Cunard of Today

[Tyler J Frederick]

There are three new Cunard Liners, Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, & Queen Elizabeth. What do you think of Cunard's three new Queens? Tyler Frederick

[Ludwig Bader]

Well, the QM2 is a really great ship, combining traditional atlantic liners design with a modern cruise ship. At least, she is the last purpose-built north atlantic passenger ship - I'm quite sure she won't find a successor in the future.
The Queen V and Queen E are in my eyes nothing more than the ordinary "cruise boxes" with a black painted hull to make people believe they were boarding kind of a "classic" ship - this is nothing but eyewashing to me. Their design is standardized and called "Vista Class", 11 ships of that class are existing (you can read more about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vista_class_cruise_ship). I don't like the skyscraper-like, boxy design of most modern cruise ships, that is the reason why I love the elegant and racy liners of the past so much... If I had the choice whether to sail on Oasis of the Seas or on Mauretania, I wouldn't hesitate to board "Maury" - even when I had no private bathroom or toilet and no 24 hours of party there. That's not my stuff, generally. But of course, this is a question of personal taste.

All the best,

Ludwig

[Tyler J Frederick]

Man, that's the trouble with most people. I've seen Queen Victoria & Queen Elizabeth, & they are gorgeous. Leave it to Cunard to achieve something like the new Queens. They may look like modern Criuse Liners, but inside they're anything but. I love Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, & new Queen Elizabeth. I suggest you watch Queen Victoria & Queen Elizabeth videos, & see their interiors.
Tyler Frederick

[Ludwig Bader]

Dear Tyler,

I know the interiors of the two new Queens well and it doesn't change my mind. The interior design of passenger ships is my special interest and area of expertise - as far as I can say this as a layperson, there are real professionals to be found in this message board.
You've asked for my personal opinion, I told it. There is no use in discussing one's taste - you've got yours, and I've got mine (as I've already mentioned in my last post).

All the best,

Ludwig

[Stephen Laphen]

the cunard cruise company also joined with the carnival cruise company

[Tyler J Frederick]

Cunard may have partner up with Carnival, but Cunard is still Cunard.
T.J.F

[Tyler J Frederick]

Can anybody update me on what the Three Queens are doing right now? Please & thank you.
Tyler

[Timothy Trower]

See www.cunard.com -- and the company is also on Facebook.

[Tyler J Frederick]

Thank you Tim. I'll look into it.
Tyler Joshua Frederick

[Tyler J Frederick]

I have a question. I just started reading Picture History of the Queen Mary & Queen Elizabeth, & I read in the introduction, one line the says Absolutely No Visitors policies. So, why is that policy in place? I don't understand. When I sail, I want well-wishers to say Bon Voyage, have a safe & happy voyage. I don't think I like those policies. Can anyone tell me why we have those? I think it sucks. Thank you.
Tyler Joshua Frederick

[Tyler J Frederick]

Pardon me, I meant the one line that says Absolutely No Visitors. Can somebody tell me why we have that Policy? I think that policy is as bakabakashii, (ridiculous) as the was the law that ships should carry only 16 lifeboats. Tyler

[Dennis Faenza]

Tyler, The policy of No Visitors came into practice in the earlier 70's after the QE2 had received 2 bomb scares and they decided to only allow passengers. All cruise lines have this policy as an added security measure-even more so since 9/11. Most cruise lines X-ray ALL pieces of luggage going onboard .It is a shame as visitors provided great publicity for the lines as this years visitor could very well be next years passenger. Also, the visitor's fee went to seamen charities.
The only non-passengers that can get on the ships now are travel agents as they are the ones who book the ships and all cruise lines want to keep them happy. I was a cruise agent for a while and cruise lines use to give us tours of the ships and served us lunch on board. Unfortunatly, all the security policies are affecting the most innocent. But this is a small price to pay for safety.

[Tyler J Frederick]

Well! That's just great. 2 bomb scares & they outlaw visitors. I'm sorry, but I hate it. this makes me really mad . I hate wussies as well. Why do people do this? Why?! I can't tell how mad I am . I might as well distant myself from everyone & care only for me & the ships. I have to go. Thank you for getting back.
Tyler Joshua Frederick

[David Haisman]

Cunard of today? Unrecognisable to what it was in my day.
After tramping on a Shell tanker for eighteen months on the far eastern trades, the Ascania became my first ship in 1956 that gave me a taste of what ice fields and the Labrador Sea was about. The service from Southampton to Quebec and Montreal was a regular three week ''scoot'' and considered a ''good job'' by seamen. My job as an SOS, ( Senior Ordinary Seaman) was to watch keep with two QM's, recording sea temps, air temps, wet temps and engine revs every hour throughout the watch and record same on a small blackboard at the back of the wheelhouse. Scrubbing the decks around the bridge and cleaning bright work along with many visits to the engine room was all part of the four hour watch. It was also my job to do radar duty and report echos to the officer of the watch. However,this was not very reassuring to navigaters when giving out echo readings on an old war time radar that produced more clutter than anything else but it was there to assist !
On several voyages we would stop overnight in ice fields off of the Strait Of Belle Isle, waiting for day break to continue into the Great St. Lawrence Seaway. It was at times like this when on watch at night that I would try to imagine what it must have been like for my mother and those poor souls stuck out in those icy cold, eerie at times, shimmering ice fields in a clinker built lifeboat in 1912. On those voyages my thoughts also went to those masters of those vessels sometimes in dense fog for days on end, never being able to leave the bridge. I can remember our own captain, a man in his early sixties, almost asleep on his feet with bloodshot eyes, drinking umpteen cups of coffee that I had repeatedly gone to the officers pantry to get for him. These voyages were some 35 years after Titanic yet it still remained a tough call for many of those old masters. The Ascania, built in 1925, some 13 year after Titanic had many similar work practices as the Titanic and was just about the best sea ship I had ever sailed on as she rode beam on seas like a lady.

TITANIC, The Edith Brown Story by David Haisman