We were living in Southern Florida at the time in St. Petersburg. I was seventeen and
had been interested in ships since I was ten.
My Mother and I had taken a short trip down to the Ft. Lauderdale, Miami area in July 1969.
Of course my main reason for wanting to go down there was to see the "Queen Elizabeth"!!
I will never forget my first impression of the ship! She was so HUGE!! As we pulled in the
parking lot the ship just dominated the whole area as there was nothing built along the side as with the Queen Mary. Just that Gigantic hull and beautiful streamlined profile!!!!!!!
I took several pictures and then we went to the ticket booth attached to a gangway. The
ticket for the tour cost $2.50 (which I still have part of). You entered onto R deck. From
there a tour guide took a group around .
We went up to the bridge, bridge wings then down to the forepeak, down to tourist class lounge, first class smoking room, first class main lounge, the promenade deck. The tour went by the "Grand" (main) Staircase where the mural of Chaucer's "Canterbury Pilgrims" stood. Boy, that was so impressive!
I remember the Midships Bar especially because it had been redone in the early sixties and looked different from other spaces on the ship. It seemed liked we walked for miles along corriders. I don't remember that there was much in the way of carpets or rugs except in some of the public rooms.
By the way, you couldn't wander around at will but you were led by a guide the whole way. (It would have been so much fun to run all over like we can on the Queen Mary.) I remember that we visited the first class cinema and they played a short documentary on the QE. After that the tour was led to the Lido deck with the swimming pool which had been just added a few years before. I think the Lido deck was like a rest spot on the tour as you could buy hamburgers, hot dogs or just hang around. The pool was drained. I guess they didn't want anybody jumping in :-)
From there the guide took us to see a couple of first class suites then onto where the tour began in front of the first class restaurant. We walked through the restaurant very impressive (but not three deck high as the Queen Mary's Ist class restaurant). We then walked through the Galleys into the Cabin Class dinning room (the only room that had been altered) It had been turned into a souvenir shop. This is where the tour ended and you could stay in here as long as you want..
It was a very overwelming experience for me. Of course I wanted to go aboard again!!! So two days later July 31 to be exact we came back and took a second tour. The tour guides we had were very knowledgeable. The only thing I don't remember is the horns blowing like they do on the QM. We spent 3 or 4 hours each of the days we toured the ship and I had a hard time leaving the ship!!! Had we lived closer I would have been there many more times!!
