QE2 is best compared to a small resort city, divided in suburbs. This is more evident on lengthy voyages, like world cruises; less evident on transatlantic crossings. On world cruises, repeat passengers, also referred to as permanent residents, are the groupies. Seasonal visitors are passengers who opt for segments, board for as few as three days and as many as 60 or 70 days. On a typical world cruise, more than 8,000 passengers are on board - embarking and debarking -during 106 days. Built as a two-class liner, QE2 has been one class for several years, but there are still subtle class distinctions. Your choice of cabin determines the restaurant to which you are assigned. And, there is a difference in cabin size and in restaurants. The QE2 will be joined by a new sister-liner, Queen Mary 2 (QM2) in late 2003.
Activities
- Daily activities organized by cruise staff
- Port lectures and optional shore excursions
- 1 outdoor and 1 indoor swimming pool for a refreshing dip
- Deck sports include golf driving range & putting green, table tennis, paddle tennis, shuffleboard, jogging
- QE2 Spa features health club, massage, sauna, thalasso-therapy, indoor swimming pool, aerobics classes
- Steiner Beauty Salon & Barber for hair and beauty appointments
- Royal Promenade offers duty free shopping for souvenirs, clothing, jewelry, perfume and the first sea-going branch of Harrods
- Casino with table games and slot machines
- Computer Learning Center with scheduled lessons
- Lecture and enrichment program offers insights into world affairs and the arts
- Library and adjacent Book Shop for quiet reading
- Business Center with fax machines and word processors
- Boardroom available for meetings and private functions
- Nusery staffed with professional British nannies and supervised activities
- Video Arcade and Club 2000 teen disco
Entertainment
- Grand Lounge offers broadway musicals and cabaret productions
- Piano music in the Chart Room
- Golden Lion Pub offers sing-alongs and dancing
- Queens Room offers 12-piece orchestra and dancing
- Yacht Club transforms into a disco in the evenings
- Theatre with two-level seating runs movie screenings
Dining on the QE2
is the only cruise ship in the world where the guests' choice of accommodation is paired with an elegant sea-view restaurant, where guests dine throughout the voyage.
- Mauretania Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner in two seatings for guests with inside and select oceanview accommodations
- Caronia Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner in single seating, for guests with oceanview accommodations
- Princess and Britannia Grills serve breakfast, lunch and dinner in single seating, for guests with deluxe and ultra deluxe accommodations
- Queens Grill serve breakfast, lunch and dinner in single seating, for guests with suites and penthouse accommodations
- The Lido offers informal breakfast and lunch buffets
- The Pavilion offer snacks poolside
- Daily afternoon tea with Cunard's white-gloved service
- Complimentary 24-hour room service
Anyone contemplating a QE2 crossing or cruise should keep in mind that when you select your cabin, you are also selecting your restaurant- a vestige of the class system that long ago was the rule on the great liners. When the QE2 first entered service 31 years ago, she was divided into first and tourist classes, (mostly designated by signs rather than closed doors, as was the case aboard the previous Cunard Queens). Tourist class later became transatlantic class, and the first-class-only signs gradually died away.
