The Card Room

[Louis De Sousa]

This room found its place on Quarter Deck Portside FWD of the Library.Over the years apart from a few cosmectics changes the room stayed pretty much the same.

Is this room most probably was the first ever meeting held on the QE2 when in 1968 the ship sailed to the Canaries on its shakedown cruise.Problems occured in the Turbine Room causing the ship to arrive late in Las Palmas.Sir Basil Smallpiece-then Chairman of Cunard flow out from the UK.A meeting that would last for eight hours was then held in the Card Room with Tom Kameen,Cunards Technical Director and members of the John Brown Engineering team.

Over the years this room was used for lectures,games,reading,writing letters to the loved ones ( how many done this over the years? ) private functions,etc.It was during one of these private functions that changed my life.In summer 1991 the ship was on a Westbound Crossing towards New York,a private function was held in the Card Room for the Germany speaking passengers, a mini bar was set up and that would be run by me and one of the Bartenders,2 German waiters from the Columbia Restaurant would come and help with the canapes and snacks.One of the waiters was Anja and here began our relationship.Two years later we became a pair,married in 1999 and today we a wonderful life with our 2 kids far away the sea......

This room was removed during the 1994 Refit to became the Bookshop.

Louis

[jdl]

Thanks for sharing such a personal story louis, I only remember the room as the bookshop - it was a nice area but a little too small

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during the sir basil meeting!  Rob - would your dad have been involved with qe2 at this time or was his involvement later on in her service life?

jdl

[Rob Lightbody]

My Dad was not involved in QE2 until she was getting on for 10 years old I think, and his involvement was limited to the turbines.

[jdl]

Cheers Rob, I didn't think so - from his perspective I'm sure he would have been very pleased not to have been involved with the early problematic hand over, all very stressful and no doubt requiring a lot of grey cells thinking and political wheeler dealing!

john

[Rob Lightbody]

Nice shot of it here in 1983, presumably unaltered?


110-01aw by Captain Martini, on Flickr

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

I love those alcoves! Very cozy looking.

Can anyone remember playing cards there -- and where was it?

[Louis De Sousa]

How it looked after the 1990 refit


221-02w by Captain Martini, on Flickr

[Michael Gallagher]

Original plans for the 1990 refit included changing the use of the Card Room area on Quarter Deck. This facility was under-used facility on board and Cunard wanted to put the area to better use.

Several alternative uses of the space were considered including:

•   expanding the adjacent (and popular) Library into the Card Room thus doubling the size of the Library.

•   turning the area into a Game Room with slot machines and card tables and enhance the gaming atmosphere with coffee making facilities.

Cunard could not make a final decision about the room’s use in time for the refit so the Card Room was gutted during the refit to await a final decision. The original 1969 booths were removed.

It was finally decided to keep the room as a Card Room.

The space was revamped with the existing green décor being replaced by a new one consisting of new settees, a beige carpet and chairs upholstered in light grey. The room became much brighter as a result.

The top two photos show how the Card Room looked in September 1990 and the third is how the revamp changed the room.

[Rob Lightbody]

The booths look like they were a cosy way to concentrate on a great board game!  Agree about how dark they look - these dark rooms are one of my memories of QE2 as a 14 year old (the midships bar being another space I remember as very dark). Although brighter, the refreshed room is much less special and interesting looking, in fact it reminds me of how this room has been redone in Dubai...

[Lynda Bradford]

Fantastic topic that informs us about an area of QE2 that many of us who sailed on QE2 in later years had not seen.

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Not only is the QE2 Story the place to go to learn about changes to passenger areas, but more important is that you can read about personal memories, such as Davina's story, where he tells us that the Card Room was used for private functions and how he met his wife at such an event. 

Over the years this room was used for lectures,games,reading,writing letters to the loved ones ( how many done this over the years? ) private functions, etc. It was during one of these private functions that changed my life. In summer 1991 the ship was on a Westbound Crossing towards New York, a private function was held in the Card Room for the Germany speaking passengers, a mini bar was set up and that would be run by me and one of the Bartenders,2 German waiters from the Columbia Restaurant would come and help with the canapes and snacks.One of the waiters was Anja and here began our relationship.Two years later we became a pair, married in 1999 and today we a wonderful life with our 2 kids far away the sea....