Hi Derek,
This is all true, there were not as many engineers on the QM2 I can assure you, she was like the league of nations, 1750 crew from over 50 countries!
She was not a bad old bus but not a fair to be called a replacement for the QE2, now that was a real ship, especially when she was a steamer!
Times change, at least we only had a limited number of crazy Italian bus drivers on board, otherwise I am sure there would have been a premature Costa Concordia!
Cheers.
Darren.