Stars Onboard!

(From left to right: Robert Montgomery, Loretta Young, Bob Hope, Alex Smith & husband[November1947]. All aft-starboard on the Queen Mary's Sun Deck.)

What's better than seeing a celebrity aboard a brand new ocean liner? Possibly being one of those celebrities...but seeing one can be just as fun!

Since, back in the day, transatlantic/ocean travel was the only way to cross the ocean, so naturally there would have to be celebrities (of any genre) on one of them. Which one? There are so many...well, usually, a celebrity would be seen on one of the newest, largest, most famous, ext., liners.

Walt Disney was a frequent with Cunard. Here he is seen on the front most part of the Promenade Deck of the Queen Mary. But he also traveled on the Aquitania quite often, before the Queen Mary debuted in 1936. In fact, these voyages are what sparked his imagination for "Steamboat Mickey" and other noted works in the vast archive of Disney magic.


Bob Hope, a highly noted performer (in more ways than one) spent many voyages on the Queen Mary. Here he is seen preforming in the ships First Class Main Lounge. His voyages were to the delight of fellow passengers as he would give, often, some sort of enjoyable show in the lounge, one noted including "Thanks For the Memories" in 1939 when war had just broke out. He attempted to raise his spirits, and did he ever!


While Winston Churchill, seen in Queen Mary's Drawing Room on Promenade Deck sometime during the war, was not quite a "celebrity," but a highly noted politician. Being Great Britain's Prime Minister, it is not hard to wonder why he got his own office aboard Britain's pride and joy troop transporter Queen Mary during World War II. Here he plotted his course in war efforts during this world struggle. While the First Class Drawing Room remains a gift shop today, the memory of his office is still prevalent in the liners history.


While Fred Astaire is not seen on a ship, he and Gary Cooper (below, on Queen Mary's promenade) were both frequent passengers aboard the Cunard Queen's.

Astaire with his classic dancing talent, and Cooper with his famous western roles, were delights on the liners and enriched sea life.


Other stars aboard the first two Cunard Queen's included Billy Graham, Clark Gabel (Gone With the Wind), the hilarious Laurel & Hardy, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Spencer Tracy, Liberace, Dougless Fairbanks, William Randolf Hearst, and many, many more.

The QE2 had a good bit of noted people aboard, one including Julie Andrews. Celebrities flocked to this liner and Cunard, yes, but the Italian Line (Italia di Navigazione S.p.A) is known have carried the Fascist leader of Italy, Benito Mussolini on Rex's maiden voyage. Not necessarily a "celebrity," but a known (though not most favorited) political leader of the axis alliance during WWII.

It's always fun to see a celebrity, it's always that much more exciting seeing one sailing the high seas!

QE2 Sails to Dubai

Alas, the beloved Cunard Liner Queen Elizabeth 2, or popularily known as QE2, is on her way to Palm Jumeirah Dubai (located in Saudi Arabia) on November 26th, all but two days away from this post. Currently on the Red Sea, she will reach Mina Rashid to become a hotel and tourist attraction much like her predecessor Queen Mary, who became one in Long Beach, California in 1967.

The liner that was built to replace the age of ocean travel, has now been replaced a good fourty years later. She is an icon of the 1960's, as well as a former "modern" form of ocean liner reminice. I myself got a chance to board her on her last call to Los Angeles (San Pedro), California (pier 92) on 30 March 2008, and she proves, by far, a well-noted ocean liner, and, though rather far away, preserved in the generation she has been assigned.

And not to lose hope. For though the 2004 Queen Mary 2 (QM2) is not the QE2, she is now the next generation of "modern" ocean liners. The newest Queen Victoria has graced our ocean in as much style and comfort, and the Cunard Queen on her way, Queen Elizabeth (of the same class as Queen Victoria), shall be add to Cunard Line's historic fleet in 2010.

All this is to remind us that the era of ocean liners are simply at a different place and time. The QE2 will stay with us almost as a statue, a frozen image in time, reminding future generations of the wonders that will be the past. What a glorious one that will be remembered.