Majesty Queen Mary 2

ARGUMENT

Who did not think even for a second in life to step into a haven of luxury, comfort and refined taste of elegance? Or at least to live this experience with the help of a dream, not to mention to really see or feel a tiny corner of paradise?

Well I have dreamt with my open eyes, not once but many times to be a queen who reigned over my own imaginary kingdom, of course. All little girls dream to be princesses and this foolish aspiration continues in the age of adolescence when we sigh and wish to be exactly like the characters from the movies with princes and princesses.

Beyond the blue blood queens and kings, there is a much special queen, somewhere around the world: the unimaginable, the breath taking Queen Mary 2, the „queen of the seas”, who puts everything to her feet with its grandeur, not literally, but more likely to its massive metal shell. Compared to her length, everything is smaller: the Eiffel Tower, the Westminster Tower and almost the Empire State Building. Not to mention that people look near her like ants. Did this made you tremble a little? There’s no need! Queen Mary 2 it’s not some kind of enormous monster; she is a unique transatlantic cruise ship! You don’t have to be intimidated by its size; she doesn’t look like a huge metal box! Her designers took care of every detail and created a refined mixture between modern technology and preserved tradition for more than 150 years.

Although Queen Mary 2 started her existence in 1998, I found about her just a few years ago, when I saw a speechless presentation on Discovery Channel. I was impressed and overwhelmed by what people can create! With all laws of physics that exist, I still can’t believe how such a heavy construction can float on water.

The past few days I was trying to find out what makes Queen Mary 2 so special, because she is no longer the largest cruise ship in the world. Asking myself why she is still so special, I started to make some comparisons with the actual biggest ship, Oasis of the Seas, launched in October 2009 by the rival company of Cunard. It didn’t took me long to see the differences. It’s easy to notice that Oasis of the Seas is a very high-tech ship, modern but still with a common design, while the exterior of Queen Mary 2 is idyllic and makes you remember of the legendary Titanic but with a highly improved technology. This is one of the special features of QM2, she has an aspect more likely to a ship from a past era, part of a well preserved tradition, but inside she has an impressive technology, ingeniously hidden from the eyes of the guests. Another thing I didn’t liked about Oasis of the Seas is that on this ship there is so much noise and fussiness, many people and crowded places; it’s like in a huge urban city. There are many different choices to entertain on this ship, but what’s the good of all these if you can’t have at least one moment of peace and deep relaxation. Not to mention that guests don’t have to wear some special clothes like on QM2, or going on theme parties where elegance is all about. Queen Mary 2 is the ship where luxury defines the extravagant public spaces: splendid staircases, Art Deco elevators, lofty domes, exotic murals, rich color palette in which reds dominate and millions of dollars worth of art, offering the latest in comfort. This is certainly one of the many reasons why she disserves the name of “queen”.

From my point of view, even if Queen Mary 2 isn’t the biggest in the world anymore, she is above all other ships from all points of view, and if you want to travel in style, choose Queen Mary 2.

„-Please, my I present you, Her Royal Majesty Queen Mary 2!”

1.Sail into History

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces (and is therefore known as the Senior Service). From the beginning of the 19th century until well into the 20th century it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s.

Organized seapower was first used in England by Alfred the Great of Wessex, who launched ships to repel a Viking invasion. Naval activity continued to be local, defensive and tem-porary until the 13th century, when Normandy was lost to France and trade was extended to Spain and Portugal. Ships were then used to transport soldiers to battle on land; in the Battle of Sluis (1340), however, the English naval force engaged in at-sea fighting.

Henry VIII built a fleet of fighting ships armed with large guns and created a naval administration. Under Elizabeth I the navy developed into England’s major defense and became the means by which the British Empire was extended around the globe. Under the reign of Elizabeth I, England raided Spain's ports and attacked Spanish ships defeating the Spanish Armada (1588).

The maritime forces were given the name Royal Naval by Charles II, although the military forces had become under control of Parliament during the English Civil Wars (1642-1651).

During the 18th century the Royal Navy engaged in a long struggle with the French Navy for maritime supremacy, leading Britain to victory over France in four separate wars between 1688 and 1763. It played a key role in Britain’s stand against Napoleon, and, after winning the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the Royal Navy was never again challenged by the French. This same period saw, in the person of Lord Nelson, perhaps the greatest admiral of history. For the rest of the 19th century, the Royal Navy helped enforce what became known as the Pax Britannica, the long period of relative peace arising from a balance of power between the major European states that depended ultimately on the use of British maritime supremacy.

The Royal Navy continued to be the world’s most powerful navy into the 20th century. During World War I, its main mission was the protection of shipping from submarine attack. Naval aviation was established by the British during that war, and the Fleet Air Arm was given control of all ship-borne aircraft in 1937. After World War II the Royal Navy was second in size only to the U.S. Navy and continued to be a world leader in maritime, and especially antisubmarine, operations. By the late 20th century the Royal Navy declined somewhat to third size among the world’s navies, after those of the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1964 the Board of Admiralty was brought into the Ministry of Defense. After 1967 naval administration was headed by an undersecretary of state for the Navy. Royal Navy organization includes the Commands, the Fleet Air Arm, and the Royal Marines. Although the Royal Navy has been reduced in size since the 1960s, it was given responsibility for nuclear deterrence in 1969 and maintains a fleet of nuclear-armed submarines.

The man who felt that a difference was needed to be made between the war ships and the elegantly designed travel ships was a Canadian-born British entrepreneur: Samuel Cunard which had safety and speed in mind when he established the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company in 1839. That cumbersome name became Cunard Steamship Ltd. in 1878 and is now Cunard Line, the jewel in the crown of the Carnival cruise ship empire.

His first ship, Britannia, measured 230 feet in length — two feet shorter than the spires of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City are tall — and carried her majesty's mail as well as sixty-three passengers across the Atlantic Ocean to North America in fourteen days. Between the world wars, Cunard fielded a fleet of three grand liners on the premier Southampton to New York run: Mauretania, Aquitania (a larger four-funnel ship that would sail for 35 years) and Berengaria, a former German liner (Imperator) that had been surrendered as war reparations.

In the late 1920's Cunard lay down plans for a pair of liners that would be capable of maintaining the weekly service between Southampton and New York. Construction was delayed by the Great Depression, but the British government issued loan guarantees on the condition that Cunard merge with its rival, White Star Line. Cunard-White Star Line launched Queen Mary in 1935 and Queen Elizabeth in 1939. Queen Mary won the speed record for the North Atlantic from The French liner Normandie and kept it for the next 16 years.

Both Queens and numerous smaller Cunard ships served with distinction as troop carriers during World War II. Winston Churchill credited the two Queens with shortening the war in Europe by a year, as they were able to transport 10,000 troops each trip -- without escort -- because of their speed.