Marine Leisure Development Co./Japanese Charter - 1990

[CAP]

From 28 December 1989 until mid-June 1990 the ship was located in Far East. Interestingly, the handover back to Cunard took place in Honolulu around the 18/6/90. The ship then did a small Hawaiian cruise before making her way to Ensenada, San Diego and then through the Panama Canal.

[Louis De Sousa]

Photo taking during the charter in the PG

[Louis De Sousa]

The charter Crew photo taking in April 1990

[Louis De Sousa]

[Brixton72]

My daughters ex boyfriend, Todd Roydhouse would be in that photo Louis. He was a chef.He was from New Zealand. Cheers dave

[Richard]

I have a copy of that photo and remember it took ages to do.

[CAP]

Having done a little research into this charter I am now puzzled whether or not it was one charter or several?

Having now received details of the ship's schedule for the time period concerned it appears that she never actually arrived in Osaka until 31 March 1990. This does have a significance as the Exposition did not formally start until 1 April 1990. Up until her departure on 14 June 1990 QE2 appears to have undertaken a number of short cruises varying in length between Osaka, Pusan, Taipei and Hong Kong.

It is her activities before arriving in Osaka that have caused me to question whether it was one charter (for the Expo) and possibly one or more for something different.

QE2 arrived in the Far East on 28/12/89 at Tokyo from where she appears to have also performed a variety of cruises taking in Taipei, Hong Kong, Manilla, Singapore, Bali & Pusan. This took her through until arrival in Osaka on 31/3. As these early cruises appear to not quite fit with the Osaka Expo theme could it be she was hired by someone else?

Can anyone clarify the situation as to whether or not it was one charter or more.

Thanks

[CAP]

Some further information;

It transpires that this was one charter, made by Marine Leisure Development Co., a consortium of 19 Japanese businesses including the Marubeni Corporation and Sapporo Breweries. The purpose of the hire was to introduce the Japanese to the world of luxury cruising.

QE2 did a continuous three week period alongside in Osaka around the start of the Exposition. At other times she was enjoying short cruises to the ports noted above based out of Tokyo (Yokohama?) and Osaka with minor periods alongside.

[Louis De Sousa]

Great info Chris and yes Yokohama is the port for Tokyo

[Richard]

Yes thats pretty much what i was told at the time. They(MLD)Wanted to launch thier own cruise line with their own ships but knew very little about the business, what better way can there be than to learn from Cunard and QE2

[Richard]

I think the cost to MLD was around 250,000 dollars per day but not sure,

[Louis De Sousa]

Thanks Richard for that info. Do you by any chance have any newpapers cuts or documents about the charter?

[Richard]

Sorry Louis, i wish i had been as forward thinking as you
I have very little info from the charter only a few dodgy photos and maybe a menu or two!
But lots of memories

[Louis De Sousa]

But lots of memories

That is good enough. You can start sharing them now

[Louis De Sousa]

Just got this send to us a photo album special edition from the charter


2000 by Blue Bombay, on Flickr

[CAP]

I think the cost to MLD was around 250,000 dollars per day but not sure,

The figure I have which is quoted in QE2 Forty Years Famous is GBP250,000/day! Similar apparently to the earlier Yokohama charter. It netted Cunard a cool GBP50million

[Richard]

Yes i stand corrected, and it also says that the consortium made a loss despite high numbers of visitors. I'm a bit annoyed they made a loss cause i worked my ass off
Did MLD or the consortium ever launch any ships?

[CAP]

YDid MLD or the consortium ever launch any ships?

I'm not sure Richard. When I started to do a little digging into this subject I did a quick search on MLD and found nothing related to shipping... So for me the trail went cold.

If anyone else can provide more information please post..

[Louis De Sousa]

2001 by Blue Bombay, on Flickr

[Louis De Sousa]

2002 by Blue Bombay, on Flickr