The bridge on one of the most prestigious ocean liners ever to sail the high seas has been opened to the public for the first time in its 52-year history.
Visitors are now able to explore the command room on Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2), where access was once only reserved for senior crew or VVIPS.
It is also the first time that the ship, which is now a floating hotel in Dubai, has offered daily tours since it launched in 1967.
The bridge on the QE2, which has been opened to the public for the first time in its 52-year history. The ship is now a floating hotel in Dubai
The bridge, where the captain controlled the ship, has been left almost intact since the vessel retired from service in 2008
The QE2 was registered in Southampton and operated from 1967 to 2008. In 2007, the Gulf emirate of Dubai bought the vessel for $100million from Cunard Line
The bridge, where the captain controlled the ship, has been left almost intact since the vessel retired from service in 2008.
Visitors to the bridge are able to get up close and personal with the maritime equipment that the crew used to cross the Atlantic 812 times and circumnavigate the world 25 times.
They can stand at the helm where 25 of the QE2’s captains stood before and find out what happened when a 40-foot wave engulfed the bow of the ship.
They can also discover where the crew would work out how to navigate the oceans before modern technology replaced traditional map reading.
The captain’s day room, the chart room, the flag room and the chief crew captain’s offices, where plans to avert crisis would take place and where the captain would entertain the world’s most notable passengers, can also be discovered.
Guests might also like to take a selfie from the bridge with the skyline of Dubai in the distance.
The QE2 was originally registered in Southampton and operated from 1967 to 2008.
Guests might like to take a selfie from the bridge with the skyline of Dubai in the distance
In its heyday, the QE2 was capable of a top speed of 39mph and carried a total of 1,892 passengers, along with 1,040 officers and crew
When she was retired she had completed 1,400 voyages, covered a distance of six million nautical miles and hosted almost 2.5million passengers
Captain Robin Woodall, master of the QE2, on the bridge of the ship as it was sailed into Liverpool as part of Cunard’s birthday celebrations in July 1990
Weighing 48,923 tons, the vessel is 963ft long, 105ft wide and 171ft tall.
In its heyday, she was capable of a top speed of 39mph and carried a total of 1,892 passengers along with 1,040 officers and crew.
Before being refitted with a diesel power plant in 1986, she was the last oil-fired passenger liner to cross the Atlantic in scheduled service.
When she was retired she had completed 1,400 voyages, covered a distance of six million nautical miles and hosted almost 2.5million passengers.
The ship boasts 224 rooms and suites, a spa, a theatre, a selection of bars and restaurants and a shopping arcade
In the deluxe rooms on board the floating hotel, the original porthole windows remind guests of the ship’s seafaring days
In 2007, the Gulf emirate of Dubai bought the QE2 for $100million from Cunard.
It is now a floating hotel that is permanently moored in Mina Rashid port.
The ship boasts 224 rooms and suites, a spa, a theatre, a selection of bars and restaurants and a shopping arcade.
Tours of the bridge are available daily and pre-booking is essential. The cost of a tour starts from £28.
THE QE2: A FLAGSHIP VESSEL KNOWN FOR ITS GLAMOUR (AND EVEN A STINT AT WAR)
The QE2 was initially designed to be a transatlantic service ship between her home port of Southampton and New York and was built at John Brown’s shipyard, Clydebank.
Operated by Cunard, she began an almost 40-year career in 1969 and served as the flagship of the line until succeeded by RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004.
During her years of service, the QE2 undertook regular world cruises and was known as being the height of glamour.
The QE2 under construction at the John Brown shipyard on the Clyde in 1967. She was launched a few months later by the Queen
Originally featuring three classes of service, the ship appealed to stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and also captured the imagination of the less affluent, who were blocked by stairways and elevators from entering first-class spaces even for a peek.
Passengers dressed for dinner in formal gowns and tuxedos and top-name showbiz stars entertained.
In May 1982 she took part in the Falklands War, carrying 3,000 troops and 650 volunteer crews to the South Atlantic.
This involved her being refitted with three helicopter pads, dormitories and fuel pipes to allow for refuelling at sea.
Incredibly, more than 650 Cunard crew members volunteered for the voyage to transport the members of the Fifth Infantry Brigade to South Georgia.
The vessel returned to the UK in June 1982 and was greeted in Southampton by the Queen Mother.
