A Tandem Crossing

The famous QE2 on the tandem crossing with the new Queen Victoria, January 7, 2008. Picture used with permission from the splendid Yahoo LinersList List Owner.

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As their most famous ship and the last true liner on the North Atlantic, the 43 year old Cunarder Queen Elizabeth 2 powers her way to her 2008 retirement. Cunard has positioned the QV and QM2 to replace her in the public’s mind. The new Queen Victoria was accepted by Cunard Fincantieri's yard near Venice in November of 2007. She sailed for Southhampton in the midst of a great publicity campaign by Cunard. And today she and her much older sister, the QE2, are sailing tandem across the Atlantic.

For over a century, if you wanted to go to another continent, Liners offered the only way to cross the oceans from one point to another on what were called line voyages. Many counties financially supported the companies that waved their national flags worldwide. Millions migrated on these subsidized liners in Third Class or Tourist, while the First Class passengers dined above them in dinner jackets and diamonds while sipping fine wines.



In the early sixties, air travel began to whisk travelers from country to country in hours where before it took days. Only slowly did companies like Cunard adapt to the changes and many went out of business when the subsidies were cut off. The QE2 did not begin making world cruises until 1975. Her uneconomical steam turbines were changed to diesel in 1986. This change was one of the reasons she has had such a long life.

QE2 had the latest in 1960’s technology and design when she was launched. There was nothing traditional about the brilliant new technologies such as her bulbous bow and the dramatic new shape of her funnel. The “swinging design” of her Mod interiors targeted the young and was planned to display the best and most modern of British design.

Over the years, this three class ship has been converted to one class, most of her Mod design has been superseded by more contemporary design in several much publicized refits, and there have been continual mechanical and technological updates. The bottom line remains that she is still a 40 plus year old classic liner in an age of cruise ships.



The QE2 and the Queen Victoria left Southhampton and are now sailing in tandem at about 20 knots, says Doug Newman, cruise ship historian and blogger. They did encounter some rough seas on the 7th, but they will arrive on time in New York January 10th. On January 13th, there will be a historic meeting of QE2, QM2, and the new Queen Victoria near the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. Maritime Matters says Cunard recommends the “viewing locations at Battery Park on Manhattan's southern shoreline and Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, overlooking the Hudson River.”

In November 2008, the QE2 will make her last voyage to Dubai World where, after a massive refit, she will begin her new life as a hotel at The Palm Jumeirah.

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