Staff.

Superb at all times. The high number of non-British crewmembers didn’t actually seem to make much difference to the ‘essence’ of the ship.

Chart Room

Lovely but smokey. Nice room in keeping with QE2’s image but I didn’t spend much time in it due to the smoke.

The Golden Lion

Dreadful, I hated it. Shouldn’t be on the ship. Smokey too. Made it feel like I was on a ferry, if I stayed in this area too long.

The Crystal Bar.

A lovely space. Spot on.

The Lido.

Something not quite right with the décor here – it felt a bit like a motorway service station. It felt better at night though. The grubby-looking tiles didn’t help. Midnight buffet tasted great, but was a pale shadow of what I recall in 1987.

Loss of Magradome & Pool.

I don’t think this is missed. The glorious expanses of open teaked deckspaces at the rear of the ship make up for it and restore the look that was originally intended for the rear of the ship. In 1987 these spaces were really confusing. It’s a shame the side windows are such a jumble of designs though.

The Yacht Club

Lovely… although I missed the glass piano and funky wavey ceiling from 1987!

Listing while in port.

The ship had an alarming list to dockside when in port. In Zeebrugge this actually ended up making us feel ill. It also caused the shower in our cabin to flood the bathroom.

The shipboard photographer

Why use crappy backdrops of titanic/fake lifebelts/QE2 painting when you’re ON the world’s most famous ship??? The bit that left me speechless was that they placed the large QE2 painting in front of the beautiful normandie model, which would have made a splendid backgrop on its own!

The Grand Lounge

The name of the room says what this room is meant to be. A grand Lounge. Not a rather poor show lounge. The upper level used to be open to the side with windows and seating, now it feels very cramped with shops right up to the side of the balcony.

Corridors & Stairways

A massive improvement from what I remember and really giving a sense of what a wonderful ship you’re aboard. Terribly confusing layout though, I was still getting lost as we were getting off – I’m not sure I’d ever get the hang of it.

The Entertainments Manager

Gave the impression he’d rather be back on QM2. I thought he should be at Butlins, not on a classic ocean liner. I’d loved to have asked him what he knew about QE2.

Britannia Grill

Amazing. Sublime food & Service and paying the extra to upgrade to this restaurant was well worth it… on our short party cruise, in the ship’s final year, this was one of the few areas on board that had the atmosphere I was expecting.

Princess Grill Bar

Found it. Eventually! A lovely original space with a lovely ambience.

Queen’s Lounge

I think the new décor works well, although I did like the 1987 décor when I was last onboard. I’m so glad that some original elements remain such as the illuminated columns, the wonderful roof and the general layout.

Midships Lounge

Again a lovely space, appreciated by all passengers. They stopped here just to look, to take pictures, or to have a rest. A Christmas tree was blocking the little lights that uplight the central column which was slightly annoying to someone like me wanting to see the original features, but also nice and festive to everyone else!

One Deck

This deck left quite an impact. The original first class rooms are beautiful, with their big oval windows and gigantic storage spaces. The fact that you can walk along to the Pavilion from these rooms, and a dip in the heated pools, must be wonderful. I thought of all the famous and wealthy people that must have graced these rooms over the decades.

The promenades

I love the way they’ve used colour to highlight the promenades, the way the ships creators intended them to be used. In photos I’d thought the turquoise looked overwhelming, but in actuality its quite nice.

Four and Five deck cabins

I know its too late now, but wouldn’t it have been a good idea to knock these 2-into-1, while keeping as many original features as possible? This way single-seating dining could be used in the Mauretania restaurant, and passengers would receive the level of quality they expect from the QE2 name. I heard some complaints from people in 4 and 5 deck – they were disappointed ‘oh well at least I can say I was onboard’. Those in the single-seating restaurants and cabins were treated to what they’d been expecting.

Comfort & Vibration

At 23 knots, our cabin was exactly the same as when we were tied up in port. The only way to tell was to look out of the window. The only vibration I felt was while right at the back of the ship.

Bookshop & Library

Absolutely superb, but too small!

Children’s facilities

Why were they using a cupboard (that’s what it looked like) outside the bookshop, when QE2 is famous for having a children’s nursery (‘With English Nanny’) and even a children’s cinema?

Funnel Bar

Really Nice – but what took them so long! This very much felt like a dead space in 1987 – amazing that it took 16 years to add it.

Royal Promenade

Naff. I guess the clientele of the ship changed when she stopped being the flagship and came off the regular transatlantic. In 1987 these were absolutely the poshest names you’d find anywhere and it was a pleasure just to get the chance to see them. More than anything else these illustrate how the ship’s market has changed. They also feel jammed in and make the top level of the Grand Lounge cramped.

Old & New

In 1987 the ship still felt advanced and modern. She was 20 years old but had been updated and cared for… in 2007 she now feels vintage… quite amazing… its because I have visited the original Queen Mary and can see how similar they are.