Queen Mary 2 Drydock in Brest

[bluemarble]

Again with nothing really substantive to add about the drydock, here's something new showing along the bottom of QM2's bridge webcam image today.

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by bluemarble

[Vegas-Voyager]

On 8/30/2021 at 10:45 AM, bluemarble said:

 

 

 

On 9/1/2021 at 3:54 PM, bluemarble said:

 

Good idea, but I think we can rule out a shadow.

 

Here is the original capture I posted from two days ago, captured around 4:00pm local time.

 

Here is another one I captured about an hour ago, approaching 9:00pm local time.

 

And finally, here's one I just captured, approaching 10:00pm local time.

 

Starting yesterday that object in the lower righthand corner had shifted ever so slightly to the left relative to QM2 as can be seen when closely comparing the images. I figure it's something hanging above/over QM2 consistent with what @chengkp75 has surmised.

Does everyone really think that black box (which I know how now changed) in the lower corner of the room is outside the bridge?  Frankly, I have always thought it looked like the corner of a cardboard box sitting just inside the camera view.  Now the new image looks a bit different, but I'm not convinced (yet) that it is outside. 

 

Anyhow, just my two cents. 

[bluemarble]

That's a fair point @Vegas-Voyager about those objects possibly being inside. Earlier versions of the QM2 bridge webcam occasionally revealed some unintended views inside the bridge. Here are a couple QM2 bridge webcam images in my collection from 10+ years ago.

 

 

[bluemarble]

We're back to a more typical unobstructed view from the QM2 bridge webcam today.

 

[eroller]

Haven't seen any updates in a long time.  I wonder how she is progressing and if there have been any updates on the work being done from a passenger perspective (bathrooms, spa, etc).  

[Germancruiser]

All I saw is pictures on Insta,  of the QM2 in drydock getting her new ( and desperately needed) new lick of paint! Nothing about any changes interiour!

[eroller]

21 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

All I saw is pictures on Insta,  of the QM2 in drydock getting her new ( and desperately needed) new lick of paint! Nothing about any changes interiour!

Yes I just saw those today on Twitter.  The paint job looks awesome, and was solely needed.  Hopefully the interior received some freshening up as well.  I’m not expecting anything major but hopefully a good going over, and things replaced as needed.  

[gkerlin]

Almost done.  Should be headed to sea for trials in a few days or so

 

More photos at the following Twitter account:

 

https://twitter.com/b_ri_laird/status/1440407974464266249?s=21

 

[Germancruiser]

Ah thanks for those great pictures- she truly looks great again now! Can´t wait to board her in early March!

[TheOldBear]

Interesting to see the large below waterline access hole - presumably this is a 'hard patch' that will be welded and painted before refilling the dry dock.

[Germancruiser]

Oh I thought that might be a door of some kind - so I do hope they patch it up propperly. I presume there was some machinery to change or repair.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Germancruiser

[AMHuntFerry]

3 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

Oh I thought that might be a door of some kind - so I do hope they patch it up propperly. I presume there was some machinery to change or repair.

There is another one back farther with a ramp coming out of the ship. Maybe they were debris chutes?

[Germancruiser]

Thats what I thought, too.

[Colin_Cameron]

They are both directly above the stabilisers. That "ramp" is the aft starboard stabiliser extended. Presumably required for access to some part of the stabiliser mechanism.

[bluemarble]

They may be keeping QM2 at the shipyard in Brest for two more days than originally planned. As I noted earlier, QM2 was originally due back in Southampton on September 27th. But now I see the Southampton VTS cruise ship schedule is showing QM2 will next be back in Southampton on September 29th instead.

[Bigmike911]

On 9/22/2021 at 7:55 PM, gkerlin said:

Almost done.  Should be headed to sea for trials in a few days or so

 

More photos at the following Twitter account:

 

https://twitter.com/b_ri_laird/status/1440407974464266249?s=21

 

Stunning pictures of my favorite Queen. A far cry from the last time I saw her in Southampton, looking rusty and battered.

[Bigmike911]

Queen Mary 2 has left drydock at Brest and is headed to Southampton. One more step in her preparation to return to service. I will look forward to seeing her on You Tube. 

[Host Hattie]

On 9/24/2021 at 2:25 PM, bluemarble said:

They may be keeping QM2 at the shipyard in Brest for two more days than originally planned. As I noted earlier, QM2 was originally due back in Southampton on September 27th. But now I see the Southampton VTS cruise ship schedule is showing QM2 will next be back in Southampton on September 29th instead.

Sea trials I believe

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, Bigmike911 said:

Queen Mary 2 has left drydock at Brest and is headed to Southampton. One more step in her preparation to return to service. I will look forward to seeing her on You Tube. 

 

1 hour ago, Host Hattie said:

Sea trials I believe

 

Thanks. I hadn't been paying attention to QM2 today. I had been watching what QE was up to for her Sun Voyage in the Bay of Biscay instead. Checking the timestamps on QM2's past track, she left drydock at 9:00am this morning local time. She's heading south from Brest now, indeed presumably for some sea trials. Southampton VTS continues to indicate QM2 will be back in Southampton on September 29th at a time "TBA".

 

Edit: I just noticed QM2 is reporting a Southampton arrival time of 8:00am September 30th.

[Bigmike911]

2 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

 

Thanks. I hadn't been paying attention to QM2 today. I had been watching what QE was up to for her Sun Voyage in the Bay of Biscay instead. Checking the timestamps on QM2's past track, she left drydock at 9:00am this morning local time. She's heading south from Brest now, indeed presumably for some sea trials. Southampton VTS continues to indicate QM2 will be back in Southampton on September 29th at a time "TBA".

 

Edit: I just noticed QM2 is reporting a Southampton arrival time of 8:00am September 30th.

Thanks Blue Marble. I find cruismapper has the most up to date locations if you are interested, and not already using it. I doubt I will stay up til 2am my time on Friday to watch her arrive, but I will check in early Friday and expect to see her ,hopefully,at the Ocean Terminal looking fantastic. 

[bluemarble]

2 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

Thanks Blue Marble. I find cruismapper has the most up to date locations if you are interested, and not already using it. I doubt I will stay up til 2am my time on Friday to watch her arrive, but I will check in early Friday and expect to see her ,hopefully,at the Ocean Terminal looking fantastic. 

 

Oh yes, cruisemapper is a good site for tracking ship positions. That's one of the sites I use. I do use marinetraffic more often though.

 

One useful trick with marinetraffic is that you can track ships when they are out of terrestrial tracking range like QM2 is at the moment. If you know where to look, you can find QM2 on marinetraffic as the ship further to the south of her last reported terrestrial position at the moment, indicated as "Passenger Vessel Position received by Satellite". Or if you want to pop for 99 cents, you can track her positions received by satellite for 24 hours using the marinetraffic smartphone app.

 

Southampton VTS currently has QM2 going to the QEII terminal. The Ocean Terminal appears to be free on the 29th, but Regal Princess is on the schedule for the Ocean Terminal on the 30th.

 

Edit: I see cruisemapper has now updated QM2's position to be a close match to the latest satellite position indicated by marinetraffic. I don't think cruisemapper updates the satellite positions as often as marinetraffic, but it does take the guesswork out of determining the positions without paying 99 cents on the marinetraffic app.

Edited September 26, 2021 by bluemarble

[Bigmike911]

3 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

Oh yes, cruisemapper is a good site for tracking ship positions. That's one of the sites I use. I do use marinetraffic more often though.

 

One useful trick with marinetraffic is that you can track ships when they are out of terrestrial tracking range like QM2 is at the moment. If you know where to look, you can find QM2 on marinetraffic as the ship further to the south of her last reported terrestrial position at the moment, indicated as "Passenger Vessel Position received by Satellite". Or if you want to pop for 99 cents, you can track her positions received by satellite for 24 hours using the marinetraffic smartphone app.

 

Southampton VTS currently has QM2 going to the QEII terminal. The Ocean Terminal appears to be free on the 29th, but Regal Princess is on the schedule for the Ocean Terminal on the 30th.

 

Edit: I see cruisemapper has now updated QM2's position to be a close match to the latest satellite position indicated by marinetraffic. I don't think cruisemapper updates the satellite positions as often as marinetraffic, but it does take the guesswork out of determining the positions without paying 99 cents on the marinetraffic app.

For my unscientific needs. cruisemapper workswell. But thank you for the additional information. I am sorry QM2 likely won't be at the Ocean Terminal, but some time soon she will be. One of the last times I saw her there, she look pretty rusty. I know she will look terrific next time. 

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, Bigmike911 said:

For my unscientific needs. cruisemapper workswell. But thank you for the additional information. I am sorry QM2 likely won't be at the Ocean Terminal, but some time soon she will be. One of the last times I saw her there, she look pretty rusty. I know she will look terrific next time. 

 

You shouldn't have too long to wait to see QM2 at the Ocean Terminal. The Southampton VTS Cruise Ship Schedule has here there on October 8th.

[bluemarble]

QM2 has finally been sailing a track that looks like sea trials. She's currently sailing off the north coast of Spain to the west of Santander and has been doing some zig-zagging at speeds in excess of 21 knots.

 

This track is from marinetraffic. The blue color indicates speeds of at least 20 knots.

 

Edited September 27, 2021 by bluemarble

[bluemarble]

QM2 has been out of terrestrial AIS tracking range since my last post, but she turned back heading east and has been doing some higher speed trials. I happened to spot her doing 27 knots about half an hour ago.