The Queen Elizabeth 2 is now moored in Dubai, where she serves as a luxury floating hotel and entertainment destination at The Palm Jumeirah.
Completed in 1969, this cruise liner from Cunard was the last trans-Atlantic liner built until the Queen Mary 2 arrived on the scene in early 2004. At 70,327 tons, the QE2 is half the size of her larger sister, but the 963-ft vessel is truly an ocean liner, built to take the heaviest seas in the world's oceans. Her normal cruising speed is 25 knots, and when necessary, she can ratchet up to over 30 knots.
Public rooms include the Grand Lounge, the ship's barely adequate showroom with a main seating level and a narrow mezzanine, and the splendid original 1960s designed Queen's Room for a major afternoon tea performance, dance classes and ballroom dancing at night with gentlemen hosts circulating. The most attractive lounge bar of all is the Chart Room, a popular watering hole enlivened by a harp and a historic piano from the old Queen Mary. The Crystal Bar, well situated for Mauretania and Princess and Britannia Grill-room passengers, spans the width of the ship for pre-meal cocktails and after-dinner drinks. All the way aft, the Yacht Club sees quiet use during the day and is the meeting place for the staff, officers and young-at-heart passengers at night. The Golden Lion Pub draws the fun-loving and beer drinkers for quizzes and karaoke.
Lectures, films and concerts take place in the two-level, 530-seat theater. The library is extremely popular for reading, research and meeting people. It could be considered the ship's Grand Central. Shopping includes the bookshop, adjacent to the library, a Cunard souvenir logo shop, and high-end boutiques for clothing, jewelry, perfumes and china. The computer center offers free lessons, and Internet and e-mail access. The spa, located deep down in the ship, offers hydro massage, beauty treatments, free saunas and a Turkish bath. The indoor pool is enclosed in glass (claustrophobic), sharing the space with a small gym. Most people prefer to use the pool located aft on One Deck and its flanking popular pair of whirlpools. Sports include golf, basketball, table tennis and shuffleboard, and a Boat Deck that is highly popular for constitutional walkers and joggers.
Dining venues vary according to cabin category, a major cost consideration when booking. Passengers in the highest grade accommodations, Q and P, eat in one of three grill rooms. The Queens Grill, the top of the line as well as top of the ship, seats 238 on two levels, and passengers can order off the menu, and enjoy caviar and smoked salmon. Some regulars prefer the smaller 100-seat Britannia or Princess grills, both with their individual character and big-window views to starboard or port. Menus are similar to the Queens Grill, and all three have access to the private windowed Queens Grill Bar on boat deck. Afternoon tea here features fresh scones and individual containers of clotted cream. The spacious high-ceilinged Caronia Restaurant seats 550 at one sitting. The Mauretania seats 400 at each of two sittings, with breakfast and lunch one open sitting. For casual dining for all three meals, the sprawling Lido restaurant offers a somewhat crowded alternative for breakfast and lunch, but much less so for dinner. The Indian meal is the best theme offering at night. A tiny glass-enclosed Pavilion on One Deck offers early morning Continental breakfast until the Lido opens, then simple grill lunches and frozen yogurt. Around-the-clock room service rounds the meal offerings except in the Mauretania categories.
With so many cabin categories, choosing the right one and its link to one of four restaurants presents a major task. Configurations vary within the same category. The lowest grades are insides with upper and lower berths. Some include inflexible twin beds or ones that slide together, sitting areas by the porthole or more inside the room. Intercommunicating doors for families may also leak noise if the neighbors have the TVs on high volume. The roomy Q3 cabins, original to the ship on One and Two Decks, have the most ocean-liner character with walk-in dressing rooms, oodles of storage space, wall paneling and, in some cases, paneled ceilings. All cabins have TV with CNN and movies. Categories C4 and up have tub baths. Only four are wheelchair-accessible, and ramps have been added, but not all public room spaces are equally accessible. The top Queens Grill cabins and suits share the two highest decks and are reached by two private staircases and one elevator. Most have private balconies.
