Queen Mary 2

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Queen Mary 2. This is a fairly long post if you do not feel like drowning just move on! I having read the excellent post from our resident naughty German lady when she was a young girl made me think about this post when she commented that the ships are a bit like a small city. You would do well to go and read it to see what mischief she got up to. About a ship being like a small city, she is not wrong there. Funnily enough I was watching a programme last night about the QM2 which I will be going on next week to New York I thought I would let you know some of the bizarre facts about this flagship of the Cunard Line. Firstly she was the most expensive ship ever built at over $800 million dollars in 2004. She was at her launch the largest and luxurious ship ever built however this has now been eclipsed by the Royal Caribbean Allure of the seas in terms of size and cost. She should never be called a cruise liner she is in fact an Ocean liner and plies her crossing between Southampton and New York as a regular service. Speed She is fast and can move at 29 knots (33MPH) compared to a cruise ships norm of 24 Knots (27.5 MPH) She has four engines that can produce enough electricity to power a small town of around 45,000 people. She has massive water purification machines that purify water for washing and cleaning and one for drinking. The salt is removed and the water filtered via a steaming process. Length and height and size. The Queen Mary weighs nearly 1500 tons. Her propellers alone weight 200 tons as heavy as a jumbo jet. She is 1,130 feet long taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the London Shard. She is taller than a 23 story building and only just fits under the Verrazano Bridge in New York. Her length is equivalent to 33 London Buses or four football pitches. Her horn came from the Original Queen Mary. If is deafening and can be heard up to 10 miles away. She has the biggest library of 8000 books on any ship plus she has the only planetarium on a ship. So what other facilities are there. 5 Swimming pools, jacuzzies, plus several of each lounges, bars, Restaurants. A casino, a three tier theatre and a spa. There is a full ballroom with an orchestra with dancing each evening. There is also an art gallery plus the art that is on display around the ship. There is even a pub. It even has its own 11 bed fully equipped hospital on board. Yes people do die on crossings and they have a four berth morgue on board. If that gets filled I guess there is always the walk in freezers/cold rooms that could be used. Just move that cow or sheep off the shelf and lay someone out there! Music venues around the QM2 include jazz, classical quartets pub music shows, harpist, pianists, comedians, singers plus Broadway shows in the theatre. The passengers can number around 2600 per crossing. Cats and Dogs can be taken but have to stay in Kennels on the top deck for the trip. Cats have to have two pens one for sleeping in and one for toilet business. Class system. Yes invariably there will be a class system on the Queen Mary. There are basically three standards. Queens Grill, Princess Grill and Britannia guests all with their own distinct areas to dine. Britannia passengers eat at either sitting which is allocated either 18:30 or 21:00 hours. There is also a select Britannia dining room for a few guests with open dining. Dress code. In the evening this is where things get serious which means that from 6PM all guests should as a minimum wear a jacket and tie but on formal nights Men should wear a dinner suit or ladies either a formal long dress, cocktail dress or smart dress. IF you do not fancy getting dressed up there is a Kings Court Buffet but you are still expected to don a jacket and ladies to look smart. Any man turning up in a bar without a jacket after 6PM will not be served but discretely asked to go to their room to get one. Although I understand that Cunard have relaxed the rules now a bit on non-Gala nights a lounge suit can be worn with or without a tie but at one time it did not matter who you were however famous you were. NO tie, NO dinner! It is good to have some standards and decorum. I am not sure about this dressing up malarkey but I have no option so I will give it a whirl. Hopefully I will scrub up not too badly and will post a photo so you may all have a giggle! Kitchens and food. Probably the most interesting part of all. The kitchens are on the go 24 hours a day preparing and cooking 16,000 meals alone without the extras that are available. They bake their own bread, make their own cakes and pastries. Cater for different diets, diabetic, kosher, low fat low sodium low cholesterol, gluten free, and the list goes on. Washing up is a mammoth task alone employing 3 people alone just to scrape the plates and load the dishwashers. All fine Wedgewood bone china not to mention the crystal glasses. How do you fancy going shopping for this little lot which is a typical shopping list for a cruise/crossing. Beef: 24,236 pounds 10993.265KGS Lamb: 5,040 pounds 2286.106 KGS Pork: 7,218 pounds 3274.03 KGS Veal: 4,600 pounds 2086.525 KGS Sausage: 1,680 pounds 762.0352 KGS Chicken: 10,211 pounds 4631.6317 KGS Turkey: 3,146 pounds 1427.002 KGS Fish: 13,156 pounds 5967.4612 KGS Crab: 350 pounds 158.757 KGS Lobster: 2,100 pounds 952.544 KGS Fresh Vegetables: 25,736 pounds 11673.653 KGS Potatoes: 15,150 pounds 6871.9244 KGS Fresh Fruit: 20,003 9073.2082 KGS Milk: 3,260 gallons 14820.25 Litres Cream: 1,976 quarts 1869.993 Litres Ice Cream: 600 gallons 2727.65 Litres Eggs: 9,235 dozen Sugar: 5,750 pounds 2608.156 KGS Rice: 3,800 pounds 1723.651 KGS Cereal: 1,750 pounds 793.7866 KGS Jelly: 450 pounds 204.117 KGS Tea Bags: 2,450 Coffee: 2,458 pounds 1114.93 KGS Cookies: 1,936 pounds 878.1548 KGS Herb and Spices: 120 pounds 54.4311 KGS Wine: 3,400 bottles Champagne: 200 bottles Gin: 200 bottles Vodka: 290 bottles Whiskey: 350 bottles Rum: 150 bottles Sherry: 45 bottles Liqueurs: 600 bottles Beer: 10,100 bottles and cans I have observed them restocking at a port. These items come in sacks not packets. There are crates of all sorts being loaded onto the ship. Time is of an essence and all hands are on deck excuse the pun in order to turn the ship around for its new departure. All the beds need to be changed, rooms cleaned, sheets towels pillow cases washed and pressed and the beds remade. Luggage off loaded and reloaded and transported to the passengers cabin. Some maintenance work takes place during the time the ship is in port. Roughly in 12 hours they can strip down an engine clean it and reassemble it. Being late is no excuse as the ship has to leave on time.