Channel 5 (UK) Documentary : QE2 The worlds Most Luxurious Hotel (2020)

[Waverley]

I missed the end of the programme. Was the traditional Scottish haggis a success?

[Thomas Hypher]

Episode Two:

It was interesting to hear about the A/C setup now in place in Dubai in that the capacity of the A/C system has had to be tripled to cope with Dubai's summers. Back in January I ended up cold/with a chill in my cabin on waking up, due to the cabin thermostat being tricky to control, so can testify to the A/C system's effectiveness! It was great to see the Engine Control Room (ECR) as part of that sequence of footage, and that it is not unused and sitting in darkness still.

The serving area for the opera in the Grand Lounge is where the table tennis table used to be, port side. The heavy equipment temporarily marks the carpet as visible in photos I took shortly after one such Grand Lounge event.

[andyh]

I have just watched the second episode, and I think it comes across well, from what they say they are trying to preserve her heritage, being forced to open parts before all the ship was finished is not ideal, but they look to be managing it well, so it does not look like a building site.

[Thomas Hypher]

Episode Three:

It was good to see one of the two engine rooms properly after so many years of nothing in the cold layup and during this hotel rebuild, and to see the diesels still intact for the most part, Hamza (the overall boss) explaining quite rightly why they didn't carry out the original 2008/9 plans along the lines of QM in Long Beach (and confirming what I have long thought given her trimming stern heavy still) and mentioning tours potentially being a thing in the future after tidying up the engine rooms. Good to see more of the ECR and an explanation of its new uses.

Chuffed to have finally made it into the documentary too, using the footage that I'd most hoped would be used.

[Rob Lightbody]

Thanks Thomas and well done for your contribution to keeping the legend alive via this programme, and featuring in it!

From your description it sounds like i might need to watch at least a bit of this one, I've not watched any of the programmes yet.

Yes I heard the tales of her various tank bottom problems when i was there, they showed me the big illuminated plan thing in the ECR with all the warnings about which ones didn't work any more, some which hadn't worked for years. We have a topic somewhere about her listing. I think moving forward helped her stay upright!

[Thomas Hypher]

Rob,

It was wonderful to take part and to get to reminisce during the filming, in fact the overall stay onboard was one big positive trip down memory lane personally speaking.

I would recommend watching this last episode in particular if only for the technical aspects mentioned...

Hamza also talks about her listing in one or two of the episodes, which I noticed on One Deck outside my cabin in January, just like the old days - and he mentions some people forget they're on a ship and he and others have to remind them!

Peter Warwick told me the gangways, of course, still go up and down with the ship and the tides but quite noticeably sometimes. She also isn't permanently docked to anywhere like the same level, from looking right up close and underwater as the water is pretty clear, as SS Rotterdam with her stanchion joints going up and down in the tide for example.

I have referred to the forum topic in question a few times when remembering her listing in the old days - partly to make sure I wasn't imagining things!

https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php?topic=584.msg91646#msg91646

[Conor]

It was a classic Channel 5 documentary - quite interesting but clearly very dramatised (whatever will we do without the cream?!). It was really good to see some of the thinking behind the refurbishments, and the tours of the engine and safety control rooms. More generally, I love seeing things about the QE2, so the more she's on TV the better!

Glad to see Bryan (very briefly!) still worked aboard her before the COVID closure. She's not the same ship, but I would take this over her superstructure being converted into baked beans containers.

Chuffed to have finally made it into the documentary too, using the footage that I'd most hoped would be used.

Did cheer a little when you popped up the stairs! Glad you got some air time and your segment went down really well.

[cunardqueen]

Nice footage Thomas and it was nice to see the then and now footage. im sure it bought a lot of memories both for you and your Dad.  The end of a Three part series, It will lm sure keep QE2 in the news, and hopefully increase the footfall onboard when she does reopen after this covid stuff

I do remember a waiter Peter Warwick from onboard in l think either 89 or 91 l wonder if this might be the same guy . Personally l dont think it is...But   

[Thomas Hypher]

Nice footage Thomas and it was nice to see the then and now footage. im sure it bought a lot of memories both for you and your Dad.  The end of a Three part series, It will lm sure keep QE2 in the news, and hopefully increase the footfall onboard when she does reopen after this covid stuff

I do remember a waiter Peter Warwick from onboard in l think either 89 or 91 l wonder if this might be the same guy . Personally l dont think it is...But

My Dad is chuffed too, along with his credit in the credits as they had asked me how exactly he'd want to be credited.

He's not the same Peter Warwick. Dubai Peter Warwick was a passenger from 1987 or so and then got a job onboard in the cruise entertainment department around 1995, ending up as a cruise director before leaving to care for his Mum around 2001.

[Thomas Hypher]

Did cheer a little when you popped up the stairs! Glad you got some air time and your segment went down really well.

I'm glad they used the bits they did with the direct connections to the past through Dad's footage and the photo (which Peter held on the helm itself as we talked).

Harriet, the camera lady/director, came up with the idea of merging Dad's footage with the new footage which is great to see made the final cut given the creative nature of it too.

Also the bridge footage, as they had asked if there was anywhere in particular I wanted to visit (that was off limits at the time) and it was a couple of weeks, if that, before the bridge was fully finished for the tours as the helm was encased in Perspex shortly after we filmed like the rest of the equipment already was. I set her wheel back to midships from either hard to port or hard to starboard during the filming too, no autopilot lock (like trying to turn the wheel of a parked car - there was some give before it locked up) or risk of actually turning the rudder anymore - which was a special moment within the wonderful experience of being back on the bridge and then being filmed on the bridge!

[Andy Holloway]

A nice bit there young Thomas, well done.

I quite enjoy the programme, and it's nice to see what they've done to areas i knew well and remember fondly but, i have two complaints about it;

1. Why or why do documentary makers, and this applies to almost every documentary these days, have to make everything into a 'potential disaster'?

2. Peter Warwick, i'm sorry if other people think that he adds anything to the programme but, in my opinion, he doesn't in any shape or form. Also why, oh why, does he parade around dressed like he was ever any form of uniformed officer, let alone a Captain? He must have met several very excellent Captains in his time and, dressing up like he was going to a fancy dress party for 10 year olds, in my opinion, is an insult to those fine Officers who worked very, very hard to achieve that position and, when they commanded QE2, did sterling work both managing the ship and promoting Cunard and Great Britain!

[cunardqueen]

This is the Peter Warwick l remember , a lovely guy and quite animated. I did think perhaps there was no way they could be the same , but age does many things to people .

Peter Warwick, i'm sorry if other people think that he adds anything to the programme but, in my opinion, he doesn't in any shape or form. Also why, oh why, does he parade around dressed like he was ever any form of uniformed officer, let alone a Captain? He must have met several very excellent Captains in his time and, dressing up like he was going to a fancy dress party for 10 year olds, in my opinion, is an insult to those fine Officers who worked very, very hard to achieve that position and, when they commanded QE2, did sterling work both managing the ship and promoting Cunard and Great Britain!
 

No need to say sorry.  As for the uniform l didnt care for it either, a bit Fancy dress ish
It reminded me when l saw Captain Stiffa on the MSC Melody at his Party l noted his white dinner jacket and sew on what i can only describe as novelity stripes, very noticable, and screamed out fake . Mindyou l was trying to get over his name.....

[Rob Lightbody]

I have relented, and skip-watched the third programme.  "I couldn't take a whole one".

Great to see Thomas featured so prominently - well done indeed sir!  And I loved the way they blended it together with photos and footage of you onboard as a child, brilliant.  Almost makes up for what they did to us at the conference!

You created a much better link to her past than Peter Warwick (who I thought very patronising - I'm pretty sure you know more about QE2 than he does...) and I feel that you told my story too, so thankyou.

Glad to hear about the engine rooms being kept, although they looked a shocking mess which made me sad.  He seemed to understand that the entire integrity of the ship would be undermined by messing with the engines and their surrounding structures, avoiding what happened to poor Mary. 
Hopefully if they do manage to open them up again one day, they can make the diesel generators at least look complete and the engine room resemble how it did in service.  One of the highlights for me in Dubai was standing next to Alpha which was running at the time.   
It is forever a regret that they (Dubai World) didn't manage to move QE2 from V-ships operation to the conversion process, rather than that painful period when an inexperienced crew tried to run her/save her then she was left roasting and filthy in the drydock for years, which completely undid many years of hard work.

Photos attached of the engine room when I was aboard - no it wasn't as good as when Cunard had it, but it wasn't far off it.

I wish them well.  They've had everything against them since the start - the inappropriate location (Middle East), the inconvenient location (away from the city), the Financial crash, repeated political infighting, and then finally Covid-19.  On top of all that, they then went on to make some fundamental mistakes even in the past couple of years.

[Thomas Hypher]

Thank you for the kind words Rob!

I agree regarding her time in Dubai, the cold layup should never have happened and was her darkest period of time ever in my opinion. Glad she's being looked after now, and being used (pandemic pending). Dubai have spent and continue to spend significant sums of money on her including their initial purchase of her and her brand. I seem to recall seeing/reading/working out the current bill is around the build cost of either the current QE or QV but I might be mistaken. A large sum of money either way!

[Vincent Scriven]

I wondered why The Queens Grill was ripped out in the first place  They stated they wanted to keep some of the Old Qe2 it was a shame