Very "aluminum"! :P I dunno, I kinda liked them. Better than naked from bulkhead to bulkhead, I guess.
Not as pretty as sister America's insides, though, I grant you that. I thought the map-themed and cartoonish wall art were pretty nifty. I haven't seen many pre-Australis interior photos of that ship, but you could still see how elegant the old late-deco bones were.
I gravitate toward the prewar deco type interiors too, for the most part. I do prefer most of the 1947 refits they did on the Queen Mary, though. The buff and red korkoid wins. I wish the ballroom still existed, though. Those etched glass screenwalls remind me a lot of the "white" scene room in the old journey into imagination for some reason; that segmented wall on your right as you entered.
Queen Mary is probably my favorite Cunarder; The Macdonald Gill cabin class dining room map and the Gilbert Bayes Unicorns are two of my very favorite pieces of art. I also dig the fact that the first class dining salon looks like a big archaic-style doric temple inside.
I like the Mauritania, too (mostly the dazzle paint, seriously - that tickles my cute bone)...and Aquitania as well.
Queen Elizabeth was indeed gorgeous, but she makes me sad. I like the fact that the new Elizabeth won't have a number affixed, but holy green cows, will that generate some conversational confusion.
