QE2 Story Forum
QE2 in Dubai => QE2 in Lay-up in Dubai (2008 to 2018) => QE2 News while in Lay-up (2008 to 2018) => Topic started by: Louis De Sousa on Nov 15, 2017, 09:17 PM
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Normally this thread should be in the QE2 after Cunard topic but because its open to public I decided
too added it here to a section where only forum members can see.
These photos here are exclusive photos from onboard taken in October 2017,I do ask you all
NOT to share it at all without permission please
The first photo is the new renovated Midships Lobby
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One more of the Midships Lobby
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Awesome photos ! Thanks, Louis, for posting ! Our QE2 looks like herself ! :)
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Dubai's great recent work finally seeing the light of day. Maybe humble pie will be eaten by some after all ;) .
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Fascinating photos.
New carpet. The ceilings been redone. The lights are very bright! But basically that space is intact and just refurbished.
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cushions..dont forget the new cushions.. or perhaps these were removed from elsewhere onboard ;) ;)
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Fascinating photos.
New carpet. The ceilings been redone. The lights are very bright! But basically that space is intact and just refurbished.
The new lights could be LEDs for energy saving purposes hence the bright, cool white light. We know she had her outside lights replaced with low energy equivalents (LEDs?).
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The new lights could be LEDs for energy saving purposes hence the bright, cool white light. We know she had her outside lights replaced with low energy equivalents (LEDs?).
The lights can be dimmed
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Louis - Thank you very much for posting these.
Lots of Questions, hopefully you won't mind my asking - and obviously, nothing is critical or personal here!
The Midships Lobby just looks extra-fresh - as if straight out of a box!
Have you been able to speak with the crew on board regarding the work that's been done - and how it's been made?
It's difficult to tell whether all the surface 'woodwork' has been replaced in the Midships Lobby - and rather like the 'woodwork' on QM2 (Photographs, put onto metal then "varnished"!), maybe it's not varnished proper wood (as in the original?), it looks as if it might be photographs too!
It rather looks as if it's a sort of model of the original, if this makes sense...
Do you know whether the designers might have seen the VADS 1969 Journal?
http://vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?title=244&year=1969&article=d.244.39
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Louis - Thank you very much for posting these.
Lots of Questions, hopefully you won't mind my asking - and obviously, nothing is critical or personal here!
The Midships Lobby just looks extra-fresh - as if straight out of a box!
Have you been able to speak with the crew on board regarding the work that's been done - and how it's been made?
It's difficult to tell whether all the surface 'woodwork' has been replaced in the Midships Lobby - and rather like the 'woodwork' on QM2 (Photographs, put onto metal then "varnished"!), maybe it's not varnished proper wood (as in the original?), it looks as if it might be photographs too!
It rather looks as if it's a sort of model of the original, if this makes sense...
Do you know whether the designers might have seen the VADS 1969 Journal?
http://vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?title=244&year=1969&article=d.244.39
The woodwork (veneer) is the same as it was in the end with Cunard. See my rather poor Midships Lobby photos from July 2008 (one below). The wood veneer is not original in/to the Midships Lobby. Also if I remember correctly it's a Walnut veneer:
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4395/36675783203_30c7ced3d1_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/XSUYzH)QE2 Mediterranean cruise, July 2008 (my last trip on QE2) (https://flic.kr/p/XSUYzH) by Thomas Hypher (https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashypher/), on Flickr
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Maybe it's "varnished" photographs as you say QM2 has (and I recall when onboard QM2) as the Midships Lobby with the woodwork dates from the 1994 Project Lifestyle refit. What were SOLAS regulations etc. like back then?
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I don't dislike the new carpet, but Thomas' photo there reminds me of how glorious the previous carpet was. Rich and deeply coloured, and custom designed for the space so that the pattern follows the room' shape. The old carpet was an actual feature of that space. The new one is, well, less special.
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I do not dislike the new carpet as long as it is plush. In a strange kind of way the green of the carpet reminds me of the green of the original Midship Lobby and Twinkle's post with the link to VADS emphasised this for me.
My first memory of stepping on the ship as a passenger was embarkation at the Midship Lobby where the harpist was playing and the feeling of sinking into the plush carpet. I like the look apart from the cushions, but these can easily be changed.
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When you look back to what Benoy design had planned this looks much better
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Wow! The Midships Lobby looks great! Thank you so much for sharing these photos, Louis.
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Thanks for the photos Louis - good to see her coming alive once again.
Clydebuilt and Proud Ladies n Gentlemen!! 8)
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Her essence is there. Whoever is doing the refurb/renovation has a feel for QE2. :) :)
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The Mauretania Restaurant
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The Mauritania Restaurant, 2008.
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The Mauretania Restaurant
Amazing! The work looks well done... but the sea horses look even less attractive when out there forming an island of their own! And yet, they have been respected, and that is a good sign too.
If this is still to be a restaurant, then I suppose tables and chairs will be added, and they will be less obvious...
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Amazing! The work looks well done... but the sea horses look even less attractive when out there forming an island of their own! And yet, they have been respected, and that is a good sign too.
If this is still to be a restaurant, then I suppose tables and chairs will be added, and they will be less obvious...
The waiting stations are still there and some say they have been replaced with new ones (some of these people saying this having worked in the Mauretania when in Cunard service), so likely will be a Restaurant again like the good old days.
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looking good, not before time, but re- assuring to see non the less, I'll eat my humble pie at a time of my choosing Thomas, thank you for posting these Louis, more please..
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Normally this thread should be in the QE2 after Cunard topic but because its open to public I decided
too added it here to a section where only forum members can see.
These photos here are exclusive photos from onboard taken in October 2017,I do ask you all
NOT to share it at all without permission please
The first photo is the new renovated Midships Lobby
I, like many other security officers before and after, spent many an hour there during disembarkation keeping the 'natives, from getting too restless, while the luggage was being off loaded, ah happy days!!!
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I don't see anything different except for the, err, interesting new carpet.
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I don't see anything different except for the, err, interesting new carpet.
More than that has been done
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Perhaps this is why Dubai have been hesitant in releasing any photos , rather than expecting to be heaped praise upon for doing what is supposed to be a new job, they are facing nothing but negative comments from her past passengers. Those who perhaps never sailed will have a different view, in that anything must be good.
Then again perhaps they need to get their Public realtions in order , and PDQ at that.
We are being drip fed news, are they perhaps concerned that a full disclosure of whats been done might send us all overboard.
I don't see anything different except for the, err, interesting new carpet.
But what a beautiful new carpet... ::) ::) ::)
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Perhaps this is why Dubai have been hesitant in releasing any photos , rather than expecting to be heaped praise upon for doing what is supposed to be a new job, they are facing nothing but negative comments from her past passengers. Those who perhaps never sailed will have a different view, in that anything must be good.
Then again perhaps they need to get their Public realtions in order , and PDQ at that.
We are being drip fed news, are they perhaps concerned that a full disclosure of whats been done might send us all overboard.
But what a beautiful new carpet... ::) ::) ::)
At least there is an effort being made to open the ship as a hotel and restaurant, which in my view is better than towing the ship to a shipbreaker yard. Thanks to Louis we are at least getting an insight into what is happening on the ship.
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I very much agree with Lynda ! What we are seeing so far is a shiny, clean, modern looking QE2, which fits in perfectly with the "It" Girl that she was (and still is). At least she has not been redecorated with the heavy, dark look of so many cruise ships now that make one think they are on the Titanic.
That her rooms look shiny, sparkly, and new is much better than her beaching on the shores of Alang.
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Perhaps this is why Dubai have been hesitant in releasing any photos , rather than expecting to be heaped praise upon for doing what is supposed to be a new job, they are facing nothing but negative comments from her past passengers. Those who perhaps never sailed will have a different view, in that anything must be good.
Then again perhaps they need to get their Public realtions in order , and PDQ at that.
We are being drip fed news, are they perhaps concerned that a full disclosure of whats been done might send us all overboard.
But what a beautiful new carpet... ::) ::) ::)
There's been a huge amount of positivity here about recent developments, and everyone is free to express their feelings. It's not fair to say that there's been nothing but negative comments. After the awful years when she was in the dry dock deteriorating, it's been a pleasure to see a renewed focus on her, and her getting attention. I worked hard during the recent press coverage to be positive about developments as far as i honestly could.
It would be understandable of them to not want photos leaked until they're ready, as for many projects. If it wasn't for Louis and his perseverance, there would be no photos yet.
The owners and managers aren't drip feeding us anything. They've simply said they're not ready yet.
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More more more! Show us more!!! Very exciting.
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Thanks for posting, Davina.
Very interesting pictures, and quite comforting. Great to see some of her interiors lovingly restored and valued.
I think the new carpets and everything new should be taken as a refurbishment, something she inevitably should have gone through several times had she remained in service.
Let's be positive: had she stayed with Cunard, OK she wouldn't have lost her lifeboats… but probably her heritage trail! :D
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Thank you for the photos Davina!
I must say that I really like the new lobby and restaurant carpets, somehow they seem to really fit in the rooms.
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Normally this thread should be in the QE2 after Cunard topic but because its open to public I decided
too added it here to a section where only forum members can see.
These photos here are exclusive photos from onboard taken in October 2017,I do ask you all
NOT to share it at all without permission please
The first photo is the new renovated Midships Lobby
I think that the new green carpet fits in well, i see that they've left the 'lowered' rim where the model of QE2 in silver used to sit.
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I think that the new green carpet fits in well, i see that they've left the 'lowered' rim where the model of QE2 in silver used to sit.
I agree. I did feel it important to point out the huge difference in cost, however, between a custom-made carpet like she had, and a plain carpet like she has now.
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Anyone seeing her as she is now for the first time will accept the new interiors as-is and will assume she always looked this way and will think quite rightly, "very nice".
Only those of us who have experienced the real thing will know the difference and how she really looked and felt and appreciate the quality and attention to detail there was. It's the heritage and spirit of a living ship that cannot be captured or reproduced and no amount of fancy carpets can ever achieve that. QE2 had all of that in abundance.
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What gives me a pleasant surprise above all, is to see none of those gold plated decorations etc that we originally expected. It all looks quite sober, clean and potentially enjoyable, so I am hopeful for her at this stage.
Thank you, Louis, for sharing the photos -- it does make a big difference to see something of what is going on.
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I don't see anything different except for the, err, interesting new carpet.
Ceiling..
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I think that the new green carpet fits in well, i see that they've left the 'lowered' rim where the model of QE2 in silver used to sit.
Ah - Andy - Just the person!!
I've been meaning to ask about the "Anchoring" of the Asprey Silver Model of QE2
Was it screwed down - and was it one of the most secured pieces on board for your Dept to keep an eye on?
Cant imagine that it was locked away in a safe every night?!
It was placed in a remarkably vulnerable position....
https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/topic,7648.msg87573.html#msg87573
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Normally this thread should be in the QE2 after Cunard topic but because its open to public I decided
too added it here to a section where only forum members can see.
These photos here are exclusive photos from onboard taken in October 2017,I do ask you all
NOT to share it at all without permission please
The first photo is the new renovated Midships Lobby
First time seeing this and o-m-gee! The lobby looks MAGNIFICENT!
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Ah - Andy - Just the person!!
I've been meaning to ask about the "Anchoring" of the Asprey Silver Model of QE2
Was it screwed down - and was it one of the most secured pieces on board for your Dept to keep an eye on?
Cant imagine that it was locked away in a safe every night?!
It was placed in a remarkably vulnerable position....
https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/topic,7648.msg87573.html#msg87573
Although it was on 'open display' it was screwed down inside a fairly secure 'security' glass case and, had it been 'tampered' with at all what was anybody going to do with it? If we were at sea, 'you' were trapped onboard, and if in port 'you' still had to get it off the ship. It was a fair weight and not quite something you could 'hide inside your coat'!
Yes it was in a 'remarkably vulnerable position', but at the same time with the Rotunda being sooo busy, it meant that it was under virtual constant 'observation' by crew/passengers.
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The Yacht Club today
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Looking good - shiny and clean and ready to greet visitors ! :) :)
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The Yacht Club today
I don't know if you can but if you get a picture of the double room, can you post it?
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I don't know if you can but if you get a picture of the double room, can you post it?
Known as the Grand Lounge in the later years.
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I don't know if you can but if you get a picture of the double room, can you post it?
Hi Trevor - do you mean the space that became the Grand Lounge?
With a balcony round the upper deck - where the shops were?
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The Yacht Club today
Hi Louis
Thank you for this - is it me, or does it look completely different?
I don't expect there's a floor-plan by any chance, is there?
I'm just wondering what became of the dancing area....and are the swing doors still in situ?
Still can't imagine what the Yacht Club will be like without the rattling of the glasses!!
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Hi Louis
Thank you for this - is it me, or does it look completely different?
I don't expect there's a floor-plan by any chance, is there?
I'm just wondering what became of the dancing area....and are the swing doors still in situ?
Still can't imagine what the Yacht Club will be like without the rattling of the glasses!!
It is the same but with new carpet and a few other cosmetic things (new low energy or LED lights as per the rest of the currently refurbished areas). The chairs and tables only need to be re-added if that's what they want to do.
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Rosie, here is a view as it was in the end:
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.... is it me, or does it look completely different?
It's you! :-)
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Although one again, nicely finished, it just looks sterile without any of the fittings and people that create the spirit of the ship.
Same with the previous shots of the open decks at the stern. Everything that made her what she was is missing. Big empty space.
We really need to see her when she is fully fitted out and operational to see if any of the old character comes back.
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Thank you Thomas - Rob and Pete
The lovely white blinds-like-sails - hope they are ready to re-install...
(Rob, I seem to remember you didn't much care for them!)
And the seating where you sat with your laptop too.
However - there's a sort of raised (?) sand-pit carpet, and no sign of the little stage and dancing bit.
Where can we do our Dancing QueenThing?
It must be where mt right elbow is?
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Hi Trevor - do you mean the space that became the Grand Lounge?
With a balcony round the upper deck - where the shops were?
Yeah. My bad lol. I got the names confused.
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The Queens Grill
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Do! don't think I can give the queens grill my stamp of approval "look like a works canteen" but appreciate the exclusive.
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It looks neat and tidy, but I would not have recognised it.
Thank you for the exclusives, Louis.
And I do think it could have been so much worse... in 2009 and again much more recently. And so, wait and see...
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I think we may be comparing these photos to the last 20 or so years of QE2's career. When she first went into service, her interiors were sleek and uncluttered. :)
Check out some of these photos. Be sure and click on the link in the message.
https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/topic,439.msg4723.html#msg4723
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Table cloths would have been a good addition to enhance the effect and make it look less bare, and there seems to be a load more space than there ever was up there.
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Do! don't think I can give the queens grill my stamp of approval "look like a works canteen" but appreciate the exclusive.
In hotels, its all about the "dressing" - the final effects of nice furniture, tablecloths, sparkling glasses, dim lighting. We're seeing her "undressed" in these photos. I keep going on about carpets, but I like the QG one - seems very familiar.
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I think we may be comparing these photos to the last 20 or so years of QE2's career. When she first went into service, her interiors were sleek and uncluttered. :)
That's a good point; didn't Dubai say originally that they intended to restore the interiors to as close to her "as built" condition as they could?
So... how do these new interiors compare to the originals, rather than to the ones we mostly remember?
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That's a good point; didn't Dubai say originally that they intended to restore the interiors to as close to her "as built" condition as they could?
So... how do these new interiors compare to the originals, rather than to the ones we mostly remember?
All i see is new carpets and replaced light bulbs...
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So, it's a sort of halfway house between what we know and what they originally intended?
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So, it's a sort of halfway house between what we know and what they originally intended?
What I'd argue/debate is that if they remade her interiors to what they were when she was built she would not be a faithful QE2 and instead be a mashup of what she was over the years, also being the case if they alter her to original appearance in some areas externally. She would become a partial facsimile and not authentic, something I strongly disagree with and I applaud their current direction/stance of refreshing her interiors as they would do in most of the refits and avoiding temptation to mess with her too much (lifeboats/tenders/davits being excluded of course for reasons I now understand). I think she should be kept as much as possible like she was at the end with Cunard anything else is prone to being a hotchpotch of Disney type approximation etc.
Thomas
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That's a good point; didn't Dubai say originally that they intended to restore the interiors to as close to her "as built" condition as they could?
So... how do these new interiors compare to the originals, rather than to the ones we mostly remember?
Doesn't look like the 736 Club to me... ;)
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The photos have been taken by a member of the workforce on the ship that is the reason they are not for sharing. The official photos will show the finished effect with tablecloths lamps etc. We are just getting a little insight at the moment thanks to Louis’ friend.
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Doesn't look like the 736 Club to me... ;)
Don't see the Coffee Shop either.
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What I really like about these photos is that she is being cleaned up, things look shiny, and it definitely looks like work has been done. I could not be happier and I wish every good wish to our beloved ship and a big thank you to those who appear to be helping her out in starting a new chapter in her life. I so hope things work out for her ! :)
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That's a good point; didn't Dubai say originally that they intended to restore the interiors to as close to her "as built" condition as they could?
As we know what Dubai say and what they do,they are two entirely different things.
Lets be honest, on here we are a small band , The owners will have their own plans and mindset for dealing with the QE2 project. Clearly they have no wish nor desire to share any information on here. And really, why should they ? Im quite sure they are probably not giving two hoots about us, and if they are, well they have a very strange way of showing us so. Perhaps its their culture...
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The walking area on Upper Deck between the G-Stairway and Yacht Club October 2017
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Thnx for posting Louis, as they say every little helps
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I echo Pete's sentiments and I actually like most of the carpets I see!
Great to see these spaces well lit and in good order - the work carried out has obviously been in the right places.
Gav
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just to follow up , those display cabinets need their 'stuff' back in them where they belong...
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just to follow up , those display cabinets need their 'stuff' back in them where they belong...
That stuff has found a new place in the terminal building
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Exactly what I was getting at Louis
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They are ok in that terminal building
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Methinks we'll have to agree to disagree on this, & move on
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It would be logical to either put something in the cases, or to remove them. Given that they're still there, we can surely assume that something will be put in them?
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Taken at the end of the Farewell crossing..in the wee small hours
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The walking area on Upper Deck between the G-Stairway and Yacht Club October 2017
This suits her well!
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What is surprising is generally how much brighter lightwise everything looks.
If thats as good as my praise gets..so be it ;) ;) ;)
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I’m impressed.
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This is outstanding work by the team in Dubai! These renovations have simply updated and enhanced QE2's already gorgeous interiors, it looks like she has just sailed out of a Cunard approved refit!
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This is outstanding work by the team in Dubai! These renovations have simply updated and enhanced QE2's already gorgeous interiors, it looks like she has just sailed out of a Cunard approved refit!
What am i missing? I just see a new carpet.
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When considering QE2s refit, I've always liked the Benoy's design mantra of restore, renovate and recreate and this fits in well with that.
Perhaps the cabinets can be filled eventually with stuff relating to her role as a flotel.
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What am i missing? I just see a new carpet.
Then look closer LOL, $$$Ms must have been spent on her. So many years standing idle in that heat with no A/C would have destroyed her soft furnishings and done untold damage to her interiors. While I know I'll never see her again I am pleased to see her looking so fresh, clean and above all.... Looked after :-)
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Then look closer LOL, $$$Ms must have been spent on her. So many years standing idle in that heat with no A/C would have destroyed her soft furnishings and done untold damage to her interiors. While I know I'll never see her again I am pleased to see her looking so fresh, clean and above all.... Looked after :-)
No I know that, and I've been banging on about that ever since they turned off her engines. It was so maddening to see them keep her AC on almost non-stop from Nov 2008 to Dec 2012, at a cost of nearly half a million dollars a month, then for it all to be "lost" over the subsequent years. But in terms of DESIGN and seeing what they're doing - I literally see a new carpet - there is literally nothing else altered in the restaurant photos, or outside the Yacht Club. I see a new ceiling panel in the midships lobby, which is tastefully done but would appear to lower the ceiling height somewhat. I can imagine what has been required behind the scenes to start to get her towards operating again, but I can't SEE it in the photos. The biggest change in photos I've seen of her in the past 3 years, is what they've removed from the outside spaces...
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What they have done is a clean up for window dressing. I am sure very little has been done technically such as new piping, air conditioning.
They will do some strategic events during the winter months using the open decks ,upper deck and boat deck restaurants. They will use the penthouse suites as show cabins and in December 2018 they will advertise her as a condo hotel and start selling condos from which the down payments will fund the project in conjunction with sucker investors, and banks, the same type as they got for the world project.
At the end of the day the project will fail because she is in lousy location, unless they close down Dubai dry docks and develop that area. Another problem is unless you have 1500 people on the ship she will be like a ghost ship and will lack any atmosphere. The type of room upgrade to match Dubai hotel standards will mean she would be a 300 room condo and even then it will not be enough to compete . However Dubai are past masters at putting a positive spin on a sales pitch, eventually they will realise she is a ship with a corroding hull and a disintegrating aluminium superstructure and in time she will fail.
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Mods- This topic could be moved now to the QE2 News ? My contact from these photos is not onboard anymore
https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/board,53.0.html
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The Crystal Bar
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I have enjoyed a few cocktails in the Crystal bar on QE2 and I hope I can enjoy a few more in the future.
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I prefer to remember it as it was.
It was always straight to the Crystal bar for Cosmopolitans on the first night . . . and the second night . . etc
Cheers!
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I have enjoyed a few cocktails in the Crystal bar on QE2 and I hope I can enjoy a few more in the future.
Maybe even with the new QE2 50 cocktail ! :)
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Great photos. I loved the crystal bar, it had a lovely atmosphere in the evening with the lights dimmed.
I wonder how much of the art is going to make it back on board... The walls are looKing very bare!
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Great photos. I loved the crystal bar, it had a lovely atmosphere in the evening with the lights dimmed.
I wonder how much of the art is going to make it back on board... The walls are looKing very bare!
On the right wall you can see a couple of paintings hanging
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The Golden Lion Pub October 2017