Queen Mary 2 what do you think

[Guest (R17)]

Just wondering what people thought of this new Queen Mary 2. It seems to me that they’ve made a monstrosity to pack as many people in as possible. But having said that is there really such a huge market out there to fill such a mammoth ship ? Someone said I’d be surprised. But for me going on that ship & being trapped with a lot of people I might not want to spend my holiday with would be my idea of hell. The same would go for most modern day cruises. Somehow it dose not capture any of the tradition or elegance from the past other than being “the largest” liner ever built.

I love all the old liners like the Olympic, Aquitania, Mauretania but this has to be one of the most ugly things I have ever seen. The architect said he tried to incorporate some of the old characteristic’s of the old Queen Mary ? Yet no matter how much I tired to see it as beautiful it still looked more like a floating block of flats . Did not matter what angle it was photographed from it was still hideous to me.

Were the Japanese not going to build a replica Titanic a few years back ? Surly a Titanic 2 would be more of a winner so long as they followed the original Titanic design rather than a 70’s block of flats. My father seemed to think the Titanic replica probably did not happen because these firms want to make money and with the Titanic being so much smaller than QM2 they would not be able to pack them in, even if the Titanic replica were a bit larger than the original. But then they could just make 2? Having said that then I suppose there might be a lot of controversy of some people thinking a Titanic replica would be in bad taste but I am sure that would not stop the crowds of people who would come to look at it. And there would probably be a waiting list of 2 years to book up for a holiday on board.

Anyway maybe I am wrong and some of you think the QM2 is great. I’m sure one day they will get round to building a Titanic 2

 

[David F. Smith]

Hello Miles,

It is amazing that they even built the QM2. On the QE2's 10 year anniversary in 1977 they commented that it was the "last" one that was ever going to be built for trans Atlantic service. And even then it was losing money. Times have changed and now the Baby boomers must want to see what our Grand Parents used to travel like.

Dave

 

[Jerry Nuovo]

Hi Miles, I do understand your disdain of the decks upon decks of verandas aboard the Queen Mary 2.But in order for the Queen Mary 2 to be able to compete with the other cruise ships that have verandas too,Queen Mary 2 had to have verandas also.And in my humble opinion I think that the QM2 is a beautiful ship.The bow of the QM2 does have that classic look of the bows of the ships from the 1950's and 1960's including the QE2.And now in a few years time we will then see the Queen Victoria enter service so hopefully she will be a beautiful ocean liner also.As for building a Titanic clone well several years ago when we were going through that Titanic craze as a result of James Cameron's Titanic film,I did see reports in the newspaper of building Titanic clones.That was in 1998 and now it is 2004 and not one Titanic clone ship has been built.You can check out this website www.put.com/gigantic/ and you will see various schemes to build Titanic clones going back to the 1990's.But for some reasons these schemes to build Titanic clone ships were not built.The website does state that some of schemes to build Titanic clones are started by teenagers who are either very ignorant or very stupid to realize the fact that to build any ship is a very expensive project that involves hundreds of millions of dollars that the person or persons who want the ship have to pay to the shipyard so that shipyard will then build the ship for them.Any moron can go to a shipyard and tell them to build a ship for him and they will be very happy to build him a ship.But any shipyard will ask buyer for a down payment before the shipyard starts construction.I do remember a few years ago before construction was started on the QM2,on a cruise aboard the QE2,I was lucky enough to be invited to sit at the captain's table every night for dinner during this cruise and one of the QE2's officers told us passengers that the Carnival Corporation just gave a 10% downpayment to the shipyard in France to start construction of the QM2.The final cost of the QM2 is around $800,000,000 so then the down payment for the QM2 was $80,000,000.And concerning those people who want to build Titanic clones well if they don't have the money to build their Titanic clones well then there will be no ship.Back in 1998 it was estimated to cost around $600,000,000 to build a Titanic clone.I'll believe in a Titanic clone when I see it with my own eyes.

 

[Guest (R17)]

Hello Dave,

Thanks for your reply!

But I think going on QM2 would be a far cry from how our relatives would have travelled on the old liners. If these baby boomers hope to experience how our grand parents use to travel then I personally don't think they will get much of this from a voyage on QM2. The whole thing has now changed. Our grand parents or great grand parents mainly used these ships as a method from getting from A to B and not 28 day cruises round the world to places like the Caribbean. Titanic was classed as an immigration ship and that would have been the main source of income for her and most of the people on these ships were immigrants. Queen Mary Two’s main source of income will not come from immigrants but rather wealthy people going on exotic holidays round the world. I understand immigration is just one aspect of how our relatives travelled on these liners, but the main reason I bring it up is because in a lot of cases this is how Cunard and White Star made there main profits. Anyway the baby boomers (as you call them) certainly won’t get the experience of what it was like to be an immigrant on QM2. If I were to talk about our grandparents who travelled 1st class on these ships, again I would think it would be very different than QM2 as I suspect she is full of casinos, modern discos, computer arcades and if you pardon the expression lots of fat pink sun burnt women all crowded round the pool trying to get their patch in the sun before for someone else... I’d say it was a far cry from how our grand parents travelled on the likes of the Mauretania or Olympic.

Having said that I’m sure there would have been holiday cruises when the Titanic was around but I’d suspect they were very different to QM2. I think cruises became more fashionable as time went on. For example the Aquitania went on short cruises to places like the Mediterranean in the late 1920’s & 1930’s when immigration numbers declined and she got older and needed to find new ways of making a profit.

If I were to say QM2 has anything in common with the liners I like I’d say — it’s at least got a black hull, red funnel and like the Titanic was QM2 is the largest liner in the world.

 

[Guest (R17)]

Thanks Jerry I will have a look at that site about the Titanic clones. I really don't know much about it.

We will have to agree to disagree about QM2 being beautiful. My father said it has to be the ugliest ship ever built, but I have seen worse. At least it has the classic colours — black hull, red funnel rather than white like so many of the cruise ships around today. I don’t know why but as the years have gone by liners have gotten more ugly and more like a block of flats. They are bigger, grander and more spectacular than ever but I will stick with the Olympic and Mauretania and draw the line at the 1930’s. After that most liners that were built hold as much appeal for me as cross channel ferries.

And I may well be wrong about the main amount of people to travel on ships like the Olympic, Mauretania etc being immigrants.

 

[Mike Bull]

I have to go with Miles here, I think the QM2 is a pretty ugly, boxy looking thing.

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

I think the advertising artwork that I see in the magazines and on the one postcard I've seen are quite attractive, with linear lines and sleekness that are vastly different from actual photographs, which show a great bulkiness and seeming top-heaviness that is very unappealing. Aesthetically (in my opinion) it is an inferior design, looking cluttered and sluggish by comparison to the truly beautiful ships of the past - the White Star gals Olympic and Titanic, Queen Mary, QE 2, and of course Normandie - the absolute pinnacle of perfection as far as line.

 

[Jerry Nuovo]

I have to disagree with you guys concerning the QM2.And as I stated on my earlier post Cunard had to build the verandas onto the QM2,so that the QM2 would be able to compete with other ships.I also think that if a Titanic clone is ever built and I still very much doubt that a Titanic clone will ever be built,That after the Titanic clone fad wears out that the owners of the Titanic clone will have trouble filling up the ship with passengers because the Titanic clone ship will not have any verandas.And a lot of cruise passengers do desire a veranda cabin when they book a cabin on today's ships.As for myself I really don't care about having a veranda cabin.

 

[Guest (R17)]

Ok well I will try my best to try and see beauty in QM2……Maybe if I half close my eyes and really try it might happen…….

Anyway my small baboon brain just thought of something.... Queen Mary Two would be a sitting duck for someone like Osama Bin Laden and his network. Could you imagine ? There is no protection or anything for such this huge ship alone at sea.

 

[Jerry Nuovo]

Well Miles beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.What is ugly to you may be beauty to someone else.As for the terrorism concern,I heard a travel host on a radio show explain to her listeners that she was aboard the QE2 when the QE2 did the tandem crossing across the Atlantic with the QM2 two weeks ago.This radio host told her listeners that she interviewed Captain McNaught of the QE2.He told her that the QE2 and QM2 were escorted across the Atlantic by submarines.The radio host did not say which navy these submarines were from.But you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that it had to be British and or American submarines escorting the 2 Queens across the Atlantic because of the terrorism threat.I am glad that they built the QM2.What are we supposed to do not build the QM2 or even the next Cunard Ship Queen Victoria because of filthy scumbags like Osama Bin Laden.That would be silly

 

[Guest (R17)]

Hello Jerry

I just mentioned that a big ship like that could be a target. I never said we should not build them because of people like Osama Bin Laden just in case that was directed at me, which I sure it was not.

But do they always have submarines to escort them ? If so I hope it is not the tax payer who pays for this but rather the profit making Cunard line.

.

 

[Jerry Nuovo]

It is my guess that this submarine escort was only for this tandem crossing of the 2 Queens.As for a terrorism attack to occur in the middle of the Atlantic it is my guess that it may be difficult to pull off when you consider that the North Atlantic can get very rough.

 

[Paul Wilkinson]

Hi Miles,

The QM2 seems to divide people - I started out unsure, but having seen her twice now and taken many pictures, she's really grown on me. Even the somewhat stubby funnel doesn't bother me any more. Sure, she's not absolutely "classic", but no-one's going to build a four-stacker these days.

Cheers

Paul

 

[monica e. hall]

Ah! That's it, Paul. No proper funnels, so less a ship than a giant floating hotel, a trend going back over 100 years and embraced by Titanic's designers. Had T. Andrews been able to design the QM2, he would probably have done so I'm afraid. I think it's awful really. But I would have sold my soul to go on the Normandie, eaten French food and met Josephine Baker. But you can cruise in the old fashioned way. There is a ship which cruises the Scottish Islands, only 50 cabins, no casinos etc., and everyone dresses for dinner .... I have it on my wish list.

 

[Tom Lear]

I think if you want "classic" lines then the QM2 is something of a disappointment. The Disney ship strikes me as a lot more graceful among the new breed, and I think that ship is good proof that a classic shape would still work in new designs.

 

[Sahand Miraminy]

Hey Everyone,

I also have to say the QM2 isn't what I had hoped for it to be. Just a tad bit on the boxy side....but it is making good business!

When I grow older I want to be an architect for cruise ships. I constantly draw my "new Titanic" in all my classes. I have to say it would be quite stunning if I would ever be able to make it a ship. The grand staircases would have the same concept but they would be enlarged. Actually the whole ship would probably be bigger than the QM2. It would still have its four funnels but they would be modernized and shortened. As for the bow it would be kind of pointed and looking very....arrow dynamic. (best word i could use) The stern would be rounded at the end like Titanic's but from the boat deck it would kind of make a shape like steps going down stairs making its way down until the black painted hull. The lifeboats (large in number) would be hidden behind the ship with removable or electronically slidable walls on the exterior made to look like a promenade deck.....This is because lifeboats look awfully ugly to me. I hope this kind of makes sense!

 

[Wesley Burton]

Too bad Ismay didnt think of that idea! My Titanic II has some of those features.

The QM2 is a nice ship. Not as nice as Titanic. For some reason I dont find many 'modern ships' attractive. Too futuristic. Hopefully I will get a chance to go on QM2.

 

[Liam Thomas]

Here are some facts about QM2

the whistle is audible for 10 miles
She is considerably fast for a ship of that size, the top speed being 30kts
The lifeboats and davits were provided by Schat Harding
the QM2 has 10 restaurants and 14 bars
the Britannia Restaurant spans the entire beam of the ship
QM2 is 1132 ft long
The MS Freedom of The Seas is heavier than QM2 although it is shorter, and not as wide or high

 

[Chloe Olive]

I think it looks a bit ugly actually

 

[christopher marshall]

I think she is awfuly ugly starting to just look like a prefab ship. Althought she is one of the few transatlantic oceaN LINERS SHE SURE ISENT A PRETTY ONE. I agree id rather sail on the Olympic or aquatania bit now this one