Two of the best british passenger ships of their time, ORIANA and QE2 greeting each other with their horns in Southampton back in August 2008.
Undoubtedly the port of Southampton is poorer without the great last liner QE2 making her regular calls in Britain's cruise capital. Nevertheless, too well that nice cruise liners like our dear ORIANA continue in keeping the old tradition alive in that port of great maritime history.
Source: YouTube(qm2fan).
Oriana
ORIANA berthed in Funchal as the replica of Columbus SANTA MARIA passes by. 8 October 2015
Hi Joao
ResponderEliminarQM2 "THE LAST GREAT OCEAN LINER) still salutes Southampton (her real Homeport) on every single departure, so these days are still very much alive
Best
Hello Vítor,
ResponderEliminarHonestly I don't quite agree with you, the QM2 is a great ship undoubtedly, one of those, like i said in the text, that brings the tradition of the past passenger ships alive, but unlike the QE2 she wasn't built as an ocean liner, even her design reflects her main purpose for cruising, the QE2 was the last of her kind, the last built specifically for Atlantic crossings. And even if the QM2 still makes ocean trips they are too long(7 night Southampton-New York) which is something doesn't quite resemble an ocean liner. But I take my hat off to QM2 which is a impressive looking ship and the closest we have nowadays of an old ocean liner.
Regards
Hi Joao
ResponderEliminarWhen QE2 was built was as well as a dual purpose, ocean liner voyages and cruising, she started cruising and I remember a lot of people was disapponted with the ship, she was not by any means an immediate conquest, the QM2 was built exactly the same way, to be an ocean liner, we just have to look of her streamlined lines and also for cruising, as you know she has a deeper draft, 40% more steel than a normal cruise ship, even her lifeboats were designed to be protected from the elements, the all project was completely different, she has more space inside for passengers, her public rooms are designed for long sea voyages, she takes about 2500 passengers with 151.000 GRT compared to for instance COSTA SERENA at 115.000 GRT which takes almost 4000. As for the crossing times, the only reason she takes 7 nights it's to save fuel, this is the first season with that crossing time, the average speed for this crossing time is 21 knots which she is capable to keep with three of her four Diesel engines and as you know she still has two more gas turbines, when I crossed the Atlantic, just to give you an idea she was only using three pods because she ran aground months before and destroyed one of the pods and we crossed in 6 nights at an average of 24 knots, her top speed can reach 32 knots so she can still cross in 5 nights like QE2 for instance, but I think they will only use that speed in emergencies or if requested to be used as a troop ship, which she was also conceived for. It's still a unique experience when she blasts that old QUEEN MARY's whistle, unique and totally OCEAN LINER like
Best
Yes i'm not saying she isn't all of that, in the first place i've mentioned on the text that: still some cruise liners like ORIANA; and I said ORIANA, not to mention QM2 or AURORA etc. but i mentioned ORIANA because this is her blog not QM2's or AURORA's blog, if that makes sense.
ResponderEliminarAll of them keep the old maritime tradition alive in my port.
Regards!
Some interesting thoughts here, Although Cunard is not a line have spent a great amount of time studying I believe that in her time QE2 spent a higher percentage of her time on the Atlantic crossing than QM2 does.If we compare ORIANA with QM2 there is a number of similarities both being designed for longer voyages in terms of structural strength with ORIANA having thinker steel plates than a regular cruise ship as well as the facilities on board ORIANA has a higher percentage of public rooms on board than Grand/Crown class whom we know are considerably larger the reason being that gives passengers on her longer cruises more choice of venues to attend.
ResponderEliminarWhile QM2 does have a higher speed and larger draught making her "Ocean liner" ORIANA is not far behind being a hybrid Ocean liner/Cruise liner combining the best of both into one elegant ship.
Kind Regards
Dear Joao and Steve
ResponderEliminarI only wished to make a remark that QM2 was built as an Ocean Liner, she truly is an Ocean Liner, she spends more time cruising today because of the market demands, I didn't make any comparisons with ORIANA or any other ships,apart from the passenger capacity because this is a fundamental issue to understand the difference, one just needs to step on board QM2 and any of the new resort ships to appreciate the difference my point is QE2 was not the last Ocean Liner, that role is now ascribed to QM2 and Steve you right about ORIANA she was designed for long voyages like AURORA and even the new QUEENS but they are not Ocean Liners.
Best
Dear friend Vítor,
ResponderEliminarIt's your opinion and I respect it.
Thanks for sharing your essential comments with us,
Regards!