Queen Mary 2 is the seventh largest cruise ship in the world. The ship is managed by the Cunard Cruise Line. The ship was delivered in 2004.
Built at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique yard for Cunard in 2003, the Queen Mary 2 was, at the time, the largest ocean liner ever constructed.
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The Queen Mary 2 embarked on its maiden voyage from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in January 2004.
Design of the Queen Mary 2
The ship is 345.03m long and has a beam of 45m at the bridge wings. Its draught is ten metres and the height from keel to the funnel is 72m. The Gross Registered Tonnage is 151,400t.
The ship is incorporated with a sharp bow and a hybrid stern. The square shaped stern provides better hydrodynamic efficiency.
The ship cruises at a maximum speed of 30knots and average speed 24knots. It has 19 decks and can accommodate 2,620 passengers, in addition to 1,200 crew members.
Accommodation aboard Cunard’s cruise liner
Of the ship’s 1,310 staterooms, 944 have private balconies and 66 have ocean views. The verandah cabins stretch over four and a half decks. There are also 300 inside cabins.
Standard cabins have a comfortable 194ft² of floor area, some with spacious 8ft-deep balconies. Deluxe cabins feature balconies and measure 291ft². The 78 suites available, including balconies, measure 388ft². Six 570ft² penthouses feature butler and concierge service and private balconies. Four deluxe penthouses overlooking the bow measure between 861ft² and 1,076ft².
The five duplex apartments on Decks 8 and 9 are two stories high, with private elevators and more than 1,650ft² in floor area. Overlooking the stern is a two-storey glass wall. Each apartment features walk-in closets, its own gymnasium, balcony and butler and concierge service. Duplex apartments can be connected with the 570ft² penthouse suite to create a 2,220ft² living space.
Public rooms on the huge cruise ship
The passengers enter the ship in the grand lobby, where the stairways go up from the rotunda into the six-deck-high atrium, overlooked by inside cabins on either side.
There is also a British pub with its own on-board micro-brewery, a wine bar, a cocktail bar and a wood-panelled smoking room. In addition, there is a 5,200ft² shopping area.
The Canyon Ranch Spa and winter garden cover an area of 17,000ft². On Deck 12 and adjoining the 21,097ft² sun deck, the spa and health centre complements the five swimming pools: two outdoor, two indoor and one with a retractable glass roof.
On the sides of the ship, a pair of exterior glassed-in elevators takes passengers to the bridge deck, where they are able to watch operations on the bridge through a glass wall.
Queen Mary 2 onboard facilities
The Queen’s Room seats 1,100 and spans the full width of the vessel. On Decks 2 and 3 is a 570-seat 3D cinema, while a planetarium offers a variety of constellation shows, as well as other presentations.
Via the Thuraya satellite system, in geo-synchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the equator, a 144kb/s service connects all of the liner’s staterooms to the Internet.
There is a library with more than 8,000 handbooks, 500 paperbacks, 200 audio books and 100 CD ROMS. Decks 12 and 13 have golf simulators, paddle tennis, basketball and shuffleboard facilities. The Play Zone offers entertainment and activities for children.
Other passenger facilities aboard the ship include a casino, a ballroom and 15 restaurants and bars.
The working decks are 3.5m (or 11.5ft) high and the crew have their own bars, restaurant, cinema, gym and, like the passengers, a computer school. All crew cabins are equipped with en suite facilities and there are a maximum of two to a cabin.
Propulsion, anchors and thrusters
The vessel is powered by four Wärtsilä diesel engines, supplemented by two GE LM2500 gas turbines. With a total output of 118MW, the power plant develops 157,000hp.
Propulsion is provided by four 20MW MerMaid ‘podded’ propulsion units, two fixed and two azimuthing through 360°. They incorporate an electric AC motor that directly drives a fixed-pitch propeller with highly skewed blades for low noise and vibration.
The ship has three 23t anchors. The anchors are 770m long and have a breaking strain of 9,300kN. It also has three 3.2MW thrusters to provide turn support without the use of tugs.
The ship also features four VM Series folding fin stabilisers built by Brown Brothers of Edinburgh.
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