TravelWorldwide TravelAll aboard the Queen Mary Two, the world’s largest ocean liner All aboard the Queen Mary Two, the world’s largest ocean liner
By Nigel Heath - 14/07/2009
A traditional trans-Atlantic voyage from New York to London onboard, Queen Mary Two, the world’s largest ocean liner, and following in the wake of the rich and famous is just one of life’s experiences which has just got to be done.
A Caribbean band played and the champagne flowed as we sailed from a Brooklyn pier out into The Hudson River on board Queen Mary Two, the largest ocean liner ever built.
It was a gloriously sunny late afternoon with the whole majesty of Manhattan forming the perfect backdrop for our departure.
A summer crossing of the North Atlantic onboard this sensational ship from her home port of Southampton to New York or visa versa, and so participating in a grand tradition started by Samuel Cunard170 years ago, is one of those never to be forgotten life experiences that has just got to be done.
QM2 is attracting the rich and famous who prefer not to fly, many hundreds of passenger ship enthusiasts and now thousands of folk like me who just wanted the opportunity to share in the yesteryear experience of a grand ocean liner voyage complete with black tie dinners and champagne cocktail parties.
At 151,000 gross tonnes, she is as big as her famous Cunard predecessor the QE2 and her equally famous forbear the Queen Mary put together.
She is in fact so big that she seamlessly absorbs 2,600 passenger and more than 1000 crew, so leaving those onboard to still experience a real sense of both space and grand elegance.
As soon as passengers embark they encounter the dramatic three tier Grand Lobby with its magnificent sweeping staircase, glass fronted scenic lift and plush carpets and this sets the scene and indeed the theme for superlatives which include the largest variety theatre and the only Planetarium afloat in the world today.
The QM2 is quite simply a 21st Century emulation of the age of the great ocean liners of the mostly Northern European nations which plied the North Atlantic in their glorious hay days of the 1920s through to the 1950s openly viying to out do one another for opulence and splendour.
It might have seemed at the time that this golden age would last forever but within ten years of the arrival of jet travel for the masses in the early 1960s all but one of these wonderful ships had sailed to the breakers yard and into history and she was Cunard’s QE2.
Cunard had quite rightly perceived that there was still enough of a market for just one great ocean liner to go on upholding the historic tradition of the regular trans-Atlantic crossing.
With her own voyage history spanning some 40 years, QE2 as the last of a long and distinguished line of trans Atlantic passenger ships became something of a legend in her own lifetime and towards the end of the 1990s many cruise buffs must have wondered about the future.
Fortunately for this great North Atlantic maritime tradition, the news that the world’s largest cruise operator Carnival Corporation of Miami had acquired Cunard, was followed by the momentous announcement that the company would replace QE2 with the QM2.
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Commodore Bernard Warner, Master of the QM2, said Carnival was keen on the Cunard brand and wanted the QE2’s replacement to be the biggest and finest ocean liner ever built.
She had been constructed with a deep draft making her especially suitable for the North Atlantic and was now the only vessel providing a regular summer service between Southampton and New York, as well as undertaking Mediterranean and other voyages as well as a world cruise.
And when Cunard’s other new ship, the cruise vessel Queen Victoria, was joined by a further new build, The Queen Elizabeth, the line would be one of the oldest in the world with one of the youngest fleets, said Commodore Warner..
QM2 Entertainment Director, Ray Rouse, said the ship was unique and it was the mostly formal evening dress code that attracted many people.
“You will rarely see a tuxedo on cruise lines today and after dinner you will certainly see people back in shorts and t-shirts because that is the way of the mass market but that won’t happen here because people like the style and the tradition.
QM2 is comparable with any big cruise ship but they are carrying 4000 to 5000 passengers while we never carry more than 2,600 and so have the space for wide elegant corridors and high ceilings.
“This ship is quite simply a great ocean liner in the style and tradition of the old Queen Mary, The United States, The Isle de France and many others,” he said.
And passengers simply can’t help being reminded of the ship’s historic connections because there are magnificent paintings of mighty ocean liners on all twelve decks as well as pictures of the Hollywood stars and famous entertainers who have been Cunard passengers together with much fascinating memorabilia.
Famous stars and entertainers still choose Cunard to cross the Atlantic and while onboard will often appear as guest speakers and so it was that I was able to hear two talks by comedian and writer John Cleese who was following in the footsteps of Carly Simon, Dame Shirley Bassey, Rod Stewart and many others.
So for those who love world class lectures, top rate shows, sea air, fine dining, grand elegance and style or simply a chance to chill out with a book from QM2’s magnificent library, then a totally unforgettable Atlantic crossing could be just the ticket.
Visit the website linked below for memories of people who voyaged on the old Queen Mary.
Perhaps you also have memories of voyaging on that great ship or on the QE2