Queen Mary 2

The Queen Mary 2 is one of the world's largest passenger ships and the largest cruise ship to visit Auckland. It arrived here back in February for one day as part its inaugural voyage - and 80-day around the world trip. It was welcomed into the harbor by thousands of boats (including two former America's Cup yachts), several planes and helicopters, As well as ten of thousands of people viewing it from land. The Queen Mary is too tall to sail underneath the harbor bridge and too long to berth at the international cruise liner terminal so it had to berth at the container terminal and passengers transferred to the international terminal by bus. Unfortunately it was only here for a day and its departure was be marked by a large fireworks display.

Here are a few facts about one of the largest passenger ship in the world.

Length: 1,132 feet
Beam: 135 feet
Beam at Bridge Wings: 147.5 feet
Draft: 32 feet 10 inches
Height (Keel to Funnel): 236.2 feet
Gross Tonnage: Approximately 150,000 gross tons
Passengers: 2,620
Crew: 1,253
Top Speed: Approximately 30 knots (34.5 mph)
Power: 157,000 horsepower, environmentally friendly, gas turbine/diesel electric plant
Propulsion: Four pods of 21.5 MW each; 2 fixed and 2 azimuthing
Strength: Extra thick steel hull for strength and stability for Atlantic crossings
Stabilizers: Two sets
Cost: Estimated $800 million dollars

Since it is often difficult to picture the size of such a large vessel, here are some comparisons:

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 more than twice as long as the Washington Monument is tall (550 ft.)
QM2 is 147 feet longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall (984 ft.)
QM2 is more than 3 ½ times as long as Westminster Tower (Big Ben) is high (310 ft.)
QM2 is only 117 feet shorter than the Empire State Building is tall (1248 ft.)
QM2 is more than three times as long as St. Paul's Cathedral is tall (366 ft.)
QM2 is as long as 41 double-decker London buses (31 ½ ft. each)
QM2's whistle is audible for 10 miles

944 of the QM2's 1,310 staterooms have private balconies, and 66 have ocean views. The verandah cabins stretch over four and a half decks. There are also 300 inside cabins. The Queen's Room seats 1,100 and spans the full width of the vessel. Even crew have their own bars, restaurant, cinema, gym and a computer school. All crew cabins are equipped with en suite facilities and there are a maximum of two to a cabin.
It has five duplex apartments on Decks 8 and 9, They are all two stories high, and have private elevators and more than 1,650ft² in floor area. Overlooking the stern of the ship is a two-storey glass wall. Each apartment features walk-in closets, it's own gym, balcony and believe it or not it even comes with a butler and concierge service.

The ship has five swimming pools: two outdoor, two indoor and one with a retractable glass roof. 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.

On Decks 2 and 3 is a 570-seat cinema and a planetarium.

The vessel is powered by four Wärtsilä diesel engines, supplemented by two gas turbines. With a total output of 118MW, the power plant develops 157,000hp.

Propulsion is carried out 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.