The outdoor swimming pool and the jacuzzis

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

I really only knew these in their final years.

Could we try and trace their history, from the beginning to the current layout?

I thought that they were always the same since August 2000, when I first knew (and loved!) them. But no -- as I am uploading my photos of that my very first cruise now, I realise that this set-up is looking rather different from the final version :



https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/5020784149/

Sadly, this is the only picture of the jacuzzi (and not even the swimming pool) I took on that particular cruise...

What is it that I am seeing there? One of two jacuzzis (or was there only one)?

Is the swimming pool off the centre right or off the bottom right here? And when were the tiles changed? Were the jacuzzis changed too? Oh for a better memory...

[Michael Gallagher]

The One Deck Pool was amended into the current configuration during the 1986/87 re-engining when the two jacuzzi pools and the childrens wading pool were added. The main pool was re-tiled and the Cunard logo - a lion rampant holding a globe - was vividly incorporated into the tiling at the bottom of the pool. Since then...

The pool was refurbished in 1994, 1996 and 1999.

2004: The swimming pool was upgraded with new Mosaic Domus non-slip ceramic tiles surrounding the pool. The teak compartments, stainless steel bins, towel drop and towel storage racks were renewed and refurbished. The teak decking surrounding Jacuzzi was renewed as well.

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Thank you very much for all this information, flagship!

So, the children's wading pool disappeared again later... or did it? ... maybe I just never took any notice of it... was it the bit between the two jacuzzis?

This is the configuation I remember best (picture taken in July 2008) :



https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/2706894412/

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

A few more recent images [from Dubai] have been posted here.  This is a continuation of the latest series of interior and exterior shots previously posted here.
http://www.captainsvoyage-forum.com/showthread.php?t=75&page=10
It appears the sun has ravaged the pool logo. 

This is what it looked like in September 2008 :



https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/3108919438/

... and while being repainted in July 2008 :



https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/2706328863/

I wonder how often this was necessary?

[Cruise_Princess]

Luv the piccies of painting the pool lion Isabelle...!

This was my favourite spot on the entire ship...sitting out there...feeling the power of the propellors beneath you..being served a lovely cocktail whenever you wanted it,,..it was sheer bliss.......
Even went in that pool and jacuzzis in December on t he North Atlantic! Must have  been mad.... but it just HAD to be done  we were on the QE2 after all!! Wouldn't  be the same on any of the new ships now...
What lovely memories...

[Rob Lightbody]

I realised, while on QV earlier this year, how different your average cruise ship's pool is to QE2's.  QE2's was relatively low down, right at the back of the ship, pretty much directly over the propellors.  It was also sea-water and surrounded by teak everywhere.  The experience of being in that big "floaty" pool, with the rumbling of the propellors & engines beneath (which you could hear better with your ears underwater!) and the action of the waves after she accelerated too fast out of alghero is something i'll never forget, ever, and was also one of my happiest experiences on board.

Even if QE2 is saved sometime, and even if that pool is left intact and re-opened (unlike Rotterdams...) it won't be the same if its not seawater, and the rumblings have gone...

[highlander0108]

Most recent pic here:  http://www.captainsvoyage-forum.com/showthread.php?t=75&page=10  The intense sun is really taking its toll on the ship.

[Rob Lightbody]

mid-August 2008, just off Sardinia :-

Description: You Tube Video “QE2 kids in stern pool with major waves” 16 August 2008 Alghero uploaded by Rob Lightbody

[cunardqueen]

  it won't be the same if its not seawater, and the rumblings have gone... 

Is that because sea water moves more than fresh water onboard

[Cruise_Princess]

I had a really bad accident in the Qe2   1 deck pool.,..,.,

It was October./November  I think the atlantic,...cant really remember...but,,.the pool was netted over due to bad weather,.,..steadily the weather calmed down and as usual I was DESPERATE  to get in the pool!!  Eventually the net was taken off and the pool was open for ..use...I was in there like a shot....then suddenly the ship started to rock and roll again..I was getting tossed from side to side...then WHAM my ankle  whacked right against the wooden stairs....... It was pure agony....could hardly get out the pool...my ankle was about 10 times the normal size and STILL swelling up....I hobbled eventually to the Docs...only to be told I had burst a vein in my ankle or suchlike...and was bandaged from foot to thigh in an elastic bandage for the rest of the voyage...I will NEVER forget that one in a hurry!!
Had to fill out endless forms and accident reports from ships Master of Arms etc...no doubt they were afraid of me suing Cunard.. In some respects perhaps the pool should have NOT re opened for use....but then I was daft enough to go in it...so that was another unforgettable wee bit of QE2....to this day that ankle still gives me jip now and again....

[Bob C.]

I have fond and not so fond mempories of this pool.  Fond that I swam in it and not so fond that I was once pushed into it.  There was a pirate themed skit played out as part of the children's program back in 1972.  That skit started in the Children's room and ran throughout the ship finally ending with a sword fight between two pirates at the pool.  I was one of the kids that gathered around the pool to watch the fight that started out of the pool and eventually in the pool.  I was in the front row when I felt this hand in my back pushing me forward and....yep.....right into the pool I went - not dressed for swimming of course.  I did not think it was funny at the time.

I'll dig for a photo of the pirate sword fight and post it here.   

Here's two photos.  And my mistake, it was the Quarter Deck Pool not the 1 Deck Pool.  I am one of those pairs of feet you see in the upper right corner of the bottom photo.

[Lynda Bradford]

Fantastic photo especially because there is a really good view of the teak decking that surrounds the pool. 

[andy liney]

The One Deck Pool was amended into the current configuration during the 1986/87 re-engining when the two jacuzzi pools and the childrens wading pool were added. The main pool was re-tiled and the Cunard logo - a lion rampant holding a globe - was vividly incorporated into the tiling at the bottom of the pool. Since then...

The pool was refurbished in 1994, 1996 and 1999.

2004: The swimming pool was upgraded with new Mosaic Domus non-slip ceramic tiles surrounding the pool. The teak compartments, stainless steel bins, towel drop and towel storage racks were renewed and refurbished. The teak decking surrounding Jacuzzi was renewed as well.

I have a few of the coloured tiles left over from when the jacuzzis were last re-tiled. 

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Here is a wider view of what the pool and the jacuzzis looked like pre-2004 :


Upside down swimmer by prondis_in_kenya, on Flickr

The colours are not quite right though. This is a scan from a 2002 picture, to which I have applied some anti-fade...