Queen Mary 2's spectacular arrival

[Jason]

Cheering crowds, confetti and mighty horn blasts greet Queen Mary 2

By Tom Stieghorst, Christy McKerney and Sandra Ewon Kim

Staff Writers, Sun Sentinel. Posted January 27 2004

With a mighty blast of its whistle, Queen Mary 2 signaled its arrival at Port Everglades at 7:15 a.m. on Monday to a throng of dignitaries and well-wishers who crowded bridges and condo balconies to see in the historic ship.

A minute later, the booming salute was returned by ship after ship docked at Port Everglades, the QM2's new winter home.

As the 150,000-ton ship eased toward Berth 21, two escort tugs spewed blue and red plumes of seawater, confetti rained down from the condos lining the port entrance and a brass band at the tip of the pier struck up a march.

"It's huge, it's mammoth," said Frank Montalbano, 80, a retired superintendent of schools, who watched from a condo near the port.

"The ship was incredible," added Victor Avondoglio, 72, who got up at 5:30 a.m. "It was well worth it to see the ship come in."

Cunard Line President Pamela Conover, who bounced on her toes with excitement as the ship entered the port's turning basin, told a crowd at a welcome ceremony inside Terminal 21 that Monday was a historic day for Cunard.

"It is the first time in 35 years we are able to welcome a new ship to America," Conover said.

Queen Mary 2 is not just another ship. It is the biggest, longest, most expensive passenger vessel in the world. Built for $800 million, it will succeed the storied Queen Elizabeth 2 on the trans-Atlantic run, and make Caribbean cruises in the winter.

"I cannot wait to take the tour of this great, great ship," said Gov. Jeb Bush, on hand to greet the liner dockside.

Nicki Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau said the cruise industry was responsible for 30,000 jobs in South Florida alone.

Carnival Corp. Chairman Micky Arison, who also owns the Miami Heat basketball team, surveyed a crowd of about 100 reporters, photographers and broadcasters and concluded he had only seen so much media at a sporting event.

"I've never had this kind of attention for a ship," Arison said. "This has been an amazing day, and an amazing month."

Cunard, which is owned by Carnival, will keep QM2 at Port Everglades through Saturday, Jan. 31, although it isn't open for tours. Port Everglades officials also say the port is off limits to sightseers for security reasons.

A U.S. Coast Guard team boarded to inspect the 2,620-passenger ship Monday and todayThere will be events for travel agents and media Wednesday through Friday, and on Friday night a charity gala aboard the ship will benefit Winterfest, the New World Symphony and the Miami City Ballet.

QM2 is scheduled to leave Port Everglades on an 11-day cruise to the Caribbean around 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

The ship's three Caribbean cruises and one South American cruise are almost sold out. On March 26 it will leave Fort Lauderdale for England, where it begins its summer schedule of 15 trans-Atlantic crossings to New York.

About 2,500 passengers disembarked the 14-day maiden voyage from Southampton. Some griped about the service, but most were thrilled with their voyage.

"We ate dinner on our balcony last night," said Debra Siefert of Las Vegas, who loved that part of the trip. Her husband Lee, a real estate developer, said their suite was very modern and the cruise was worth the cost.

"They were a little disorganized in a couple of minor areas," he said.

Other guests were more pointed in their criticism. "The service was fine but it wasn't what it was on the Queen Elizabeth 2," said Richard Mays, an orthodontist from Thousand Oaks, Calif., who said early in the cruise waiters seem to have too many tables.

Deborah Natansohn, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Cunard, said about 60 percent of the crew of 1,200 is new to the ship. "The first few days we know people had some problems with the service," she said.

Finding out exactly how many people want room service, and how many want to have lunch in the formal dining room instead of the buffet can take a few cruises, and that leads to understaffing in some cases.

"You don't know how many people will show up where," she said.

Richard Faber, 66, an ocean liner memorabilia salesman from New York who paid $4,000 for his half of a room with a balcony, attributed some of the problems to rough weather encountered as the ship left England. Winds of up to 45 miles an hour made some crew seasick, he said, which reduced the number of crew available.

Faber said he thought the ship was very stable in the gale. "From beginning to end, [the cruise] was extraordinary," he said.

QM2's welcome in Fort Lauderdale included 100 pounds of confetti shot from the roof of the Point of the Americas condominium, which hugs the northern edge of the entrance into Port Everglades. "I was on the roof with the Fort Lauderdale sniper team," said Bill Loughran Jr., of Shore Manufacturing Co., who flew down from New Jersey for the event.

Security at the port was tight, as patrol boats with flashing blue lights kept boaters at a distance, and deputies at the port denied entry to all but those who had been pre-cleared by Cunard to get close to the 1,131-foot ship.

Loughran's father held a breakfast party on the 27th floor of his Point of the Americas condo, where about a dozen friends munched on quiche and bagels and reveled in the bird's-eye view of the enormous passenger ship.

As the QM2 passed by, Loughran blasted two fire-engine horns, turned on strobe lights, and threw streamers from his wrap-around balcony.

"You get so used to seeing so many ships come in," said Elena Loughran, Bill Sr.'s wife, "but the Queen Mary 2 was really spectacular."

[GottaCruz]

It must have been very exciting to see this from the condos .