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June 2003 | Hemispheres QM2 " The birth of this ship marks the beginning of a new Cunard," the company's president and CEO Pamela Conover told an audience at the July 2002 keel-laying in Saint-Nazaire, France. "In what seems to be a short period of time, thousands of tons of uninspiring steel will have been turned into the most spectacular ship in the world." The new Queen will continue Cunard's tradition of operating regularly scheduled transatlantic crossings—uninterrupted since 1840. But QM2 also challenges the shipyard and its venerable client to create a vessel that lives up to Cunard's ambition: to launch the "grandest ship ever built." The challenge for naval architects is how to move such a large ship, safely and speedily, across the Big Pond. Unlike cruise ships designed for leisurely voyages in warm-weather destinations, Cunard's new flagship must be built to endure the wind-buffeted North Atlantic at top speeds. Though the art of building such a ship has not been lost, Chantiers has not built a large ocean liner since its 1962 endeavor, the SS France, now operated as Norwegian Cruise Line's Norway. A Scottish shipyard built the last ocean liner on record, Cunard's own Queen Elizabeth 2, which has made the company's transatlantic crossings since it was christened in 1969. But at 150,000 gross registered tons, QM2 will be more than twice as large as QE2. Just as important as the task ahead for Chantiers is the one facing Cunard's Miami, Florida–based marketing team. "How do you make crossing the Atlantic a desirable vacation, an anticipated event, for a whole new generation of travelers?" asks Deborah Natansohn, Cunard's senior vice president for sales and marketing. To her, the answer can be distilled to what sounds like the title of an instructional manual: "How to build an ocean liner for the 21st century." The Buzz and Bravado / Building a ship—for this century or any other—does not begin with beams of steel and welders on bent knees. It begins with a design concept, architectural renderings, and, perhaps most important of all for QM2, the marketing message. When, in March of 2000, Cunard signed a letter of intent to build its new ocean liner, Cunard Line's then-president Larry Pimentel said, "Retro-marketing is a huge market. All you have to do is look at a movie like Titanic. It sells. Our success with the QM2 is going to be a reflection of our past." Indeed, industry observers and ocean liner aficionados expected the new ship would reflect the nostalgia and lifestyle depicted in James Cameron's blockbuster movie. But Pimentel has since moved on, and new management at Cunard has charted a different course in marketing the ship. Says Cunard's Natansohn, "The Queen Mary 2 will be what all Cunard ships have aspired to be—ships of their time." The original Queen Mary was built in 1934 to be the largest, fastest, and finest liner ever constructed. Cunard is hailing QM2 the same way. While some may eventually argue whether it is or isn't, clearly QM2 is the most heralded ship ever built. Earlier this year, Cunard launched an $8 million ad campaign, kicked off by a four-page insert in a special Love and Romance supplement in the February 17 issue of The New Yorker. The theme—Can You Wait?—"is anticipatory," Natansohn says. "Anticipating getting out of your routine and experiencing the glamour of an ocean liner again." But even before the ad campaign, as news of the construction was leaked to the media and travel agents, Cunard says its phones were "ringing off the hooks." More than $5 million in bookings came in on the day last summer when reservations opened for QM2. The phones haven't stopped ringing. A disappointed 2,000 hopefuls have put their names on a waiting list for the sold-out maiden voyage. Clearly, QM2 is no ordinary ship, and the public's response has been anything but ordinary. Even before its scheduled float date, the ship spawned a memorabilia market. In the first week of its release, QM2's brochure was selling on eBay for hundreds of dollars. Obviously, Cunard contributes to the hype. At an afternoon press conference in Miami this past March, the company poured champagne and San Pellegrino sparkling water while bubbling ebullient about the ship. Executives told journalists how the yard is delivering "not just a ship but a work of art." Indeed, the number of people lined up to see the ship at Chantiers is not unlike the line in front of the Louvre on a warm Paris afternoon. Chantiers says it receives many more requests for shipyard visits than it can honor. Built to Please / To decidedly less fanfare, Cunard launched its first transatlantic liner, Britannia, in 1840. The British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company had been founded by Samuel Cunard principally to carry the royal mail between Britain and North America. In 1999, the world's largest cruise company, Miami-based Carnival Corporation, acquired Cunard. The American parent awarded the contract to build QM2 to Chantiers (its first ever Cunard liner) but not before taking the unprecedented step of specifying a 40-year fatigue life for the ship. Accordingly, the yard is taking extra precautions to assure strong structural bonds between sections welded together and is using heavier gauge steel—three times thicker in places—than on a typical cruise ship. To test QM2's seaworthiness, Cunard even built a 15-foot scale model of the ship that underwent tests in a 360-foot simulator tank in the Netherlands. The ship weathered, among other conditions, a simulated hurricane. Even in rough weather, the ship can maintain sufficient speed to meet its transatlantic timetables. Top speed is almost 30 knots, but it comes at a cost. Rolls Royce equipped QM2 with the industry's first four-pod propulsion system—two fixed and, for maneuverability, two azimuthing pod units. Each of the so-called Mermaid pods weighs 250 tons. Combined, the pods provide 86 megawatts of power. By contrast, three pods producing only 42 megawatts propel Royal Caribbean International's slightly smaller Voyager of the Seas. Fit For A Queen / With all passenger berths occupied, QM2 will carry 3,090 guests, while the Voyager of the Seas has a full capacity of 3,838. This translates into a space ratio—a measure of how crowded a ship feels—of 48.5 for QM2 versus 35.7 for Voyager. The higher the number, the roomier the ship feels. Aside from being the largest
ship afloat, QM2 will boast a number of other superlatives: the first
Canyon Ranch spa on a ship, the first
planetarium on the ocean, and the largest suites at sea. All staterooms feature digital, interactive televisions equipped with wireless keyboards for access to the Internet and ship services. Guests will be able to book shore excursions or browse a virtual collection of merchandise in the shops from their staterooms. Those who yearn for something more than planetariums and technological marvels will find classic components on QM2. The ship's three-story Britannia Restaurant, for example, recalls the dining salons of liners of the past. The dining room's sweeping central staircase creates a showcase for those wishing to make a grand entrance. The 360-degree Promenade Deck, equipped with traditional steamer chairs, re-creates what was historically an important social venue aboard transatlantic liners. Additionally, the museum-quality Maritime Quest exhibit hall allows passengers to take a walk back to the golden era of transatlantic cruising. Guests may explore the exhibit through self-guided audio tours or by studying the reading panels, one of which informs that all the horses for the Crimean War were transported on Cunard ships. Full Steam Ahead / On January 12, 2004, QM2 will set out on its maiden voyage to North America in preparation for its inaugural voyage from Fort Lauderdale. Following a series of warm-weather cruises, QM2 begins a series of 15 crossings between Southampton and New York. Extrapolating the numbers reveals that Natansohn and her sales-and-marketing team must create "an anticipatory event" for nearly 40,000 travelers if the ship is to cruise at full occupancy in its inaugural transatlantic season. Undoubtedly, some of those passengers, wrapped warmly for the
chilly North Atlantic breeze, will stand on QM2's decks and,
as generations before them did, look out across the ocean to see the
sun rising over
Europe. Some even may see what Cunard has seen all along: the dawning
not just of a new day but of a whole new age—christened by a
new Queen. /END/ |
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