QE2 V Norway

Onboard Organisation

The organisation and information on my recent QE2 crossing was far superior to that onboard the SS Norway’s crossing in September 2001. However, it should be, the QE2 does the trip very regularly! The SS Norway’s was a one off, which seemed to confuse the staff, no end. However, this is no excuse!

QE2 1, Norway 0

Dining

The evening food and service in the QE2’s Mauritania was not as good as NCL’s Leyward dining room.

The Lido buffet food on the QE2 was possibly better than that in the SS Norway’s ‘Great Outdoors’, which tended to be luke warm.

QE2 2, Norway 1

Entertainment

I never seemed to finish my evening meal on either ship in time to catch the start of the shows!

The entertainment on both the QE2 and the Norway was nothing to write home about. The QE2 did have the excellent Bill Miller lecturing, although the Broadway shows and guest singers were not as good as those onboard the SS Norway. Overall I’d give the SS Norway the edge, here.

QE2 2, Norway 2

Interior Condition

The QE2 public rooms are probably better maintained than the SS Norway, although I did not think that there is a lot in it? The QE2 has certainly had more expensive refits.

QE2 3, Norway 2

I liked the SS Norway’s Saga Theatre better than the QE2’s ‘Grand Show-Lounge’.

The Club International is one of the most attractive rooms at sea, and is better than the QE2’s ‘Queen’s Room’.

QE2 3, Norway 4

The QE2’s Lido (casual buffet dining) is far superior to the SS Norway’s terrible and overcrowded ‘Great Outdoors’. The QE2 ‘Yacht Club’ disco/bar is better than SS Norway’s ‘Dazzels’, which is in need of renovation. It gets overlooked by passengers because of its location.

QE2 5, Norway 4

I like the SS Norway’s internal promenade decks better than the QE2’s.

The SS Norway has more deck space, than the QE2. I particularly enjoyed a night time walk on the upper deck with the funnels.

QE2 5, Norway 6

The QE2 book shop is great, being full of Ocean Liner material. The SS Norway has the normal range of ‘tacky’ shops.

QE2 6, Norway 6

Cabins

You can probably get a better cabin for your money on the SS Norway, compared to the QE2?

QE2 6, Norway 7

I think that the SS Norway’s Windward dining rooms is a very attractive dining room, and is unique in this modern age.

The QE2’s Caronia is a very attractive dining room too, but the windward gets my vote, especially as I was not allowed to dine in the Caronia (not even for lunch or breakfast).

QE2 6, Norway 8

Itineraries

Without doubt the QE2 offer a more interesting range of itineraries.

QE2 7, Norway 8

Technical

The SS Norway has more vibration from her engines than the QE2’s. In fact the QE2 has virtually none.

Air Conditioning: The SS Norway Air-Con works well throughout the ship, but is noisy in the cabins, if put on full. QE2: Ineffective in the public rooms and corridors often making them very stuffy.

QE2 8, Norway 9

The Norway wins in my rather unscientific comparison.

A Final Word

If you are interested in maritime history, I would recommend that you try both ships.

[ 01-05-2003: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
I particularly enjoyed a night time walk on the upper deck with the funnels.

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One for the humour thread. I wish I were a cartoonist! One in each hand?

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QE2 8, Norway 9
The Norway wins in my rather unscientific comparison

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Size: Yes the Norway feels much bigger than the QE2!

Decor: Both ships have a range of public rooms, some of which are modern in style, and some of which are period in style. This can make for a strange mis-match, on both ships.

For example,the QE2's grills are looking positivele Edwardian these days, while other areas (Queens Lounge) still have the 'Austin Powers' 1960's look.

The Norway has a modern sports bar, Dazzeles, a 1970's disco and the classic Club - I.

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Originally posted by empressport:
Oh, Malcolm, please don't tell me you liked the Sports Bar

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Don't worry, I hated it. However it is a useful sized space. They should of left it as Checkers Cabaret!

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Originally posted by PamM:
Interesting comments Malcolm, I wonder if I'll ever get on either.
Pam

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Originally posted by nathan:
However, now the QE2 is superior to Norway due to upkeep, level of service, etc.

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Fair comment.

However, I did not get superior food and service in the Mauritania dining room.

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

Fair comment.

However, I did not get superior food and service in the Mauritania dining room.

Both ships are showing their age now.

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Well, I've never sailed the Norway but for what ever consolation it may be, we didn't consider the food and service in Caronia Class to be anything to rave about and certainly not superior to what we have experienced on other ships.

One time for breakfast...the menu said I could have my eggs any style...I love eggs benedict and asked for that...the waiter didn't even know what I was talking about...the Matre D came in and told me that they don't have any hollandaise sauce for the egss benedict...which is not hard to make. That was a disappointing experience...the waiter even argued with me...which should never happen.

I also ate in the Princess Grill and the wait staff was very refined and did a wonderful job. The menu had strange things on it....duck liver??? I found the food too be so exquisite that I didn't care for it that much...but I did like the sherbert in a glass sculptured cup.

When I worked on QE2 as a member of the Staff, we ate next to the Mauritania Restaurant in our own little room. It was always buffet style...but the same stuff that the passengers were eating. The English seem to like large quantities of "meat & potatoes"...because that's all we got.

Technically speaking I thought that the QE2 was more advanced and a smoother ride. The Norway had an interesting shimmy (vibration side to side) even in calm waters.

I do like the Windward dinning room better than anything QE2 had to offer....Windward is very classy and more classic ocean liner feel to it.

I liked the Club International, but it doesn't compare to the freshly refurbished QE2. Dazzles is very outdated...but I had fun swiming in the pool and looking through the big porthole into the disco.

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Originally posted by Barryboat:
Dazzles is very outdated...but I had fun swiming in the pool and looking through the big porthole into the disco.

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I'm told in the 1970's (the 'Saturday Nigh Fever' Era)Dazzles was the most popular public room onboard!

This may sound strange, but I actually feel more like I am on a classic ocean liner on the NORWAY then I did on QE2. Something about NORWAY just feel more classic to me. Maybe the stair towers, the corridors, Club International, the enclosed promenades... I don't really know.

I felt NORWAY was in at least as good of condition as QE2... and frankly I thought QE2 was looking a bit frayed around the edges. NORWAY can get away with this for $299 cruises, but for what Cunard charges for QE2 they should be ashamed. The decor onboard QE2 was nothing inspiring. I think I would have much preferred QE2 during her inception, with the mod 60's/70's decor. I think this was when she was at her finest. Subsequent refits seem to have taken the soul away from QE2, and now she looks like a slightly dated Hilton hotel in many of her lounges.

I've sailed on NORWAY four times, and the cruise in 2001 will probably be my last. The first time I sailed was on her second or third cruise. I was only 13 or 14 at the time, but I remember it well. WHAT A SHIP! There was a waiting list over a year to even get a reservation, and discounts were unheard of. Sailing on NORWAY in 1980 was a much higher expense then in 2003 - AMAZING! There was a big band onboard, a marching band that played on deck, headliners for entertainment like Tom Jones ,Diane Carroll, and Phyllis Diller. The full scale Broadway production show was Hello Dolly, and it was fantastic! NCL advertised NORWAY as "the biggest week in the world", and it was! The two fantastic enclosed promenades had strolling musicians, mimes, performers, etc. They could certainly be considered the inspiration to the Royal Promenade onboard VOYAGER OF THE SEAS. Too bad QE2 doesn't have anything even close.

Dazzles was spectacular, and NCL made a big deal out of the glass dance floor built over the old FRANCE tourist class pool. And yes, those fantastic double portholes looking into the pool were great fun. This was all new stuff in 1980, and it was really something! NORWAY truly set the benchmark for the cruise industry we enjoy today, and the mega-ships that are being built left and right.

NORWAY has endured, and even at $299 7-day cruises she offers a fantastic value. The fact she can still somewhat compete with the new mega-liners that sail out of Miami with her every weekend says a lot. While there is not all that much of FRANCE left on NORWAY, there doesn't need to be. NORWAY has claimed the right to have her own identity, and the fact she used to sail as FRANCE only enhances that!

I sailed in March of 1981 and was just blown away by everything that was available onboard. A two story drug store, its own TV studio (WNCL), headline entertainment with Phillis Diller, Broadway play "Hello Dolly" with a full orchestra, a marching band that played on deck as we sailed out of Miami, the Sea Legs Revue which in my opinion still has not been surpassed on even the newest of ships, free large size postcards of the ship at the Pursers Information Desk, a complimentary large folder in each cabin with more postcards, note paper, envelopes, ship information & facts sheets, shore tour information and other items, all with the Norway name on the front, complimentary blue plastic shopping bags that were the exact color of her hull to carry in port and to take home after the cruise, matchbooks with ss Norway printed on the cover in every lounge (I must have taken 50 of these!), paper drink-napkins with her name on them and the list can go on and on. She was so special, so unique, and already so loved that in St. Thomas as the RCCL Sun Viking left port she made a complete circle of the Norway while playing the Norwegian national anthem on her loud-speakers as their passengers and ours cheered and waved at each other. To sail on her was an event and even my Travel Agent was excited about my cruise as I was the first passenger her agency had booked to sail on the Norway. After the cruise I stopped by to show her all the pictures I had taken and tell her how great the trip had been.

I will always fondly remember the smell of her, like the special brand of suntan lotion that was sold onboard.
I will remember being on deck late that first night, a Sunday, watching the Emerald Seas, the Flavia, the Dolphin and the Sunward II passing by one after the other, as they headed toward Miami from Nassau, blinking their funnel lights three times each at us and Norway replying back the same way.
I will remember those funnels, so tall back then as they towered above the top deck (before the new decks were added) looking so powerful and graceful at the same time with the original swoop paint work, smoke curling out of the fins and passing by either side of the ship.
For all the cruises I have taken since that first one, none have ever surpassed the Norway. She was and still is a very special one-of-a-kind liner. NCL has been good enough to keep her for so long now that perhaps many forget she is still around as it seems that only the new ships get all the attention now. Granted, the Norway today is not the same cruise experience that she was in 1981. No longer the largest in the world, no longer the envy of the cruise industry, however the Norway is unique as one of the last of the great liners of the 20th century. There will never be another one like her.

Originally, the ship was divided into two sections for ease of getting around. Light pink in the forward section, and a pale aqua blue for the aft section. Even your ticket jackets were the color of your section, and your boarded at Pier 1 for forward, or Pier 2 for aft. It was the only ship ever to take up two piers! Onboard, you always knew what part of the ship you were in just by looking down, at the color of the carpet. Quite innovative, and everything was so well thought out by NCL. Even the tenders..... 400 passenger ships in their own right. Again, no other ship could come close to the innovations. The only modern day equivalent might be VOYAGER OF THE SEAS.

Great memories, and thanks for bringing them back!

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Originally posted by Barryboat:
I actually used paint from the NORWAY to make sure that my paint color was authentic and the right color. I brought a small jar and while a guy was painting the side of the ship I asked him to scoop some into my jar.

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Wow...if you still had the small paint pot, you could probably sell it for a fortune one day - assuming it had not gone hard?

On a more serious, note, do you ever speculate how history may have been different?

NCL saved the France by turning her into a mass market cruise ship. To a large extent NCL do not play on Norway?s heritage to sell her cruises. Value would seem to be her overriding selling point, these days.

This is of course completely the opposite approach to Cunard. Their entire marketing campaign for their fleet is based on Ocean Liner nostalgia and the perception of quality. You only need to look at the luxurious brochures, complete with historical maritime images, to see this.

I cannot help wondering what would have happened if the France had been saved and re-launched as an up-scale vessel, with the finest dining and classic Ocean Liner itineraries to match? (We have discussed tis before.)

Could she have competed with the QE2? Is there room for two Ocean Liners in today?s cruise market?

It will be interesting to see how effective Cunard?s nostalgia approach will be at selling two brand new ships, that really have little connection with the past, apart from possibly their names? It will also be interesting to see if future generations of cruise passengers still identify with the history of the great queens?

This photo was borrowed from one of the Time Life Books that did a whole article about the France with other great photos!

And this next image if one of the first advertisements of the NORWAY...with an artist rendition. I couldn't locate my original fold-out brochure, but I did find the brochure that has artist renditions of the redesigned lounges.

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Originally posted by Barryboat:
I just think this is one of the most dramatic shots of the FRANCE at sea and at speed. This was what the ship as designed for...not lazily sputtering around the Caribbean.

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GREAT PHOTO!!

Wow, QE2 just can't compete with the looks of the former FRANCE. What a ship!

She still is, although a little disfigured, as NORWAY.