The Hindu Business Line : Queen Mary 2 calls at Kochi

MAJESTIC LINER: Queen Mary 2, the luxury ship carrying more than 2,500 passengers and 1,500 employees, arrives at the Kochi Port on Wednesday. — H. Vibhu

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Kochi, March 7 Queen Mary 2, the world's largest and most expensive cruise liner, anchored at Cochin Port Trust on Wednesday as part of its global voyage.

This is the maiden call of the vessel at Kochi as part of the world cruise, which left Fort Lauderdale in US on January 11 and returns there on April 2. Kochi is the only Indian port for the stopover of the vessel during its voyage and it will sail to Dubai on Thursday afternoon. The vessel had entered service in January 2004 after being named by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Main attractions

Queen Mary 2 offers a host of `firsts' and exclusives. About 79 per cent of cabins feature private balconies. There is artwork worth over £3.5 million on board. The world's first floating Planetarium offers virtual reality rides through the galaxies. The University of Oxford operates a cultural academy.

The vessel offers the first suites with private lift access, the first Canyon Ranch Spa at sea, the first Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar at sea, the largest library at sea (with 8,000 hardbacks, 500 paperbacks, 200 audio books and 100 CD-Roms, the largest ballroom with the largest dance floor at sea, workshops and master classes performed by RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), the longest jogging track at sea and the largest and most extensive wine cellar at sea.

The vessel has a passenger capacity of 2,620 lower berths which gives a space ratio per passenger of 57.25, making it the most spacious of the world's larger passenger ships. It has 1,310 passenger cabins, of which 77.6 per cent are outside and 72.7 per cent of the total number of outside cabins feature a large balcony.