The Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary and QE2 all did a stint as troop ships ...... Wonderful looking elegant ships ..... Saw the QE2 moored in Dublin Bay and on the Med ...... People came from everywhere, all over Ireland to see it .....
It was a beautiful summers day when it made it's first visit to Dublin in July 97 .... I came over the hill and down in the distance was this work of art ...... gracefully basking in the sunshine ....... Her peerless splendour couldn't be matched for sheer stage presence ..... A show stopper .......
Wonder if the QM2 will ever be needed ...... Unlike the elegance of design of it's predecessors, it's top heavy looking, lumpy and definitely a case for less is more ...... It reminds me of what the designers did to the Rolls Royce ...... gave it a beefy overweight, industrial look ...... Not attractive at all .......
Some people might like that ..... but then some people have no eye for detail or little taste .....
The designer, Stephan Payne, was awarded an OBE for services ...... In an interview he said he was always enchanted and inspired by the early great liners design and their elegance.....
Bearing that in mind he would use that knowledge to design a truly elegant ship in the same tradition .....
Some people sure know how to talk a good fight .........
Some photo angles do make the hull of the QM2 look curvy and sleek ..... The bridge is the same design as what went before, except it is too wide and completely out of proportion, as is the upper decks, with the hull they rest on ..... Too square looking and a little like a big boxy overladen container ship ......
Having said all that I'm sure it will attract the crowds as the QE2 did ...... Below in the foreground is the old Queen Mary. She is being paid a visit by the cumbersome looking QM2 .... which looks like any other ship or ferry of the day .....
In fairness the photo doesn't do the new QM2 any favours but, the truth is, she just isn't very photogenic ....... or splendid at all ......