am glad you took so many, there is so much to see.

And I love how they are taken from a much lower viewpoint than adults would have had -- adds to the interest of your pictures .

[Rob Lightbody]

And I love how they are taken from a much lower viewpoint than adults would have had -- adds to the interest of your pictures .

I was thinking the same thing!

Did you know they sold memory cards at the photo shop on board? They were very expensive but saved my day!

[Thomas Hypher]

Great photos, Thomas! I am glad you took so many, there is so much to see.

And I love how they are taken from a much lower viewpoint than adults would have had -- adds to the interest of your pictures .

Thank you Isabelle. I've thought about the viewpoint aspect recently partly because I distinctly remember struggling to get the photos of her bow out of the bridge windows (hoping they were in focus and trying to keep the horizon level whilst holding the camera above my head). I was 11 at the time but have always been quite small!

I was thinking the same thing!

Did you know they sold memory cards at the photo shop on board? They were very expensive but saved my day!

I don't think me or my parents knew this at the time, but the expense may have been out of the question if we had known. One of those "what ifs"! I still have the camera I used and recently took a look at it again when I brought it to where I now live from home, as it lives in its bag most of the time having long been superseded. I think it uses/used 16MB SD cards, laughable by today's standards of similar storage cards! I'm also not entirely sure whether one of the 2 or 3 cards corrupted before or during this last voyage for me and my parents as one of them is corrupted these days. The camera also developed an error that wouldn't allow me to set the date/time on it on this last voyage. This is where Sam Warwick's qe2.org website, me and my Dad's memories, this forum, and now the daily programs and other voyage documents my Dad kept have been very helpful!

[Brandon Sterkel]

Wonderful photos and a great story, Thomas! It must have been a wonderful experience for your final QE2 voyage!

[Thomas Hypher]

Wonderful photos and a great story, Thomas! It must have been a wonderful experience for your final QE2 voyage!

Thank you Brandon. Both bridge visits were amazing and inspirational experiences (2005 and this occasion). Dreams come true! My dream career to go to sea as a deck/bridge officer largely came out of these occasions but is just a dream for now despite attempts to realise it!

[June Ingram]

Wonderful photos, Thomas, telling a wonderful story !  Many thanks for sharing !  These photos realize the wishes about which most people can only dream !   

[Thomas Hypher]

Wonderful photos, Thomas, telling a wonderful story !  Many thanks for sharing !  These photos realize the wishes about which most people can only dream !   

I'm very grateful to my parents who took the plunge in 2003 by booking the most expensive holiday either of them had been on by far up to that point. The fact QE2 was my favourite ship back then and is to this day was the icing on the cake, fostered by my Dad's interest in ships and particularly QE2. I was also very lucky with both bridge visits as the first with the Children's club was not a normal/regular thing, and we wondered whether my Dad's letter would result in an invite to the bridge on the second occasion in the post 9/11 world. Being able to visit the Queen Elizabeth Grand Suite due to a fellow young passenger at the Teen club (also on our last voyage in July 2008) was also a lot of luck and up there with the bridge visits as highlights of time aboard. Lucky overall!

[Rob Lightbody]

I'm very grateful to my parents who took the plunge in 2003 by booking the most expensive holiday either of them had been on by far up to that point. The fact QE2 was my favourite ship back then and is to this day was the icing on the cake, fostered by my Dad's interest in ships and particularly QE2. I was also very lucky with both bridge visits as the first with the Children's club was not a normal/regular thing, and we wondered whether my Dad's letter would result in an invite to the bridge on the second occasion in the post 9/11 world. Being able to visit the Queen Elizabeth Grand Suite due to a fellow young passenger at the Teen club (also on our last voyage in July 2008) was also a lot of luck and up there with the bridge visits as highlights of time aboard. Lucky overall!

My bridge visit in August 2008 was cancelled due to bad weather (seemed fine to me!) but if I'd been able to trade it so that you got yours, I would have done.  I know exactly the effect QE2 can have on a boy!  And I got to spend hours on the bridge in Dubai, although it wasn't quite the same then...

I also am very grateful to my parents for taking me on board in 1987 as a boy, and also specifically to my Mum for the holiday of my lifetime - My August 2008 holiday was with my Mum.  For both of us, it was the most expensive holiday we'd ever been on, by miles.  It must have cost £6000 all in which is monstrous for us.  I had chosen a 5-nighter in a Caronia cabin, but Mum upgraded us (and paid for) the preceeding cruise - a 10-nighter in the Med, and moved us up to Britannia Grill.  Little did I know this would actually open the door to 10 nights of sheer bliss in Andrew Nelder's Princess Grill with the person who is now one of my very best friends.  It felt like living history - I knew that was her original restaurant, I knew who Mr. Nelder was and what he represented, and I knew I'd never do that again - huge memories which will last my lifetime.

[Thomas Hypher]

And I got to spend hours on the bridge in Dubai, although it wasn't quite the same then...

I've thought a lot recently about being back onboard (when financially possible as it needs to be in my own right these days!) and specifically being back on the bridge, recreating photos I took and photos my parents took of me. I think it'll be surreal and emotional given things won't be the same, many of the usual and unique sounds will be absent for example. Personal, family reasons (as mentioned elsewhere on the forum) will make re-visiting QE2 poignant given its nearly a decade since disembarking for the last time and a lot of water has passed under the bridge so to speak...

Sorry you didn't get to visit the bridge when she was underway/in active service  , was particularly special at 28.3/4 knots (1st visit in July 2005 when my current profile photo was taken).

My parents (particularly my Dad with his freelance work and latterly due to my Mum's condition) worked very hard, long hours to afford each voyage. £6000 is a massive amount to me and my parents too! The Caronia Restaurant was our favourite onboard, its special atmosphere and the main attraction of open sitting! Can only dream what the Britannia, Princess, and Queens Grill were like given we were treated like royalty! I looked at the menus from Caronia yesterday when scanning the Bridge invite letter and I was pleasantly surprised at quite how extensive they were each day, unlike Cunard in 2014 let alone today...we had it good on QE2!

[cunardqueen]

  we had it good on QE2!   

We sure did....

[Thomas Hypher]

Hello everyone,

A few weeks ago now, my Dad and I found that he had indeed taken DSLR camera photos on our last voyage (I previously stated in error in an above post that he hadn't due to focussing on his video camera) having both forgotten for over a decade and coming across the folder on his old Windows XP machine when looking for other QE2 photos and footage! I have now got around to uploading the photos to Flickr with my Dad's permission as a way to archive them (they are also backed up on my OneDrive and portable hard drive too) and be able to share them easily where relevant.

Here are a couple from the bridge visit (link underneath the photos to the full album on Flickr):

Dad's Final QE2 voyage photos (July 2008) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

Dad's Final QE2 voyage photos (July 2008) by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr


https://flic.kr/s/aHsmEqx3Kw


Needless to say we checked for any other QE2 photos and footage not already archived and backed up. I think we have everything now!

[Olivia]

I can understand why you want to become a deck officer, these wonderful bridge visits must have made a big impression on you at a young age. Such a shame that ships these days don't have open bridge wings, I always think that they look brilliant - especially on the QE2!

[Thomas Hypher]

I can understand why you want to become a deck officer, these wonderful bridge visits must have made a big impression on you at a young age. Such a shame that ships these days don't have open bridge wings, I always think that they look brilliant - especially on the QE2!

They did, particularly the first in July 2005, aged 8 years old. Indeed it's a shame that not as many ships these days have open bridge wings compared to times past...I will never forget stepping onto the compass repeater platform on QE2's port bridge wing, again in July 2005, as I wasn't tall enough to see over the leading edge of the bridge wing from the deck itself at the time, and we were going between 28.3 and 28.4 knots. Her headwind at that particular moment was immense and the weather deflector system set into the leading edge of the bridge wings didn't help one bit on that occasion! There are definitely benefits for being in the elements and not in a stable A/C'd environment the whole time (getting a proper feel for the weather and having an exhilarating time if your ship has a "bone in her teeth" so the saying goes)!

[cunardqueen]

Mid Atlantic May 1987 on "that" voyage Bound for New York,
 Any bridge visit is a good visit !