Queen Mary 2 completes maiden voyage (Arrives in NYC)

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/22/1082616267150.html ^ | April 22, 2004

[Howlin]

Gigantic, it is. Titanic, it's not.

Ninety-two years and eight days after another British ocean liner did not reach New York on its maiden voyage, the Queen Mary 2 steamed through the Verrazano Narrows and up the harbour for the first time.

Laden with opulence, the Cunard Line's newest and largest ship even brought its own weather - a London-like drizzle and fog which eased off as the ship arrived.

The luxury liner passed under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge nearly on schedule after making up time lost to fog and the residual effect of storms during the first 48 hours of its inaugural Atlantic crossing.

The early morning arrival was marked by the customary Gotham greeting - fireboats spouting water and helicopters swarming above.

Pamela Conover, Cunard's president and chief operating officer, earlier described the QM2's arrival as "a very big moment" for a company that has sailed the Atlantic for 158 years.

"This is the arrival of our new flagship in its US home port," she said in a phone interview.

The ship arrived under extra-tight security that has been in effect for all major events in New York since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It was escorted by a fleet of tugs, police vessels and Coast Guard boats as it passed the Statue of Liberty on its way toward the Hudson River terminal.

Nearly four football fields long at 340 metres) and 21 storeys tall, the massive, black-hulled vessel left Southampton, England last Friday for the six days and nights of luxury living and sumptuous dining for its 2,600 passengers, attended by a crew of 1,250.

Though Commodore Ronald Warwick followed the same northerly track known as the Great Circle Route, the Queen Mary 2 was never imperiled by icebergs like the one that sank the RMS Titanic with 1,503 dead in modern history's worst maritime disaster on April 14, 1912.

But the rough weather - with nine metre seas and force 10 gales gusting to 101 kph - gave the passengers some nights to remember. According to accounts published by reporters aboard, many passengers stayed in their quarters rather than go to the dining rooms.

After three days in port on Manhattan's West Side, the Queen Mary 2 will sail on Sunday night, rendezvousing near the Statue of Liberty with the Queen Elizabeth 2, outbound on its own last trans-Atlantic run.

The two Queens, old and new, will travel home in tandem - the first time two Cunarders sailed the Atlantic together instead of passing each other in mid-ocean, officials said.

The Queen Mary 2, successor to the QE2 on Cunard's Atlantic run, revives the name of a liner that plied the route a half-century earlier. The first Queen Mary, slightly more than half the size of the new one, debuted in New York on June 1, 1936.

During World War II, the Queen Mary and its sister ship, Queen Elizabeth, became gray-painted troopships, fast enough to outrun enemy U-boats. Winston Churchill later credited them with having shortened the war by a year.

[Howlin]

The Queen Mary 2 makes its way past the Statue of Liberty Thursday, April 22, 2004, in the New York harbor, on its maiden trans-Atlantic voyage from Southampton, England to New York. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)

The Queen Mary 2 cruises under the Verazzano Narrows bridge at low tide, Thursday, April 22, 2004, as she arrives in New York harbor. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

The Queen Mary 2 cruises under the Verazzano Narrows bridge at low tide, Thursday, April 22, 2004, as she arrives in New York harbor. (AP Photo/Paul Martinka)

The Queen Mary 2 makes it's way up the Hudson River to a berth in New York as seen from Jersey City, N.J., on Thursday, April 22, 2004. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)

The Queen Mary 2, the world's largest and most expensive passenger ship, crosses past 42nd Street as it arrives for the first time in New York, April 22, 2004. Based in Southampton, England, the ship will cruise across the North Atlantic Ocean, holding about 2,600 passengers. REUTERS/Chip East

The Queen Mary 2 arrives through the haze in New York Harbor as people watch from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J., on Thursday, April 22, 2004. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)

[Howlin]

FYI.

[oceanview]

too much fog this morning, couldn't see it.

[Psycho_Bunny]

It's pretty nit-picky but "Queen Mary II" would look so much classier.

[Riley]

FANTASTIC! Thanks for posting this- I am an old transatlantic liner buff. Not a good time for me to run up to NY, but I wish I could have just to watch her come in.

[Howlin]

I'll "pick" with you....I agree.

[areafiftyone]

Thanks for posting this. I read that it has a planetarium on it and an 8,000 volume library. I am dying to go on it.

[Howlin]

She cleared the Verazzano Narrows by TEN FEET!!! TEN FEET!

In the words of Opie Taylor, "Ain't it a beaut, Paw?"

[Howlin]

Are they going to let people on?

[areafiftyone]

No she is only going to be in port for three days. That should be just enough time to get her cleaned up and ready for another cruise.

[areafiftyone]

Here is a little more on it CLICK

[oceanview]

it leaves sunday night together with the QE2 (I've sailed on that one may years ago) to the UK.

[jjm2111]

I heard it from my apartment this morning, but couldn't see it due to the fog.

[prairiebreeze]

These are breathtaking!! I'd love to see some pictures of the inside.

Prairie

[Hank Rearden]

A buddy of mine is headed to NYC to board for the outbound trip; he's pretty jazzed about it. I hope the security hassles aren't too onerous.

[condi2008]

There are some HERE.

[LoneConservative]

Does anyone know what time she sails on Sunday? I'm going to be in Downtown Brooklyn, and could drive to the Narrows to see her leave...
LC

[In_25_words_or_less]

Eye of the beholder, I guess. That is one ugly boat. =)

[presidio9]

Was there a reason they did not wait for the tide?

[prairiebreeze]

thanks!