CRUISING: THE BIG, THE BOUTIQUE AND THE BUSTED A NEW GOLDEN AGE? Though nostalgia buffs and “Great Liners of the Past” enthusiasts may not like to admit it, it seems fair to say that the great cruise ships being ordered and delivered today are in every way the equal of anything delivered in the past—and, of course, are vastly superior in terms of technology, comfort and safety. The first true transatlantic liner to have been built since QE2 in 1969, Queen Mary 2 is the largest (151,400 tons), longest (1,132 feet/345 meters), tallest (236 feet/72 meters), widest (135 feet/41 meters) and most expensive ($800 million) passenger vessel ever built. All of that space has given Cunard the scope for a huge variety of passenger amenities. Queen Mary 2 features 10 dining venues with Chef Daniel Boulud serving as Cunard's culinary advisor and Chef Todd English operating a Mediterranean speciality. The liner also has the only Canyon Ranch SpaClub at sea, the world's first planetarium at sea, the largest ballroom at sea, the largest library at sea, and the largest wine collection at sea, as well as a Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar, a two-story theatre, a casino, five indoor and outdoor swimming pools, hot tubs, boutiques and children's facilities complete with British nannies. Pushing all this through the Atlantic at a maximum speed of of some 30 knots, is a 157,000 hp environmentally friendly CODAG (combined diesel and gas turbine) power plant plant generating electrical power for propulsion and all shipboard systems. Propulsion is by four electrically driven Rolls-Royce Mermaid podded drives, two fixed and two azimuthing. The diesel component of the CODAG plant is four Wartsila 16V46 engines, each with a maximum continuous output of 16,800 kW (22,840 bhp) at 514 rev/min. For redundancy, the diesel generating sets are housed in two separate engine rooms. The Wartsila 46 EnviroEngines use an electronically controlled common rail fuel injection system that enables injection pressures to be kept sufficiently high at all engine loads and speeds—even at the lowest levels— to achieve clean combustion with no visible smoke emissions. The EnviroEngines will be particularly beneficial for use in port, as they are designed to produce no visible emissions even when lightly loaded for producing energy for lighting, air conditioning and other hotel systems. The gas turbine part of the package is two GE LM2500+ aeroderivative gas turbine-generator sets . Karl Matson, general manager of GE Marine, says, “This project marks a milestone for GE, as the LM2500+ gensets are being used for the first time in a ‘dual gas turbine’ installation on a cruise ship in a combined diesel and gas turbine arrangement.” Each gas turbine-generator set contributes 25 megawatts to the ship's overall 118 MW of installed power. GE specially designed the two LM2500+ packages to be some 35 tons lighter than previous LM2500+ marine gas turbine installations. Chris Dalston, manager of commercial marine sales for GE Energy, says, “What makes this application unique is that the compactness and low noise and vibration characteristics of the packages. These design features allowed the shipbuilder flexibility, especially with respect to the placement of the gas turbine gensets. The volume and weight of ducting for the combustion intake, exhaust and package ventilation are significantly reduced, thereby increasing the ships’ available space for cabins and public areas.” The redesigned package also features the next-generation Woodward Micro Net Digital Control turbine control system. The controls manage all the systems of the package, including engine fuel management, package sequencing, package condition monitoring and interfacing to other systems aboard the ship. THE HUMAN ELEMENT As important to the success of QM2 as its technology will be its people. The ship’s master Captain Ronald Warwick was named Cunard’s Commodore in December. “This great honor only enhances what has been a wonderful week for me personally and for Cunard Line,” said Warwick. “First I took command of Queen Mary 2, now I am appointed Commodore, a position my father held with honor.” Warwick’s father, the late Commodore W.E. Warwick, was a prominent figure in Cunard history. He was the only captain to serve as master of both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth in the mid-1960s and he also was the first master of QE2. Prior to assuming command of Cunard's flagship, Ronald Warwick, who joined Cunard in April 1970, served as master of QE2, a position he held since 1990. This was another first in the 163-year history of Cunard—the first time a father and son had commanded the same ship. A major difference between QE2 and QM2 is that the new ship has podded propulsion. Cunard turned to RTM STAR Center to provide the simulation training for the bridge crews of QM2. Using its state-of-the-art 360 degree Full Mission Bridge simulator at its Fort Lauderdale location, which features fully integrated podded propulsion and joystick (Dynamic Positioning) controls, a hydrodynamic model of QM2 was constructed from tow-tank data. RTM STAR Center was able to bring over 10 years’ experience from its world renowned Modeling & Research department to ensure that both the bridge crews, including Captain Warwick, and marine pilots from QM2’s principal ports of call, including Southampton, New York and Port Everglades, were trained in the ship’s full ship handling and maneuvering characteristics before the vessel ever put to sea. With two azimuthing pods and two fixed pods, the simulation technology was challenging. However, after five weeks of rigorous simulation-based training with ever-increasing levels of difficulty, the Captain, relief Captain and bridge officers departed, confident of their abilities to handle the largest passenger liner in the world, in whatever situation might arise. Cunard is using Manpower Software’s MAPS Crew Manning suite to schedule the crew for the Queen Mary 2. MAPS Crew Manning uses unique time-based functionality to allow long-term scheduling. Capable of calculating the manpower supply and demand balance at any point in time, MAPS can ensure that ships are always crewed with the right people in the right place at the right time. MAPS’ ability to create a central database of crew information that can be accessed from anywhere in the world is enabling Cunard to synchronize its records between its Southampton and Miami offices as well as having on-board access. Once Cunard had chosen MAPS in 2002, a project team from Manpower Software and Cunard worked against a tight deadline to implement MAPS at Cunard’s offices in Southampton and Miami and onboard the Cunarders Queen Elizabeth 2 and Caronia and the three ships of the Yachts of Seabourn fleet. With this successfully completed, MAPS was used to recruit, train and assign the 1,250 crew on QM2. MAPS has allowed Cunard to manage the process of rapidly expanding its crew in order to staff Queen Mary 2 to the desired level of excellence that passengers have come to expect, without affecting standards of service and skill on its existing liners. ML PREVIOUS Tell a friend: HOME