Qe2

U.S. Customs officials in San Pedro searched the 69,000-ton Queen Elizabeth 2 from stem to stern today and made hundreds of fuming round-the-world cruise passengers wait for hours while discovering less than an ounce of marijuana. The probe of the world's third-largest cruise ship, in which two switch-blade knives and several sex magazines were also seized, is part of a new Customs policy, announced Jan.

Thanks to Shirley Slater and Harry Basch for their interesting article, "Highs and Lows in '87" (Jan. 3), on the cruising industry. The one fault in this article, however, was their taking another potshot at the premature debut of Queen Elizabeth 2, following its major renovation last spring. Rather than criticism, Cunard deserves kudos for investing $140 million in the ship, which has the most space per passenger, the most public rooms, the finest and most luxurious staterooms and service by the best trained, most courteous and friendly crew.

Several weeks ago I read a letter about disappointment with a trip aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2. I had the fortunate opportunity of a QE2 voyage from Boston to Southampton. My experience was completely different from that letter writer's. We had a most enjoyable time, the personnel without exception were pleasant, attentive and helpful. We particularly liked the health emphasis on exercise and food choices. The ambiance in all areas of the ship was attractive. The captain ate his dinners in the Columbia Room and was most gracious at every opportunity.

The luxury liner Queen Elizabeth 2 was limping back to England from Gibraltar on Saturday after suffering the latest in a series of technical problems since a $160-million refit earlier this year. A spokesman for Cunard, the British operators, said the 1,800 passengers would be compensated for delays during their six-day cruise to Portugal and Gibraltar. The liner had to make an emergency call for two engine parts to be flown to it from England on Friday.

The newly refitted Queen Elizabeth 2 docked here Saturday after what the crew called its stormiest North Atlantic crossing in 15 years. Winds of up to 50 m.p.h. rocked the liner, throwing passengers and their food across the dining room and forcing Capt. Lawrence Portet to sit strapped to his chair on the bridge, crew members told a reporter aboard the liner. "All crockery and cutlery was thrown from the tables at breakfast and so were many of the passengers," one waiter said.

Following six months in dry dock for a $130-million overhaul, the magnificent Queen Elizabeth 2 is back on the high seas. Cunard has upgraded the vessel to make it what may be the luxury liner of the future. The new QE2 is a dream come true for shoppers. There is a new promenade of boutiques with 14 shops offering luxury items and designer goods, all duty free. This is the biggest and best shipboard shopping complex in the world.

The 1,200 passengers on the Queen Elizabeth 2, which arrives in New York today, will receive a 40% cash refund on their fares to compensate for a disastrous start to their luxury five-day cruise across the Atlantic, the operators said. "This is great news," said one elderly American who had no problems. "It will pay for the drinks bill." The 67,000-ton ship had just undergone a $162-million refitting in the West German port of Bremerhaven by the West German firm Lloyd Werft.

The Queen Elizabeth 2, largest and fastest of passenger liners, a city at sea that prides herself on stores of plenty, ran out of something last month on her final transatlantic crossing before a dry-dock spell. Not salmon, nor champagne nor caviar, of which she claims to be the world's foremost purchaser. The mighty QE2 ran out of vanilla ice cream. It was the last lunch of the last day before a $130-million refitting and refurbishing from which she will emerge in April.

This is a voyage that writes a new chapter in the history of ocean waters that have been crossed by countless millions of travelers since the earliest Viking explorers. It is the end of the age of transatlantic passenger travel by steam and the signaling of a new era that will begin April 29 and carry into the 21st Century. The Queen Elizabeth 2 is the world's only transatlantic liner offering a regular schedule of crossings as distinguished from cruises.