What say you about QE2 these days?

[Olls]

We are booked on the NY-LA sailing through the canal on QE2 next winter and are fondly looking forward to sailing on her again. With all of her perfections in mind, and there are so many, several disturbing criticisms of her recently have caught our attention because they could dampen our good time. Here they are and please comment if you have recently been on QE2: 1) She has limited deck space since the Quarter Deck pool has been removed resulting in considerable crowding on deck and not enough room around the pool. (The pool was there when we sailed on her and there was no crowding on our 10 day cruise.) 2) Inside, in the public areas, one side of the ship is smoking, the other non-smoking and the non smoking side is very crowded and it is difficult to find seating. On out recent voyage on QM2, we avoided the Golden Lion because it was so smokey. QM2 fortunately has a myriad of other fantastic places so this one smokey place did not affect our enjoyment.

[Kindlychap]

It does rather depend on what you want to do on her....

 

I've never found the pool area to be anything other than somewhere to avoid, so I really cannot comment.

 

I'm quite sensitive to smoke, and it is only (a) the Golden Lion and (b) those who break the rules in the Grand Lounge that have ever brought smoking to my notice.

 

Take heart though. The UK has recently introduced anti-smoking laws and I'm hopeful that these will severely limit, if not end, smoking inside ships.

[Capt_RAD]

My wife and I sailed from La to Sydney starting in January. We had 1611 people out of a max of 1700. The only time we noticed a large group of people were at the dances, the lectures, and crossing the equater. People spread out all over the ship, getting a seat anywhere was never a problem. Any time of the day we had no trouble getting a deck chair by the pool, in any of the bars, or along the windows. Tea time always brought out a big group but you had so many choices it was never a problem for us.

[tumeroll]

We are booked on the NY-LA sailing through the canal on QE2 next winter and are fondly looking forward to sailing on her again. With all of her perfections in mind, and there are so many, several disturbing criticisms of her recently have caught our attention because they could dampen our good time. Here they are and please comment if you have recently been on QE2: 1) She has limited deck space since the Quarter Deck pool has been removed resulting in considerable crowding on deck and not enough room around the pool. (The pool was there when we sailed on her and there was no crowding on our 10 day cruise.) 2) Inside, in the public areas, one side of the ship is smoking, the other non-smoking and the non smoking side is very crowded and it is difficult to find seating. On out recent voyage on QM2, we avoided the Golden Lion because it was so smokey. QM2 fortunately has a myriad of other fantastic places so this one smokey place did not affect our enjoyment.

 

Somewhere back a few pages is my lengthy series of reviews on my NYC to LA cruise this past January. The very sameone you plan in 2007.

 

I highly recommendthe ship. There was always tons of room on the pool deck and better viewing from above should you enjoy such things. Being a non-smoker, I never found excessive smoke anywhere on the ship except one evening in the casino and that was because the black jack table was fdull and there was a smoker at my elbow. And I usually enjoyed by afternoon tea (never missed a single day) on the smoking side with no problems.

 

The QE2 really is how ship travel used to be and thankfully still is on this ship at least.

 

Look up the review I think it will answer most all of your quastions and have a wonderful time. I am personally working hard to be able to repeat the journey and in fact take the full world trip.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I can't comment on the pool since I have only sailed in her in the North Atlantic in the winter so understandably the outdoor pool wasn't too busy!

 

But she has loads and loads of deck space - if you want space in or near the pool, the fact that there's only one (outdoor) pool might cause trouble, but if you're just looking for deck space of some sort, there is a lot of it. Actually, she has more deck space now than she did in 1983-1994 when the Magradome took up a lot of space that is now open again.

 

Smoke... As of now, there is more smoking aboard QE2 than most American ships. In particular, smoking is allowed in the restaurants. I found no problem with smoke so long as I stayed in the non-smoking sections. The HVAC system seems to work well in keeping smoke isolated to the areas where actual smoking is going on.

 

Aboard QM2 I noticed a "stale smoke smell" in some of the public areas and was pleased to not smell this aboard QE2 at all.

 

Also, as Kindlychap mentioned, it is quite possible that the new indoor smoking ban in the UK will do away with indoor smoking aboard QE2 altogether. We shall see what happens on that front.

 

All in all, if you have sailed in QE2 and enjoyed her previously, go for it! I am reluctant to recommend her to people who are used to newer ships and who might not appreciate a classic liner, but if you have already sailed in her and liked her, then by all means, go. She is a wonderful ship and a rare treat in these days of monolithic floating boxes.

[KenC]

We are booked on the NY-LA sailing through the canal on QE2 next winter and are fondly looking forward to sailing on her again. With all of her perfections in mind, and there are so many, several disturbing criticisms of her recently have caught our attention because they could dampen our good time. Here they are and please comment if you have recently been on QE2: 1) She has limited deck space since the Quarter Deck pool has been removed resulting in considerable crowding on deck and not enough room around the pool. (The pool was there when we sailed on her and there was no crowding on our 10 day cruise.) 2) Inside, in the public areas, one side of the ship is smoking, the other non-smoking and the non smoking side is very crowded and it is difficult to find seating. On out recent voyage on QM2, we avoided the Golden Lion because it was so smokey. QM2 fortunately has a myriad of other fantastic places so this one smokey place did not affect our enjoyment.

 

As being the acknowledged devil's advocate on this board regarding QE2 shortcomings, I would draw your attention to the review I posted from a short cruise last year - just to even the balance of views!!!!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=175176

 

Ken

[guernseyguy]

As being the acknowledged devil's advocate on this board regarding QE2 shortcomings, I would draw your attention to the review I posted from a short cruise last year - just to even the balance of views!!!!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=175176

 

Ken

 

One thing that strikes me is that Ken is describing his experience on a Cruise - many of the QE2ophiles are crossers rather than cruisers - for example, I've never taken a cruise on the QE2, only crossed - where you only embark/disembark once - while on a cruise the shortcomings in tendering Ken identifies may be much more relevant.

 

Peter

[mufi]

We spent a month on QE2 late last year and wonder if Ken was on the same ship. Really she was in good nick, and we certainly did not see any of the scuffed scratched panelling, which looked much more immpresive than the plastic replica ones on QM2, or any frayed carpets.

 

But the real difference for us was the standard of service that just seemed to be given with a bit more pride.

 

I don't class myself as a "QE2 junky", I have sailed on QM2 and was impressed and pleased with the crossing, and a number of other lines ships, some excellent and others not so.

 

No one would wish to sail on the ship described by Ken, but the one we were on would be a great cruise or crossing for anyone.

 

David.

[stowaway2k]

while on a cruise the shortcomings in tendering Ken identifies may be much more relevant.

 

Peter

 

I've tendered on and off QE2 many times without any shortcomings evident. It always, in my experience, went fine.

One can go to probably any cruise line forum and find complaints about tendering.