Moderator Note - All Content is Copyright © Michael Gallagher for The QE2 Story and not to be used without permission.
A major transformation in the external appearance of QE2 occurred during the major 1972 refit with the addition of a new, two-deck block of Penthouse accommodation featuring two luxury duplex apartments and eight two-room Penthouse Suites.
A fact of life in the cruise industry is that the most expensive and the least expensive cabins in liners sold first. On most vessels there was always some middle-range accommodation available. While the luxurious standard of the majority of QE2’s cabins had stood the test of time, a study revealed the interesting information that if more ‘suites’ were available they could be sold. Accordingly, a survey of QE2’s decks was undertaken and it showed that the Signal Deck open space and the Sports Deck forward activities area were not being fully employed as they might be and was space that had been largely wasted hitherto in terms of earning capacity. According to Cunard the area had also been something of a ‘dust bowl’ when the ship sailed at speed.
The decision was made to restyle this area into ten of the most luxurious and distinctive suites afloat resulting in the loss of the observation platform on Signal deck and the loss of open deck space and the outdoor children’s area and pool on Sports deck.
According to Cunard:
“High up, on the topmost decks of Queen Elizabeth 2, we’re building a new group of luxury suites…for people who want to cruise in the utmost elegance".
The new penthouses were carefully formed and prefabricated in aluminium alloy to minimise the additional weight and to avoid spoiling the ship’s sleek silhouette any more than strictly necessary. Although a very few passenger ships dating back to the 1920s had had cabins with private verandahs, in terms of design and manufacture, these new top deck penthouses were the first of their kind on any ship. Not surprisingly, they became QE2’s most exclusive and sought-after accommodation and they were highly-profitable for Cunard.
Preliminary Work and Prefabrication
The design work for the new accommodation was undertaken by the Danish architect Tage Wandborg of Knut E Hansen A/S.
The preliminary work was carried out while QE2 was at sea shuttling across the Atlantic during the summer of 1972 with over 100 welders from the Vosper Thornycroft yard on board. Welding at sea with passengers on board was an unsettling business. The preparations on the ship and the pre-fabrication of the block itself at the shipyard had to be to a very high level of exactness for the pieces to fit.
Cunard and Vosper Thornycroft designed the aluminium alloy complex so that it could be fitted out and furnished in two halves, port and starboard, on the quayside ready to be lifted by floating crane on to QE2 at the start of the refit period.
EC Payter and Co of Bilston, Staffs, tendered for the work and was asked to make a start on 30 June before detailed drawings were available. When the structure was formally ordered on 5 July, Alcan Booth (E C Payter’s parent company) were already busy extruding beams and stiffeners and rolling the plate and all the required material was delivered at Bilston by 12 July.
Keeping to the subsequent fabrication programme meant no summer holidays for the workers at Bilston – a sacrifice they volunteered to make at the inquiry stage to help secure the business.
By the end of July prefabricated sections were on the quay in Southampton and work there started with Bilston platers and welders assembling the two halves.
At the beginning of September Vosper Thornycroft started work on schedule, marking out and fitting internal partitions. When the two sections were lifted in October only the central corridor area where they were joined remained unfinished.
Each block was 80-feet long by 24-feet wide and weighed about 50-tons. The aluminium alloy structure was lined with electrical and plumbing services (completed ashore) together with the fixed joinery and glazing before the units were lifted into position on deck by floating crane.
Installation
The installation started soon after QE2’s arrival in Southampton prior to the vessel entering dry-dock on 13 October. Southampton’s 150-ton floating crane brought the port side cabin unit from berth 40, where fitting out work had been done, and lowered it onto QE2’s top deck where special girders had been fitted for it to rest on. This carefully planned operation went without a hitch.
The next day the new starboard cabin unit was loaded the same way. QE2 then left her berth for the dry-dock immediately after this where the work of installing the new cabins and connecting them up to the ship’s plumbing and electrical installations was carried out.
General
To provide access to the new suites for passengers and provide steward service in the area, the following facilities were built.
• A new passenger lift extending from the new Queens Grill Bar on Boat deck to Signal deck.
• A new staircase from the Queens Grill Bar on Boat deck to Signal deck.
• New pantries on Sports and Signal decks were built.
The new Penthouse area soon became referred to as the ‘motel’ by the crew.
Shortly after the installation, an article in Steamboat Bill reported:
“The price range for the new suites begins in the $5,000 per occupant category and they are reportedly selling quite well. Soon after completion all were occupied on a Caribbean cruise that grossed in excess of $160,000 on these cabins alone for Cunard!”
