Digital Charter 1987

I am trying to pin down the date of this through frends who will recall. QE-2 and another smaller passenger liner were tied up in South Boston, MA sometime in the Fall of '87 or early in '88 for a computer convention, MAC WORLD or DECC WORLD possibly. Local newspapers mention that the Master was Alan Bennell, so it would have been sometime shortly after the 1986 facelift and conversion to diesel electric.
I will post again when I nail down the exact date and other paticulars

Doug, I'm very interested to learn more. Anything you can find and add is greatly appreciated.

This is the first i hear about this one, i have to contact my friends in Facebook for any info.

A first reply from my friends in Facebook

John Paterson 15 August at 10:44 Report
Hi there, I was on QE2 on this charter and because the casino was closed a bunch of us rented cars and went to Niagra falls. I remember the other ship docked with us, it was a Disney ship, bright red. Although I can't recall the full name, Disney...something. The weather was cold at the time. I will find out through friends who were on the trip if they can remember the exact date. Good luck. JP.

I just received the following info, The company that chartered the ship was called Digital and the start of the charter is 12 Sep 1987 the ship stayed alongside for 10 days in Boston.
I still want to confirm this.

Heres is the final confirmation

Susan McNaught 15 August at 15:11

Hi, Have spoken with Captain McNaught and he says,
QE2 an Starship Oceanic were chartered as accommodation for a computer exhibition in Boston, the ships were at the Black Falcon terminal for about 10 days beginning on September 8th 1987. The charter was called "Digital Charter".

Captain Alan Bennell was indeed the captain at the time

It would appear that the charter was by Digital Equipment Corporation and the event was DECworld, which ties in with Doug's recollection.

Extract from Boston Globe

Ed McEneaney of Brookline, a 31 - ear-old Boston investment officer, perhaps described it best: "It's like war and peace in Boston Harbor . . . to see at one time a beautiful pleasure ship come in the harbor and a warship leave."

McEneaney, a guest on the harbor tug Matthew Tibbetts, had witnessed a historic maritime event in Boston: the nearly simultaneous berthing and departure of two of the world's greatest ships, the arrival of the 65,863-ton liner Queen Elizabeth 2 and the sailing of the 82,000-ton aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, which in four days here hosted 150,000 visitors.

Veteran harbor watchers could not recall such combined ship tonnage in Boston Harbor

It would be helpful to know what she was doing pre and post the event. From where did she arrive in Boston and on leaving what was her next port of call?

The QE2 was actually tied up down at what is now called the world trade centre, she was tied up on the city side of the teminal, which meant for a quick walk across the bridge by the lobster "shop" and into the city, She then went around to the Black Falcon pier where the ships tie up now, on the 18th September 87, embarked passengers and sailed, either same day or next.
I was night cook at the time and signed off on the 18th and took cycling trip from Boston rejoining New York a month later.

Jeff

Hi Jeff great to see you back here thank you for that info very helpfull.Would have anymore dates of where the QE2 was from your time onboard?

Starship Oceanic was not owned by Disney. It was owned by Premier Cruises which in turn was owned by Dial Corp. Premier had acquired her from Home Lines around 1986 after her 20+-year career with them as Oceanic. Shortly after the acquisition, Premier struck a deal with Disney and Premier became known as the official Disney Cruise line. A year or so later, Home lines went out of business and sold their two ships to Dial. Atlantic went to Premier and became Starship Atlantic and Homeric (the ship that had replaced Oceanic in the Home Lines fleet) was sold to Holland America and became Westerdam.

Later when Disney decided to start their own cruise line, the deal with Premier was terminated. Premier renamed all their ships as Big Red Boat 1, Big Red Boat 2, etc. but went bankrupt after a few years.

DIGITAL ENLISTS THE QE2 FOR LAVISH TRADE SHOW - The New... http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/08/business/digital-enlists-the-qe2-for-...


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September 8, 1987


By CALVIN SIMS

The Digital Equipment Corporation, never known for flashy salesmanship, is throwing a $20
million party in Boston Harbor this week aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 and the Star/Ship Oceanic
luxury liners.

Digital has rented both ships to accommodate many of the 50,000 executives who have been invited
to what is perhaps the largest and most extravagant trade show sponsored by a single computer
maker. Industry analysts expect Digital to introduce several major products tomorrow, during the
second day of the nine-day event.

The giant sales show, called Decworld, is a sharp departure from Digital's low-profile method of
selling computers.

''They are renting a big boat to get mass media coverage - they want executives who don't think
about technology to know who they are,'' said Susie Peterson, an analyst with the First Boston
Corporation. ''D.E.C. thinks it is I.B.M.'s equal and wants Fortune 500 buyers to agree.''

To handle the crowd, the ships will dock alongside the World Trade Center and serve as hotels.
Digital has even rebuilt the Commonwealth Pier to accommodate the ships, and about 10,000
members of its sales force will be on hand to pitch the products.

Dallas Kirk, who is coordinating the show, said that compared with the cost of having sales
representatives visit customers' facilities, a $20 million event is ''a bargain when you consider how
many new customers we will gain,'' Analysts said the company would generate about $1 billion in
revenues by making contact with customers at the event.

With its new-product introductions, Digital, under the direction of its president, Kenneth H. Olsen,
is expected to continue a strategy that has enabled its Vax minicomputer line to steal significant
market share from the industry leader, the International Business Machines Corporation. Digital,
whose profits have soared in the past year, reported earnings of $377.3 million, a gain of 58 percent,
in the latest quarter. Improvements Seen

Michael Geran, an analyst with E. F. Hutton, said: ''We will see significant improvements in
functionality and price performance without price increases - an indication that D.E.C. is continuing
its strategy of satisfying the installed based with a fast product cycle.''

Thanks to our member msmith513 for finding this info

mocsmith wrote:http://picasaweb.google.com/mocsmith/QE2#551472766073258995

As reported elsewhere, the itnerary of the Nov 28-Dec 12 West Africa Cruise was changed during the cruise. QE2 spent an extra day in Tenerife, called at Dakar 1 day later than scheduled, and the call at Sao Vicente in the Cape Verdi Islands was cancelled. The stated reason given for the extra day in Tenerife was that QE2 had been damaged in an accident on docking in Tenerife and needed emergency repairs. Whether or not the stated reason was true is another matter.