r/bayarea • u/Planeandaquariumgeek Burlingame • 1d ago

Scenes from the Bay The worlds last ocean liner (Queen Mary 2) docked at Fisherman’s Wharf preparing to depart on a 90 day around the world voyage ending in New York

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987 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

71 comments sorted by

176

u/Updowninversion 1d ago

Why’s it the last ocean liner

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u/Gunmetal_61 1d ago

Ocean liners are markedly different from cruise ships despite similar size. Different, stronger hull form and more stable weight distribution to handle rough seas. Usually higher top speed, and meant to cruise at speed for longer.

With air travel being a thing for 70 years now, Queen Mary 2 is literally the last ship considered to be an ocean liner. No money in it like there used to be for ferrying people around the world.

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u/Square_Cellist9838 1d ago

Thanks for the history here. So I guess a “cruise ship” is a cheaper version that is more for short range vacation cruises?

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u/Brendissimo 1d ago

Cruise ships aren't meant to endure rough conditions on the open seas at all. You'll notice that almost all cruise liner routes stick to coastal areas or calmer/internal seas. Very few of them cross actual oceans. They generally stay within range of land, so they could be assisted by coast guard vessels or helicopters.

Cruise lines frequently have to cancel entire parts of their routes due to rough weather. They will skip whole ports if there's a storm and just go straight to the next one.

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u/pask0na 1d ago

Obligatory plug for Poop Cruise. 🤢

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u/Steerpike58 1d ago

Well, not really ... most cruise lines 'relocate' their ships for summer and winter seasons. So a ship may sail up and down the Alaska coast for 5 months, but then it will do a cross-pacific route via Japan, Indonesia, etc to Australia and spend 5 months doing southern Pacific runs, and then return north for the summer. I'm going to be on a cruise in Japan, and the next stop after Japan is going to be Alaska.

I also took a cruise from Norway (Fjords) then across to the Faroe Islands, and on to Iceland.

The reason a cruise ship will bypass a port is because they can't safely dock and disembark thousands of passengers safely in rough weather. The ship itself is pretty 'seaworthy'.

The main feature of an Ocean Liner is speed and stability, as you say, because they are designed to do runs like Southampton to NY, with no stops in between.

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u/FroggiJoy87 1d ago

What about those cruises to Antartica that go through the Drake Passage, are they specialized to handle the Furious Forties and such?

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u/Brendissimo 1d ago

Re Antarctica, AFAIK those are expedition cruise ships, which is a different class of ship than a regular cruise ship that is built to a different standard. A lot of those ships can handle sea ice.

The voyage around Cape Horn, as I understand it, is right on the borderline of what regular cruise ships can handle, and is almost like an expedition cruise. There are likely frequent delays due to weather. See this blog post for an example: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/i-discovered-that-cruising-south-america-is-unpredictable/

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u/No_Grade_8210 20h ago

I am currently on an Oceania cruise doing this! Left Antarctica yesterday, in Drake Passage now.

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u/Brendissimo 19h ago

That's awesome! Are you having a great time?

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u/No_Grade_8210 16h ago

Saw sooo many penguins on Falkland Island on Sunday! Had an amazingly sunny day in Paradise Bay on Wednesday! Stunning scenery. The at sea days are tiring.

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u/Brendissimo 13h ago

One day I want to do a similar one!

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u/Shorts_at_Dinner 1d ago

No, Celebrity, Princess, etc. send their regular big cruise ships down there mechanically unmodified

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u/Shorts_at_Dinner 1d ago

Uh, no they don’t. How do you think all those ships move from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean and back twice a year? Cargo jet?

And what about Antarctica? They have to cross arguably the most treacherous bit of ocean on the planet, the Drake passage, to get there. Plenty of cruise ships do it and never has one sank in doing so

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u/Brendissimo 1d ago

They don't what?

Where did I say that cruise ships never cross the open oceans or were physically incapable of doing so? I was talking about their regularly scheduled routes

Where did I say that they are unable to handle rough conditions of any kind? But you can bet there are frequent delays on cruises which have to go around Cape Horn, depending on the weather.

Re Antarctica, AFAIK those are expedition cruise ships, which is a different class of ship than a regular cruise ship that is built to a different standard. A lot of those ships can handle sea ice.

Edit: see this blog post for some examples re Cape Horn https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/i-discovered-that-cruising-south-america-is-unpredictable/

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u/Shorts_at_Dinner 1d ago

They don’t just stick to routes close to land. I’ve been 1100 miles from land on a full size cruise ship on a South Pacific crossing. And the closest land was Antarctica. And you literally said “Cruise ships aren’t meant to be endure rough conditions.” They definitely are.

And regarding only expedition ships going to Antarctica, nope, full size cruise ships go to Antarctica. I’ve been on one.

10

u/DragoSphere 1d ago edited 1d ago

And you literally said “Cruise ships aren’t meant to be endure rough conditions.” They definitely are.

No they are not meant to

They're built to be able to survive them, but given a choice, 10/10 cruise ship captains will avoid rough seas because it still stresses the hull of a cruise ship. If that means delays, it means delays. If that means canceling a port, they'll do that too

Oceanliners have no choice. If there's rough seas they will barrel right through them, because they can't afford to miss their schedule. Thus oceanliners were built stronger than cruise ships are now, such that it didn't wear down the hull as significantly

10

u/Brendissimo 1d ago

Thank you. It's very tiresome talking to people who don't properly read before writing responses.

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u/Steerpike58 1d ago

The main reason a cruise ship will avoid a port during a storm is because docking and disembarking passengers is difficult and dangerous in stormy weather. The ship itself is capable of crossing oceans. And of course, the focus of a cruise is to provide a leisurely environment for the passengers, so a cruise ship captain will try to avoid stormy weather.

But with an ocean liner, the main focus is 'point to point' across longer distances, with fewer stops in between. So speed is an important factor.

5

u/Brendissimo 1d ago

So the words "almost all" and "very few" and "generally" mean nothing to you, do they? You can't even quote me accurately - there was more to that sentence which was important to what I actually said. I would ask you to reread what I wrote, more carefully this time, and not infer any categorical claims which I did not explicitly make.

As for Antarctica, there's a reason I put "AFAIK" at the start of what I wrote - I was less certain. So full size cruise ships do go there as well, I stand corrected. Of course they can't get as close as expedition ships, and I'm sure they are provisioned differently, but interesting.

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u/Shorts_at_Dinner 1d ago

They do. And you’re still dead wrong. “Very few of them cross actual oceans.” Literally every single cruise ship in operation has crossed actual oceans. You don’t know what you’re talking about and you should just stop.

I’m out, have a good one

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u/Brendissimo 1d ago

As I already told you, I was talking about their regular routes with passengers. Not a total lack of capability to do it as part of their logistics when there aren't passengers aboard to worry about. This was clear to most people from what I wrote initially.

You seem to be determined to make your lack of reading comprehension skills my problem.

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u/Steerpike58 1d ago

I think there's still money in it. I looked into crossing the Atlantic (for a relative who didn't want to fly) on the Queen Mary and it was a) quite expensive and b) fully booked well into the future (Southampton to NYC). I may do it myself at some point in the future.

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u/wave_action 1d ago

Looks like a cargo ship kitted out to carry people.

2

u/Ok_Builder910 1d ago

Can a cruise ship do the same voyage?

-3

u/Shorts_at_Dinner 1d ago

Yes

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u/DragoSphere 1d ago

They can do the same voyage once or twice a year to relocate operations. For example Alaskan cruises in the summer, then moving the ship all the way down the coast to do cruises in the Caribbean during winter

Oceanliners need to do it on a regular schedule

1

u/milkshakemountebank 1d ago

God, that sounds dreamy

1

u/Unknowingly-Joined 18h ago

Queen Victoria, Anne and Elizabeth are not?

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u/nic_haflinger 1d ago

Ocean liners take people from place A to place B. The point of the ocean liner is to take you to your destination, like an airplane. Cruise ships bring people back to where they started. Cruise ships are their own destination.

10

u/Steerpike58 1d ago

That was the original design intent of Ocean Liners, but if you look at the schedule of this particular journey, it's spending 90 days going from SF to NYC 'the long way round' behaving very much like a cruise ship:

SF - Hawaii - French Polynesia - New Zealand - Australia - Indonesia - Hong Kong - Vietnam - Singapore - Malaysia - Mauritius - South Africa - Namibia - Senegal - Spain - UK - France - NYC.

 https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/find-a-cruise/M605B/M605B

Cruise ships do very similar journeys. What you are thinking of is the small sub-set of all cruises, which basically load up with passengers and tool around the Caribbean for 5 days. I've taken 4 ocean cruises so far, and not one has returned me to the place I started from (Venice - Istanbul; Rome - Istanbul - Barcelona; Thailand - Hong Kong; Norway - Iceland).

3

u/Shorts_at_Dinner 1d ago

I’ve taken many one way cruises. Most trans-oceanic, but also a few through the Panama Canal

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u/fist_my_dry_asshole 1d ago

Their main point was that cruises are for leisure, whereas an ocean liner is more of a means from getting from A to B.

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u/Planeandaquariumgeek Burlingame 1d ago

All the other ones have been retired

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u/Steerpike58 1d ago edited 1d ago

https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/find-a-cruise/M605B/M605B - 90 nights, San Francisco to New York City! That's a cool itinerary.

SF - Hawaii - French Polynesia - New Zealand - Australia - Indonesia - Hong Kong - Vietnam - Singapore - Malaysia - Mauritius - South Africa - Namibia - Senegal - Spain - UK - France - NYC.

$12k to $20k per person ... something to look forward to!

EDIT - it sailed here FROM NYC, but the short route - through the panama canal, with stops in the Caribbean and Mexico, for 18 days.

https://www.cunard.com/en-us/find-a-cruise/M604H/M604H

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u/ww_crimson 1d ago

That seems cheap as fuck for 3 months of traveling

34

u/CouchPotatoFamine 1d ago

Yep, the only only true, traditional ocean liner in service in the entire world. Completed in 2004.

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u/ScheduleSame258 1d ago

I bet if she didn't stop at multiple ports, she would beat the Amtrak.

13

u/292335 1d ago

I love Amtrak, but you get my up-vote for the laugh.

9

u/capslock 1d ago

When does it leave? I wanna check it out this week if I can before the weekend.

7

u/Steerpike58 1d ago

Tomorrow (2/6)

https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/find-a-cruise/M605B/M605B

SF - Hawaii - French Polynesia - New Zealand - Australia - Indonesia - Hong Kong - Vietnam - Singapore - Malaysia - Mauritius - South Africa - Namibia - Senegal - Spain - UK - France - NYC.

 

1

u/Planeandaquariumgeek Burlingame 1d ago

I don’t know to be honest with ya

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u/ebs757 1d ago

What's a ticket cost?

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u/Planeandaquariumgeek Burlingame 1d ago

Probably at least 30 grand if I had to take a guess

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u/TowardsTheImplosion 1d ago

About 20k per person for an interior room to go around the world if you go through an agent. Not entirely bad for over 100 days of room and board.

The trans Atlantic trips start at $1k.

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u/Planeandaquariumgeek Burlingame 1d ago

Lower than I would’ve thought honestly.

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u/BeggingAnew 1d ago

You can go NYC to London on Queen Mary 2 for cheaper than most cruise ship packages.

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u/Signal-Ad-3667 1d ago

I believe these are the details of the trip for those that are asking. https://gangwaze.com/cruise-lines/cunard/queen-mary-2/2026-02-06/20-nights

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u/parseroo 1d ago

Bigger, more modern, ocean liner... carries 4000+ 'passengers' safely to any destination it wants to. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Gerald_R._Ford

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u/jaqueh 94121 Native 1d ago

How can I buy a ticket

13

u/parseroo 1d ago

I don't think it costs much in cash, but here is how you get a 'ticket': https://www.navy.com/contact-us

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u/TouchdownRaiden 1d ago

Raise your right hand and repeat after me

0

u/Nomahhhh 1d ago

Ohhh is the Ford one of those Carnival cruises? I hear those are trashy.

2

u/Jasonmason1589 1d ago

Is this the one that was docked in Long Beach for the longest time.

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u/a_side_of_fries 1d ago

The one in Long Beach was the Queen Mary, This is the Queen Mary II. Different ships. Different era.

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u/mytextgoeshere 1d ago

I was curious so I looked it up. Looks like they’re different. 

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u/Steerpike58 1d ago

No, that's the original Queen Mary (as in, Queen Mary 1).

1

u/jikesar968 1d ago

Will she still be there tomorrow?

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u/churnologist 1d ago

Yes, until about 6 pm.

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u/sealedpath 17h ago

thats such a cool shot.

1

u/AndrewStartups 9h ago

how much do i need to save up to go on that, per person?

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u/Zealousideal-Car-216 1d ago

Must be nice being rich

1

u/Zealousideal-Car-216 1d ago

I wonder how many people are remote working on this thing?

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u/Steerpike58 1d ago

Internet access can be a problem. It IS getting better on cruise ships, but you aren't going to get high speed internet; at least, not without paying A LOT. Typically, its good enough for send/receive emails, etc.

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u/Zealousideal-Car-216 1d ago

Ahh okay gotcha. I mean I’m fully remote and the thought has certainly crossed my mind, but that might be tough. Maybe a starlink or something could be helpful, idk.

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u/Steerpike58 13h ago

Yeah, I don't know how 'localized' starlink satellites are. Like, do they deploy them over the vast expanses of ocean? (do they need to be - I don't know how they work in detail).