Queen Mary 2 arrives in New York

Largest ocean liner creates a sti r

ELIZABETH SANGER , Newsda y

NEW YORK - The Queen Mary 2 arrived Thursday, and New York was barely big enough to hold her.

Billed as the world's biggest ocean liner, the 1,132-foot QM2 emerged from the fog, squeezed under the Verrazano Bridge and came into New York harbor Thursday morning. It was greeted by fireboats that saluted with water sprays, an escort of police boats, helicopters buzzing overhead and tugboats on standby, in case they were needed. They weren't.

That old expression - "It's like trying to turn around the Queen Mary" - no longer holds. While it's 100 feet longer than the original ship, this one turns on a dime, thanks to three thrusters. In no time flat the ship turned 90 degrees, going from a horizontal position between two piers into a vertical one ready to head into the berth, all with the ease of a kid twirling a toy boat in a bathtub. It's steered by a joystick that can move the four-city-block-long vessel sideways or at an angle.

The marching band of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy stood at the tip of Pier 92 to greet the newest royal member of the Cunard fleet as it came into port, playing to both sides of the Atlantic with "God Save the Queen" and "New York, New York."

Queen Mary 2 is nothing if not punctual. At 7:57 a.m., six days after it left Southhampton, England, it was alongside the pier, right on schedule, having made up for time lost at sea amid two massive storms.

After the ship docked, Mayor Michael Bloomberg welcomed the vessel and Cunard officials to New York, which will be QM2's home port in the United States.

Those among the passengers and crew said Thursday that they had to spend much of the voyage inside after being warned to stay off the decks because of heavy winds, by one account up to 70 knots, and many were seasick.

"Everyone acted like they were drunk, staggering down the halls," said Carolyn Bordelon, an accountant from Houston. "But if I had the money I'd take it again."

Some ocean-liner fanatics like Christopher Dougherty, national director of the Steamship Historical Society of America, booked his passage before the boat was even built.

"It's keeping ocean liner travel alive," he said, and the QM2 mixes the ultimate in technology with the history of its grand predecessors.

Many raved about the voyage, thrilled they were part of a select group that had experienced a historic adventure.

"People didn't hesitate to put on tuxedos even with the waves all around them," said Ellie Gottwald, an actress from Los Angeles who went with her husband to celebrate her 40th birthday. "But I felt bad for the servers."

June and Leslie Jones of Dorset, England, are staying in New York until Sunday and then hopping back on for the return voyage home.

"The entertainment was out of this world," June said, "equal to any Broadway or West End show."

Myla Edwards of Louisville, Ky., who was traveling with her daughter-in-law, said the amenities couldn't compare to those on the sister ship QE2 because of the sheer number of passengers. With 2,600 guests and 150 seats in the planetarium, she had to go early to get in. She also was miffed that only higher-paying customers got their pictures taken with the captain.

"I felt like I was a second-class citizen," Edwards, 58, said. "Overall it was lovely, but I like the QE2 better."

On the last day of the trip, Allen and Barbara Raymond of Westport, Conn., were still getting lost, having ended up on the wrong side of the ship, headed the wrong way, after breakfast, trying to locate their stateroom.

"We never found our way around," she said, despite the maps Cunard hands out.

From:- http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/8498248.htm