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Home > Ocean Liners > Queen Mary 2 (QM2) > QM2 News (After Float Out) > Decor on QM2 is retro, technology is not

Decor on QM2 is retro, technology is not

By Tom Stieghors
Business Writer for sun-sentinal.com
Posted January 31 2004 (link now removed)

In its decor, the Queen Mary 2 may suggest the classic liners of the 1930s and '40s, but the technology aboard is all 21st century.

The new cruise ship, set to leave Port Everglades this evening on its first Caribbean cruise, has benefited from decades of engineering improvements since her predecessor, Queen Elizabeth 2, was designed in the 1960s.

From the space-age bridge controls to the new-style pods that drive her giant propellers through the water, the QM2 is more nimble, easier to communicate with and has more equipment designed to protect the environment than past liners.

"This vessel embraces all of the developments in marine technology that have occurred over the last 25 to 30 years," said Commodore Ronald W. Warwick, who is in command of the $800 million ship.

One of the biggest changes is in maneuverability. With three propellers embedded like little fans in the keel toward the front of the ship and two pod propellers in the stern that can swivel in a 360-degree circle, the 1,132-foot-long QM2 can dock itself.

"With the QE2, we would have needed tugs," Warwick said.

QM2 also has two fixed pod propellers, making it the only passenger vessel with a total of four. The pods look like blunt torpedoes and hang on struts beneath the stern. They eliminate the need for long, space-consuming propeller shafts.

Another new wrinkle on QM2 is the two gas turbine engines set behind the funnel. Similar to jet engines, the GE turbines generate electricity to supplement the four V-16 diesel engines when QM2 wants to reach top speed of about 35 miles an hour.

Control of the ship is focused in a single joystick on the bridge, which uses computers to relay commands.

New technology is also making ship-to-shore communication commonplace. Phone calls now go by satellite, rather than radio waves. Internet cafes are a staple of modern cruise ships, but QM2 also lets passengers type text messages on television monitors in their cabins, which can be sent for $1.50 each.

QM2 is also among the first cruise ships to install so-called Wi-Fi wireless hotspots throughout the ship, where passengers can use their portable computers to connect to the Internet through the ether.

Like other modern ships, QM2's theaters and discos benefit from computer control of lighting, sound and stage elevation. But unlike other ships, a fabric dome descends from the ceiling of the main showroom when it is time to present one of three stargazing presentations in the only planetarium at sea.

QM2 makes its own fresh water -- up to 2,000 tons a day -- by distilling seawater using exhaust heat from the ship's engines. And it processes waste through a sewage plant that uses microbes to consume sludge.

"We do not dump untreated gray water or black water at sea," notes Milton Gonzales, vice president, marine and technical, at Cunard Line.

Even one of the oldest pieces of technology on the ship has been transformed for modern use.

One of the two whistles mounted on the funnel of QM2 was first used on her namesake, the original Queen Mary. It is on permanent loan to Cunard from the city of Long Beach, Calif., which now owns the retired ship.

The whistle, reconditioned by the original Swedish manufacturer, sounds a thunderous bass note that can be heard for 10 miles. But just as QM2 no longer uses steam engines, the whistle is no longer driven by steam.

Instead, the sound is generated using compressed air, and a device to simulate the release of steam supplies the visual, said Debbie Natansohn, Cunard senior vice president of sales and marketing.

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