At Sea with Doug Newman

Without a doubt, there have been few ships that have garnered such a devoted following as Queen Elizabeth 2 has. Indeed, with 39 years of service, sailing over 5.5 million miles and carrying over 2.5 million passengers, sailing to nearly every region of thew world, few ships have had the same sort of opportunity to win the hearts of the public. An icon even to those who have never stepped aboard, QE2 was nevertheless most beloved of us who have had the opportunity to get to know this great lady on a more personal level.

I first became aware of QE2 as a child in the early 1990s, having become captivated by passenger ships, and above all by the great ocean liners of the past. QE2, it was then said, would be the last ocean liner ever to sail. When she was retired, the era of the ocean liner would have come to an end. Cunard was in bad financial shape, its aging fleet falling behind those of its competitors, and the future of the Atlantic ferry was in question. Today we are fortunate enough to have a revitalized Cunard with a bright future, and a grand new ship, Queen Mary 2, to carry on the grand tradition of liner service across the North Atlantic. But the end of QE2 is the end of a great chapter of maritime history, of a ship that beat all the odds — succeeding where every one of her contemporaries failed — and went on to sail farther and carry more passengers than any other.

Throughout my childhood, as I sailed on numerous other ships, an Atlantic crossing aboard QE2 was a cherished dream. When, in April 2004, I saw her accompany the new QM2 on her maiden call to New York, I feared the opportunity to do so may have passed me by. Happily, while QM2 became Cunard’s primary North Atlantic liner, QE2 kept crossing the Atlantic several times a year right to the very end, and so in January 2006 I stepped aboard for the first time in Southampton to fulfill this lifelong dream.

If one builds rapt anticipation for something for nearly a decade and a half, it is bound to be either an enormous delight or an enormous disappointment. Fortunately, my first QE2 experience was the former. Long before the voyage had ended, I had fallen in love with this great ship as I have no other before or since, and resolved to return to her as many times as I could before the end I knew could not be so far off. As it happened I would only have the chance make one more voyage, another wonderful westbound winter crossing in January 2008, accompanied the whole way by the new Queen Victoria and joining QM2 for a historic rendezvous of three Queens in New York. By then everyone knew she had less than a year left, and every passenger and crew member on board was determined to make the very most of what time we had with her. I have never sailed in a “happier” ship.

Altogether I spent just under two weeks aboard (plus a couple of visits to “check up” on her on her periodic calls in New York), a modest sum indeed, but as much as I wish I could have known her longer, I feel tremendously honored and privileged to have had the opportunity to spend that time on board, to savor a truly singular experience and take part in the illustrious history of a grand ship the likes of which we will, perhaps, never see again. When I watched her sail from New York for the last time together with QM2 on an atmospheric, overcast October evening, thronged with sightseeing vessels full of well-wishers, fireboats saluting with their majestic spray, I knew that before my eyes was a great piece of history of which I shall forever be proud to have been a part.

I have made my peace with the future of QE2, but for me she died when the Red Ensign and the Cunard house flag were lowered for the last time in that emotional ceremony in Dubai. When she emerges from her conversion she will be something new — perhaps great, perhaps awful, likely somewhere in between — but the one thing she can never be again is the QE2 so many of us have grown to love. Perhaps someday I shall visit her in her new home, but I have the feeling that it would be like visiting a ghost. I know there are thousands of people around the world who feel exactly the same way.

As sad as we may be, we must remember it could very easily have been far worse. In 1969, when QE2 entered service, you could sail from Europe to the United States on any number of ocean liners — American, British, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian or Swedish. By 1975, they were all gone, off to the breakers or sent on full-time cruising duties, and QE2 was alone, remaining so until QM2 took over in 2004. QE2, born as a symbol of Space Age modernity with the unforgettable slogan, “Ships have been boring long enough,” would soon find herself playing an unexpected role: that of the last living link to a bygone era. She survived Arab terrorists, Argentine submarines, bad management, economic recessions, fuel crises, labor problems, jumbo jets, supersonic transports, the onslaught of a vast flotilla of glitzy new cruise ships, and even a brand-new ocean liner, Queen Mary 2 (after whose introduction some thought she would immediately be retired). And yet, she would sail off against all odds into the record books and into our hearts, perhaps the greatest ship of them all and certainly the greatest of her time.

All good things, though, must come to an end, and so too it is with QE2. Today we sit at the end of an era. The future for Cunard could scarcely be brighter, with a magnificent new ocean liner, Queen Mary 2, about to celebrate her fifth anniversary carrying on the great North Atlantic liner tradition and finally step into the limelight as her more famous predecessor fades away, and a fine cruise ship, Queen Victoria, having been sailing the world for a year now, with a sister, a new Queen Elizabeth, soon to sail over the horizon as well. I have already had the pleasure of sailing in QM2, and in the next year and half plan on doing so two more times, and in due course I hope to sail in the rest of the fleet as well. So today I say wholeheartedly, “The Queen is dead, long live the (new) Queens.” But I shall never forget the many happy memories I have of the incomparable ship that captured my heart and mind like no other, the wonderful QE2.

Goodbye, old girl. I’ll miss you. We all will.

For those of you who haven’t yet, you can see my photos of QE2’s last departure from New York here. You can see a round-up of the BBC’s farewell coverage here.