QE2's Casino

[Chris Thompson]

The Casino is definitely post 1990 refit, I was part of the refit team and then stayed on as Slot tech through the 91 world cruise.
Casino was completely re-decorated, previously having Tan carpeting, Green walls and black ceilings...looked awful!
The new decor was a wood grain laminate on the walls, plush blue carpet and lighter ceilings.
The architect Graham Fahye wanted an art deco theme similar to the Queen Mary, there were gold art deco motifs
painted on the walls and heavy over stuffed sofas!
The old Bally slot machines were replaced with IGT electronic machines, way more reliable. The old Bally's ended up on
the ex RFA Sir Lancelot running as the Lowland Lancer Casino boat in Capetown SA.
Gaming tables and chairs were all replaced and a Craps table added.
I remember that the Casino bar was relocated into our old Staff rest area as a Bar service room. The staff rest area was moved into the areas behind the Theater where the interpreters booths were.
The attached photo posted before shows the result of a couple of heavy rolls leaving Southampton on the first post refit cruise....oops!

[Lynda Bradford]

James, I have merged your post with the QE2 Casino topic as the discussion is centred around the Casino. 

Looking forward to hearing more about the Casino over the years. 

[Rod]

My experience with Casinos on board was Cunard Princess.
I was traveling as a passenger, to spend some time with my girlfriend at the time who just happened to be one of the dealers. We had asked if I was allo9wed to go in there and the Manager said yes but just to watch, you can play the slots though.
So one night armed with a handful of quarters, I started playing a machine. The slot mechanic who I knew from QE2 came over when I was a dollar down . He started berating me for wasting my money.
He opened the machine up did some fiddling inside  and then told me to play. Put a quarter in and pulled....Jackpot!!! about &180 in quarters came tumbling out. The mechanic said there you go, you won. Now go away and don't come in again!

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

We also have a fascinating topic here on the Casino gaming tokens :

https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php?topic=7090.0

[Chris Thompson]

I remember first stepping onboard QE2 in 88 I was rather disappointed by the public rooms!
The Casino where I was working had a black ceiling, green leather walls and rather worn tan carpet. The Slot machine bases were black metal and the wiring was in plain view. I had previously worked on ships that looked a lot nicer plus having visited the Queen Mary in LA I wondered if I was really on one of the legendary Queens.....
The 1990 refit certainly improved the look of the room.

[Michael Gallagher]

1988 to 1990!

[Chris Thompson]

Nice one Michael...yep in that first photo it looks pretty dismal.
Of course shortly after leaving Southampton post refit things didn't look too good either