Queen Mary 2

Maiden Voyage, January 2004

Exterior of the Ship

A brand new ship is wonderful to see! Paintwork is fresh and unblemished, no layers of previous coats, pristine. Sparkling white forms, huge expanses of wooden decks. Rich teakwood deck chairs with dark green pads on them. Wooden railings, unvarnished, smooth to the touch. Complicated cantilevered davits overhead on the Promenade deck, which is of great length and on which it is possible to circumnavigate once for over a quarter of a mile walk. I have to say that I found the sculptural quality of the superstructure and its components quite stunningly beautiful. Clean functional design (not always like that in the interiors) everywhere to enjoy. The foredeck, accessed from doors off the Promenade deck, is particularly satisfying with spare propeller blades mounted like Brancusi sculptures but bolted to the deck …. A wonderful touch, and protected by short curved railings. And facing aft is the amazing curvaceous landscape of the bridgefront, slightly reminiscent of the old Queen Mary and yet like no other ship I have ever seen. The top decks are vast with a helicopter-landing pad just forward of the funnel. That funnel which many of us wished were larger or taller at least (Stephen Payne admitted to the same wish but the Verrazano bridge was built too low as he said) still appears absolutely enormous when seen up close and a really splendid piece of maritime sculpture it is. Rather than make any further comments, I think it best to rely on the photographs I took in abundance.