Thursday, February 23, 2006 - the historic first meeting of "two of the world's great ocean liners." The recently launched Queen Mary 2, the new giantess, sailed into Long Beach Harbor, up beside the original Queen Mary, permanently docked out here. The old Queen Mary is in financial trouble - its operating company is owned by a business that filed for bankruptcy last March and owes the city millions in back rent. The hotel and museum are still open, for now. The Queen Mary 2 is part of Carnival Cruise Lines, as they bought the Cunard Line, and the Queen Mary name, in 1998. They operate Cunard as a two-ship subsidiary. Times change.

Thousands of people turned out to see these two together - the roads were jammed and the skies filled with news helicopters and there were skydivers and such things. An unusual event, and a good photo-op, of course.

Queen Mary: 1,019 feet long, 12 decks, gross tonnage 81,237 tons - maiden voyage May 27 to June 1, 1936, Southampton, England to New York - final cruise October 31 to December 9, 1967, from Southampton to Long Beach, California.

Queen Mary 2: 1,132 feet long, 17 decks, gross tonnage 151,400 tons - maiden voyage January 12, 2004, from Southampton, England, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida

A note on these photographs -

If you use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me.
These were shot with a Nikon D70 - lens AF-5 Nikor 18-70mm 1:35-4.5G ED or AF Nikor 70-300mm telephoto.
Copyright © 2006 - Alan M. Pavlik - All Rights Reserved

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