It's a long time since I visited here

[Malcolm]

Once QE2 retired, my interest died - after all, I wasn't interested in a dead ship that would be torn apart in the name of redevelopment.  :'(

BUT a friend visited her last year and returned home saying there was still a lot to see, so I decided to go and see for myself.

I returned from Dubai on Friday and offer my comments about the ship in her current condition

[Malcolm]

The next eight pages!

[Malcolm]

And the next!

[Malcolm]

And the last

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Thank you very much, Malcolm, for these photos and written impressions. It is great that you managed to get into some areas that are not normally accessible to the casual visitor.

Did you stay on her? Was the cabin comfortable and were the meals good?

I agree with you, I have never seen a large Cunard clock in a cabin! Did it keep time?

[Cunarder Man]

Enjoyed your review Malcolm. Pleased to see the Princess Grill and the bar.
I aim to visit her again.
John

[Rob Lightbody]

Thank you for your most interesting posts Malcolm, you certainly explored thoroughly!

I didn't know about the Synagogue still being intact, although I suspected so, that's lovely to see.  Its the most original and intact space on board.  The religious artefacts were actually removed while the ship was still in service.  Nice to see the PG spaces are still intact... i wonder where all the hundreds of valuable Robert Heritage RACE chairs ended up... they've clearly got far more space than they know what to do with, or that they have guests to fill.

[June Ingram]

Thanks very much, Malcolm, for your great photos and commentary !

[Oceanic]

Thanks for these Malcom!

I must confess, it is a little odd seeing the old outdoor benches down on the quayside. I can vividly recall awkwardly picking at the material on one of those whilst getting to know (read flirting!) my now wife, who I'd met onboard on the same voyage. Regardless, I'm happy to see they've been preserved and, judging by your relaxed posture, they haven't lost any of their comfort!

Having QE2 preserved and well maintained is such a relief for the both of us. We're planning a trip with our two daughters out to see the Grand Old Lady once more. These photos have made me all the more excited!

[Thomas Hypher]

The chairs from onboard that are in her reception/lobby building (Dubai's first/original cruise terminal that QE2 coincidentally inaugurated too) date from her 1986/7 re-engining refit, and apparently came from the now sadly gone Wardroom (Queens Room having the square chairs from that re-engining refit until the late 1994 "Project Lifestyle" refit).

I am glad at least some of the Boat Deck benches have survived, some also being placed at at least some of her Five Deck gangways. Seating out on the dockside was needed beforehand. However, it will always sadden me how Cunard was gouged off the wood and filled in with wood filler (something still very noticeable today) with seemingly no rhyme or reason given where Cunard was and still is retained elsewhere onboard.

Boat Deck is covered with a rubbery surface rather than just being painted. I was told they were having a lot of trouble trying to put down wooden decking (not teak) due to how much her aluminium superstructure was expanding and contracting in their climate.

The Rolls Royce was donated by a wealthy Emirati around the time I revisited the ship almost exactly 4 years ago. It was hauled aboard by hand as shown in the documentary filmed at the time.

All the cabins had telephones (with the very expensive satellite calling option) and the same make of CRT TV by the end of her career, although I don't recall the Cunard ship's clocks being in the cabins either. The flooring in that preserved cabin is not original, being the same as in the passageways of the refurbished Five Deck from when I had a peak down there via G Stairway. The watertight doors on Five Deck have been replaced with fire doors, but the cabins (for her live aboard staff) still have their original door handles although the original locks aren't used anymore.

Very surprised but glad the Synagogue is as it was upon her arrival in Dubai, right down to it's uplighters, as an original space onboard.