The most famous ship in the world

Bill Miller took this photograph of the QE2 in April 2008, months before her final voyage to Dubai: "There was huge affection ... and which was mounting by leaps ... by April 2008 when we sailed past the legendary QE2 at Southampton. Tears were already forming. In months, she would be decommissioned by Cunard & sail off to Dubai and new owners. She was then the most famous ship in the world and the most successful super liner ever as well --- having carried more passengers, sailed more miles, visited more ports & made more money than any big liner in history. And even in the end, she was successful --- she fetched a staggering $100 million (but was worth only $5 million or so to scrappers). Yes, hail to the Queen!"

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright Bill Miller. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

QE2 in Bayonne December 1976

Bill Miller took this photo of the legendary QE2 undergoing a refit at the then Bethlehem Steel shipyard annex at Bayonne, New Jersey. A chilly afternoon as he remembers, the date is Dec 1976.

The 1100-ft long graving dock at Bayonne, built by the Navy in 1942 especially for battleships, was used by the Queen Mary & Queen Elizabeth in wartime, for the salvaged hull of the Normandie, the confiscated Europa and, on three occasions in the 1950s, theUnited States. 

The graving dock is still in use, but now in private hands & these days servicing mostly big transports of the Military Sealift Command. 

Texto e imagens / Text and images copyright Bill Miller. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

About the QE2

"I was a first class steward on the QE2 and recall lots of passengers, mostly rich, some very rich and some famous," a Queens Grill waiter told me back in 1996. "I recall serving Elizabeth Taylor, Elton John and Rod Stewart. I especially remember Mr & Mrs Rosenberg, who were fantastically rich and who came on for every world cruise. They were 100-day trips. The Rosenbergs were great Cunard customers --- they take the two penthouses and some if not all the adjoining suites. They used one penthouse to sleep in, one to entertain, some suites just for clothes & other pieces and some suites for the friends they'd invite to join them on those 3-month-long cruises. It was estimated at that they would spend $1 1/2 million each year for their voyage. It was also said that amount by itself paid the QE2's fuel bill for 3 months. Needless to say, the Rosenbergs were well looked after. Mrs Rosenberg would bring hundreds of dresses onboard, along with shoes and accessories, and they'd always bring part of their huge Disney collection as well. Mrs Rosenberg was, and it was well known, very indecisive. When ashore, she could never quite decide on her purchases and instead would buy out entire shops, sometimes for furniture, and have it sent to the QE2. This would be stored in the hold. The Rosenbergs had a Rolls Royce greet them in every port and there were as many as 40 stops on a world cruise. They even had the very last and only smoking table in the Queens Grill. Unchangeable, Mr Rosenberg was a chain smoker!"

This photo of mine was taken of the then quite new QE2 in the fall of 1970 at New York's Pier 92.

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright Bill Miller. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

QUEEN ELIZABETH in Lisbon 2011-12-24

Cruise ship QUEEN ELIZABETH leaving Lisbon on 24 December 2011 while on a Christmas and New Year cruise.

Her new port of registry in Hamilton, Bermuda can be seen at the stern.

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

DUBAI QUEENS 31 March 2011

The QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 photographed in Dubai on 31 March 2011 with the newest cunarder, the QUEEN ELIZABETH of 2010 on her world cruise.

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

QUEEN VICTORIA in Funchal 30 December 2010

QUEEN VICTORIA arrived at Funchal, Madeira Island very early on 30 December 2010 for a call extending until the first minutes of the new year when, as soon as the fireworks display ended it's salute to 2011, part of the fleet of cruise ships started leaving the bay of Funchal in convoy for Southampton: QV followed by ARTEMIS and SAGA PEARL II...

Copyright photographs by Luís Miguel Correia - 2010

QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 in Dubai

QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 at her 

Dubai berth on 16 February 2010 with the Vanuatu national ensign and Port Vila as port of registration.

Nuno de Jesus copyright photo.

QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 in Dubai

QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 berthed in Dubai on 16 February 2010 with COSTA EUROPA ex-WESTERDAM, ex-HOMERIC.

Photo by Nuno de Jesus.

QE2 in Dubai limbo

Our beloved QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 berthed in Dubai, photographed this past February by fellow Portuguese ship enthusiast Nuno de Jesus.

She still looks majestic, despite all the clouds of incertainty over her. So far she has ben the luckiest  of all Cunard QUEENs, but I have mixed feelings while looking into her now. 

In my oppinion the only way to really preserve a ship is by keeping her in active service, and the QE2 could still be fit to make happy many more passengers despite her age and associated shortcomings...

I might prefer to let her go to a breaker's yard rather than see her funnel replaced by glass apartmens... To have her returned to a UK port and let her become a  museum in the same way as HMRY BRITANNIA would be acceptable...

Photos taken by Nuno Jesus in Dubai on 21 February (top) and 16 February (bottom).

Text by Luis Miguel Correia. Copyright photos by Nuno de Jesus

QM2 maiden arrival in South Africa

QUEEN MARY 2 arrived in Durban today, 23 March 2010 on her first visit to South African waters and our friend Trevor Jones was there to photograph the event...

Copyright photographs by Trevor Jones

"I name this ship..."

"I name this ship QUEEN ELIZABETH the SECOND: May God bless her and all who sail in her"

On 20 September 1967 H.M. Queen Elizabeth II said the word stated above on the launching ceremony of the new Cunarder.

And God blessed the QE2 and all who sailed in her until November 2008.

Post card from the collection of Luís Miguel Correia

QE2 post cards

A french post card of RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 still in original form, showing her timeless elegance associated to the 1960s design.

Luís Miguel Correia collection

Photographing QE2 last Cunard crew

The QE2 has just docked alongside Alcântara cruise terminal in Lisbon for the last time on 13 November 2008 and the crew is being assembled at the ships bow for an oficial portrait.

Copyright photograph by Luís Miguel Correia

QUEEN and PRINCE

Cunard's QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 saluting Prince Henry, the famous Portuguese Prince Navigator who masterminded the first globalization of modern times back in the 15th century.

Photograph taken in Lisbon on 22 July 2008.

Copyright photograph by Luís Miguel Correia

MAGIC QUEEN off Lisbon

QUEEN VICTORIA leaving the river Tagus on 2 December 2009 with the São Julião lighthouse past her stern...

Copyright photograph by Luís Miguel Correia

QE2 in Lisbon 29 October 2008

Looking forward and taking care of the stern: the QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 in Lisbon 29 October 2008.
Copyright photos by L. M. Correia

QE2 gangways

Gangways in position.
The QE2 was berthed again in Lisbon's Alcântara cruise terminal, 2nd September 2007...
Copyright photo by Luís Miguel Correia

QE2 in Bremerhaven dry dock

The R.M.S. QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 photographed in Bremerhaven inside the Lloyd-Werft dry dock on one of her German refits.
The two photographs were taken by Andreas Busecke, an excellent German photographer and an addicted to the magic beauty of classic passenger ships...
Copyright photos by Andreas Busecke

QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 in 1975

QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 arriving Lisbon on 3 June 1975 while doing a cruise from Southampton. She was moving closer to the Rocha Cruise Ship Terminal.

Copyright photograph by Luís Miguel Coreia

QE2 LEAVING LISBON 21 April 2006

Three photos of QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 leaving Lisbon on 21 April 2006 taken from the Pilot Boat.
Copyright photographs by Luís Miguel Correia

QUEEN MARY 2 by Cees de Bijl

The QUEEN MARY 2 photographed in Rotterdam waters on 22 July 2009 by our friend Cees de Bijn: amazing the way the Cunard gentle giant turns in port...

QM2 in Rotterdam 2009-07-22

Superb images kindly sent by our friend Cees de Bijl showing the Cunard flagship RMS QUEEN MARY 2 leaving Rotterdam on 22 July 2009

QE2 final departure from Funchal

QUEEN ELIZBETH 2 leaving Funchal, Madeira Island on her final call on 19 June 2008. Photographs kindly supplied by Captain D. M. Chaves Correia.
The QE2 was very popular in Madeira and a regular visitor since 2nd April 1970.

QM2 in Lisbon 2009-07-15: the departure

With the QE2 in her exile in Dubai (should I say retirement?), the Cunard presence in Lisbon lives on with their two new QUEENS and the QUEEN MARY 2 has just paid another call in the Tagus on 15 July 2009: another opportunity to see the more beautiful passenger ship of the 21st century and a proud successor to the previous three QUEENS...
I did photograph the QM2 early in the morning on her arrival and at about 7.00PM when she left the Tagus bar again cruising into the Eastern Atlantic.More QM2 photos arriving Lisbon at the same day here.
Copyright photographs by Luís Miguel Correia

QE2 in Lisbon in 2001

The QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 leaving Lisbon on a cruise in 2001, when she was still the Cunard flagship and the true queen of the passenger ship's fleet...
Copyright photo by Luís Miguel Correia

QE2 in the Daily Mail 7 June 2009

What's happening to the QE2? No work carried out to transform the liner into a floating hotel eight months after leaving the UK
• By Katy Hastings
Article published by the Daily Mail on-line on 7 June 2009. Link kindly sent by Michael Sutcliffe
It's a sad end for the ship that was once the pride of Britain.
A birds-eye view shows the QE2 docked at in Dubai - but eight months after the iconic liner arrived in her final resting place no work appears to have been carried out to transform her into a luxury floating hotel.
The solitary ship stands alone against the backdrop of Dubai's dramatic skyline in a remote dockyard.
But the lack of work is fuelling speculation she could be sold off instead of becoming a hotel.
There is no sign of activity on the liner, which was bought for £50m by real estate developer Nakheel in the United Arab Emirates.
The only movement is the occasional wisp of smoke from the funnel where the engines are kept turning over to keep air circulating.
The owners have denied speculation that the cruise ship will be sold on instead of becoming a hotel.
The company has told the BBC the ship is not up for sale, even though work on the refurbishment has not begun.
Nakheel has said it will make the QE2 the centrepiece of the Palm Jumeirah development on the Dubai waterfront.
Last year, Nakheel said the QE2's giant red funnel would be sliced off and placed on the waterfront.
It said a glass penthouse - the most exclusive hotel room in Dubai - would be built in its place.
Every cabin was to be replaced with new, larger bedrooms and the engine space filled with a theatre, ahead of a scheduled opening next year.
The new-look vessel was also set to have a heritage museum displaying artefacts from the ship and from maritime history.
The cruise ship, which was Southampton-based during its life, reached Dubai on November 26.
Tens of thousands of people lined Southampton Water on 11 November to see the 70,000-tonne ship leave UK waters for the last time.
During her lifetime she acted as a troop ship in the Falklands Conflict in 1982, sailed more than five million nautical miles and completed 25 world cruises.
Her library, the largest still afloat, and grand ballroom have been transcended by new liners which boast everything from skating rinks to rock-climbing walls.

QUEEN MARY 2 off Carcavelos beach 2009-05-23

QUEEN MARY 2 underway in the Tagus bar south channel on her departure from Lisbon on 23 May 2009 passing off Carcavelos beach.
Copyright photographs by Luís Miguel Correia - 2009