Queen Elizabeth II formally names Queen Mary 2

The Queen Mary 2 Cruise liner at Southampton, 8 
January 2004, during the naming ceremony by Britain's 
Queen Elizabeth II. AFP PHOTO/ Martyn HAYHOW 

Friday, January 9, 2004

SOUTHAMPTON, England (AFP): Queen Elizabeth II formally named the Queen Mary 2, the world's biggest and grandest ocean liner, on Thursday ahead of its maiden transatlantic voyage to the United States.

"I name this ship Queen Mary 2. May God bless her and all who sail in her," the British monarch said, before a hefty jeroboam of Veuve Cliquot champagne smashed against the spot-lit starboard side of its black bow.

The mammoth 150,000-tonne vessel, built in Saint Nazaire on the French Atlantic coast at a cost of nearly one billion dollars, is to set off on its 14-day maiden voyage, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Monday.

During the months of February, March, May, June, November and December 2004, the QM2 has a variety of sailings focusing on the Caribbean. 

QM2's first season of southerly cruising will take her to the Caribbean's Virgin Islands, the Windward and Leeward Islands in the Lower Antilles, Panama's Caribbean coast, the Netherlands Antilles and, on two back-to-back voyages, to South America to celebrate Carnival in Rio. 

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