This is a really special documentary. Very chill narrative and ambience. It has all kinds of nostalgia. From the ‘90s to the transatlantic days of yesteryear. Seeing so much of the QE2 as she was is also so special. I got the privilege of boarding the ship as a VIP on her last visit to Los Angeles in March 2008. It was a dream come true.

I sailed on the QE2 in 1974 if I remember well, from La Guaira, Curazao, Florida and up to NY, and back to La Guaira with a few stops in Caribbean islands. I wish I was older by then, I was a 9 or 10 year old kid, but still, Im so thankful to my parents who took me on that trip

I worked on the Holland America Line passengers' liners (SS Nieuw Amsterdam was the grand old lady of HAL is one of them) in the 50's & 60's and arriving or leaving New York was a memorable highlight for me until I saw this beautiful doco about "The Transatlantic crossing of the QE II to New York", bring back memories for me, those were the days my friend..........................!!!!! *******!!!!!! job well done with this doco.

Brilliant documentary, even for people who start off with no interest in ship travel. There are such a wide range of topics that are hinted at - economics, immigration, energy, entertainment, hospitality....

REALLY ENJOYED THIS HAVING WORKED ONBOARD THE QE2 IN THE QUEENS GRILL RESTAURANT. THANKYOU FOR POSTING THIS.

Plenty of fond memories from working onboard QE2 . Especially seeing my uncle John Duffy - RIP ..as he would say to me throughout childhood "is everything going according to plan "

Some comments on this important archive video: I worked on the QE2 1977/79 Transatlantic crossings and World Cruise as shop manager. 1/ transatlantic crossings were 5 days and we cruised around 30 knots so what is the Commodore saying when he says she was faster under the diesel electic conversion. 2/ I joined her after what we crew called her ‘Miami refit’ - when the beautiful Bannenburg and Hicks interiors of the 1960’s were gutted and buggered, but before the post-Falklands refit buggered her even more! 3/ yes the Chinese laundry crew were never seen ever ! Even we crew never saw them. There was a scandal on board I recall when some of us crew complained our underwear was going missing. Eventually a raid was carried out on the laundry crew quarters (where they slept up to ten in rotation in cabins) and found our underwear pinned to boards on the wall with our names attached to each garment. I gather they were sent home, but I felt sorry for the poor chaps with zero entertainment but stealing our boxers ! 4/ there was a gay crew bar on board, and even gay porn was shown in crew theatres, we were often bribed by passengers to take them to the gay bar, but it was forbidden to take passengers below deck. 5/ that joke about a passenger ‘refusing a place at the Captains table’ is as old as the Mauretania and total myth. 6/ another myth I did believe was that the QE2 could perform open heart surgery at sea! This was obviously known to all crew, yet it was untrue from this documentary. 7/ I held officer status on board and dined in the Tables of the World restaurant three times daily and we only had “caviar and its satellites” as it was called on the menu one day per crossing in tourist class. I had my own tiny inside D deck cabin I hardy saw except to sleep. God I loved that ship

Wonderful video ! Thank you very much

Love it! Want to cross from Southampton with QM2 in 2021!

At 8:49 you can see the pocket watch recovered from someone on the titanic wreck. You can just make out the rusted nubs where the hands used to be, showing roughly 2 :20 AM. The very moment the titanic took her final plunge dooming anyone left clinging to her stern. Absolutely haunting.

THx uploader I never got to see or photo this ship as I was young and not into Ships back then. Great video

I LOVED being played off by the band as we sailed out of Southampton, it really felt like something out of a different age

I’m glad she’s back well not on the high seas but a floating hotel in Dubai

I know at this point its been remodelled.. but to watch a document on the ship my mom came on is pretty cool.. it took seven days till Canada and my mom and her whole family or seasick..

Regular transatlantic liner service has returned with the Oueen Mary 2.

Loved the QE2.

Beautiful

The closest one can come to this kind of elegance is to travel first class on one of the better airlines. A close approximation to the old days but sadly you don't go to the dining salon, it comes to you. Just not the same!

We had six weeks on this beautiful ship we travelled from New York to Sydney. Great memories

I sailed on the QE2 in 2003 when it did a 31 day roundtrip transatlantic from NYC to do a 15 day Meditterranean cruise & return to NYC.! Since I did not have that much time off from work< I met the ship in Southhampton & left the ship 15 days later,there & flew home! The QE2 was still a magnificent ship, even after 34 years then! The cleanliness of even the engine room was beyond belief! The saddest thing onboard was a circular room that contained a huge rap around mural depicting the QE2 entering NY harbor with the TWIN TOWERS in the background & the plane CONCORDE flying above. Now, all of them are gone. SAD!

Wow Beautiful Ship .We took The QUEEN MARY 2 to New York and Back The ON board Library was Great .."THE OLD SHIP CHARM " WAS just 👍zGreat

I see crew I worked with in it. Great Memories, but very hard work and long hours.

Weird to see Perkins so low down in the chain of command....he eventually became master of QE2!!! He's a really nice guy, though, and John Duffy was something else, a true gentleman...RIP...

I did 8 Transatlantic crossings and each was wonderful!

I did this crossing my my dad in the 80's. There was a big storm at sea and my dad ran to collect us first thing in the morning to get to the lifeboats. I think he was particularly vigilant and he wasn't going to take any chances as his grandfather lost his life on the (also Cunard) Lusitania when it was hit by a torpedo 1915.

I had the honor to work as a waiter on the QE2 on a month long cruise from NY to Southhampton ,canari islands and back to southhampton then NY.

Could not think of anything worse.

I loved this video, brought back some happy memories of working on board QE2 as a Stewardess 1969-1975.....Maureen

The last of the real luxury liners. Very beautiful! Today a hotel in Dubai. I'm glad she still exists. They've been very busy scrapping beautiful older ships lately.

QE2 was the last purpose built Atlantic liner. I remember watching her sailing in the Solent having been delayed for some reason, heading East on her last voyage on her way to Dubai. Having been in Southampton earlier that evening it was amazing to see and hear that no matter what company they belonged to, all the cruise ships leaving harbour sounded their horns at her in farewell and by God did she respond!! gave goosebumps me hearing it then and even now at the memory. There were all three Queens in harbour that day, QE2, QM2 and Queen Victoria. Gosh the QE2 is missed. Such a beautiful ship opposed to the floating hotels that now are called cruise ships. 😞😢

26:22 - If it is westbound passage, the clocks should be set BACK, not ahead.

Our lovely neighbours Doreen and Gordon {UK} sailed on this ship..Probably about 1997...They bought me a pen as a souvenir for looking at their Tortoise, Peter..Who became 'Peta' when it was discovered he was a she years ago....'Peta' was bought in the early 1950's...Doreen and Gordon were perfect neighbours...they loved their Cruises, but ironically they loved Oriana better!.... they said she was 'friendlier' RIP my lovely neighbours👍💯💕🛳🌊⚓️🙏

My wife and I took the QE2 in Dec. of 1983. The weather was terrible, ship was tossing and rolling and people were getting hurt. We were a day late getting to NY. I haven't been on a ship sense.

mate of mine worked on the ship when it was getting built on the Clyde Scotland .

QE2 is certainly a more attractive ship with her long fore deck as opposed to the newer QM2.

When we sailed on QE2 the crossings were 5-days (not 6-days). The 70,000 ton ship had a service speed of 28.5 knots like the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth as well as the ss United States and ss France. The QE2 was a very fast ship and it was not uncommon for her to be sailing at over 30-knots to make up time. In comparison her replacement Queen Mary 2 (2004 151,000 tons) was designed as a 6-day ship and in recent years the ship has been slowed to conserve fuel and now crosses at a leisurely 7-8 days which is a bit long for many use to the speedy QE2.

The QE2 was meant to keep tradition while unlinking the ship with the "old" image of ocean travel, so it had a youthful appearance inside to appeal the younger generation. By the 90's this feeling was getting lost as we already had companies focused on cruise market for the young and then Cunard refitted QE2 to recovery the old liners Art Deco style, like the original QE and Queen Mary.

It still is a good documentry though.

Filmed in 1997 judging by Hurricane Erika and the World Trade Centre still standing.

Dan Regular transatlantic never stopped so the fact you state it returned with Queen Mary 2 is wrong, Queen Mary 2 entered service in January 2004 with a maiden voyage from her home port of Southampton to Ft Lauderdale where she was based until April 2003 undertaking cruises to the Caribbean. After returning to Southampton she undertook her first transatlantic crossing from Southampton to New York where she rendezvoused with the Queen Elizabeth 2, they both made a simultaneous crossing from New York to Southampton and both arrived on May 1 2004. On that date the Queen Mary 2 took over as flagship and took over the regular transatlantic crossings from the Queen Elizabeth 2 which continued as a cruise ship with Cunard until her retirement in November 2008.

muito bom

like the Americans say Bologne! that 1960s myth of travel by air needs to be dropped. i took several cruises in my time and the worse part of each one was having to take a plane from my hometown to the cruise ship. that fascination with air travel now 50 some years later has turned into a nightmare. i once traveled from Los Angeles, California to Athens Greece in coach. when my vacation was over the thought of getting back into a coach seatn made me ill. i d have rather swam back if i could or in a row boat, bring back the ocean liners. airplanes don t fly any faster and if you want a bigger seat you ll pay thousands of dollars more for those few extra inches and still be trapped in your seat when its time to eat. if i have to pay thousands i d rather it be on an ocean liner. they don t have to be as big as modern cruise ship sizes, hint hint, just as long as they have that the 1930s Queen Mary look. do a market analysis beore hand, and i believe you will be surprised how many people would say ship me over not interested in sending me by airmail.

The narrator mispronounces a couple of words including at 23:12 where he pronounces Cunard as "Cunnerd" as opposed to "Cue-nard". At 26:24, the narrator states that each day at noon the ship sounds its horn to remind passengers to move their watches ahead one hour. Since this is a westbound voyage, passengers would be putting their watches back one hour.

Excellent. Thank You P.S. Don't knock it. Enjoy it. That's the fun of it, and it won't last forever. I have always wanted to sail on the Queen. Maybe I will,some day. I will enjoy it.

Scene: passengers taking the sun in desk chairs. Whistle blows signifying noon. The narrator said "time to move your watches ahead one hour." In fact, watchers should be set one hour BEHIND. Each time zone is one hour behind the previous one.

The queen mary of 1936 was actualy 1019 ft long not 990 ft as stated. She was the first ocean liner to exceed 1000ft. Normandie was slightly longer overall but was only 998 ft at the waterline

44:23 obviously this was filmed before 9/11 44:45 The QE2 sails UP the Hudson River not down.

Qe2 built in Clydebank ,john browns launch Clydebank, Scotland, in 1967.

I wish the Queen Mary 2 could berth on the Hudson in Manhattan instead of over in Brooklyn. It'd be so exciting to see straight up those skyscraper canyons as she came in to dock. On the other hand, we do have the Queen Mary 2, contrary to the expectations of the makers of this film. So it's a sacrifice worth making.

Stopped watching halfway through after I hit 12 ads to watch this video!

The scariest place on any ship, during the night, are the open decks.

At 10;45 you say that the passengers are watching from the bridge. I seriously doubt that. The bridge when leaving port is a busy place. The occupants of the bridge probably included the captain and some other officers as well seamen steering the ship and operating engine controls. There probably are no paying passengers there.

On the QE2 where snobbery is an art form.

The picture you have is the RMS QUEEN MARY SHE HAD 3 Stacks. The Elizabeth had 2

RIP CHARLES NOICETTI, FORMER CREW MEMBER ON THIS SHIP XXX

In 82/83 school year we watched her travel down the Delaware river. I'm assuming that she was either going to or coming from Philly. I lived in Delaware then and the school was south of Philly along the same river.

Oh boy!!! 100th like ;)

7:48 I can relate with Alastar

The undisputed pinnacle of beauty, style, and class was embodied in French Normandy. If you don't believe that, you just compare top French gastronomy with what the British and Germans were able to serve at the time.

The RS Queen Mary is 1010 feet long, not 990! Until the late 90s only four passengers ship was over 1000 long, and that was the SS Normandie, RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth and SS France, so it annoys me when people try to shorten the Queen Mary.

SEABOURN IS NICE TOO

I worked on-board in 1989 world crusie

Imagine crossing the Mighty Pacific it would take twice as long. The Atlantic is small by comparison.

Very good documentary! What a shame the Mauretania model inside the QE2 is not accurate... Actually it is a Lusitania model modified to look like Mauretania. Greetings from Brasil.

Hi I would like to inquire about the shortest trip possible from Europe to America (preferably New York), as I would like to travel to America within two months. I never want to get on a plane. I will go from Jordan to a European country (according to your answer) and then travel by ship to America. How can you help me and what is the shortest and most suitable trip? I have a fear of planes so I have to travel by ship. Thank you so much

the old Queen Mary is tied up as a hotel in the USA but a bankrupt one with a doubtful future. Old ships as hotels / nightclubs is a risky business.

Did they change the sewage pipes now hotel

I bet all the crew were transferred to the MS Queen Elizabeth, MS Queen Victoria, or the Queen Mary 2.

English colonization in North America began with the establishment of Jamestown in 1607, 13 years before the Mayflower Pilgrims.

The band palying as the ship departed - last time I saw this was in 2003, you don't see it now as cruising has become ordinary for most people. Shame really.

Looks like 70% of the passengers are in their 70’s

Where did I go wrong? I've only cruised on Carnival from New Orleans to the Western Caribbean....t'was nothing like what's shown here!

18:18 please name the Game?

Is so traditional and typical that still in these days that the people who run the laundry department are most of them Chinese ! Like in the days of the cowboys in the west the same !

i meed a ship cabin to spain frm floride

boxes with a pointed end, exactly. like a floating apartment block. no grace, no elan. pack them in cheap and cheerful. HI DE HI at sea.

Great. The background music is crap, though.

At 4 minutes 24 seconds the commentator says a length of 990 ft for the Queen Mary and that is incorrect. That is the length of the SS United States.

Who is going to rob the caviar, mind you the beer isn't under lock and key.

It's surprising that washing room was allowed to be filmed.

Qm 900 foot they got that wrong

It`s kind of strange to think that most of those passengers and crew are long since dead. Moral of the story... enjoy life while you can.

This plonker at 18:55 showing off his skills at smelling and tasting wines and then accepting it makes me laugh.....you never see these plonkers refusing wine do you??....maybe they are afraid to do so in case they are asked what is wrong with the wine.

"This 990 ft long liner" why don't these amateurs do some proper research and get their facts right ? The Queen Mary was 1019 ft Long. In fact she was the first liner EVER to exceed 1000ft. The SS Normandie was longer overall but NOT at the waterline. She was only 998 ft at the waterline with a massive overhang at the stern .

A great looking ship. But the interiors! Something like a floating motel really. Low ceilings, plastic furniture and lack of detail.

Mostly old folks

The Atlantic is a bathtub compared to the mighty Pacific.

Well I'll take my oxygen tank and walker and hobble on board. Looks like I'll fit in with the other old farts.

Hell was she cheap looking inside compared with the first Queen Elizabeth. I've been on board both and agree with a writer in the press who said - If the first Q.E.was art deco inside then the second could only be described as art disco! priceless!

RIP Twin Towers 🙏 44:28

The photo before your introduction was not of the QE2. Lost me before you even started.

Great biography, but with Cunard when there ships get about 20 to 25 yrs old so their getting to old and Cunard need a brand new liner. Myself the Queen Mary today still looks great. The QE2 looks nice but something that looks like space station. How Cunard can afford to go with new liners through there 20 yr period they went broke cause Cunard can’t afford brand new. I admit QE2 went on to serve Cunard almost 40 yrs because Cunard couldn’t afford to build another a brand new liner. So today Carnival built the beautiful Queen Mary2 for Cunard to run the QM2 is twice as big as QM her predecessor was but Cunard wouldn’t keep the two Queens they wanted brand new. I hope the QM2 last longer than the QE2 she’s a beautiful Ocean Liner.

Every time I see the twin towers - in an old movie or documentary- I can’t help crying.

Not historically accurate-intro does not mention Jamestown settlement.

Successive refits and alterations really ruined the QE2. Towards the end some of the main public areas were awful - in particular the 'Grand Lounge' which, when originally designed, had a beautiful sweeping staircase of glass and chrome. This was removed and a hideous shopping arcade placed on its upper level. The fat funnel which replaced the original slim line one was a big mistake too. Worst of all was the unbelievable decision to replace the lovely forward Lookout Bar with a kitchen!

No views of different cabin accomodations. ~ A lot of below-deck "crew" etcs.

That’s why it’s not in the UK...

It's obvious the minimum age to be a passenger is 50.... Ding-Ding Ding-Ding It's 8:30 and time for bed... All passengers please return to your cabins. Hyacinth Bucket was a passenger on the QE2... I'm not knockin it though---

Why were the laundry workers forced to stay below decks and live in such cramped conditions? That's horrible! Also, where are the crewpeople of colour?

my idea of hell a floating city and nowhere to get away from the crowds...such pretentious assholes...