22 February 2011

This will be the longest ship ever to visit the Wellington harbour. It will arrive from Auckland quite early in the morning – 7.45am to be specific.

This is the Queen Elizabeth’s maiden cruise to the Pacific. It carries more than two thousand passengers. The brief visit will boost the local economy with an expected $1m as passengers spend money on taxis, food, curios and other purchases.

The Queen Elizabeth was of course built by Cunard - the same company that built the Titanic. The Queen is the second biggest cruise ship ever to be built by this company. The biggest was the Queen Mary 2. This cruise liner, launched in 2004, held the world record for being the largest ship for a number of years. The Queen Elizabeth is only 50m shorter than the Queen Mary 2.

The Queen Elizabeth is by no means a skinny model. At 90,900 tonnes she has a draught of 7.9metres. She cost over $360 million to build. She stands as tall as a 21 storey building. There are a dozen passenger decks, 12 cafes and restaurants, 2 outdoor swimming pools, a theatre with seating for 800 people and a double storey library that features over 6,000 books.

The ship will be arriving and departing at high tide – although this is pure coincidence says Wellington harbourmaster Mike Pryce. According to him the harbour could easily accommodate the Queen even at low tide.

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