- New Zealand's cruise growth
- A new port for the Panama Canal
- QE2 about to open as a hotel
Details appeared in the August 27 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Showing posts with label QE2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label QE2. Show all posts
Monday, August 27, 2018
Other Things You'll Want to Know - August 27, 2018
CND subscribers also read about:
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Other Things You'll Want to Know - April 17, 2018
CND subscribers also read about:
- Queen Mary 2 passengers being among the first to visit the newly opened QE2 hotel in Dubai
- Most calls continuing as scheduled at Roatan despite the damaged pier
Details appeared in the April 17 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Monday, April 16, 2018
QE2 at Last
It appears the former Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2 is finally going to open as a hotel - and in Dubai.
Photo courtesy of the QE2 Hotel. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.
The complete story appeared in the April 16 edition of Cruise News Daily.
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| A Deluxe guest room aboard the QE2 Hotel in Dubai |
Photo courtesy of the QE2 Hotel. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.
Monday, February 5, 2018
Other Things You'll Want to Know - February 5, 2018
CND subscribers also read about:
- A new program at Costa Crociere that seeks to reduced food waste by half fleetwide by 2020.
- There are reports that QE2, still docked in Dubai, is getting ready to open as a hotel.
- Carnival Fascination has left St. Croix at the conclusion of its charter to FEMA
Details appeared in the February 5 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Since QE2 Isn’t Available ....
Cunard is getting ready to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth 2, the longest-serving Cunarder at the time of her retirement. And they are going to do it aboard the current Queen Elizabeth.
If you want to be in on the celebration, you’d better hurry. The celebration will be aboard Queen Eilzabeth’s September 8 sailing from Southampton to the Mediterranean.
The complete story appears in the August 15 edition of Cruise News Daily.
If you want to be in on the celebration, you’d better hurry. The celebration will be aboard Queen Eilzabeth’s September 8 sailing from Southampton to the Mediterranean.
The complete story appears in the August 15 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
50 Years Ago Today
This article, written by Michael Gallagher, public relations executive and historian for Cunard Line, is part of an ongoing series of key moments in Cunard Line's history
30 December 2014 – 50 years ago today, 30 December 1964, the contract for what was to become Queen Elizabeth 2 was signed. Of the 248 ships that have flown the Cunard flag since Britannia in 1840, QE2, as she was to become universally known, is one of the most significant ships Cunard has built.
At the end of August 1964 Cunard was in a position to invite tenders for Q4 – the widely-used codename for the new ship. The use of ‘Q4’ hinted that the new Cunarder was to be the fourth Queen ship that the company had built and meant that Queen Mary was now ‘Q1’ and Queen Elizabeth was ‘Q2’. ‘Q3’ never left the drawing board and it was the plans for that ship which were re-worked into ‘Q4’.
Technically ‘Q4’ should have been ‘Q5’ as the first Cunard Queen was Berengaria when Imperator was renamed.
The firms invited to tender for Q4 were John Brown and Co., Clydebank; Cammell Laird and Co., Birkenhead; the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Glasgow; Harland and Wolf, Belfast; Swan, Hinter and Wigham Richardson, Wallsend-on-Tyne would combine with Vickers Armstrong, Wallsend.
The last two firms had formed a consortium to tender for Q3 but that was for a larger vessel so it was felt they would tender alone for Q4.
Many people still considered the Tyne shipyards the favorite for Q4 given their likely success in attracting Q3. John Brown’s order book was the least full of all the shipyards expected to tender and the disruption of Q4 on Clydebank would be virtually non-existent.
The tender document was issued to the yards on 9 September 1964 and consisted of 550 closely-typed foolscap pages of plans and specifications. Price was to be Cunard’s main consideration and the deadline for the shipyards was late November.
In mid-October Cammell Laird advised Cunard that “regretfully” they would not be tendering for the new Cunarder. The yard’s order book and delivery commitments were such that it could not commence work on the new ship until nearly a year later than the date necessary to meet Cunard’s delivery requirements.
A month later, the Fairfield yard announced it was also dropping out of the competition. Again the yard stipulated its order book and commitments as being the reason for not pursuing Q4.
The main John Brown board met at The Sanctuary, John Brown’s London office, to discuss and approve the terms of the quotation for Q4. In consideration of the great prestige of the contract, it was agreed to cover full costs and full charges but include no profit, although this was kept secret at the time. The board felt that ‘extras’, by way of changes to the contract during construction, would ensure no loss. It was their view that the contract for this ship simply must be won.
The tender from Harland and Wolf arrived at Cunard’s Liverpool Head Office on 28 November some 48 hours before the deadline. The next tender to arrive was from John Brown and the final one (delivered by hand by the two chairmen) came from the Tyne on 1 December.
On 30 November 1964 the tenders from the remaining three shipbuilders were opened:
Vickers and Swan Hunter Tender
£22,547,428
October 1968 delivery date (subject to contract being awarded by the end of January 1965)
John Brown Tender
£21,677,000
Delivery May 1968
Harland and Wolff
£23,825,000
Delivery end of 1968
John Brown’s price was the lowest and its delivery date of May 1968, the earliest. However, Cunard Chairman Sir John Brocklebank and his staff were shocked to note that all three tenders were in excess of the £22 million set aside for the ship. John Brown’s price was £870,000 less than Vickers and £2,148,000 less than Harland & Wolff. John Brown’s terms for overheads etc were also more acceptable.
The shipyards had been asked to quote a fixed price but all three stated that particularly due to the long building period they were unable to do so. At the time it was difficult to obtain fixed prices from the shipbuilders for any type of ship. Likewise there was no penalty clause for late delivery of the ship – this had been discussed during the preparation of the tender for Q3 when all the available builders indicated that they would not accept any penalty clause.
Even the price submitted by John Brown was £2 million more than Cunard had estimated the cost of a new vessel would be. On receipt of the tenders there were several urgent meetings with Cunard management adamant that Q4 was still too expensive and may have to be cancelled. The problem for management was that the aging Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth would soon need to be taken out of commission which would leave Caronia and the four Canadian ships in commission with the result being a severe reduction in staff.
John Brown was advised that their tender was the lowest but that the price would have to be cut down further before a contract could be signed. Cunard asked the yard to reduce the cost of the ship by approximately £1.5 million. To qualify in time and obtain the benefits of the loan under the government’s Shipbuilding Credit Scheme it would be necessary for the ship to be paid for before 31 December 1964. That meant that within a period of two weeks the building agreement had to be prepared, agreed and signed. It was essential that the final figure be reached quickly.
A team of Cunard personnel went to Clydebank to meet with the yard management and over the course of three weeks, with beer and sandwiches at weekends, the cuts were made.
The group went through the specifications and managed to reduce the machinery (main and auxiliary) costs by £500,000 and the hull and electrical price by £1.5 million.
The whole tender was studied again and suppliers were asked to re-submit prices based on amended tenders. Even things such as the reduction in specification requirements for cabin furnishing (saving £62,000) to using white instead of colour sanitary units in passenger cabins (saving £9,000) were incorporated.
The most significant deletions and alterations, in a list prepared on 13 December 1964, to the original tender were as follows:
Deletions
Perhaps the most significant deletion was one of the boilers which was deleted to also save weight and space. QE2 was originally to have had four boilers which could maintain full service speed with only three of these in use, allowing one to be shut down for maintenance without serious loss of headway. With hindsight the deletion of the fourth boiler proved to be a false economy as the lack of spare boiler capacity would compromise the liner’s reliable operation as a steam ship.
Saving (£)
· Stern anchor.
· The sliding roof on the Sports Deck. 27,300
· A set of stabilizers (four fins instead of six). 43,420
· One auto tensioning winch . 8,000
· Cathodic Protection. 6,600
· Two aft cranes. 32,000
· The aft MacGregor hatch and trunk. 27,000
· The aft lateral thrust units. 46,000
· Mental Ward and Mortuary. 1,600
· Verandah Grill from funnel base (the Grill was relocated in the main dining saloon area). 35,000
· Fur Store. 2,000
· Breakwater. 1,000
· Six lifts. 40,500
· Two gangway handling winches. 1,700
· Special cruising gangways. 500
· Twin boiler casings. 3,500
· Insulation in the way of the steam pipe passage.
Alterations
· The cruise launches were modified.
· The forward cranes to be Stothert & Pitt.
· The boat davits to be steel in lieu of aluminium. 69,000
· Omit the painting of aluminium behind the Linings. 12,000
· Enamel beds for crew instead of aluminium. 10,000
· The relocation of insulated cargo from aft to forward. 1,000
· The Boiler Seatings were reduced in number.
The team were also able to re-arrange the ship by pointing out anomalies in the passenger departments’ requirements regarding Pullman berths etc and this secured berths for an additional 200 passengers.
Some things, such as the stern anchor (reinstated in September 1967 at a cost of £25,000) and the Mortuary would be reinstated.
Contract Signing
On 30 December 1964 John Brown’s Chairman Lord Aberconway and Sir John Brocklebank signed the contract for Q4 – the biggest passenger ship contract ever clinched in Britain. The contract was signed within the solid walls of the Bank of England. Sir John had telephone the unsuccessful yards earlier that morning to advise them of the company’s decision.
When the news was flashed to the Clyde, church bells rang out and there was much jubilation in the yard and on the Clyde as work for a large number of people on the world’s most prestigious shipbuilding contract had been secured for three years. Cunard, too, was delighted that the old partnership was in business once again.
Lord Aberconway: “Clydeside will have its happiest Hogmany for years. There will be no need to lay on a special celebration”.
Sir John Brocklebank: “This confirms our intention to stay in the forefront of the North Atlantic trade. This ship will be the match of any foreseeable competitor and of any cruising liner”.
Although Cunard stated they had not made any arrangements to name the liner pressure was mounting from America for a ‘Queen’ name while Princess Anne was the favorite in England.
In less than an hour Cunard were already receiving bookings for the new liner; 100 people, mainly Americans, registered on 30 December.
QE2’s actual build would be as traumatic as the race to secure the contract to build the ship. And throughout the build many thought Cunard was taking the biggest gamble in its history and that they were building a white elephant that would have to laid up or scrapped within six months of her entering service.
Well she defied those skeptics and, after entering service in May 1969, she went on to have one of the longest careers of any Cunard ships and her 39 years in service would see her sail more than any ship in history – over five million miles. For 34 years she maintained and continued the Atlantic service alone so perhaps her greatest legacy is her contribution to Cunard celebrating its 175th anniversary in 2015.
Photos courtesy of Cunard Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without permission.Source: Cunard Line
30 December 2014 – 50 years ago today, 30 December 1964, the contract for what was to become Queen Elizabeth 2 was signed. Of the 248 ships that have flown the Cunard flag since Britannia in 1840, QE2, as she was to become universally known, is one of the most significant ships Cunard has built.
At the end of August 1964 Cunard was in a position to invite tenders for Q4 – the widely-used codename for the new ship. The use of ‘Q4’ hinted that the new Cunarder was to be the fourth Queen ship that the company had built and meant that Queen Mary was now ‘Q1’ and Queen Elizabeth was ‘Q2’. ‘Q3’ never left the drawing board and it was the plans for that ship which were re-worked into ‘Q4’.
Technically ‘Q4’ should have been ‘Q5’ as the first Cunard Queen was Berengaria when Imperator was renamed.
The firms invited to tender for Q4 were John Brown and Co., Clydebank; Cammell Laird and Co., Birkenhead; the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Glasgow; Harland and Wolf, Belfast; Swan, Hinter and Wigham Richardson, Wallsend-on-Tyne would combine with Vickers Armstrong, Wallsend.
The last two firms had formed a consortium to tender for Q3 but that was for a larger vessel so it was felt they would tender alone for Q4.
Many people still considered the Tyne shipyards the favorite for Q4 given their likely success in attracting Q3. John Brown’s order book was the least full of all the shipyards expected to tender and the disruption of Q4 on Clydebank would be virtually non-existent.
The tender document was issued to the yards on 9 September 1964 and consisted of 550 closely-typed foolscap pages of plans and specifications. Price was to be Cunard’s main consideration and the deadline for the shipyards was late November.
In mid-October Cammell Laird advised Cunard that “regretfully” they would not be tendering for the new Cunarder. The yard’s order book and delivery commitments were such that it could not commence work on the new ship until nearly a year later than the date necessary to meet Cunard’s delivery requirements.
A month later, the Fairfield yard announced it was also dropping out of the competition. Again the yard stipulated its order book and commitments as being the reason for not pursuing Q4.
The main John Brown board met at The Sanctuary, John Brown’s London office, to discuss and approve the terms of the quotation for Q4. In consideration of the great prestige of the contract, it was agreed to cover full costs and full charges but include no profit, although this was kept secret at the time. The board felt that ‘extras’, by way of changes to the contract during construction, would ensure no loss. It was their view that the contract for this ship simply must be won.
The tender from Harland and Wolf arrived at Cunard’s Liverpool Head Office on 28 November some 48 hours before the deadline. The next tender to arrive was from John Brown and the final one (delivered by hand by the two chairmen) came from the Tyne on 1 December.
On 30 November 1964 the tenders from the remaining three shipbuilders were opened:
Vickers and Swan Hunter Tender
£22,547,428
October 1968 delivery date (subject to contract being awarded by the end of January 1965)
John Brown Tender
£21,677,000
Delivery May 1968
Harland and Wolff
£23,825,000
Delivery end of 1968
John Brown’s price was the lowest and its delivery date of May 1968, the earliest. However, Cunard Chairman Sir John Brocklebank and his staff were shocked to note that all three tenders were in excess of the £22 million set aside for the ship. John Brown’s price was £870,000 less than Vickers and £2,148,000 less than Harland & Wolff. John Brown’s terms for overheads etc were also more acceptable.
The shipyards had been asked to quote a fixed price but all three stated that particularly due to the long building period they were unable to do so. At the time it was difficult to obtain fixed prices from the shipbuilders for any type of ship. Likewise there was no penalty clause for late delivery of the ship – this had been discussed during the preparation of the tender for Q3 when all the available builders indicated that they would not accept any penalty clause.
Even the price submitted by John Brown was £2 million more than Cunard had estimated the cost of a new vessel would be. On receipt of the tenders there were several urgent meetings with Cunard management adamant that Q4 was still too expensive and may have to be cancelled. The problem for management was that the aging Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth would soon need to be taken out of commission which would leave Caronia and the four Canadian ships in commission with the result being a severe reduction in staff.
John Brown was advised that their tender was the lowest but that the price would have to be cut down further before a contract could be signed. Cunard asked the yard to reduce the cost of the ship by approximately £1.5 million. To qualify in time and obtain the benefits of the loan under the government’s Shipbuilding Credit Scheme it would be necessary for the ship to be paid for before 31 December 1964. That meant that within a period of two weeks the building agreement had to be prepared, agreed and signed. It was essential that the final figure be reached quickly.
A team of Cunard personnel went to Clydebank to meet with the yard management and over the course of three weeks, with beer and sandwiches at weekends, the cuts were made.
The group went through the specifications and managed to reduce the machinery (main and auxiliary) costs by £500,000 and the hull and electrical price by £1.5 million.
The whole tender was studied again and suppliers were asked to re-submit prices based on amended tenders. Even things such as the reduction in specification requirements for cabin furnishing (saving £62,000) to using white instead of colour sanitary units in passenger cabins (saving £9,000) were incorporated.
The most significant deletions and alterations, in a list prepared on 13 December 1964, to the original tender were as follows:
Deletions
Perhaps the most significant deletion was one of the boilers which was deleted to also save weight and space. QE2 was originally to have had four boilers which could maintain full service speed with only three of these in use, allowing one to be shut down for maintenance without serious loss of headway. With hindsight the deletion of the fourth boiler proved to be a false economy as the lack of spare boiler capacity would compromise the liner’s reliable operation as a steam ship.
Saving (£)
· Stern anchor.
· The sliding roof on the Sports Deck. 27,300
· A set of stabilizers (four fins instead of six). 43,420
· One auto tensioning winch . 8,000
· Cathodic Protection. 6,600
· Two aft cranes. 32,000
· The aft MacGregor hatch and trunk. 27,000
· The aft lateral thrust units. 46,000
· Mental Ward and Mortuary. 1,600
· Verandah Grill from funnel base (the Grill was relocated in the main dining saloon area). 35,000
· Fur Store. 2,000
· Breakwater. 1,000
· Six lifts. 40,500
· Two gangway handling winches. 1,700
· Special cruising gangways. 500
· Twin boiler casings. 3,500
· Insulation in the way of the steam pipe passage.
Alterations
· The cruise launches were modified.
· The forward cranes to be Stothert & Pitt.
· The boat davits to be steel in lieu of aluminium. 69,000
· Omit the painting of aluminium behind the Linings. 12,000
· Enamel beds for crew instead of aluminium. 10,000
· The relocation of insulated cargo from aft to forward. 1,000
· The Boiler Seatings were reduced in number.
The team were also able to re-arrange the ship by pointing out anomalies in the passenger departments’ requirements regarding Pullman berths etc and this secured berths for an additional 200 passengers.
Some things, such as the stern anchor (reinstated in September 1967 at a cost of £25,000) and the Mortuary would be reinstated.
Contract Signing
On 30 December 1964 John Brown’s Chairman Lord Aberconway and Sir John Brocklebank signed the contract for Q4 – the biggest passenger ship contract ever clinched in Britain. The contract was signed within the solid walls of the Bank of England. Sir John had telephone the unsuccessful yards earlier that morning to advise them of the company’s decision.
When the news was flashed to the Clyde, church bells rang out and there was much jubilation in the yard and on the Clyde as work for a large number of people on the world’s most prestigious shipbuilding contract had been secured for three years. Cunard, too, was delighted that the old partnership was in business once again.
Lord Aberconway: “Clydeside will have its happiest Hogmany for years. There will be no need to lay on a special celebration”.
Sir John Brocklebank: “This confirms our intention to stay in the forefront of the North Atlantic trade. This ship will be the match of any foreseeable competitor and of any cruising liner”.
Although Cunard stated they had not made any arrangements to name the liner pressure was mounting from America for a ‘Queen’ name while Princess Anne was the favorite in England.
In less than an hour Cunard were already receiving bookings for the new liner; 100 people, mainly Americans, registered on 30 December.
QE2’s actual build would be as traumatic as the race to secure the contract to build the ship. And throughout the build many thought Cunard was taking the biggest gamble in its history and that they were building a white elephant that would have to laid up or scrapped within six months of her entering service.
Well she defied those skeptics and, after entering service in May 1969, she went on to have one of the longest careers of any Cunard ships and her 39 years in service would see her sail more than any ship in history – over five million miles. For 34 years she maintained and continued the Atlantic service alone so perhaps her greatest legacy is her contribution to Cunard celebrating its 175th anniversary in 2015.
 |
| Q4 under construction in August 1967 - a month before her launch. |
 |
| Her Majesty The Queen has just named and launched Queen Elizabeth 2 on 20 September 1967. |
 |
| QE2 just before entering service in May 1969 |
 |
| Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia welcomes QE2 home after her Falklands service in June 1982. |
 |
| QE2 salutes Lady Liberty in 1986 - the 100th anniversary of the Statue's opening |
 |
| QE2 gets her enlarged funnel as her six-month re-engining (October 1986 - April 1987) nears its completion. It is still the biggest job of its kind ever undertaken and her new diesel-electric plant would achieve speeds approaching 34-knots on trials. |
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Launch of the Lazy Lizzy
This article, written by Michael Gallagher, public relations executive and historian for Cunard Line, is part of an ongoing series of key moments in Cunard Line's history
23 October 2014 – Preparations for the launch of the new Cunarder at the John Brown & Co shipyard on the Clyde – known as “Q4” by Cunard Line and “736” by the shipyard – had been going on for some weeks before the big day of 20 September 1967.
It was planned that the new liner would glide toward the river at 22 miles an hour with the last shore fetters, the massive drag links, running out in a thunderous roar. There were ten bundles of them on each side of the ship. Each weighed 70 tons – 1,400 tons in all to steady the liner’s slide into the river and on to the sea. The ship was expected to be gliding at 19 miles per hour as she hit the water, pushing away 20,000 tons of water – her own launching weight. About 150 men would be aboard the empty shell ready for any emergency, and 161 men would work ashore to ensure a smooth launch.
The intricate launching calculations had been worked out by a computer, reducing a week’s work to 30 minutes compared with the normal methods, with the slightest error having to be eliminated. Many factors had to be considered, for the river was narrow and the ship was long.
The problems of a launch of this size were enormous. Very early on in the proceedings, the John Brown shipyard had to decide the width and slope of the slipway on which the liner would slide down to the water. The effects of temperature on the launch lubricant grease mixture had to be considered. A host of other factors all had to be checked, evaluated and checked again.
John Starks, assistant managing director heading John Brown’s design team, described the process in detail. “The first step is, obviously, to make sure that she will move. When she starts to move, the first thing that starts to happen is that the stern begins to lift. As it does, pressure on the forward end of the slipway is increased very considerably as it is taking the whole weight of the ship, apart from any buoyancy that the water is taking. One must, therefore, make sure the ship is then strong enough to take the stress at the forward end.
“You also have to ensure by calculation that the ship will float off the slipway as opposed to dropping off. And you also have to make sure she is waterborne while she is reasonably clear of the slipway. The next thing you have to decide is how far the ship can be expected to travel, and you have to decide what drag chains you are going to attach at what points to prevent her from going too far.
“What most people do not appreciate is that the ship takes a very rough ride during its launch. She bends during the course of the launch and we have to make sure that all her structure is absolutely sound. We therefore inspect the ship very carefully. She probably gets far more local stresses during the launch than she ever will during the course of her working life.
“The most critical factor by far in the launch is the depth of water available at the aft end of the slipways. The River Clyde is extremely temperamental: sometimes the water is deficient and sometimes it is excessive. If we have too much water, the danger is that the ship will really be afloat before she is clear at the end of the slipway and the problem with that is that, since high water is usually associated with high wind, if she is not clear at the end of the ways, she could damage herself on one of the cranes. The problem usually solves itself because, if the wind and water are that high, it is obviously no condition in which to launch a ship. This happens very infrequently and is obviously something to be avoided. But nevertheless the potential problem is still there.
“We therefore watch the weather forecasts very carefully before the day. We also measure the heights of the tides for a good many days before the launch to check whether the river is running true to form, under prediction or over prediction. We also measure the river in Greenock and Glasgow as a precaution, as we are halfway between the two and thus can get a very good idea of what the Clyde is doing. Having obtained this information, we can then, within certain limits, ballast the ship to aim off for weather conditions. But obviously, for a ship this size, the resources open to us are limited.”
The man responsible for the slipway was Robert Craig, head foreman shipwright. He had worked at John Brown’s since he left school in 1918, and “Q4” would be his 47th launch as head foreman. He built the slipway from the information given to him. Its declivity (downward inclination towards the river) was one half inch to the foot. Every square foot of the sliding and standing (fixed) ways were to bear a weight of more than two tons. Craig he claimed for “Q4” it was 2,089 tons.
Craig used 16,300 feet of 12-inch square timber to build the supporting poppets (cradles) at each end of the ship. Once the ship rested on 300 keel blocks but these had now been knocked away; the berth had been stripped of the huge shores like tress trunks, bilge blocks and wedges.
“Q4” rested on two sliding ways, each formed of 25 lengths of timber 30 feet long, six feet wide and 12 inches thick. The sliding and standing ways had been greased with a concoction of nine tons of tallow compound, 70 gallons of sperm oil, 14 cwt. of soft black soap and seven gallons of fine spindle oil. Robert Craig took responsibility for this. The ship was held by six mighty triggers, each with its eight-inch wooded tongue set into the sliding ways.
Wires trailed from a tiny electrical device to the button on the high platform where Her Majesty The Queen would perform the launching ceremony. As The Queen pressed the button, the powerful trigger arms would snap back in their pits with a report like an artillery salute. Then “Q4” would glide towards the river; and just in case the liner is reluctant to leave the berth, two hydraulic rams would give her a nudge – a push with the power of 1,200 pounds per square inch behind it.
In the river, six tug boats would be waiting to handle the ship – three at the fore and three at the aft. Another tug would be standing by for any emergency. Towing lines would be rocketed from the tugs and secured to the new Cunarder, and and the new ship would move towards her fitting-out berth.
The final selection of names for “Q4” had been decided in May by Cunard Chairman Sir Basil Smallpeice and his deputy Ronald Senior. On the evening of Monday 18 September, they met in Cunard’s London offices. Sir Basil removed a list of three names from a safe. They then agreed on the final choice. A message was immediately sent by scrambler telephone to The Queen through her private secretary, Sir Michael Adeane, in Balmoral. They were the only four to know the name.
The name “Princess Margaret” became the 4-to-1 favourite on the eve of the launch when it was announced at the last moment that Princess Margerate would also be attending the launch ceremony. Workers had chalked “Princess Anne” on the liner’s hull – that was the name Master Designate Captain Warwick liked. “Prince Charles” carried the shortest odds.
On the eve of the launch, thousands turned out to take one last look at the new liner on the slipway.
The Queen had her first view of the liner as she flew overhead prior to landing at Abbotsinch Airport, Glasgow, at 1140 hours. She was then driven to the shipbuilder’s offices. There she met by Admiral Sir Angus Cunninghame Graham, Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire, who presented Sir Basil Smallpeice and shipyard Chairman Lord Aberconway to Her Majesty. After a private luncheon party in the Boardroom, The Queen then made the two-minute car journey to the launching berth, where she and the Duke of Edinburgh spent 20 minutes inspecting the launching arrangements.
Lord Aberconway’s eight year old son, Michael McLaren, presented The Queen with a bouquet.
At precisely 1428 hours on a sunny afternoon Her Majesty stepped forward on the launching platform and said: “I name this ship Queen Elizabeth the Second. May God Bless” – interrupted by thin cheer – “May God Bless her and all who sail in her.”
The thin cheer in the yard came from the 30,000 or so spectators as The Queen announced the new Cunarder’s name. She cut the ribbon using the same gold scissors that her mother had used to launch Queen Elizabeth in 1938 and her grandmother to launch Queen Mary in 1934, which released the bottle of wine which duly smashed onto the side of the newly named liner. She then pressed the button that electrically released the launching trigger.
Then nothing happened. For 70 seconds, it seemed as if the ship did not move. The Queen looked amazed; the smile slowly faded from Prince Philip’s face. Workmen high up on her deck leaned and shouted “Give us a shove!” Shipyard director George Parker joined in the spirit of the request and bowler-hatted, he sprang to the bows and gave the liner a shove. He jubilantly waved his bowler when, by a coincidence, she began to move. In a little over two minutes after The Queen had named her, the new Queen Elizabeth 2 had slid smoothly into the Clyde.
Newspapers the next day claimed The Queen had wept as the new ship entered the Clyde and that Prince Philip took a white handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. The Queen exclaimed, “Oh, look at her, she’s beautiful.” The delay gave the Daily Mirror its perfect front page headline the next day: “Launch of the Lazy Lizzie.”
Afterwards, Cunard remained buoyant and claimed there was nothing unusual in the delay, as the ship began to move as soon as The Queen had pressed the button but only a fraction of an inch at a time.
Aircraft from the No 736 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm flew over the ship in an anchor formation as an aerial salute as the six tugs waiting for her on the Clyde maneuvered her inch by inch into the fitting out basin.
The Queen and the Royal party and guests then went to tea in the works canteen.
In a speech The Queen said, “Lord Aberconway, I am most grateful to you for the very kind and generous words you have used in proposing my health and that of my family. But the people who really deserve a toast today are the designers and builders of John Brown’s last great ship for the Cunard fleet. Today’s launch marks the culmination of the first stage in an immense team effort, involving many skills and highly complex organization. We hear so much about the new technological age and all the new industrial methods, but we seldom have an opportunity to see all the most advanced techniques brought together in the shape of one single product.
“This new ship is designed and built to carry passengers, but to the world she represents the present day standards of British engineering, management and workmanship. I have every confidence that she will be a worthy representative. There is much more to be done before she goes into service, but I take this opportunity to offer my warmest congratulations to every individual man and woman in office and workshop who has made a contribution to the design and construction of the new QE2.
“I particularly welcome the opportunity you have given me to launch this splendid successor to those two famous Cunarders, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. I suppose these two ships were better known and loved, both in peace and war by all of us living in these lands, than any other merchantman in our history. I have always had a very special affection for them because they were named after my grandmother and my mother, and it does not seem very long ago that I was present with my sister when my mother launched the Queen Elizabeth in 1938.
“Every great enterprise has an element of risk and uncertainty about it, and I am sure that no one can predict the future career of the new Cunarder. However, I am equally certain that in the experienced and capable hands of the Cunard Company she will stand the very best chance of a happy and profitable lifetime.
“We have all read, with a touch of nostalgia, that the name of John Brown is to disappear from the list of great ship builders. However, this does not mean that the very special skill and spirit of this yard will be lost to Clydeside or to British shipbuilding. In wishing Queen Elizabeth 2 a long life and good fortune on all her voyages, I add my very best wishes for success and prosperity to the new consortium of Clydeside ship builders”.
The Queen was then presented with a small speedboat for the royal yacht Britannia – built on the same berth as QE2. Delighted, she thanked Lord Aberconway and suggested it may be appropriate to call it John Brown and have it painted in Cunard colours. A voice, said by some to be that of Prince Philip, commented: “Why not call it Cunard and paint it brown?”
Aboard Queen Mary – making her 1,001st and final Transatlantic Crossing – Captain Treasure Jones led the singing of “Auld Lang Syne” in the first-class lounge.
The name “Queen Elizabeth the Second” immediately caused controversy. “Unimaginative” was the typical English reaction, but in Scotland: “insulting,” “provocative” and “disgraceful” were used. The Scottish Nationalists took it as an insult to the people of Scotland. To them The Queen was Elizabeth the First. As Mr. Arthur Donaldson, chairman of the Scottish Nationalist Party, said, “It could not be a bigger insult to the people of Scotland.” However, more than 500 calls were made to the various offices of Cunard Line in the United Kingdom to congratulate the company on the choice.
Later, Sir Basil would confirm that the three names in the safe were Queen Elizabeth, “Princess Margaret” and “Princess Anne,” with Elizabeth joining the list last after the decision to retire the Queen Elizabeth had been made.
Source: Cunard Line
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| Cunard Line’s “Q4” at the John Brown & Co Shipyard on the Clyde River before her launch on 20 September 1967. |
23 October 2014 – Preparations for the launch of the new Cunarder at the John Brown & Co shipyard on the Clyde – known as “Q4” by Cunard Line and “736” by the shipyard – had been going on for some weeks before the big day of 20 September 1967.
It was planned that the new liner would glide toward the river at 22 miles an hour with the last shore fetters, the massive drag links, running out in a thunderous roar. There were ten bundles of them on each side of the ship. Each weighed 70 tons – 1,400 tons in all to steady the liner’s slide into the river and on to the sea. The ship was expected to be gliding at 19 miles per hour as she hit the water, pushing away 20,000 tons of water – her own launching weight. About 150 men would be aboard the empty shell ready for any emergency, and 161 men would work ashore to ensure a smooth launch.
The intricate launching calculations had been worked out by a computer, reducing a week’s work to 30 minutes compared with the normal methods, with the slightest error having to be eliminated. Many factors had to be considered, for the river was narrow and the ship was long.
The problems of a launch of this size were enormous. Very early on in the proceedings, the John Brown shipyard had to decide the width and slope of the slipway on which the liner would slide down to the water. The effects of temperature on the launch lubricant grease mixture had to be considered. A host of other factors all had to be checked, evaluated and checked again.
John Starks, assistant managing director heading John Brown’s design team, described the process in detail. “The first step is, obviously, to make sure that she will move. When she starts to move, the first thing that starts to happen is that the stern begins to lift. As it does, pressure on the forward end of the slipway is increased very considerably as it is taking the whole weight of the ship, apart from any buoyancy that the water is taking. One must, therefore, make sure the ship is then strong enough to take the stress at the forward end.
“You also have to ensure by calculation that the ship will float off the slipway as opposed to dropping off. And you also have to make sure she is waterborne while she is reasonably clear of the slipway. The next thing you have to decide is how far the ship can be expected to travel, and you have to decide what drag chains you are going to attach at what points to prevent her from going too far.
“What most people do not appreciate is that the ship takes a very rough ride during its launch. She bends during the course of the launch and we have to make sure that all her structure is absolutely sound. We therefore inspect the ship very carefully. She probably gets far more local stresses during the launch than she ever will during the course of her working life.
“The most critical factor by far in the launch is the depth of water available at the aft end of the slipways. The River Clyde is extremely temperamental: sometimes the water is deficient and sometimes it is excessive. If we have too much water, the danger is that the ship will really be afloat before she is clear at the end of the slipway and the problem with that is that, since high water is usually associated with high wind, if she is not clear at the end of the ways, she could damage herself on one of the cranes. The problem usually solves itself because, if the wind and water are that high, it is obviously no condition in which to launch a ship. This happens very infrequently and is obviously something to be avoided. But nevertheless the potential problem is still there.
“We therefore watch the weather forecasts very carefully before the day. We also measure the heights of the tides for a good many days before the launch to check whether the river is running true to form, under prediction or over prediction. We also measure the river in Greenock and Glasgow as a precaution, as we are halfway between the two and thus can get a very good idea of what the Clyde is doing. Having obtained this information, we can then, within certain limits, ballast the ship to aim off for weather conditions. But obviously, for a ship this size, the resources open to us are limited.”
The man responsible for the slipway was Robert Craig, head foreman shipwright. He had worked at John Brown’s since he left school in 1918, and “Q4” would be his 47th launch as head foreman. He built the slipway from the information given to him. Its declivity (downward inclination towards the river) was one half inch to the foot. Every square foot of the sliding and standing (fixed) ways were to bear a weight of more than two tons. Craig he claimed for “Q4” it was 2,089 tons.
Craig used 16,300 feet of 12-inch square timber to build the supporting poppets (cradles) at each end of the ship. Once the ship rested on 300 keel blocks but these had now been knocked away; the berth had been stripped of the huge shores like tress trunks, bilge blocks and wedges.
“Q4” rested on two sliding ways, each formed of 25 lengths of timber 30 feet long, six feet wide and 12 inches thick. The sliding and standing ways had been greased with a concoction of nine tons of tallow compound, 70 gallons of sperm oil, 14 cwt. of soft black soap and seven gallons of fine spindle oil. Robert Craig took responsibility for this. The ship was held by six mighty triggers, each with its eight-inch wooded tongue set into the sliding ways.
Wires trailed from a tiny electrical device to the button on the high platform where Her Majesty The Queen would perform the launching ceremony. As The Queen pressed the button, the powerful trigger arms would snap back in their pits with a report like an artillery salute. Then “Q4” would glide towards the river; and just in case the liner is reluctant to leave the berth, two hydraulic rams would give her a nudge – a push with the power of 1,200 pounds per square inch behind it.
In the river, six tug boats would be waiting to handle the ship – three at the fore and three at the aft. Another tug would be standing by for any emergency. Towing lines would be rocketed from the tugs and secured to the new Cunarder, and and the new ship would move towards her fitting-out berth.
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| Cunard’s ship, temporarily named “Q4,” towers over the most unusually located football game |
The name “Princess Margaret” became the 4-to-1 favourite on the eve of the launch when it was announced at the last moment that Princess Margerate would also be attending the launch ceremony. Workers had chalked “Princess Anne” on the liner’s hull – that was the name Master Designate Captain Warwick liked. “Prince Charles” carried the shortest odds.
On the eve of the launch, thousands turned out to take one last look at the new liner on the slipway.
The Queen had her first view of the liner as she flew overhead prior to landing at Abbotsinch Airport, Glasgow, at 1140 hours. She was then driven to the shipbuilder’s offices. There she met by Admiral Sir Angus Cunninghame Graham, Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire, who presented Sir Basil Smallpeice and shipyard Chairman Lord Aberconway to Her Majesty. After a private luncheon party in the Boardroom, The Queen then made the two-minute car journey to the launching berth, where she and the Duke of Edinburgh spent 20 minutes inspecting the launching arrangements.
Lord Aberconway’s eight year old son, Michael McLaren, presented The Queen with a bouquet.
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| Shipyard Director John Rannie calls for hush as The Queen is about to reveal the secret and announce the name before launching the new ship into the Clyde (below). |
At precisely 1428 hours on a sunny afternoon Her Majesty stepped forward on the launching platform and said: “I name this ship Queen Elizabeth the Second. May God Bless” – interrupted by thin cheer – “May God Bless her and all who sail in her.”
The thin cheer in the yard came from the 30,000 or so spectators as The Queen announced the new Cunarder’s name. She cut the ribbon using the same gold scissors that her mother had used to launch Queen Elizabeth in 1938 and her grandmother to launch Queen Mary in 1934, which released the bottle of wine which duly smashed onto the side of the newly named liner. She then pressed the button that electrically released the launching trigger.
Then nothing happened. For 70 seconds, it seemed as if the ship did not move. The Queen looked amazed; the smile slowly faded from Prince Philip’s face. Workmen high up on her deck leaned and shouted “Give us a shove!” Shipyard director George Parker joined in the spirit of the request and bowler-hatted, he sprang to the bows and gave the liner a shove. He jubilantly waved his bowler when, by a coincidence, she began to move. In a little over two minutes after The Queen had named her, the new Queen Elizabeth 2 had slid smoothly into the Clyde.
Newspapers the next day claimed The Queen had wept as the new ship entered the Clyde and that Prince Philip took a white handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. The Queen exclaimed, “Oh, look at her, she’s beautiful.” The delay gave the Daily Mirror its perfect front page headline the next day: “Launch of the Lazy Lizzie.”
Afterwards, Cunard remained buoyant and claimed there was nothing unusual in the delay, as the ship began to move as soon as The Queen had pressed the button but only a fraction of an inch at a time.
Aircraft from the No 736 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm flew over the ship in an anchor formation as an aerial salute as the six tugs waiting for her on the Clyde maneuvered her inch by inch into the fitting out basin.
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| The ships were just getting too big to be built on the Clyde River, as show in this photo of QE2. If the tugs had not done their job, at the ship’slaunch the stern would have been wedged intothe farmland (left) opposite the John Brown shipyard (right). If that had happened, QE2 would have been declared a total loss and scrapped on the spot! |
In a speech The Queen said, “Lord Aberconway, I am most grateful to you for the very kind and generous words you have used in proposing my health and that of my family. But the people who really deserve a toast today are the designers and builders of John Brown’s last great ship for the Cunard fleet. Today’s launch marks the culmination of the first stage in an immense team effort, involving many skills and highly complex organization. We hear so much about the new technological age and all the new industrial methods, but we seldom have an opportunity to see all the most advanced techniques brought together in the shape of one single product.
“This new ship is designed and built to carry passengers, but to the world she represents the present day standards of British engineering, management and workmanship. I have every confidence that she will be a worthy representative. There is much more to be done before she goes into service, but I take this opportunity to offer my warmest congratulations to every individual man and woman in office and workshop who has made a contribution to the design and construction of the new QE2.
“I particularly welcome the opportunity you have given me to launch this splendid successor to those two famous Cunarders, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. I suppose these two ships were better known and loved, both in peace and war by all of us living in these lands, than any other merchantman in our history. I have always had a very special affection for them because they were named after my grandmother and my mother, and it does not seem very long ago that I was present with my sister when my mother launched the Queen Elizabeth in 1938.
“Every great enterprise has an element of risk and uncertainty about it, and I am sure that no one can predict the future career of the new Cunarder. However, I am equally certain that in the experienced and capable hands of the Cunard Company she will stand the very best chance of a happy and profitable lifetime.
“We have all read, with a touch of nostalgia, that the name of John Brown is to disappear from the list of great ship builders. However, this does not mean that the very special skill and spirit of this yard will be lost to Clydeside or to British shipbuilding. In wishing Queen Elizabeth 2 a long life and good fortune on all her voyages, I add my very best wishes for success and prosperity to the new consortium of Clydeside ship builders”.
The Queen was then presented with a small speedboat for the royal yacht Britannia – built on the same berth as QE2. Delighted, she thanked Lord Aberconway and suggested it may be appropriate to call it John Brown and have it painted in Cunard colours. A voice, said by some to be that of Prince Philip, commented: “Why not call it Cunard and paint it brown?”
Aboard Queen Mary – making her 1,001st and final Transatlantic Crossing – Captain Treasure Jones led the singing of “Auld Lang Syne” in the first-class lounge.
The name “Queen Elizabeth the Second” immediately caused controversy. “Unimaginative” was the typical English reaction, but in Scotland: “insulting,” “provocative” and “disgraceful” were used. The Scottish Nationalists took it as an insult to the people of Scotland. To them The Queen was Elizabeth the First. As Mr. Arthur Donaldson, chairman of the Scottish Nationalist Party, said, “It could not be a bigger insult to the people of Scotland.” However, more than 500 calls were made to the various offices of Cunard Line in the United Kingdom to congratulate the company on the choice.
Later, Sir Basil would confirm that the three names in the safe were Queen Elizabeth, “Princess Margaret” and “Princess Anne,” with Elizabeth joining the list last after the decision to retire the Queen Elizabeth had been made.
Source: Cunard Line
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Cruise News Daily Headlines for October 15, 2013
* Turning up the Speed
Carnival Corp has signed a five-year contract with Harris CapRock Communications to provide communication services across their 10 brands containing more than 100 ships.
What do you care? Harris CapRock says it will provide “dramatically improved bandwidth levels,” which will deliver improved internet speeds to passengers and crew, closer to the experience they have at home.
* Off to Asia ... Eventually
The new owners of Queen Elizabeth 2, QE2 Holdings, have finally taken a step in the ship’s development as a floating hotel, but there are lots of important steps still unannounced.
* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about a new visitor for the winter in Florida ... that time of the quarter ... and drawing a bath (more),`
The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.
Carnival Corp has signed a five-year contract with Harris CapRock Communications to provide communication services across their 10 brands containing more than 100 ships.
What do you care? Harris CapRock says it will provide “dramatically improved bandwidth levels,” which will deliver improved internet speeds to passengers and crew, closer to the experience they have at home.
* Off to Asia ... Eventually
The new owners of Queen Elizabeth 2, QE2 Holdings, have finally taken a step in the ship’s development as a floating hotel, but there are lots of important steps still unannounced.
* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about a new visitor for the winter in Florida ... that time of the quarter ... and drawing a bath (more),`
The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Cruise News Daily Headlines for July 9, 2013
* What Six Months and $40,000 Will Get You
The boom in world cruises continues, and Oceania’s entry into the 2015 market is an incredibly impressive one - a 180-day (that’s like six months!) complete circumnavigation of the globe from Miami.
* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about QE2 getting ready to sail ... and the Schettino trial is delayed.
The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.
The boom in world cruises continues, and Oceania’s entry into the 2015 market is an incredibly impressive one - a 180-day (that’s like six months!) complete circumnavigation of the globe from Miami.
* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about QE2 getting ready to sail ... and the Schettino trial is delayed.
The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.
Monday, December 24, 2012
UK Reports: QE2 Sold for Scrap - Updated
Update below original story
According to UK newspaper reports, The classic Queen Elizabeth 2 has apparently been sold for scrap to a Chinese yard.
The oceanliner has been sitting in a port at Dubai since its purchase by resort interests there in 2008. The original plan was to convert it to a luxury hotel for use there, but that plan was shelved when world financial markets tightened. A crew of 40 to maintain the vessel has been constantly aboard since the handover.
The UK reports say QE2 was sold to Chinese interests for 20 million pounds. It's original sale price was 64 million pounds, and it has been running up fuel and docking fees since.
The reports say that a crew of 20 Chinese replaced the original crew last Friday, indicating a change of ownership. The rumor is that the ship will be going into drydock before leaving for an undisclosed destination in Asia. That would seem to point to it ultimately being scrapped.
Reports from the UK are notoriously unfounded, but this one seems to have a lot of detail with it, and it's quite possibly true.
British interests had been negotiating to purchase the ship and bring to back to the UK for use as a hotel, but those hopes would now seem to be ended.
Update:
In an unusual move, Cunard has issued a statement saying they have been in contact with "Dubai" regarding the stories published in British newspapers "and to the very best of our knowledge this story is pure speculation."
This is unusual in that in the past Cunard has never wanted to comment on their former vessel. The attitude seemed to be that it was no longer theirs, so anything to do with it was no longer their business.
Beyond that, while it is reassuring what Cunard said, they actually have no more information than anyone else. If the Dubai owners aren't ready to confirm the sale to anyone else, they aren't likely to confirm it to Cunard, since Cunard has no interest in the project, past or present.
As we mentioned in the original article UK media often runs with reports without verification, and they were saying the Dubai owners were not commenting, but this does have a lot of detail, and the Dubai owners were not denying the story either. If they have no interest in selling the ship, logic would say they'd be very quick and very public about denying the reports. There seems to be a lot of smoke for no fire. One explanation may be that a sale may not have closed yet, but it could in the near future. Time will tell.
By the way, Cunard has commented to CND in the past that they have absolutely no interest in reacquiring the vessel.
According to UK newspaper reports, The classic Queen Elizabeth 2 has apparently been sold for scrap to a Chinese yard.
The oceanliner has been sitting in a port at Dubai since its purchase by resort interests there in 2008. The original plan was to convert it to a luxury hotel for use there, but that plan was shelved when world financial markets tightened. A crew of 40 to maintain the vessel has been constantly aboard since the handover.
The UK reports say QE2 was sold to Chinese interests for 20 million pounds. It's original sale price was 64 million pounds, and it has been running up fuel and docking fees since.
The reports say that a crew of 20 Chinese replaced the original crew last Friday, indicating a change of ownership. The rumor is that the ship will be going into drydock before leaving for an undisclosed destination in Asia. That would seem to point to it ultimately being scrapped.
Reports from the UK are notoriously unfounded, but this one seems to have a lot of detail with it, and it's quite possibly true.
British interests had been negotiating to purchase the ship and bring to back to the UK for use as a hotel, but those hopes would now seem to be ended.
Update:
In an unusual move, Cunard has issued a statement saying they have been in contact with "Dubai" regarding the stories published in British newspapers "and to the very best of our knowledge this story is pure speculation."
This is unusual in that in the past Cunard has never wanted to comment on their former vessel. The attitude seemed to be that it was no longer theirs, so anything to do with it was no longer their business.
Beyond that, while it is reassuring what Cunard said, they actually have no more information than anyone else. If the Dubai owners aren't ready to confirm the sale to anyone else, they aren't likely to confirm it to Cunard, since Cunard has no interest in the project, past or present.
As we mentioned in the original article UK media often runs with reports without verification, and they were saying the Dubai owners were not commenting, but this does have a lot of detail, and the Dubai owners were not denying the story either. If they have no interest in selling the ship, logic would say they'd be very quick and very public about denying the reports. There seems to be a lot of smoke for no fire. One explanation may be that a sale may not have closed yet, but it could in the near future. Time will tell.
By the way, Cunard has commented to CND in the past that they have absolutely no interest in reacquiring the vessel.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
QE2 Readied for Trip to Cape Town
The BBC reports that a couple visible changes were made to ready QE2 for it's trip to South Africa where it will be used temporarily for a hotel.
To comply with maritime law, the homeport of Southampton had to be removed from the ship's stern, and the "Cunard" brand had to be removed from the sides to comply with the terms of sale from Cunard. The changes were required since it is being taken out to sea. They had been left there (and presumably restored once the ship returns home to Dubai) to preserve the authenticity of the ship as a museum.
The new owner, Nakheel, still plans to eventually convert QE2 into a hotel and entertainment center permanently moored at Dubai. The deployment to Cape Town is planned to last 18 months.
To comply with maritime law, the homeport of Southampton had to be removed from the ship's stern, and the "Cunard" brand had to be removed from the sides to comply with the terms of sale from Cunard. The changes were required since it is being taken out to sea. They had been left there (and presumably restored once the ship returns home to Dubai) to preserve the authenticity of the ship as a museum.
The new owner, Nakheel, still plans to eventually convert QE2 into a hotel and entertainment center permanently moored at Dubai. The deployment to Cape Town is planned to last 18 months.
Friday, October 10, 2008
QE2 Embarks on Final Transatlantic Trip
Cunard's Queen Elizabeth 2 left Southampton this afternoon on its final westbound transatlantic voyage. It is scheduled to arrive in New York on Thursday (October 16, 2008). That will be its final visit to the Big Apple.
As we reported earlier in Cruise News Daily, the day will be marked by many toasts and events, but the grandest will be when QE2 leaves New York at 5pm for the final time for her final voyage across the Atlantic.
The round trip from Southampton to New York and back will be in tandem with the larger Queen Mary 2.
If you'd like to witness the tandem departure from New York, accompanied by FDNY fireboats, Cunard suggests the following vantage points: Battery Park (on the southern shoreline of Manhattan), Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park (overlooking the Hudson River with great views of the Statue of Liberty), the Esplanade (running the entire length of Battery Park City, along the Hudson River from Stuyvesant High School on the north end all the way south to Battery Park, and Hudson River Park (extends for five miles along the Manhattan shoreline from Battery Place to West 59th Street).
QE2, the longest-serving vessel Cunard has ever had, will be retired in Dubai on November 27, 2008.
As we reported earlier in Cruise News Daily, the day will be marked by many toasts and events, but the grandest will be when QE2 leaves New York at 5pm for the final time for her final voyage across the Atlantic.
The round trip from Southampton to New York and back will be in tandem with the larger Queen Mary 2.
If you'd like to witness the tandem departure from New York, accompanied by FDNY fireboats, Cunard suggests the following vantage points: Battery Park (on the southern shoreline of Manhattan), Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park (overlooking the Hudson River with great views of the Statue of Liberty), the Esplanade (running the entire length of Battery Park City, along the Hudson River from Stuyvesant High School on the north end all the way south to Battery Park, and Hudson River Park (extends for five miles along the Manhattan shoreline from Battery Place to West 59th Street).
QE2, the longest-serving vessel Cunard has ever had, will be retired in Dubai on November 27, 2008.
Monday, December 10, 2007
From the personnel department:
Istithmar World has appointed Manfred Ursprunger chief executive of its QE2 venture. The company will operate QE2 as a hotel and entertainment destination in Dubai beginning in 2009. The company takes delivery of the ship from Cunard in November 2008.
Ursprunger has almost 30 years experience in the cruise and hospitality industry. He has held senior positions with Norwegian Cruise Line, NCL America, Silversea Cruises, Holland America Line, Costa Crociere, Celebrity Cruises and Renaissance Cruises.
Ursprunger has almost 30 years experience in the cruise and hospitality industry. He has held senior positions with Norwegian Cruise Line, NCL America, Silversea Cruises, Holland America Line, Costa Crociere, Celebrity Cruises and Renaissance Cruises.
Monday, October 8, 2007
From the where did it go department:
Liverpool's new cruise ship dock opened to great fanfare less than three weeks ago when QE2 called at the port, and yet it's disappearing - temporarily.
There's nothing wrong with the floating pier, but there need to be tests conducted for Lloyd's register. The tests would normally have been done prior to its opening, but there was a rush so the facility would be completed in time for QE2's visit. Several of the floating pontoons will be detached and taken to the Cammell Laird yard for certification by Lloyds.
There's an interesting story about the process in the Liverpool Echo. There are also links on the page to some interesting video and photos of the facility.
Note: Link is valid at time of posting.
There's nothing wrong with the floating pier, but there need to be tests conducted for Lloyd's register. The tests would normally have been done prior to its opening, but there was a rush so the facility would be completed in time for QE2's visit. Several of the floating pontoons will be detached and taken to the Cammell Laird yard for certification by Lloyds.
There's an interesting story about the process in the Liverpool Echo. There are also links on the page to some interesting video and photos of the facility.
Note: Link is valid at time of posting.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
CND Headlines - When Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth
Do you remember what you were doing in 1967? If you are one of the Beatles, you were releasing the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. If you are Queen Elizabeth, you were christening Cunard's new ocean liner, Queen Elizabeth 2.
And thanks to the University of Glasgow, you can step back to the late 1960's and see QE2 being built (which is quite different from the way it's done today) in an online exhibit of 70 previously-unpublished photos. You can also see how ultra-modern and "'70's" she looked when she was new (the ship, not Her Majesty).
The exhibit, along with some fascinating commentary, can be found at http://www.gla.ac.uk/qe2/
Note: Link is current at time of posting.
And thanks to the University of Glasgow, you can step back to the late 1960's and see QE2 being built (which is quite different from the way it's done today) in an online exhibit of 70 previously-unpublished photos. You can also see how ultra-modern and "'70's" she looked when she was new (the ship, not Her Majesty).
The exhibit, along with some fascinating commentary, can be found at http://www.gla.ac.uk/qe2/
Note: Link is current at time of posting.
From the end and the beginning department:
When QE2 arrives in Liverpool on Friday, it will be getting a very special welcome, according to an article in the Liverpool Post.
It will likely be one of the last visits for the liner often called the most famous in the world as it is being retired next year by Cunard. This particular cruise is a special one in honor of its 40th anniversary that sails around Britain. The city of Liverpool is also using this visit to open its new passenger terminal, so that's just reason to make the celebration all the more special. To add even more meaning to the occasion, Liverpool was also the original home of Cunard Line.
The celebration includes dignitaries (of course), concerts, fireworks and even a commemorative book being sold.
Note: Link is current at time of posting.
It will likely be one of the last visits for the liner often called the most famous in the world as it is being retired next year by Cunard. This particular cruise is a special one in honor of its 40th anniversary that sails around Britain. The city of Liverpool is also using this visit to open its new passenger terminal, so that's just reason to make the celebration all the more special. To add even more meaning to the occasion, Liverpool was also the original home of Cunard Line.
The celebration includes dignitaries (of course), concerts, fireworks and even a commemorative book being sold.
Note: Link is current at time of posting.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
From the retirement department:
Just like people, when ships are going to retire, all the "remember when" stories come out. There is one about QE2 in Scotland's Daily Record today. In the article, they allege that QE2's entry into service in 1967 was delayed intentionally by the shipyard workers at John Brown's shipyard. The article claims that they deliberately vandalized many of the cabins as they were completed in order to provide more work for the yard in repairing them. It also contends that the employees considered pilfering the ship's furnishings as a "perk" of the job.
No matter what they did, QE2 went on to have a proud career with Cunard and will finish it out next year.
Note: Link is valid at time of posting.
No matter what they did, QE2 went on to have a proud career with Cunard and will finish it out next year.
Note: Link is valid at time of posting.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
From the more time to say good-bye department:
Since Cunard announced Queen Elizabeth 2 would be retired, "The demand for QE2's 2008 voyages has been phenomenal, said Cunard president Carol Marlow. To satisfy some of that demand (and make some extra money) the line has decided to forgo some scheduled drydock time in April and schedule an additional 8-day cruise.
The extra voyage, called Iberia in Bloom, will depart Southampton on April 27 (2008) with calls at La Rochelle (for Cognac), Le Verdon (for Bordeaux), Bilbao, La Coruna (for Santiago de Compostela) and Lisbon.
Details are available from Cunard.
The extra voyage, called Iberia in Bloom, will depart Southampton on April 27 (2008) with calls at La Rochelle (for Cognac), Le Verdon (for Bordeaux), Bilbao, La Coruna (for Santiago de Compostela) and Lisbon.
Details are available from Cunard.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
From the squished squatter department:
Carnival Corp, the owner of the classic Queen Elizabeth 2, won the rights to the internet domain QE2.com before the World Intellectual Property Organization today.
Carnival found that Prime Choice, a web design and hosting company in Virginia, had registered the domain in August 2000 but never developed it. Carnival, on the other hand, owns the trademark on "QE2" and "Queen Elizabeth 2." The ship was built in 1969.
The WIPO found that Prime Choice "lacks rights or legitimate interests in respect to the domain name."
This is believed to be a case of "cybersquatting" where someone without any connection to the name registers it either in hopes of eventually selling it to someone with a legitimate claim to it, or to divert traffic to their own website. Either way, for the last several years, the practice hasn't been allowed under internet rules, and in these cases the domain is transferred to the rightful owner by the WIPO. Had Prime Choice developed an active website with a name such as Quick Edward's Second Website, Carnival may have had a tougher time before the WIPO.
A Carnival spokesperson today told CND that the company has no immediate plans to utilize the domain, but they were "protecting [their] intellectual property rights."
Ironically, Carnival Corp just recently made a deal to sell the classic liner at the end of next year.
Carnival found that Prime Choice, a web design and hosting company in Virginia, had registered the domain in August 2000 but never developed it. Carnival, on the other hand, owns the trademark on "QE2" and "Queen Elizabeth 2." The ship was built in 1969.
The WIPO found that Prime Choice "lacks rights or legitimate interests in respect to the domain name."
This is believed to be a case of "cybersquatting" where someone without any connection to the name registers it either in hopes of eventually selling it to someone with a legitimate claim to it, or to divert traffic to their own website. Either way, for the last several years, the practice hasn't been allowed under internet rules, and in these cases the domain is transferred to the rightful owner by the WIPO. Had Prime Choice developed an active website with a name such as Quick Edward's Second Website, Carnival may have had a tougher time before the WIPO.
A Carnival spokesperson today told CND that the company has no immediate plans to utilize the domain, but they were "protecting [their] intellectual property rights."
Ironically, Carnival Corp just recently made a deal to sell the classic liner at the end of next year.
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