Arrival in Bremen
This is my Mum and I arriving in Bremen. Everyone on the plane was heading
for QE2 - it was a special flight - and everyone was very excited. We were all
family of the associated companies and were mostly people who otherwise would not be able
to afford a trip on the worlds most luxurious liner!
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Boarding QE2
Unlike normal QE2 passengers, we had to board using this scary gangplank! QE2 was
in a shipyard where she had been refitted, and there were no passenger facilities
there. At the top of this gangplank we suddenly appeared in the beautiful midships
lounge and were welcomed onbaord by stewards and there was a pianist playing on the grand
piano.
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Crowds line the banks as QE2 leaves Bremerhaven
This is a dreadful photo - I was only 15 and had a cheap camera that
couldn't cope with
anything except strong sunlight! There were crowds thronging the banks all the way,
cheering and waving. The river was VERY narrow in places and it sometimes felt like
the QE2 would get stuck! We went through towns where everything had stopped to watch
the worlds most famous ship go by.
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| This is my Mum and at the stern of the QE2 -
can someone email me the correct name for this area? Note the thick fog which is
hiding the QE2's brand new funnel and the lifebelt which is not where it should have been! |
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| The QE2's forward mast which also
functions as a secondary funnel, ventilating the kitchens below.
You can see the enormous foghorns at the front
and listen to them here. |
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| The view over the bows. Unlike the
film Titanic, this is as close as you can get! This view was also
available via the in-cabin television which was cool. |
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| This is me trying to look QE2 cool!
Still a thick fog surrounded the ship... |
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The new funnel
A close-up shot of QE2's brand new funnel for her Diesel engines from beneath one of
the lifeboats.
Actually, the new funnel used some of the plating from the old funnel and you can still
see the blisters caused by the engine room fire in 1974.
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Painters
It was a shakedown cruise and the ship was not finished throughout our time on
board! As you can see here they were still varnishing the handrails - nice work if
you can get it! The guy here looked exactly like Charlton Heston...
My Dad, another painter, and I on deck. I love the effect of the filtered light
through the lifeboats above along this deck.
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Painters
An army of painters & decorators were onboard throughoput our time with QE2 making
sure she was 5 star ready for her first "real" cruise. Far right here you
can see the Steinway piano case (as seen in other photos here) and the newly fitted
outdoor jacuzzis nextg to the pool.
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Nice photo - shame about the dirty window
This window could do with a wash - and thats what it got - see last photo below!
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Yacht Club's Steinway Piano Case
This was the case for the glass Steinway piano which had just been fitted in the new
Yacht Club bar. My eyes were watering because there was a cold salty wind hitting my
face!
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| See above. My Dad had been a regular
visitor to the QE2 as part of his job with her builders, John Browns, but this was to be
his last ever trip with her. With her modern diesel engines, his involvement was
over.
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Exercise in style on QE2
Exercising on sports deck (?) This view has changed a lot 12 years on - the motor
launches are gone as is the magradome and the pool within, and presumably they've shifted
the steinway case by now too!
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The Heli-Pad
Could do with a coat of paint!
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Southampton - QE2's first ever visit with Diesel engines
I ran out of the baggage collection area to take these photographs - she looks so much
more impressive from outside than inside!
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Window Cleaners
As shown in the earlier pictures, the window cleaners got to work - and much needed
they were too after the ship had spent months being refitted in a shipyard.
I believe the new putting green was behind those windows.
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