'QM 2' gets its royal sendoff

The second ship ever to be named after Britain's Queen Mary is a showy jewel in the crown of the Cunard Line.

	[AP photo] Fireworks and floodlights illuminate the Queen Mary 2 Thursday after the ship's naming ceremony in Southampton, England. This world's largest vessel is almost three times the size of the Titanic. It features 10 restaurants and a wine cellar with some 45,000 bottles.

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SOUTHAMPTON, England - For more than four years, the name of the largest, longest, most expensive passenger ship ever built has been known. But neither maritime tradition, nor the history of Great Britain, would acknowledge a few letters typed on a piece of paper at Cunard Line's Miami headquarters as the official word.

Thus, it was not until about 5 p.m. Southampton time Thursday that the Queen Mary 2 was christened with an orchestra, a choral group and fireworks. It was then that Queen Elizabeth II, heralded by 14 trumpeters and standing by the massive vessel's black hull in the gathering twilight, uttered the few words necessary to proclaim that Britannia still rules the waves: "I name the ship Queen Mary 2 and may God bless her and all who sail in her."

At least, it still rules those waves beneath the hulls of the few remaining ocean liners.

The QM 2 is not merely a cruise ship. It is a floating palace - picture a champagne bar; a 20,000-square-foot spa; a wine cellar with an estimated 45,000 bottles; and a luxury cabin costing nearly $28,000 per person based on double occupancy - designed to cross the Atlantic more swiftly, and with far more elegance, than any of the 100-plus vessels that crowd the ports of the Caribbean in the winter, Alaska and the Mediterranean in the summer.

The QM 2, which can carry 2,620 passengers just using the cabins' lower berths, is a hybrid, and quite a grand gamble.

The bet is at roughly $1.485-billion. That includes Carnival's $705-million purchase price for Cunard, bought in two transactions in 1998 and 1999, and a staggering $780-million to build and outfit this ship.

And that $780-million is an understatement because the contract Carnival signed with French shipyard Chantiers de l'Atlantique in March 2000 locked in the price at that year's dollars-to-euros exchange rate.

When QM 2 sets off on its inaugural voyage Monday, its cost would be closer to $1-billion at the current rate, Carnival Corp. Board Chairman Mickey Arison told hundreds of reporters gathered Wednesday for tours of the vessel.

Sir Samuel Cunard founded the shipping line in 1839, and for much of the 20th century Cunard was synonymous with quality and the sort of continued class distinction that provided separate dining rooms for passengers depending on how much they had paid for their staterooms.

At the 45-minute naming ceremony Thursday, Cunard president Pamela Conover told the 2,000 guests gathered in a temporary theater near the ship that "through history Cunard had crossed the ocean for more than a century. We are the only (passenger line) to continue to do so, weaving together the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada."

Carnival's multimillion-dollar wager is that the Cunard name still has validity and that offering a cruise amid sophisticated trappings can turn a profit.

Arison beamed as he said the first sailing, a 14-day trip to Fort Lauderdale, "sold out within 24 hours of the opening of sales - 18 months before the first departure."

Who will be on board for that trip, plus 13 more transatlantic crossings and 14 other itineraries set for this year?

The target audience is Americans 45 and older, professionals, college graduates with household incomes of at least $150,000, according to vice president of sales Lee Robinson: "They are empty-nest, stressed, independent, better educated, better traveled, looking for something different."

The Cunard brand, he told travel agents last month, "describes history, luxury, grandeur, prestige."

Ready to provide lavish doses of this on the new ship at a black tie gala for 1,500 VIPs and a few dozen reporters Thursday night was the regular crew and staff of about 1,500. Waiters poured Veuve Clicquot champagne - the ship's 61-seat champagne bar is named for the prestigious French vineyard - and served dinner in just the three most prestigious of QM 2's 10 restaurants.

Earlier, the media members got a tantalizing taste of the Smithsonian video that will be played onboard, in the only seagoing planetarium.

During three two-night "shakedown cruises" that began on New Year's Eve, 6,530 other VIP guests and staff members had helped the crew practice their chores. These guests, however, did not get to meet the Oxford University professors who will be offering paying passengers lessons, in seven classrooms, on the arts, geography and languages.

Nor could the naming ceremony guests - among them everyone from British television personalities to soccer team managers - get to partake of the 20,000-square-foot Canyon Ranch Spa, with its staff of 50.

But everyone this month has been able to view the more than 5,000 pieces of art, by 128 artists, that seemingly decorate every wall - from the metallic, raised-surface and paint-on-glass murals lining the Grand Promenade, to the limited-edition prints in each cabin. Then, too, there are handwoven wall carpets and the abstract sculptures in marble.

Those who travel aboard the QM 2 will see rich earth tones in corridors and cabins, with royal red carpet in some places and more sedate tan patterned carpet in others. Plus regular travelers can enjoy more space per passenger than any other cruise ship.

The overnight guests and more than 8,000 previous Cunard passengers could wander past the stacks holding about 8,500 books in the library, admire the largest ballroom afloat, window-shop in boutiques devoted to Chanel, Hermes and Dunhill. They might even have wondered which of the five pools they would most enjoy.

The guests did get to dine off Wedgwood and drink from Waterford crystal amid the handsomely contrasting wood panels that are the walls of the two-deck Britannia dining room. They could also choose from more than a dozen beers and ales, or play a game of darts in the Golden Lion Pub.

Or they might have daydreamed about that wine cellar, the largest on any ship, with an estimated 45,000 bottles and 350 labels.

Perhaps they pondered staying in one of the four deluxe penthouses, which measure between 861 and 1,076 square feet, or one of the five, two-story duplex apartments, which contain more than 1,650 square feet each and include a gymnasium and balcony. And butler service.

Maybe their pocketbooks run more toward the cheapest cabins available for six-night trans-Atlantic crossings: the $1,817.18 price per person includes one-way airfare for the return trip. That's coach class, of course.

With about 25 categories of cabin and about 15 different itineraries during this inaugural year, pricing a voyage on the Queen Mary 2 is best left to a travel agent. But Cunard offered early booking discounts.

To book the largest cabin, the Grand Duplex (2,249 square feet), for the six-day cruise from Southhampton to New York on April 16, the brochure price is $27,499 per person, based on double occupancy. But the discounted price for this inaugural cruise is $21,999.

For that same transatlantic voyage, the brochure rate for a small cabin with a balcony is $3,369; the discount rate is $2,699. For a cabin with a window but no balcony, the rates are $2,939 and $2,349.

The ship is called the Queen Mary 2 in honor of its famous transatlantic predecessor Queen Mary, which was named for Her Majesty Queen Mary (wife of George V), who launched the ship in 1934. The original ship has been turned into an attraction and hotel in Long Beach, Calif. The QM 2 carries the number 2 rather than the Roman numeral II because it refers to a second ship.

The QM 2 takes over the role operated by sister ship Queen Elizabeth 2 as Cunard's transatlantic liner. The QE 2 will remain in service, offering cruises out of Southampton together with its traditional three-month world cruise.

A special highlight of the QM 2's inaugural schedule will be its maiden eastbound crossing from New York on April 25 as Queen Mary 2 and QE 2 will sail in tandem. It will be the QE 2's last Atlantic crossing to England.

As the QM 2 naming ceremony climaxed Thursday in a rousing rendition of Proud, performed by Heather Small, an exterior curtain opened, revealing the ship to guests for the first time.

Echoed Conover, the Cunard president, "This is a British tradition of which we can all be proud."

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