Anchors Awry

The Queens of the Cunard Line used to epitomize royalty almost as much as the majesties that they were named for. Launched in 1968, the Queen Elizabeth 2 was never as regal as the old Queen Mary (now a dry-docked tourist attraction in Long Beach, Calif.) or the first Queen Elizabeth (which sank outside Hong Kong harbor last January, the victim of suspected arson). Still, the Q.E. 2 retained, in its original design, at least some of the proud aura of the days when Britannia ruled the waves. But a $4 1/2 million face-lifting, unveiled last week, seems to have turned the only Queen still afloat into a bit of a tart.

The leather-paneled library, with its rosewood reading tables, has disappeared; in its place is a casino with gaming tables and one-armed bandits. The lounge area above the ballroom has become a shopping arcade. The best-located bar, which offered an intoxicating view over the ship's bow, has been turned into a kitchen. The forward observation platform, as well as the children's pool and play area and half the sheltered sports deck, have been taken over by 44 new prefabricated cabins.

Added Lumps. Cunard ordered the changes to increase both passenger revenues and on-board spending, particularly by Americans. Nonetheless, the facelift, which was devised by a Florida kitchen-supply firm, has made Britain's designing establishment a bit seasick. Dennis Lennon, who was chiefly responsible for the original interior design of the ship, quit after two weeks on the new project. "It was a national ship," he explained. "It wasn't something to play around with and turn into a honky-tonk." James Gardner, the principal exterior designer of the original, said of the altered superstructure: "We tried to give her lines a quiet dignity like the Mark III Bentley, but now lumps have been added on."

The Cunard Line, which expects the alterations to help increase the Q.E.2's profits by 50%, seems prepared to weather the storm. But even the line's chairman, Victor Matthews, looked a little queasy after he toured the liner a few hours before it was due to depart Southampton for New York. "This is a disaster," he said, having peered through half-painted cabins with naked light bulbs hanging from their sockets and cables strewn across the floors. "The ship looks as though a bomb has hit it." The Q.E.2's departure was delayed three days while workmen tried desperately to get it shipshape. Cunard was forced to cough up $250,000 in emergency shore accommodations or air fares home for 1,550 stranded passengers. After the liner finally weighed anchor this week, a cleanup party of 40 workmen was still aboard, hammering their way across the Atlantic.

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