Best Port Visit

[Rob Lightbody]

Here's my video of the passage

Oh my goodness Malcolm, thats beautifull edited, and stunning footage - and audio!  Brought a tear to my eye when McNaught said what he said.  both  and 

[Andrew Collier]

Very nicly done, but very sad to hear the good Captain say those words 

Thanks for sharing this with us 

[Kindlychap]

Best port?

Probably Guernsey.

We went on a three night trip in October 2006 and Guernsey was the only port. But it was missed - rough weather. Nothing that the QE2 was disturbed by of course - we sat there as solid as a rock - but when the pilot boat came out to us it was clear that for the tenders it was a complete no-no.

We sat on the balcony, looking out at Herm and had tea. It was a gorgeous October day - lovely and warm.

Wonderful. And to think that the moaning minnies were complaining they couldn't get off.....

Matthew

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Thinking about the recent questions of "most popular / least popular ports" and "which maiden or final port visit would you have wanted to be on board for", I thought back of some of the best ports I have sailed out of.

Not so much the stay on land, but the sailaway atmosphere and scenery.

The first and best that came to mind, was mid-summer Stockholm -- I cannot recommend it highly enough! Sailing through the sun-drenched archipelago, with people out and about in their boats enjoying themselves -- totally splendid.

Night-time Singapore was another stunner -- sailing past all those industrial islands, with factories and oil refineries working at night and smoke and lights blazing all round. Finding the Indonesian mobile phone networks as we sailed past.

Out of Quebec and down the St Lawrence river, with people waving and cameras flashing all the way as we sailed past. That was a final call, so it would qualify for the other thread too .

I wish I had sailed out of Malta -- it looked so great on the bridgecam.

As for the Clyde, we were on Waverley, escorting QE2 -- but I am sure that it would have been a wonderful sailaway for the people on board .

[Trevor Harris]

Even though I never sailed on QE2, I think the visits to the fjords were nice based on pictures I have seen.

[Trevor Harris]

Looking at the bridgecam photos as they come up and so often bring great memories with them, one of the most beautiful QE2 ports was Bar Harbor in Maine...

Having seen some pictures of QE2 in Bar Harbor before, I was already looking forward to it -- and the real thing was just as fabulous as any anticipation! We were blessed with sparkling weather too...

It had everything -- the fabulous scenery, the weather, the tendering, the pleasant village -- and on top of that, a great cycling excursion!

Seems I photographed a lot, that day :

https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=%22bar%20harbor%22&w=55206992%40N00

Here is the Bar Harbor photo, with the schooner Margaret Todd in the foreground :

Nice photo!

[Andy Holloway]

Having been to an awful lot of different ports around the world in my time in both, 'Grey Funnel' [RN/RM] and Merchant my list of 'Favourite Ports' is quite lengthy, each port has it's own particular 'charm' some more than others.
For instance when i was on HMS Nubian in 1969 we visited Muscat and were at anchor, this was way before anybody thought of visiting the place as tourists! But to sit on deck and look out over the city with it's mud buildings and heavy stone fort was amazing.
But there again, arriving in ports like H/K, Rio, Cape Town and Stockholm are also wonderful experiences. Even little places like Mossell Bay in S/Africa are 'wonderful' after 2 months on Biera Patrol and not having had any sight of land for the best part of 10 weeks!
But as much as i try i still can't find anything, politely nice to say about a few ports, Keelung being a classic example.  It's the only port i ever visited during my time with Cunard where, although 'All Aboard' was at 2200, everybody and i mean EVERYBODY, was back onboard by 1830!  Says it all really.

[Louis De Sousa]

Visted many ports with QE2 Worlwide I would say each port in its own way is the "best"
If you narrow down to a cruise then that would the 150 anniversary cruise back in July 1990.
The emotions seen in Cobh,Greenock and Liverpool were just breathtaking

On side note on the other ship I worked in I done the 3 Month season down in the Antarctic that was
a awesome time and place too.

[Pete Hamill]

Greenock!

Well said!

[Tony]

yes, so many good ones. I liked New York, always a good view from on deck.

[cunardqueen]

New York on my very first crossing June 1986 on a summers morning was pretty impressive, sailing up the Hudson, The Statue of Liberty.  It was my very first time abroad. A whistle stop tour of Manhattan, seeing the famous street signs, a grotty lunch at The South Street Seaport, nobody enjoyed it, time on the quayside before embarkation and then the return sailing that night, equally impressive.

[Thomas Hypher]

New York on my very first crossing June 1986 on a summers morning was pretty impressive, sailing up the Hudson, The Statue of Liberty.  It was my very first time abroad. A whistle stop tour of Manhattan, seeing the famous street signs, a grotty lunch at The South Street Seaport, nobody enjoyed it, time on the quayside before embarkation and then the return sailing that night, equally impressive.

Me and my Parents had an "interesting" lunch at South Street Seaport (where the old Ambrose lightship is preserved among other things) so I suppose some things never change...

Mum's digital photos from August 2003 QE2 trip by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

Not to mention that New York can be very hot and humid in summer, so suffers from two extremes given its notorious winter weather.

[Thomas Hypher]

As far as best port visit goes, my favourite port visit on QE2 was Lisbon and my favourite port visit on QM2 is Hamburg (without going too off-topic).

My July 2007 QE2 trip photos and a couple of videos by Thomas Hypher, on Flickr

One of my photos from our 2007 visit to Lisbon (was a frequent port visit on our Med cruises).

[Thomas Hypher]

Gibraltar.

And here's why.

We got off.  Walked towards the shuttle-taxis.  Felt a bit hot.  Turned round.  Saw the greatest ship in the world.  Looked at each other.  Got back on board.

 

I remember one visit to Gibraltar where I experienced the highest humidity I ever have (85%) and I remember complaining to my Dad that I wanted to go back onboard the air conditioned paradise that was QE2, needless to say we spent the day walking around Gibraltar despite this  . The difference between being onboard and walking down the gangway was night and day on that occasion. Gibraltar was never quite as humid on several subsequent visits. I have heard that Dubai is similarly humid but QE2 will be even more of an air conditioned paradise now (upgraded air conditioning) if I can bare the journey to her  .

[Ben Zabulis]

For me, any port which allowed a casual walk from the ship directly into the middle of town was a good one. Malta and particularly Trieste were great. Cape Town was another good one but my favourite would be Hong Kong, for the simple reason that that is where I embarked upon my first ever QE2 journey - call it nostalgia !