QE2 Doorknobs

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Our knowledgeable friend Rick (a member of the Forum in 2009) wrote this :

Kathy, oh yes, I get that all the time, the whole, "you must love cruise ships"  thing when people come into my home. I know the shudder feeling well.  They just don't get it, therefore I ended up sailing solo on the QE2.  So nice to log on here, where they do get it.  When I shared my QE2 voyage photo album with co-workers, they would say -  "What, you took a pic of, what's this, a cabin doorknob?"      Oh well......

I was searching for a mention of doorknobs here, because I had just found a number of my own doorknob pictures, which were potential candidates for the current photo competition "Original Features". And to my surprise, they have not yet been mentioned here, except in the quote above by Rick (who had an obsession similar to mine, with little details of the ship). And so, here goes :


Yet another doorknob by Isabelle Prondzynski, on Flickr

Weren't they extraordinarily easy to handle? Such a clever design, even for the small things on the ship...


A QE2 trick by Isabelle Prondzynski, on Flickr

And our mother discovered a QE2 trick, practised by the cabin crew. They left a tiny snippet of paper on top of the doorknob. If this was still there after a while, the passenger was still in her cabin. If the paper snippet had fallen, chances were that the passenger had headed off to her breakfast.

This is how the doorknob looked as part of the door :


Cabin 5128 door by Isabelle Prondzynski, on Flickr

That upper keyhole is presumably not original...

[Michael Gallagher]

As I understand it when QE2 first entered service the cabin doors did not have locks / keys as was the standard practice for ship cabins. A spate of cabin thefts in the early 1970s persuaded Cunard to add locks to each door!

[Thomas Hypher]

I remember those door handles! Not just used on the cabin doors if I remember correctly (used for the doors of lockers and pantries etc etc). Wonder if any have been retained (like for the pantries) as they still worked and were in good condition (although she may use a key card system now like contemporary cruise ships and land hotels)?

[Lynda Bradford]

See also a very good topic on QE2 cabin keys and locks

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

I loved the way these doorknobs were so easy to grasp and turn. It was an excellent design which I have never seen anywhere but on QE2.

How come that some of them were "gold" while others were "silver"?