Queen Mary 2 is NOT a cruise ship! [VIDEO]

Background

RMS Queen Mary 2 is 1,132 feet long, has the capacity to accommodate 2,691 guests and 1,292 crew members, but she is not a cruise ship! The terms cruise ship and ocean liner are often used interchangeably.  However, while both are types of passenger ships, there is a difference.

Queen Mary 2 is a transatlantic ocean liner and has served as the flagship of Cunard Line since 2004 (after succeeding Queen Elizabeth 2). In fact, she is the last remaining passenger ship in the world that operates as an ocean liner.

Ocean liners

An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport passengers from point A to point B.  The classic example of such a voyage would be a transatlantic crossing from Europe to America. 

Because a ship could encounter any type of weather on such a voyage, an ocean liner must be built strongly, using a great deal of steel in the hull. Their bows are long and tapered to allow them to cut through the waves. In addition, in order to make the voyage within a reasonable time, they are built so as to be able to go fast.

Cruise ships

Cruise ships are built for the sole purpose of taking passengers on a journey that begins and ends in the same port. A classic example of such a voyage is a Caribbean cruise that begins and ends in Tampa, Florida.

When the cruise industry first started, most cruise ships were retired ocean liners. It was necessary to retire this ships because that market had been lost to the jet airliner. Carnival Cruise Lines first ship, the Mardi Gras, was the former ocean liner Empress of Canada. 

Here are a few images of Queen Mary 2 in Dominica:

© 2019 Yuri A Jones | A Moody Sunset with Queen Mary 2, captured in Roseau, Dominica

© 2019 Yuri A Jones | Queen Mary 2, captured in Roseau, Dominica