Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/2PJo3Tp
Watch as Gulf News's own Forrest Cassidy re-embarks QE2 after 15 years. A Dubai veteran of 39-years, he has been on 15 trips on the QE2 from 1979 to 2004. Cassidy returned to the ship-hotel docked at Port Rashid for the first time in 15 years to see how much had changed since he last embarked on the ship. Why, he even found his old room!
About the ship
Bomb scares, war, recessions and a 29-metre wave, the Dubai-docked Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) has been through it all since her maiden voyage 50-years ago on May 2, 1969 from Southampton to New York. Crossing the Atlantic in four days, 16 hours and 35 minutes during that first trip made her the fastest passenger ship in service for 39 years from her launch until 2008, when she started her new life in Port Rashid as a floating hotel.
Latest news from the UAE and around the world brought to you by Gulf News. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/videos
Watch as Gulf News's own Forrest Cassidy re-embarks QE2 after 15 years. A Dubai veteran of 39-years, he has been on 15 trips on the QE2 from 1979 to 2004. Cassidy returned to the ship-hotel docked at Port Rashid for the first time in 15 years to see how much had changed since he last embarked on the ship. Why, he even found his old room!
About the ship
Bomb scares, war, recessions and a 29-metre wave, the Dubai-docked Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) has been through it all since her maiden voyage 50-years ago on May 2, 1969 from Southampton to New York. Crossing the Atlantic in four days, 16 hours and 35 minutes during that first trip made her the fastest passenger ship in service for 39 years from her launch until 2008, when she started her new life in Port Rashid as a floating hotel.
Latest news from the UAE and around the world brought to you by Gulf News. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/videos
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I sailed on this ship 15 times, yeah, from 1979 up till then. So naturally it
00:12changed over the years as you'd expect. The Golden Lion pub was installed in
00:181986 when they re-engined the ship. Originally it had steam engines and they
00:24were always breaking down, sometimes in mid-Atlantic. And on one occasion they
00:30took the passengers off the ship in mid-Atlantic and in the lifeboats. But
00:35they served champagne in the lifeboats. This hasn't changed. I can see that. This
00:39hasn't changed at all. Exactly the same. The QE2 was the only cruise ship in
00:44those days and it was the only ship conducting transatlantic sailings. So it
00:49was that or nothing. I've always sort of been attracted to the sea for some
00:53reason. I don't know what it is. It goes way back to when I was just so big. I
00:57thought someday I'll sail on a ship. And that was how it came about. The Ace
01:01Aircase is the only one on the ship that goes from the top right to the bottom.
01:07And you can look right down the depth of the entire ship all the way down.
01:12So things have not changed? No, that hasn't changed that much. The decor has
01:18been changed. The carpets have been changed, some of them. I see they put
01:22in windows and things like that here. And it's a little bit bigger. But it's
01:26still, it's the same shop. So this is the Queen's Grill lounge? Lounge, lounge. You'd
01:34come in here and have cocktails before dinner or lunch. Sit around here and
01:38there's canapes and all the rest of it. This is for the top paying passengers.
01:43The Queen's Grill. Were you one of those? Yes. It was formal everywhere. Everywhere.
01:51Yeah. You walk out with just a sea of tuxedos and evening gowns and all the
01:56rest of it. And so everybody had their very best of behavior. Very civilized.
02:09There used to be a table for six right there where the piano is. They've taken
02:15it out. But that's where I used to sit all the time. A few times. The serving
02:23station is still there. But a few times I sat down at the other end. Back at the
02:28back a couple of times. But this was my favorite table. Because I used to sit
02:31there and survey the whole place.
02:368209. Yes. Yes, I'm home.
02:44Now they've moved. Ah, is this? Yes. I thought so. Yes. You can check out the
02:53facilities here. This is it. I always requested this room. Why? Because this is
03:00the highest in the ship. The highest for the grade of accommodation that I
03:05requested. This was a single cabin. Just a single cabin. Now it's a double as you can
03:10see. But everything, the decor's all changed. They put in this flat TV. There
03:15used to be a TV here in the corner. But the bathroom is the same. The walk-in
03:23closet is still the same. Naturally they would put, the carpet is all new.
03:27Naturally you'd expect these things. So I used to come home at 2 a.m. and I'd look
03:35out the window here at the sea going by. Huge waves all over. Yeah, now naturally,
03:43yeah. But this was the best room on the ship as far as I was concerned.
03:46Normally I didn't sit here like this. I usually slept.
03:51Yeah, this has totally changed. This is, there was nothing like this.
04:09What do you remember of this? They, back in the glory days, they had skeet shooting here. Right down on
04:16the stern they would have skeet shooting. So that you could fire when the ship is
04:20moving. You'd move away. There was no chance of getting shot. There was a place
04:23for the band. And I don't know, now here I don't see any place for the band. And
04:29this is where, this guy, Colin Bryant's Hot Rhythm Orchestra played here. They
04:35sang here. And on those nights it was standing room only. It was jam-packed. And
04:41a lot of the officers came here and mingled with the passengers. And we
04:45listened to all this great music. After dinner and after the show we'd all come
04:49to the Golden Lion. Yeah, packed. It was standing room only. If you didn't get
04:55here early you couldn't sit down. But it was much smaller than this. It's been
04:59expanded in both directions. There used to be a puzzle, a big big big table with
05:06a puzzle here. You know these puzzles where you put the, a jigsaw puzzle, yeah a jigsaw puzzle.
05:14And so anybody passing by could stop and put a couple of pieces in it. And until
05:18by the end of the voyage it's all put together. Well naturally it brings back
05:22memories. It would, wouldn't it after all? Yeah. Especially when you had such a
05:26great time on it.