Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) is a retired British passenger ship converted into a floating hotel. Originally built for the Cunard Line, the ship was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic liner and a cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. She was then laid up until converted and since 18 April 2018 has been operating as a floating hotel in Dubai.[1]
Queen Elizabeth 2 was designed for the transatlantic service from her home port of Southampton, UK, to New York, United States.[2] She served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until succeeded by in 2004. Queen Elizabeth 2 was designed in Cunard's offices in Liverpool and Southampton and built in Clydebank, Scotland. She was considered the last of the transatlantic ocean liners until "Project Genesis" was announced by Cunard Line in 1995 after the business purchase of Cunard by Micky Arison; chairman of Carnival and Carnival UK. Project Genesis was intended to create new life in the ocean liner saga, and in 1998, Cunard revealed the name: RMS Queen Mary 2.
Queen Elizabeth 2 was refitted with a modern diesel powerplant in 1986–87. She undertook regular world cruises during almost 40 years of service, and later operated predominantly as a cruise ship, sailing out of Southampton, England. Queen Elizabeth 2 had no running mate and never ran a year-round weekly transatlantic express service to New York. She did, however, continue the Cunard tradition of regular scheduled transatlantic crossings every year of her service life.
Queen Elizabeth 2 retired from active Cunard service on 27 November 2008. She had been acquired by the private equity arm of Dubai World, which planned to begin conversion of the vessel to a 500-room floating hotel moored at the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.[3] [4] The 2008 financial crisis intervened, however, and the ship was laid up at Dubai Drydocks and later Mina Rashid.[5] Subsequent conversion plans were announced in 2012[6] and then again by the Oceanic Group in 2013,[7] but both plans stalled. In November 2015, Cruise Arabia & Africa quoted DP World chairman Ahmed Sultan Bin Sulayem as saying that QE2 would not be scrapped[8] and a Dubai-based construction company announced in March 2017 that it had been contracted to refurbish the ship.[9] The restored QE2 opened to visitors on 18 April 2018,[10] with a soft opening.
By 1957, transatlantic sea travel was becoming displaced by air transit due to its speed and low relative cost, with passenger numbers split 50:50 between them.[11] With jets capable of spanning the ocean non-stop replacing prop planes, and the debut of the Boeing 707 and the Douglas DC8 in 1958, the trend was rapidly increasing.[12] Simultaneously, the aging and Queen Elizabeth were becoming increasingly expensive to operate, and both internally and externally were relics of the pre-war era.
Despite falling passenger revenues, Cunard did not want to give up its traditional role as a provider of a North Atlantic passenger service and Royal Mail carrier, and so decided to replace the obsolete Queens with a new generation liner.[13]
Designated Q3 during work-up, it was projected to measure 75,000 gross register tons, have berths for 2,270 passengers, and cost about £30 million.[12] [14]
Work had proceeded as far as the preparation of submissions from six shipyards and applying for government financial assistance with the construction when misgivings among some executives and directors, coupled with a shareholder revolt, led to the benefits of the project being reappraised and ultimately cancelled on 19 October 1961.[12] [15]
Cunard decided to continue with a replacement plan but with an altered operating regime and more flexible design. Realising the decline of transatlantic trade, it was visualised that the new Queen would be dual-purpose three-class ship offering First, Cabin and Tourist passage for eight months a year on the transatlantic route, then as a cruise ship in warmer climates and during the winter months.[12] [16]
Compared with the older Queens, which had two engine rooms and four propellers, the newly designated Q4 would be much smaller, with one boiler room, one engine room, and two propellers, which combined with automation would allow a smaller engineering complement.[17] Producing 110,000 shp, the new ship was to have the same 28.5kn service speed as her predecessors, while consuming half the fuel. A reduction to 520 tons per 24 hours[18] was estimated to save Cunnard £1 million annually.[17] Able to transit both the Panama and Suez canals, her 7feet shallower draught of 32feet would allow her to enter more and smaller ports than the old ships, particularly in tropical waters.[13]
The interior and superstructure for the QE2 was designed by James Gardner. The result was described by The Council of Industrial Design as that of a "very big yacht" and with a "look [that was] sleek, modern and purposeful".[19]
As built, QE2 had a gross tonnage of, was 963feet long, and had a top speed of with steam turbines; this was increased to when the vessel was re-engined with the diesel-electric powerplant.[20] [21] [22] At the time of retirement, the ship had a gross tonnage of 70,327.
The hull was of welded steel plates, which avoided the weight penalty of over ten million rivets and overlappeding of historic ship construction,[17] and was fitted with a modern bulbous bow.
Like both and, QE2 had a flared stem and clean forecastle.
What was controversial at the time was that Cunard decided not to paint the funnel with the line's distinctive colour and pattern, something that had been done on all its merchant vessels since the first Cunarder,, sailed in 1840. Instead, the funnel was painted white and black, with the Cunard orange-red appearing only on the inside of the wind scoop. This practice ended in 1983 when QE2 returned from service in the Falklands War, and the funnel was repainted in traditional Cunard orange and black, with black horizontal bands, known as "hands".
The original narrow funnel was rebuilt larger during her 1986 refurbishment in Bremerhaven, using steel panels from the original, when the ship was converted from steam to diesel power.
Large quantities of weight-saving aluminium were used in the framing and cladding of QE2s superstructure in place of steel. Reducing the draft of the ship lowered fuel consumption, but invited the electrochemical corrosion where the dissimilar metals are joined together, prevented by using a jointing compound. The low melting point of aluminium caused concern when QE2 was serving as a troopship during the Falklands War, with some fearing that if the ship were struck by a missile her upper decks would collapse quickly due to fire.
In 1972, the first penthouse suites were added in an aluminium structure on Signal Deck and Sports Deck (now "Sun Deck"), behind the ship's bridge, and in 1977 this structure was expanded to include more suites with balconies, making QE2 one of the first ships to offer private terraces to passengers since Normandie in the 1930s. Her balcony accommodation was expanded for the final time when her funnel was widened during the 1986/87 overhaul.
QE2s final structural changes included the reworking of the aft decks during the 1994 refit, following the removal of the magrodome, and the addition of an undercover area on Sun Deck during the 2005 refit outfitted as the Funnel Bar.
Queen Elizabeth 2s interior configuration was originally designed for segregated two-class Atlantic crossings. It was laid out in a horizontal fashion, similar to France, where the spaces dedicated to the two classes were spread on specific decks, in contrast to the deck-spanning vertical class divisions of older liners. Where QE2 differed from France in having only two classes of service, with the upper deck dedicated to tourist class and the quarter deck beneath it to first-class. Each had its own main lounge.
Another modern variation was providing tourist class with a grand two-story main ballroom, called the Double Room (later the Grand Lounge), created by opening a well in the deck between what were to have been the second and third class lounges in the ship's original three class design. This too was unconventional in that it designated a grander space for tourist class passengers than first class, who gathered in the standard height Queen's Room. The First-class was given the theatre balcony on Boat Deck, and tourist class the orchestra level on Upper Deck.
Over the span of her thirty-nine-year seagoing career, QE2 received a number of interior refits and alterations.
The year QE2 entered service, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, the Concorde prototype was unveiled, and the Boeing 747 first took flight. In keeping with those technology influenced times, Cunard abandoned the Art Deco interiors of the previous Queens in favor of everyday modern materials like laminates, aluminium and Perspex. The public rooms featured glass, stainless steel, dark carpeting and sea green leather.[23] Furniture was modular, and abstract art was used throughout public rooms and cabins.
Dennis Lennon was responsible for co-ordinating the interior design, assisted by Jon Bannenberg and Gaby Schreiber; his original designs only remained intact for three years.[24]
The Midships Lobby on Two Deck, where first-class passengers boarded for transatlantic journeys and all passengers boarded for cruises, was a circular room with a sunken seating area in the centre with green leather-clad banquettes surrounded by a chrome railing. In the centre was a flared, white, trumpet-shaped, lighted column.
The Theatre Bar on Upper Deck featured red chairs, red drapes, a red egg crate fibreglass screen, and even a red baby grand piano. Some more traditional materials like wood veneer were used as highlights throughout the ship, especially in passenger corridors and staterooms. There was also an Observation Bar on Quarter Deck, a successor to its namesake, located in a similar location, on both previous Queens, which offered views through large windows over the ship's bow. The QE2s 1972 refit plated over the windows and turned the room into galley space.
Almost all of the remaining original decor was replaced in the 1994 refit, with Cunard opting to use the line's traditional ocean liners as inspiration. The green velvet and leather Midships Bar became the Art Deco inspired Chart Room, receiving an original, custom-designed piano from Queen Mary. The (by then) blue dominated Theatre Bar was transformed into the traditional Edwardian-themed Golden Lion Pub.
Some original elements were retained, including the flared columns in the Queen's Room and Mid-Ships Lobby. The Queen's Room's indirect ceiling lighting was replaced with uplighters which reversed the original light airy effect by illuminating the lowered ceiling and leaving shadows in the ceiling's slot.
By the time of QE2's retirement, the ship's synagogue was the only room that had remained unaltered since 1969.[25] However it was reported that during QE2s 22 October five-night voyage, the synagogue was dismantled and removed from the ship before her final sailing to Dubai.[26]
The designers included numerous pieces of artwork within the public rooms of the ship, as well as maritime artefacts drawn from Cunard's long history of operating merchant vessels.
Althea Wynne's sculpture of the White Horses of the Atlantic Ocean was installed in the Mauretania Restaurant.[27] Two bronze busts were installed—one of Sir Samuel Cunard outside the Yacht Club, and one of Queen Elizabeth II in the Queen's Room. Four life-size statues of human forms—created by sculptor Janine Janet in marine materials like shell and coral, representing the four elements—were installed in the Princess Grill. A frieze designed by Brody Nevenshwander, depicting the words of T. S. Eliot, Sir Francis Drake, and John Masefield, was in the Chart Room. The Midships Lobby housed a solid silver model of Queen Elizabeth 2 made by Asprey of Bond Street in 1975, which was lost until a photograph found in 1997 led to the discovery of the model itself. It was placed on Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1999.
Three custom-designed tapestries were commissioned from Helena Hernmarck for the ship's launch, depicting the Queen as well as the launch of the ship. These tapestries were originally hung in the Quarter Deck "D" Stairway, outside the Columbia Restaurant. They were originally made with golden threads, but much of this was lost when they were incorrectly cleaned during the 1987 refit. They were subsequently hung in the "E" stairway and later damaged in 2005.
There are numerous photographs, oils, and pastels of members of the Royal Family throughout the vessel.
The ship also housed items from previous Cunard ships, including both a brass relief plaque with a fish motif from the first and an Art-Deco bas-relief titled Winged Horse and Clouds by Norman Foster from . There were also a vast array of Cunard postcards, porcelain, flatware, boxes, linen, and Lines Bros Tri-ang Minic model ships. One of the key pieces was a replica of the figurehead from Cunard's first ship, carved from Quebec yellow pine by Cornish sculptor Charles Moore and presented to the ship by Lloyd's of London.
On the Upper Deck sits the silver Boston Commemorative Cup, presented to Britannia by the City of Boston in 1840. This cup was lost for decades until it was found in a pawn shop in Halifax, Nova Scotia. On "2" Deck was a bronze entitled Spirit of the Atlantic that was designed by Barney Seale for the second . A large wooden plaque was presented to Queen Elizabeth 2 by First Sea Lord Sir John Fieldhouse to commemorate the ship's service as a Hired Military Transport (HMT) in the Falklands War.
There was also an extensive collection of large-scale models of Cunard ships located throughout Queen Elizabeth 2.[28]
Over the years the ship's collection was added to. Among those items was a set of antique Japanese armour presented to Queen Elizabeth 2 by the Governor of Kagoshima, Japan, during her 1979 world cruise, as was a Wedgwood vase presented to the ship by Lord Wedgwood.
Throughout the public areas were also silver plaques commemorating the visits of every member of the Royal Family, as well as other dignitaries such as South African president Nelson Mandela.
Istithmar bought most of these items from Cunard when it purchased QE2.[29]
The majority of the crew were accommodated in two- or four-berth cabins, with showers and toilets at the end of each alleyway. These were located forward and aft on decks three to six. At the time she entered service, the crew areas were a significant improvement over those aboard and ; however the ship's age and the lack of renovation of the crew area during her 40 years of service, in contrast to passenger areas, which were updated periodically, meant that this accommodation was considered basic by the end of her career. Officers were accommodated in single cabins with private in-suite bathrooms located on Sun Deck.
There were six crew bars, the main four were split into the Senior Rates Recreation Rooms on Deck 2 and the Junior Rates on Deck 3, with Deck and Engine Departments on the port side and Hotel on the starboard side of the ship. The Female crew recreation room was on Deck 1 next to their dedicated mess room. Over time the Deck & Engine Ratings Room became The Petty Officers Club and then the Fo'c'sle Club when the British Deck and Engine crew were changed to Filipino crew. The Hotel Senior Rates room became a crew gym. The Junior Rates Rooms on Deck 3 were the main crew bars and were called The Pig & Whistle. ("The 2 deck Pig" and three deck pig, for short and a tradition aboard Cunard ships) and Castaways on the starboard side. After the expansion of female crew following the conversion to diesel power, the female-only recreation and mess room became a crew library and later the crew services office. The final bar on Deck 6 aft was small and in a former crew launderette so it was called the Dhobi Arms, a hang out for the Liverpool crew but was closed in the late '80s. A bar, dedicated for the officers, is located at the forward end of Boat Deck. Named The Officers Wardroom, this area enjoyed forward-facing views and was often opened to passengers for cocktail parties hosted by the senior officers. The crew mess was situated at the forward end of One Deck, adjacent to the crew services office.