Cunard Queen Elizabeth Sculpture Competition

Queen Elizabeth - Royal Arcade

Cunard and the Telegraph announced today a scultpure competition for the new Cunard ship Queen Elizabeth: Entrants are asked to design an art-deco style sculpture for Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Arcade.   

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 Today’s edition of the Telegraph has another article in which journalist Cassandra Jardine explains how to enter the competition.            

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Favourite Videos – New Feature in CunardQueens Blog

Videos and photos are an important part of my blog, so I have been experimenting with media features for a while to see how I can best incorporate videos or link to other sources. I recently added a widget called ‘VodPod’ which allows me to create a list of my favourite videos. Readers can them view without leaving the blog.  Check it out, it’s on the right hand side bar. Just click on the video you want to view. I will be adding videos to the list over the next couple of days, most of them will link to youtube or veoh. If you know of a great clip that should be added, please send me the link. Happy viewing!

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QE2 Gem: Rare Video from 1982

A rare video from 1982 is now available on our website. It was filmed just prior to the Falkland War, truly the last days of the white funnel. It was also the time of the four swimming pools, miniature golf and clay-pigeon shotting.

An ex crew member who made this film available remembers:

With one foot still in the 70s, QE2 is still the largest liner in service when this was filmed, except for the Norway. She reigned supreme. There were no mega-liners, no ‘XXL’ of the Seas, no Aidas, nothing like that. It was QE2.

When this was filmed if you ever mentioned a QM2 – they would have laughed at you. It was impossible and unthinkable as you will hear from the remarks of Captain Bob Arnott  or ” Captain Bob” as he was affectionately known.

The quality of the film is not the best. It’s an old film, but it is rare. I don’t know where you’ll find it elsewhere.

Click here to view film.

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Queen Victoria – Maiden Voyage December 2007

The MS Queen Victoria  (also called QV) undertook her maiden voyage, a 10 day cruise to northern Europe, on 11 December 2007.  The embedded video contains very well edited footage from the cruise.

Originally destined to be an addition to the Holland America Line fleet, the order for a Vista class vessel put into Fincantieri was soon transferred by Carnival Corporation (parent company to Holland America, Cunard, and P&O) to Cunard with the intent that the vessel would become the MS Queen Victoria.

 

The Queen Vicotira is of the same basic design as other Vista class passenger vessels, though slightly longer and more in keeping with Cunard’s interior style. At 90,000 gross tons, she is the second largest Cunard ship ever built, after the RMS Queen Mary 2. The QV’s facilities include seven restaurants, thirteen bars, three swimming pools, a ballroom and a theatre.

 

Unlike many previous Cunard Queens, however, she is not an ocean liner, but rather a cruise ship. Nor will she carry mail and thus will not receive Royal Mail Ship (RMS) status.

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QE2 Dubai – Southampton name removed from stern

It was just a question of time that another trademark of the original QE2 was going to disappear:

After the removal of the QE2 pennant during the handover ceremony on November 27, 2008 and the removal of the Cunard logo in March this year, the word ‘Southampton’ on the stern of the ship has been painted over and has been replaced with the liner’s temporary home port of Port Vila, where Nakheel, its new owners registered the ship in preparation of the ship’s journey from Dubai to South Africa.  

Home Port Southampton

'Home port' Port Vila

 A spokesman for Nakheel said:

To conform to international law, the name Southampton has been painted over on the stern, although the letters remain attached, and her temporary home port of Port-Vcila has now been painted underneath. To comply with the terms of the sale contract, the Cunard brand has also been removed from the side of the ship. Although she will no longer be taking passengers or operating as a cruise ship, the registration documents will state her class as being ‘a passenger/cruise ship’. The Cunard letters are being preserved and kept safe and will be on display at the QE2 museum when it opens.

A museum! We heard this before, I wonder if and when this will happen and where! 

Map of Vanuatu: The geographic coordinates of Port Vila are 17°45′S 168°18′

Port Vila???  Where on earth is that you may ask? Don’t worry; you are probably not the only one to wonder. To give you a clue, Port Vila is the capital of Vanuatu. Still does not ring a bell? Maybe it helps to remember that it was formerly New Hebrides? No? ….. Well, I guess it’s time to take out the world. On the map, find Australia and New Zealand: Vanuatu is located North of New Zealand and North-East of Australia. Port Vila is situated on the  Southern island of Efate.

 

Since we seem to know very little about Vanuatu, let’s digress a little and find out a bit more about where the QE2 is now registered. The QE2 by the way never called at the port of Port Vila during any of the famous World Cruises (correct me please if I am wrong). Vanuatu consists of a chain of 13 larger and 70 smaller islands which were discovered by several European explorers in the 15^th century, but only in 1774 Captain James Cook named them New Hebrides after the islands off the West coast of Scotland. The islands were under British and French administration and reached their independence in 1980 when they obtained a new constitutation and changed name to Vanuatu.  

This seems to be rather the end of the world and a far cry from the owners’ base in Dubai. So why Vanuatu? Why would Nakheel chose a port so remote from Dubai as its port of registration?

Following the economic recession Nakheel was forced to put their ambitious refurbishment plans to turn her into a luxury floating hotel in Dubain on hold and was looking for other, scaled down alternatives to generate an income from the ship.  It is after all a very expensive asset to maintain for which Nakheel has reeived a lot of bad press but no return of investment yet. In a recent post I commented on the QE2 going to Cape Town, South Africa where she is providing additional hotel accommodation during the 2010 football World Cup.

In July the QE2 was transferred to the Drydocks World-Dubai for much needed maintenance work; routine marine surveys were undertaken to confirm her compliance with international standards .  As part of the process, the ship’s underwater hull was shot blasted and repainted. Her main dark grey hull, white sides, and iconic red and black funnel also received a fresh coat of paint and her propellers were polished. Internal works included an overhaul of her air conditioning and plumbing systems. The QE2 left drydocks at 1030am on Saturday, August 22^nd for sea trials and is now back at Passenger Cruise Terminal in Port Rashid. With all that said, it remains to be seen if sea trials were successful.

QE2 geams with a new coat of paint. (Photo from Dubai World Media Aug 13, 2009)

The vessel is not SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) 2010  compliant and with the new regulations looming it became increasingly difficult to register a ship that age. The limit for registration is normally 20 years for most registries of convenience.  There weren’t a lot of choices for Nakheel. 

The name change on the stern is not the only change that goes with the registration in Vanuatu. The ship’s flag and its calls sign also changed.

New Flag
The ship’s flag  changed from the Emirati flag to the Vanuatu flag. I doubt many have ever seen or can name the colours of the flag, so here it is: 

Flag of Vanuatu

The Flag of Vanuatu  was adopted on FEBRUARY 13, 1980 to mark its country’s independence: The Vanuatu chain of islands is in the shape of a Y, and the yellow horizontal Y on the flag is representative of same, as well as yellow being symbolic of sunshine; green symbolic of the fertile lands, red symbolic of bloodshed for freedom, and black represents the Melanesian people that originally settled the islands.

New Call Sign
According to Lloyds MIU, the QE2’s call sign has changed from GBTT to YJVW6 . Call signs are assigned according to the flag state and since the QE2 is no longer owned by a British company, it cannot be registered under the UK flag any longer.  Law requires to change the call sign to the new flag state Vanuatu. As a consequence, the name of the home port on the stern has to change from Southampton to Port Vila.

Tracking the QE2 whereabouts
For those who are interested in tracking the QE2’s movment, check out the following two trackers.

The www.marinetracker.com site gives a very good overview (and a great picture of ‘Hers Shipness’), click here. If you want to track her on the live map, make sure you enter the new call sign YJVW6.

Another shiptracker is http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shiplocations.phtml.

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Paintings on QE2 – The Mauretania by T.M. Hemy

On the occasion of QE2’s last visit to the Tyne in October 2008 the oil painting ‘Mauretania leaving Tyne 1907’  by 19th century artist T.M. Hemy has been handed to Newcastle’s Discovery Museum from its home on board the QE2.

To read the full story of the painting, click here…

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QE2’s final visit to the Tyne – Photos by Quintin Smith

The QE2 returned to the Port of Tyne on Wednesday, October 8th 2008 before her final departure to Dubai.

QE2 entering Tyne -by David Heywood 2008

Quintin Smith took some excellent night shots which he allowed the rmsqueenelizabeth2.com website to display in a special feature. To view these fantastic photos, click here.

On the occasion of this last visit an oil painting by 19th century artist T.M. Hemy has been handed to Newcastle’s Discovery Museum from its home on board the QE2. It depicts the newly built Mauretania leaving Tyne for Liverpool.

To read the full story of the painting, click here…

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QE2 and QM2 in Hamburg – A Photo Gallery

While googling information about the QM2 visit in Hamburg this month I came across the Royal Ocean Liner Photography website which is a collection of  8 photo galleries capturing ocean liners during their visits to the city of Hamburg.  Turn your sound on before entering the website here.

It is a fantastic collection of  exquisite photos of the QE2, QM2, Queen Victoria as well as cruise ships AidaDiva and Golden Princess. I love them,  I think they brilliantly capture the grandeur of these ships. It always makes me very happy when I find something like this by chance.  The Internet is full of surprises! I noticed all photos have been watermarked for copyright protection. Photos apparently can be purchased, you have to use the Kaufen form (order form).

The website and descriptions are all in German, so I am summarizing the important pieces of information.

Information-Über mich:  Information – About me
Dirk Rothermundt is a freelance photographer, web designer and software developer. The Royal Ocean Liner Photography website is dedicated to ships visiting the port of Hamburg, mainly QE2 and QM2.

Galerien – Galleries
There are 8 galleries documenting Hamburg visits of the ships mentioned above. My favourite galleries are obviously those of my 2 favourite liners, QE2 and QM2, so I take the liberty to describe the albums in more detail.

1. Queen Victoria, Dec 18, 2007
   Inside QV: 74 photos witnessing pure luxury
                                                                                                                                
2. AIDADiva Christening, Apr 20, 2007
                                   
3. QM2 in Voss & Blohm dry dock, Nov 8-19, 2005                        
   • QM2 reception on river Elbe, arrival at Cruise Terminal
     The night shots are exceptional! One can tell by the quality that these are Dirk Rothermundt’s speciality.
   • QM2 in Dock 17, view from Landungsbrücken
   • QM2 departure from Dock 17
     Great close up shots . I am always in awe of this impressive hull!
     
4. A Day on QM2, Aug 1, 2005
   • Arrival at Cruise Terminal
   • On the decks
   • Inside QM2
   • Hamburg as seen from QM2
   • The Bridge
     It is not often that photographers are allowed on the bridge. 41 close up photos. I guess those are rare.
     
5. A Day on QE2, Jul 8, 2005
   My favourite gallery of course. Fantastic shots both outside and inside. The albums from left to right are
   • The arrival
   • Docking at Cruise Terminal
   • The decks (outside)
   • Hamburg from the QE2
   • QE2 Interiors
     41 great photos that catapult me right back aboard. 
   • Departure
                              
6. Golden Princess, Jun 7, 2005
                                  
7. QE2 in Hamburg, May 30, 2005
   • QE2 at Cruise Terminal
   • QE2 at night
     Brilliant night shots
     
8. QM2 in Hamburg, Jul 19, 2004
   • Arrival
   • A day and night in Hamburg
   • The fireworks
     When the QM2 visits Hamburg, it is party time and the Queen is honoured with a splendid fireworks display. These photos show that the city does not spare any efforts to welcome her!

I hope you  are enjoying the photos as much as I do. Great memories come back while clicking through the albums. I wish I could return for another Transatlantic voyage.

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QE2 to become an African Queen

 The long wait is over. After months of rumours and speculations about Hers Shipness’ future, Nakheel made an official announcement yesterday to move the ocean liner to Capetown where she is to be birthed at the Albert & Victoria Waterfront. Click here to read more…

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Wanted: BBC film “Captain of the Mauretania”

I am looking for an old film BBC produced some time in 1964 or around that time. It is called “Captain of the Mauretania “ and follows a voyage on board the Cunard liner from start to finish. It features Captain Treasure Jones. I know for sure that several VHS copied existed, one was in possession of the Captain  who used to show it in the 80s at his home. Does anyone have a copy of this film or know sources that might be of assistance. Please leave a comment or contact 3queensgirl@gmail.com.

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