Cunard Fun Facts about the Queen Mary 2

Did you know?

• At 1,130 feet, Queen Mary 2 is five times longer than Cunard’s first ship, Britannia (230 feet), and 113 feet longer than the original Queen Mary (1,019 feet).
• She features 17 decks and towers 200 feet above the waterline, equal to the height of a 23-story building.
• Queen Mary 2 is more than twice as long as the Washington Monument is tall (550 feet), 147 feet longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall (984 feet), more than 3 ½ times as long as Big Ben (Westminster Tower) is high (310 feet), as long as 36 double-decker London buses (31½ feet each), more than three times as long as St. Paul’s Cathedral (366 feet), and only 117 feet shorter than the height of the Empire State Building (1248 feet).
• Queen Mary 2 will stretch nearly four football fields in length.
• There are several dining venues, all featuring ocean views, including Cunard’s traditional Grill Rooms for the higher stateroom categories and an elegant restaurant for the deluxe and standard categories. Recalling the classic dining salons of grand liners of the past, the magnificent three-deck-high main dining room will span the full width of the ship with a sweeping central staircase creating a dramatic showcase for those wishing to make the ultimate grand entrance.
• Another classic feature is the 360-degree Promenade Deck, recreating an environment, which historically served as an important social venue aboard transatlantic liners. The spacious deck, whose total circumference exceeds one-third of a mile, is lined with traditional steamer chairs while leaving expansive room for guests to stroll. Interior promenades circling several decks provide attractive walking venues, as well.
• The ship has a large indoor swimming pool in the spa as well as four outside pools, one of which has a retractable glass roof.
• A planetarium on board - the first at sea - offers a variety of constellation shows, as well as other presentations.
• One of the ship’s whistle is an original from Queen Mary so that her famous predecessor’s voice will once more be heard on the ocean. It is audible for 10 miles.

For the construction of Queen Mary 2…

• …some 300,000 pieces of steel were cut and welded into blocks in specialised workshops. Queen Mary 2’s hull is made up of 94 steel blocks (made from 580 panels), some of which weigh more than 600 tons, involving some 1,500 kilometres of welding. Her hull weighs 50,000 tons (more than a school of 330 blue whales) – not to be confused with her gross tonnage, which is 151,400.

Food & Beverage…

• The annual sugar consumption would make eight million scones
• Queen Mary 2 uses almost 7,000 boxes of strawberries each year
• The annual tea consumption would fill an Olympic size swimming pool
• Queen Mary 2 serves 1.5 million drinks per year, not including wine sales
• The annual beef consumption would supply a city the size of Southampton each year
• The onboard baking requires the use of nearly 8,000 industrial size flour bags Stacking them would make a pile five times higher than the Eiffel Tower
• The weight of pineapples used per year match the weight of 50 SUVs, almost 90 metric tons

Queen Mary 2 has…

• 2,500 kilometres of electric cable
• 310 miles (500 kilometres) of ducts, mains and pipes
• 2,000 bathrooms
• 80,000 lighting points
• 280,000 square yards (250,000 square metres) of fitted carpets
• 144,000 square yards (120,000 square metres) of insulating material
• 3,800 square yards (3,200 square metres) of galleys
• 3,000 telephones
• 8,800 loudspeakers
• 5,000 stairs
• 5,000 fire detectors
• 1,100 fire doors
• 8,350 automatic extinguishers