The famous liner Queen Mary 2 was due in Halifax on July 2, so it came as a surprise when it made an unscheduled call today June 29. The brief time in port - less than a half hour - was unfortunately due to a medical emergency. An ambulance and Emergency Health Service workers met the ship when it tied up at Pier 22. As usual with such incidents the privacy of the passenger or crew member was respected and details were not released.
It was quite foggy when the ship arrived, but a little tweeking of the digital image brought out the superb look of the ship. Word of its arrival brought out a small group of ship watchers - as it always does - regardless of weather.
When it sailed, the ship went north about George's Island, and made for sea in good order.
The Queen Mary 2 is the last of the great liners and makes regular transatlantic passenger crossings, in season. In addition to the novelty and tradition of such voyages it is a convenience to those who cannot fly and unique among cruise ships (and unlike many airlines), it allows pets to travel with the owners. The cancellation of any crossing causes great inconvenience as there are no alternatives aside from some cruise ship re-positioning trips.
The ship's trip out of Southampton scheduled for April 23, and its return trip out of New York scheduled for April 30, 2023 were cancelled for unspecified "technical issues". Those have been quite rare for the now nearly twenty year old ship. Delivered by Chantier de l'Atlantique, St-Nazaire in December 2003 the 149,215 gt ship has a capacity of 2,695 passengers and as Cunard would have it 1253 "officers and crew".
Cunard of course is part of the Carnival Corporation and from recent press reports, its boss reports to P+O Cruises in the corporate chain of command.
Cunard's Halifax roots are not forgottten and a statue of Sir Samuel Cunard stands outside the Halifax Port Autohority offices at Pier 20.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment