Room for 3,000. A planetarium. Two celebrity chefs. The new Queen Mary 2, the world's largest ocean liner, is without peer.
By ROBERT N. JENKINS
Published January 18, 2004
[AP photo]
Pipe Major Jim Motherwell plays on deck Jan. 8 before Queen Elizabeth II officially named the new ocean liner the Queen Mary 2. The vessel, the largest and most expensive passenger ship ever, is named for the queen’s grandmother.
[AP photo]
The Britannia dining room aboard the Queen Mary 2 stretches the ship’s width — more than 130 feet — and reaches three decks high. There is seating on two levels.
[Times photo — Robert N. Jenkins]
This is one of the duplex apartments, which are two stories tall and include a dining area for eight. Upstairs there are two connecting bathrooms with his-and- hers dressing rooms, in addition to the bedroom.
[M. Silver Associates Inc.]
The Grand Lobby is the Queen Mary 2’s entry foyer and has twin staircases that rise one deck as well as two glass-walled elevators through five decks.
[Times photo — Robert N. Jenkins]
A police launch is dwarfed by the Queen Mary 2 before it leaves Southampton on Monday on the inaugural voyage, a 14-day trip to Fort Lauderdale. Don’t look for it to come to Tampa Bay, though: The ship is more than five stories too tall to fit under the Sunshine Skyway.
[Times photo — Robert N. Jenkins]
The 76 Junior Suites measure 381 square feet and include a sitting area with full sofa and a walk-in closet.
SOUTHAMPTON, England - Wind-driven rain that had been battering the fabric roof and sides of the temporary theater on the dock ceased by the time exterior spotlights illuminated Pipe Major Jim Motherwell. More than 100 feet above the water, Queen Elizabeth's own bagpiper stood alone on a foredeck of the Queen Mary 2 and began playing for the queen and 2,000 other guests in the theater.
Soon he was joined by the 34-piece Royal Symphony Orchestra, opera diva Lesley Garrett and a choral group in a moving rendition of Amazing Grace.
Amazing the ship is.
Before the ship sailed Monday on its inaugural voyage, thousands of former Cunard Line passengers, VIPs and reporters were allowed to roam through the vessel, to dine and even to sleep aboard. What they found was an assured sophistication, an elegance without gltiz.
Adorned with original prints, the cream-colored walls of the corridors leading past its 1,310 staterooms seem to stretch to the horizon.
Some of the grandest, two-story suites have their own elevators, although there are more than a dozen to serve the other passengers: as many as 3,090 of them if all the beds are used.
Ceilings in some public areas, such as the broad Grand Promenade, are remarkably high for a passenger ship. Gone is the feeling of walking through a tube within the larger tube of the ship.
The Britannia dining room stretches the ship's width, more than 130 feet, and reaches three decks high. There is seating on just two levels, adding to the vessel's spacious feel. Elegant columns rise from the floor to nearly touch the artificial skylight, recalling a feature of the original Queen Mary, which was launched in 1934.
Similarly, art deco aspects of the first Queen Mary and its rival, the Normandie, are found throughout the new ship and make for an especially attractive ballroom, the Queen's Room.
Here, beneath an arched ceiling and crystal chandeliers, the dance floor covers 1,049 square feet, a reminder that for many of this ship's passengers, "dancing" is not just something that takes place in darkened discos.
Each afternoon at 4, high tea will be served in the Queen's Room, which can accommodate 562 people.
There is a disco onboard, the two-story room named G32: the number assigned to Queen Mary 2's hull when the contract to build it was signed.
The only seagoing planetarium was so carefully thought out that only the central 150 seats of the 473 in the theater where it is located are used for viewing the displays overhead. At a touch of a button, each of these central seats reclines, allowing the occupant an easier upward view. A special curtain descends from the ceiling to provide a larger screen for the Smithsonian-created videos projected there.
Queen Mary 2 features two celebrity chefs:
* Todd English opened Olives restaurant in suburban Boston in 1989. By 2001 Bon Appetit magazine named him Restaurateur of the Year and People put him on its "50 Most Beautiful People" list.
On the ship, he has created a Mediterranean menu for the 156-seat, reservations-only restaurant bearing his name.
* Daniel Boulud, whose New York restaurant Daniel has been rated as one of the 10 best in the world by the International Herald Tribune and has won a "Top Table" award from Gourmet, is "culinary adviser" for all the menus in the main dining rooms. Boulud specializes in French-American cuisine.
There is much more informal dining in the 478-seat King's Court area. Here, the buffet lines simultaneously offer Italian, Asian and British dishes, and there is also a demonstration kitchen seating 36. The Italian line is open 24 hours a day.
Among the 14 bars and lounges are a large pub offering a half-dozen beers and ales on tap, a wine bar and a champagne bar.
Understandably, much of the preinaugural publicity - Entertainment Tonight alone had a crew of 34 to support Mary Hart's three days of videotaping onboard - was devoted to the home-sized quarters of the largest suites:
* The two Grand Duplex suites are each 2,249 square feet spread over two decks joined by a curving staircase. They have plasma-screen TVs on the first level, where there is a small kitchen, dining room seating eight, small office area, dressing room and a full bathroom. Upstairs the bedroom has exercise equipment, another TV and his and hers dressing rooms with connecting bathrooms and a separate whirlpool and shower.
* The twin Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth suites are 1,194 square feet each, with private glass-walled elevators, dining room for eight, a guest bathroom and a whirlpool tub separate from the shower in the main bathroom.
There are three more categories of penthouses and suites, totaling 173 staterooms. That means most of the passengers will be in the remaining, less-grand, 1,137 other cabins. But these, too, are relatively spacious for a passenger ship. The smallest cabin measures 194 square feet, well above the industry standard for the cheapest accommodations.
Every cabin has 110 channels of interactive TV plus e-mail access, twin- or king-sized beds, computer data port, direct-dial telephone, refrigerator and hair dryer. About three-quarters of the cabins have balconies. There is good closet space, adequate shelf space and either a writing desk area or adjustable-height table in even the smaller cabins.
Queen Mary 2 is touted by Cunard and its parent company, Carnival Corp., as the world's most-advanced ocean liner, not merely a cruise ship. That claim was tested immediately as the vessel left Southampton on Monday for its inaugural voyage with paying passengers. It had to battle a fierce storm, with waves 30 to 40 feet high, according to online reports filed from the ship by USA Today's Gene Sloan. He said that passengers could feel some wave motion but he did not report any damage to the vessel.
During this voyage, the ship will call in the Canary Islands, Barbados and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands before it is scheduled to dock amid much ceremony Jan. 26 in what will be its homeport of Fort Lauderdale.
If you want just to glimpse the Queen Mary 2, you won't be doing it in the bay area. At a height of 236 feet above the water, the vessel is a 55 feet too tall to fit under the Sunshine Skyway bridge.
If You Go
Shortly after arriving in Fort Lauderdale, the Queen Mary 2 will start sailing on 10 Craibbean cruises, a trip to Rio de Janeiro, 13 crossings between New York and Southampton and travels along the Eastern Seaboard and into Canadian waters.
Its 1,310 cabins are in nine basic categories, and early booking discounts may still be available for some itineraries. The simplest way of navigating this multitude of options is to consult with a travel agent, or by calling a Cunard representative toll-free 1-800-7CUNARD. More information is available online, at www.cunard.com/default.asp
