Cruise-Australia.net
Discover Cruising at its Best!
With Reuben Goossens
Cruise’n’Travel
Journalist & Maritime Historian
MV Queen Mary 2
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
many Trans-Atlantic as well as around the world and shorter cruises, and she
has become a popular ship with many, but especially so with the Americans! QM2
accommodates 2,600 passengers in the lap of luxury and she has 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
QM2 is the successor of the
magnificent Cunard liner Queen Mary, which was built in
The elegant Queen Mary was one of
Image provided by “Hotel Queen Mary”
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
Personally, being conservative,
unlike the QE2, 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 work 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 & marketing industry continue to
offend me! QM2 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
Visit our many features
on the following Carnival
P&O Cruises
P&O Cruises
Princess
Cruises: Pacific Princess / Sun Princess / Dawn Princess
Cunard: Queen
Mary 2 / Queen Victoria
Seabourn: Seabourn Yachts (online soon)
P&O/Princess/Cunard/Costa/Seabourn/Carnival
News Updates
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 an dedicated cruise
agent in
***************************************
Return to - Cruise-Australia - INDEX
Classic Liner enthusiasts visit
Where the ships of the past make history
Photographs on Cruise-Australia and ssMaritime are: 1. By the author. 2. From the author’s private collection. 3. As provided by Shipping Companies and private photographers. Credit is given to all contributors. However, there are some photographs provided to me without details regarding the photographer concerned. I hereby invite if owners of these images would be so kind and make themselves known to me, that due credit may be given. I know what it is like, I have seem a multitude of my own photo’s on other sites, yet some even refuse to give credit, knowing full well that there is no legal comeback when it comes to the net. Let us do the right thing and show the charlatans up and do the right thing at all times and give credit where credit is due!
cruise-australia.net © Copyright 2008 – Reuben Goossens - All Rights Reserved
gold coast mechanics Counter