Staterooms & Bathrooms

[Rob Lightbody]

I think Cunard made a mistake by not doing something about the 5 deck cabins (and some/all of 4 deck) a long time ago.  Most of the cabins on 3, 2 and 1 deck are lovely.  Our midships cabin on 3-deck was absolutely lovely - all the original features were intact and in great condition.  It was spacious, with I think 12+ large drawers, and tons of walk-in wardrobe space, it was far more luxurious than most of the plastic/mdf staterooms on QV.

We met a couple on our August cruise who had enjoyed their trip, but were very definitely clear that her day was past, and i don't think they'd have gone on her again.  And yet, my Mum and I were thinking she looked as good as new, and we were champing at the bit to book another trip!  They were in 5 deck.. I think many people who stayed on 5-deck, didn't appreciate how many of the cabins "above" were nice, without costing a fortune... the middly-grades ones.  I was also surprised to find that our 3 deck cabin was absolutely identical to 'singlemalt' ali's cabin towards the back of 1-deck, despite it being a number of sub-grades higher than ours.

Most of the signs of neglect and tiredeness i saw were easily fixable, and were mostly outside.

[KEV]

Youre right Rob-there were some lovely cabins on 3 etc that we had a peek in.I was worried at first because my wife hated the idea of a cruise at first (she's not a good traveller on boats after a bad experience in a force 10 on the Fishguard-Rosslare crossing and had never slept on one)If I had been more experienced I might have stretched the visa further and insisted on a better grade but I was just glad to go for the booking , get the place and reach for the now or never (to be honest my) dream. There werent many 3 berths in our budget (which started as basic inside) available when we booked on the day her retirement was announced (hence the urgency of a rush decision over our usual camping holiday or the thought of a drive to France!) and were disappearing fast that day.The Cunard girl at booking was very helpful in advising us on a midships room and we stretched to an outside room with porthole. The cabin itself was clean and comfortable but with woodwork and wallpanels that had seen better days. However, this was all quite 60s to me and what with the mirror (with the 2 opal bars) immediately gave me a sense of originality about it all and my daughter in particular absolutely loved it. As you know Rob we were delayed due to the high winds and we didnt see much out of the closed porthole during Force 10 night one! Despite lots of creaking/safe door slamming (sorry we hadnt worked out that one at that point!) and the ceiling vent in the bathroom crashing down and a busy ships hospital next morning we all settled down to enjoy what turned out to be probably our best holiday ever. My wife and daughter have now also gained a special affection for QE2 that I could not have imagined previously often describing her as 'our beautiful ship' !
5 Deck does give you the best view of the Pilot changeover and the fishes of course!

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Must say that my Five Deck cabin last summer was as good as, if not better than, most of the others I have had (all on One or Two Decks). The Five Deck cabin (5128) was a little different from its neighbours, lying right next to the engine room access, but I doubt this would have affected the furnishings. Loads of wardrobe and cupboard space, all in good condition, and a brand new bathroom!

The only time we ever went for Queen's Grill gave me the cabin which I liked rather less than the others -- but perhaps the fact that it was a single cabin (whereas all the others were doubles and thus more spacious) made a difference...

Our Two Deck cabins last September were wonderful, but our Mum (the most critical among the three of us!) thought that the bathrooms were in need of improvements. And if I try to see things her way (which is an effort in this case, as QE2 is involved!), I must agree that those bathrooms did look a little tired... not the cabins though, which we all agreed were wonderful.

[Michael Gallagher]

The beauty of Four and Five Decks of course were the bathrooms which were all replaced in 1994 - some of the Princess Grills still had original bathrooms when she was retired. Granted the Four and Five Deck bathrooms were small but what a revolution to have glass doors on the showers - rather than the awful curtains which tend to stick to you. I think QE2 was the only ship to have glass doors???

[Chris]

Agreed Michael!

I can't understand why QM2 didn't take QE2's example and have enclosed showers?

Chris.

[Malcolm]

The beauty of Four and Five Decks of course were the bathrooms which were all replaced in 1994

That was one of the great shames of her Carnivalisation All those original bathrooms just ripped out The replacements were nothing like as usable in bad weather and had other problems like the shower doors just didn't give you sufficient clearance when you were trying to get in or out One of the big advantages of the new bathrooms was that there was much more light.

We were lucky enough to travel in a couple of the unrestored P2s. Some replacement had taken place though - the toilet pans and the showers were new

[cunardqueen]

Granted the Four and Five Deck bathrooms were small but what a revolution to have glass doors on the showers - rather than the awful curtains which tend to stick to you. I think QE2 was the only ship to have glass doors???

Goodness l had forgotten about the curtains, in my early days l used to hate them and when showering it was always a tough choice do l press myself against the wall or stand reasonably freely and have the dreaded curtain stick all round me and feel a bit cold, so what l used to do was warm the wall with the shower spray and hop in and hopefully avoid the clinging curtain and stick myself to the wall....and shower away
 As for them being small, l would have said compact and the good thing about the doors is that they were very strong and did keep the water in the shower base.
 3006 one of the MO outside singles l do remember having company in the shower, and while it was a bit of a squeeze, it sure was fun, and one of the rare times l actually missed afternoon tea .

[Heather]

 

Andy, Any pictures of the day you missed afternoon tea???

[Andy F]

Er, I wish to point out that it was Myles who missed his afternoon team not me and no, I wasn't the reason  

[Heather]

Oops sorry Andy!  

[Chris]

The beauty of Four and Five Decks of course were the bathrooms which were all replaced in 1994

That was one of the great shames of her Carnivalisation

Most of the bathrooms were replaced during the 1994 'Project Lifestyle' refit - quite a few years before the Carnival days.

[Bob C.]

Here are the bathroom and shower in Cabin 4144 in August 1969.

[Rod]

Here are the bathroom and shower in Cabin 4144 in August 1969.

OH GOD that brings back memories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rod]

sorry thinling about 4244...but the showers are the same in all cabins including Officers and Crew

[Twynkle]

Plenty more about bathrooms etc here:
https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/topic,2302.0.html
and here:
https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/topic,1015.0.html
and still feeling very sad that the seas weren't heavy enough to rock me in the tub