QE2 Visit 15 November 2018

[Cunarder Man]

Received from a friend in Dubai:

Queen Elizabeth 2 is alive and well in Dubai.

Twenty five years ago we boarded QE2 in New York to celebrate my wife’s notable birthday.

Over the following years we sailed from our home town of Southampton many times.

Twenty five years on from that first transatlantic passage, we were back on board to celebrate another special birthday for my wife, courtesy of one of our daughters.

Almost the first thing visible as you approach Port Rashid from the road is that beautiful red and black funnel which makes this icon so distinctive.

The Queen has been towed across the dock to her new purposely adapted quayside location.

We were warmly greeted on our arrival and quickly shown into the “departure terminal”. All very swish and 5 star!

Inside the terminal, there is a lot of memorabilia together with plenty of interesting things to read and photograph whilst you wait to take the optional guided tour.

Surprisingly, there is almost nothing to buy in the gift shop.

The tour which lasts about an hour starts with the background story of how and why the ship was built continuing through to the maiden voyage.

The excitement mounts as you prepare to board this magnificent ship. Freshly painted in those very familiar colours, she looks both serene and majestic. Walking towards the boarding area creates the same wonderful feeling that everyone experiences when embarking on a Cunard vessel.

Full details of the tours are available elsewhere online so I will not repeat them here.

In short it’s a delightful adventure and a superb reminder of the joys of being at sea with this great liner.

Although still a “work in progress” because the owners have ongoing work to renovate and open many new areas, it is still something everyone should do when in Dubai.

We dined in the Lido restaurant which is very modern and serves a vast offering of international cuisine. The waitstaff are attentive and very efficient. The chefs are friendly and will cater for virtually anything you particularly require.

After dining you are free to explore on your own, almost without restriction. That may change over time because the ship is a working hotel with guests on board.

We saw everything we wanted to see and even managed to sneak out into the top deck beneath that famous funnel. This deck is being resurfaced and out of bounds but we did manage to take a “selfie” under the funnel before being seen by a couple of burly construction workers.

We retired to The Golden Lion for a round of drinks and a game of darts to finish the evening. Altogether we had spent around 5 wonderful hours on board our old friend.

Phil Harmon

(Many thanks to Phil for his kind permission to share his visit to his ‘old friend’)

[Cunarder Man]

QE2 on 15 November 2016, pictures courtesy of Phil Harmon.

[Lynda Bradford]

Wonderful to hear your friend's story about his visit to QE2. I hope more people will post their experiences of visiting the ship. 

She is looking good!

[Lynda Bradford]

Cunarder Man had also shared with me a few videos of the visit.  Seeing the visitors going onto the ship and the Midship lobby brought back many memories - cannot wait until I visit next year.  It would be good if the videos are uploaded to You Tube then we could link to them from the forum. 

[cunardqueen]

Lovely to see, But where the heck is everybody or anybody ? 

[Louis De Sousa]

A friend of mine stayed a night on QE2,that day QE2 had only 97 hotel guests and only 6 for dinner in the QG.

[Rob Lightbody]

A friend of mine stayed a night on QE2,that day QE2 had only 97 hotel guests and only 6 for dinner in the QG.

That's only 96 more guests that when I was aboard!

Certainly won't turn a profit on those numbers ...

[cunardqueen]

  A friend of mine stayed a night on QE2,that day QE2 had only 97 hotel guests and only 6 for dinner in the QG. 

Six for dinner, they would have been better keeping it closed . No point in opening to throw money down the pan.
However, where on earth did the other 91 go ? They really need to push the various eataries onboard . The good thing with QE2 and Queen Mary in Long Beach is there is very little (if anything) shoreside to attract them off the ship. If you cant get a captive audience on that basis then they are not doing enough .

Those onboard need to seriously do their figures and find the breakeven point for hotel guests, ie how many guests do they need to run that particular night and bring it into profit so to speak .

If things are as quiet as they say they are, push the extended check out till 4pm for a fee . but for pity sake bring some revenue in .

With the Festive season upon on us they have the ideal chance to market various Christmas Events onboard   
 and not forgetting New Years Eve, a chance to hike the rates up (sad but true), Get the whistle ready to sound at Midnight and create a buzz, Dine, Dance and Sleep the night away on QE2 hotel. There is such a lot they could and should be doing.       

[Roy Warrender]

I stayed on board 12th to 15th Cabin 2051 not many staying  on board, Each day Saw Commercial events  in Yatch club,  I must have missed the Golf, managed to get up to the top outside decks, on my last morning they are doing a lot of Heavy work up there
I used the Lido Buffet Both for breakfast & evening Meals, It seems to be the in place for Birthday Partys
I met one elderly Ex Trans Atlantic Passanger, she felt QE2 Had lost her soul, having never sailed on her my impression
of the Lido Buffet was that it was a good Restraunt over lookin a Harbour, didn't see much danceing the night away
Grand lounge was being prepared for use a  row of tables appeard one morning but vanished in the evening
Mauritainia Restraunt Seemed of limits from the residential part of the ship, but the door was left open one night  so I had a peek' it doesn't seem to be in use lots of chairs stacked up with some small round tables (lots of these chairs were being take off possibly for cleaning as others were being brought back on board, Chart Room Bar Open But No revelers The Golden Lion was Open with a few drinkers, Pursers office area was open but closed if you get what I mean                    My impression Of the restoration seem to be good, but needing  better attention to some detail for instance each of the portholes in my cabin had 4 different lenght bolts to fix them