Trans-Atlantic elegance

Since its media-fueled debut 14 months ago, the list of superlatives used to describe Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 probably would span the 1,132-foot-long vessel. Many of us have read “largest,” “widest” and “grandest” galore, and we got the message.

I thought I knew what to expect. Still, as our taxi inched toward the Passenger Ship Terminal on 12th Avenue on New York’s West Side with my husband and me and our luggage, the up-close and personal image of this huge new liner was overwhelming. Almost as long as four football fields, it carries more than 150,000 gross tons and is 113 feet longer than the original Queen Mary.

The big and beautiful 17-deck QM2, Cunard’s new flagship, is every bit as regal as its name, and traveling on it is an unforgettable experience.

I used to feel similarly about the much smaller Queen Elizabeth 2. It is an impressive ship and set the gold standard for trans-Atlantic crossings while adding a sense of history, elegance and tradition to a major travel experience.

Both ships were built as ocean liners, not cruise ships, and Queen Mary 2 retains that unique quality while blending 21st-century technology and engineering with large public areas, good-sized staterooms and minimal noise and vibration levels even at extraordinary speed.

I made three crossings on the QE2 in the late 1980s and early ‘90s and never had a complaint until sometime around 1994. On that crossing, I found the ship a bit tacky and uncared for. One morning, as a test, I wrote my initials in the dust on the television set and upturned a chair that had a horrible stain on its seat before I left the cabin for breakfast. My maid asked why the chair was upturned. I replied that I had wanted her to see the ugly spotting.

“Oh,” she quickly answered with a smile, “someone must’ve spilled on it.”

No steps were taken to clean the fabric. The dust — and my initials — were still there when I disembarked in Southampton. My love affair with the gem of the ocean had lost its fervor.

The Cunard name in those mid-1990 days also had lost its sheen. The glory days of Cunard, an icon in the cruise industry since its 1840 beginning, seemed to be past.

How wrong I was.

A SEA CHANGE

When a Carnival Corp. consortium bought Cunard in 1998, work began almost immediately on the QM2, and Cunard’s standards again began to soar. Carnival acquired the remaining shares of Cunard and took 100 percent control of the company in 1999.

Last year, Cunard and Princess Cruises, another Carnival Corp. company, started to work together at offices in California while still maintaining their brand individuality. Veteran officials of both lines created a high standard of service on the $800 million QM2, corrected initial errors, and now have a queen-sized success on their hands. Cunard has scheduled 26 Atlantic crossings this year.

Cunard merged with the old and traditional White Star Line in 1934. This year, in March, the line introduced White Star Service, a training program for officers and staff focusing on three words: legendary, elegant and memorable.

Story Continues →