Passing the Torch in Front of All New York

Last night in New York Harbor there was a passing of the torch, ending one era and opening the door to several others. Surprising, to me, all around the harbor there were parties to witness the occasion.

The event being marked was the simultaneous sailing of Cunard's glittering new Queen Mary 2, and their now-former flagship, Queen Elizabeth 2. Both ships will sail this 6_day transatlantic crossing together, staying within sight of each other all the way to Southampton, the first time ever for such a tandem sailing by two Cunard queens. The drama of the event was heightened by a Grucci fireworks display as the two ships passed the Statue of Liberty.

Cunard had arranged the event both as a climax to five days of spectacular events celebrating QM2's maiden call to the Big Apple, and also as a farewell to QE2's regular transatlantic service, who over her 35 years of service has visited the city more than 700 times.

What was surprising to me was the way the City was so captivated by the event and QM2. OK, I can understand some initial excitement on Wednesday morning when QM2 was arriving. It is the largest passenger ship in the world (and longest and tallest and widest, as Cunard is fond of saying), so it's understandable even jaded New Yorkers are going to take note as it sails up the Hudson River where the occupants of some of the world's most valuable real estate can look right out their windows and see the giant bow of QM2 looming at the end of one of the city's concrete canyons. That was an event which it wasn't surprising to see covered live on most of the network morning news shows.

QM2 was also the object of attention during Carnival Corp's annual stockholders' meeting in New York. Carnival officials and the ship's captain also were invited to ring the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday. (That awed Captain Wright; he told me ringing that bell was the biggest thrill of his life. Imagine that?)

While in New York Saturday night, Carnival also offered QM2 as the site for a fund_raiser for a colon cancer charity event headed up by Katie Couric. Even that drew the attention of all New York, because it was a star_studded event where even the top stars (and the otherwise famous) literally lined up to perform and be seen there. (Even Donald Trump appropriately sang "I'll Take Manhattan," as part of the entertainment.)

OK, so Cunard was staging these things to get the attention of the news media, and it was working, and is certainly testament to the good work of Cunard's PR department. (When was the last time you can remember any industrial event getting at least two pages of coverage in all the major New York papers, plus dozens of minutes of local New York television coverage, and live network coverage? QM2's first visit to New York did this week.)

The event does mean something important in the cruise industry too.

For one thing it is noting the end of QE2's remarkable career as a transatlantic liner. Yes, she will still be around for a few more years sailing longer cruises, primarily in the UK market, and an occasional transatlantic crossing as part of a longer cruise, but the ship's main purpose in being built was to carry passengers traveling back and forth between New York and London, and that part of her career will end when she reaches Southampton on Saturday.

QE2 was built at a time when the jet_age had just arrived, so travel by transatlantic liner was going to be left to people wanting an elegant and leisurely mode of travel. Part of what made Queen Elizabeth 2 "the most famous ship in the world" was that she became the last of her kind. That gave her a mystique, and although there were many who sailed about QE2 regularly, her appeal for many more became a once_in_a_lifetime trip.

Queen Mary 2 isn't the same. She is ushering in a new era for transatlantic travel. In today's passenger shipping industry it makes sense to build bigger ships. One important reason is that the larger the ship, the more fantastic amenities and facilities can be included for passengers. It also means economies of scale, which can make tickets more affordable, and that means for many, a transatlantic voyage on QM2 doesn't have to be a once_in_a_life trip.

That's what Cunard is banking on by building QM2 and by considering the possibility of a building a sister ship. While much of the news media always focuses on the ultra_luxurious suites at tens of thousands of dollars, the bulk of the staterooms on QM2 are standard balcony cabins with lead prices of about $2,500, including air fare the other direction.

It is now, for many, an affordable indulgence.

And it doesn’t mean that passengers used to nice things on other lines, need to step down to minium inside cabins to make it affordable. That $2,500 price tag (if you shop right, on the right sailings) is for a nice roomy, comfortable outside stateroom with a balcony, and the use of almost all the facilities (yes, there have to be some perks for the passengers booking the bazillion-dollar suites) aboard the ship which sails in the luxury market. After touring the suites and minimum insides earlier this year, I settled into my standard balcony cabin and really felt it to be the warmest and most comfortable accommodations of any I saw on the ship.

For many, a $5,000 (per couple) vacation is affordable even if you add a bit more for a few days in London. This is the new era QM2 ushered in last night on her first transatlantic crossing from New York.

So after a week of focusing the attention of New York on QM2, how does Cunard's PR department top that? Well, I expected the tandem sailing of QM2 and QE2 to get the attention of the cruise industry and, well, the type of people who read Cruise News Daily, but the average sophisticated New Yorker? Hardly.

When I was invited to a reception Cunard was hosting at the 14th_floor cocktail lounge of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at Battery Park to watch the sailaway of the two Queens, I expected primarily a cruise industry function.

I rode from my Manhattan hotel to the Ritz-Carlton in a car with a couple of Cunard executives, and we figured that a half hour should have been plenty of time to get there. Not really. As we drove slowly down the West Side Highway, past the West Side Cruise Terminal where both ships were berthed, it became obvious that this was no ordinary Sunday evening traffic.

When we pulled up to the hotel at the foot of Manhattan, there were police directing traffic. Thousands of people had come to the vantage point to see the torch passed under the fireworks.

Inside the hotel, I found a room full of people primarily from New York, mostly from the cruise and travel industries talking about industry affairs and how good the champagne was. The bar was comfortable and cozy with floor_to_ceiling windows overlooking the Hudson and the Statue of Liberty. It was almost as if it had been built for this event.

It was interesting, already about 7:30, I noticed people casually staking out their places by windows. Next to the place where I had edged closer to the glass myself, a Cunard executive had casually put her coat and purse on the chairs at that table. I heard her say to Micky and Madeline Arison she had reserved a table for them, and sure enough, a few minutes later an elegant little "Reserved" sign appeared.

The bar also had an outdoor rooftop terrace facing the river, and as a few people stepped out there to look, it became apparent that was going be another prime place to view the event.

From there, you could look down to see the amazing sight of thousands of people lining the shore, about four or five deep, waiting to see the event under the fireworks. Looking up, in all the windows of the pricey apartments, there was hardly a window to be seen where there weren't silhouetted figures, waiting for sight of the ships.

Word came from onboard that the ships had left. (When you are at a Cunard function, they can call the ship and ask where they are.) They were backed out of the West Side Cruise Terminal as scheduled within 15 minutes of each other starting at 7:30. And that moved just about everyone onto the terrace. Yes, even these New Yorkers were excited. Even the Arisons were so excited they had to leave their comfy window table inside and come outside to wave at the ship. Cunard had even managed to build excitement among these industry veterans.

Almost as if on cue, at 8:30, as Queen Mary 2's bow came past the buildings blocking our view upriver, she blasted her baritone whistle letting the city know she was departing. (It can be heard for ten miles.) She was surrounded by a dozen news helicopters with searchlights, flying around her like tiny gnats. In the river (keeping a safe distance outside the security perimeter) were scores of small boats and sightseeing craft all there so hundreds more could get a closer glimpse of the event.

QM2 sailed just past Battery Park and came to a stop waiting for her older and smaller sister to catch up.

About fifteen minutes later Queen Elizabeth 2 pulled up a safe distance behind her newer sister. That made QM2 look bigger than ever. Both ships were glittering mostly from their interior lighting (and the big Queen Mary 2 sign on the upper deck of the larger ship), but somewhat sadly, with fewer and smaller windows, QE2 just didn’t shine as brightly.

They inched forward a little way further to be in front of the Statue of Liberty for the fireworks show which then seemed to have been staged not only for the benefit of the sell_out crowd of passengers onboard both ships but also for the thousands onshore who had come down to the area on a drizzly New York evening with temperatures in the low 40's.

The fireworks began, and because of the low clouds, they were exploded closer to the earth, which made them all the more spectacular.

Within the space of about fifteen minutes, they were over, and without a sound, QE2 started moving, passing up QM2 and headed on down the Hudson and out to sea. Just after she passed, QM2 also began moving slowing away from New York.

By 10:00pm, the lights of both ships were out of sight, and one era had ended and another one began. And New York won't soon forget.

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