In her 39 year ocean-going career, QE2 has undergone numerous alterations to her exterior as well as to her interior.
See below, the main external changes that have taken place.
As she appeared on her maiden voyage in April 1969; beautiful sweeping lines and gracefully stepped after-decks, her revolutionary funnel
in perfect proportion to her forward mast. A true Liner - but with a modern flair.
1972: the first penthouses replace the 1st-class Sports Deck and the forward "Look Out" Observation Lounge is sadly lost with the extension of the galley forward.
1977: the Queen Mary & Queen Elizabeth Suites are added just forward of the recently-added penthouses.
1979-80: for a short time she sported blue boot-topping (an experimental anti-fouling paint)
May 1982 and she was requisitioned as a troop transport in the Falklands War. Her beautiful after-decks were sliced away for
the construction of a helicopter landing platform. Another smaller one was also mounted across her bows.
August 1982: Reinstated after the Falkands War, QE2 appeared for the first time with a Cunard-red funnel but with her hull in pebble grey.
It looks better on the drawing-board because in reality, it showed-up all the rust and scuff-marks and proved too difficult to maintain. It lasted
only until June 1983 when she reverted to dark-grey.
1983/4: her post-Falklands refits retained the Cunard-red funnel but reverted to her traditional dark-grey hull. However, part of her stern was now enclosed and
fitted with a "Magrodome" sliding roof; there were also two new high-capacity tenders mounted on either side, "Alpha" & "Beta". Her beautiful after-decks were gone for ever!
In 1986/7, she was given new diesel engines - and a much fatter funnel became necessary. More penthouses were also added and many now said that QE2 was now
looking more like a "proper" Liner. She was now a middle-aged lady and had lost the slim beauty of her youth!
In the 1994 refit, her stern was tidied-up; the Magrodome was removed, along with the tenders "Alpha" & "Beta". But in a rebranding
of Cunard's image, her grey hull was now painted dark royal blue (but you could hardly tell the difference!) and the ad-men had given her "go-faster" stripes and a
gold Cunard lion emblem on her superstructure!
This is how she has looked from around 2005 until her final voyage in November 2008 to Dubai, where she was due to get another "make-over" for her ultimate conversion to
a hotel and tourist attraction.
Following the global recession, by the time she was eventually refurbished and opened as the long-promised hotel in 2018, her lifeboats and davits had been removed;
something of an indignity for a transatlantic liner but giving her an air of permanent retirement - or was that resignation?
