With Reuben Goossens
Cruise’n’Travel
Journalist & Maritime Historian
MV Queen Mary 2
Please
Note:
Cruise-Australia is a non-commercial and privately owned cruise site. The
author has been in the passenger shipping industry since 1960 and is currently
semi-retired, but continues to write cruise and ship reviews and articles in
order to better to inform cruise and ship enthusiasts and provide information
for those intending a cruise in the future.
QM2 was for a very
short time the world largest cruise ship
Photograph provided by Carnival
From Birth to Reality
From Left to Right: Carnival Cruises
Commodore Ronald Warwick &
Photograph BBC & www.ruderhaus.de
At the time the 151,400
Since then she has undertaken a
good number of Trans-Atlantic voyages as well as around the world and countless
shorter cruises, and she has become a popular cruise ship with many, but
especially with the Americans market! QM2 accommodates 2,600 passengers in the
lap of luxury having a complement of 1,253 officers and crew.
The Grand Lobby
The Planetarium
QM2 offers a host of fine
facilities, including expansive promenades and sweeping staircases running
between her 15 decks, that rises some 74 metres above the water. She has no
less than 10 restaurants, five swimming pools, and a planetarium. QM2 also
boasts a ballroom, numerous bars, and a massive two-story theatre with seating
for 1,000 patrons, a casino, gym, luxurious kennels for those pampered pooches (only on Trans-Atlantic crossings). The artwork onboard is estimated to be worth $A6.6 million.
Passengers will pay from A$2,145 to more than A$49,500
for their passage in well-appointed accommodations, most of which have private
balconies.
Accommodations
The photographs shown below provide just a small
sample of the accommodations available on the QM2. But it does take you from
the very best top of the ship to an inexpensive inside cabin, thus providing an
overall picture of the comforts available. Some these days, are set on having a
balcony, well great if you wish to spend the extra. Personally I am always
happy with a window. Cabins up high in the ship are not always the best as
those who sail frequently know. Thus, lower decks tend to be popular with
frequent cruisers, and they chose a cabin amidships. They tend to be closer to
all the ships venues and, OK, for those who are not the best sailors, it is the
best spot on the ship! Choose an inside or outside cabin? Frankly, I know many
who choose and inside cabin and save a great deal of money, meaning having done
several cruises they can do another cruise. The idiom is, well you only sleep
in there, and there is a great deal of truth in that. But, it is all up to
personal preference. Mine is a window, and I feel a balcony is a waste of time.
You usually get blown away anyway. I have had balconies on three cruises and
hardly used then on each due to the wind factor, out of the many weeks I would
have spent up to 8 hours on them. Not worth the money! The promenade and Lid
decks are free and there are stewards running around ready to get me a drink at
beck and call!
The Lounge of the Grand
Duplex
Penthouse
Queen Mary Suite
Deluxe Balcony
Stateroom
A functional, but
economical inside twin/double bedded room
Sheer Size
MV Queen Mary 2 is the successor
of the magnificent Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary, which was built in
The elegant Queen Mary was one of
Image provided by “Hotel Queen Mary”
(Visit our RMS Queen Mary pages on ssMaritime.com)
A size comparison
between the RMS Queen Mary and MS Queen Mary 2
QM2’s sheer size allowed the creation of a variety of passenger spaces. This in turn allows for a world of diversity. Athletes will find one of the best-equipped playing fields anywhere. Sybarites can enjoy the rejuvenating treatments of the world-renowned Canyon Ranch SpaClub®. If you are into health and fitness, there is a state-of-the-art gym including a separate weight room. Visit to the planetarium, a wine tasting seminar, or take a walk down history lane at the Maritime Quest Exhibit. QM2's is a veritable City at SeaTM. She is the liner of the future, yet has the touch of yesteryear.
Keeping Fit!
Pavilion Pool has a
sliding glass roof as well as two Jacuzzis
As stated earlier, personally,
being a conservative, unlike the ex QE2 now in Dubai, I do not find her
exteriors pleasing, as her hull design is based on ships already built for the
other Carnival stable of ships, which includes Holland America Line, P&O Cruises
UK, Princess Cruises and Costa Cruises, etc. However having said that, I
believe that internally the QM2, is without a doubt a ship of the future
setting new standards in luxury, offering an unequalled number of facilities of
any luxury cruise ship today, but, please do not call her a liner, for she is
not! Managements of modern cruise companies today have no shipping background
whatsoever and they have no idea what the word liner means. I have been in the
passenger shipping industry since 1960 and operated a cruise company in the
seventies, and these modern so-called experts that come out of the hospitality,
banking & marketing industry and frankly some continue to offend me! MV
Queen Mary 2 and all other ships sailing today are “cruise ships,”
More Lounges, Bars & other public Rooms
Chart Room Bar
Chart Room Bar & lounge
Golden Lion Pub
There is a well stocked Library
I left it to last, for there has to be one – the Casino
Restaurants
The magnificent two story Britannia Restaurant
The Queens Grill. This ultimate dinning experience comes at quite a
cost!!!
Todd English Restaurant
The elegant Asian Lotus Restaurant
An impressive bow shot!
QM2
Specifications
Length: 345 meters / 1,132 feet
Width: 41 meters / 135 feet
Draft: 10 meters / 32 feet 10 inches
Passengers: 2,620
Crew: 1,253
Power: 157,000 horsepower, environmentally friendly, gas
turbine/diesel electric plant
Propulsion: Four pods of 21.5 MW each; 2
fixed and 2 azimuthing
Speed: Max 30 knots (34.5 mph)
Interesting
Facts
QM2 is five times longer than
Cunard’s first ship, Britannia (230 ft.)
QM2 is 113 feet longer than the original
Queen Mary
QM2 is 147 feet longer than the
QM2 is more than 3 ½ times as
long as
QM2 is only 117 feet shorter than
the
QM2 is more than three times as
long as
QM2 is as long as 41
double-decker
QM2's whistle (taken from the original Queen
Mary) is audible
for up to 10 miles
For further Information Email Me …
In order to assist, please state city/town of residence or if you are a
resident of
P&O
Cruises
P&O
Cruises
Princess Cruises: Sun Princess / Dawn
Princess
Cunard: Queen Mary 2 / Queen Victoria
/ Queen Elizabeth
Seabourn: Seabourn Yachts
For the Latest
Cruise NEWS read our …
P&O/Princess/Cunard/Costa/Seabourn/Carnival
News Updates
Visit our RMS Queen Mary pages on ssMaritime.com
***************************************
Please Note: Cruise-Australia is a non-commercial and privately owned cruise site. I
have been in the passenger shipping industry since 1960 and I am currently
semi-retired, but continue to write cruise/ship reviews and writes articles to
inform cruise/ship enthusiasts and provides information for those intending a
cruise. If you are interested in a cruise, I am happy to refer to a dedicated
cruise agent in
***************************************
Return to - Cruise-Australia - INDEX
Classic Liner enthusiasts visit
ssMaritime.com & ssMaritime.net
Where the ships of the past make history & the MV Doulos Site
Photographs
on cruise-australia.net are: 1. By the author. 2. From the author’s private collection. 3. As provided
by Shipping Companies and private photographers or collectors. Credit is given
to all contributors. However, there are photographs provided to me without
details provided regarding the photographer concerned. I hereby invite if
owners of these images would be so kind to make them-selves known to me, that
due credit may be given. I know what it is like, I have seen a multitude of my
own photographs on other sites, yet they either refuse to give
me credit and even refuse to remove them, knowing full well that there
is no legal comeback when it comes to the net. However, let us show the
charlatans up and do the right thing at all times and give credit where credit
is due! Note: I do not credit those who send me photos as they
are not the owners of the photographs concerned, unless the image is part of
their private collection.
This
notice covers all pages, although, I have done my best to ensure that all
photographs are duly credited and that this notice is displaced on each page,
that is, when a page is updated!
gold coast mechanics Counter