One of the biggest cruise liners sailing the seven seas has cruised into Liverpool harbour, marking the end of the yearly Mersey River Festival. Queen Mary 2 is also one of the biggest cruise ships to ever dock in Liverpool.

The ship, of course, belongs to Cunard Line. It is currently on a round-the-UK cruise also visiting Ireland and the French coast. It has a maximum passenger capacity of 2,600.

The Queen’s departure will be marked by a fireworks display that will also signal the end of the River Festival. After visiting Liverpool, the 1,132 ft cruise liner will head for Greenock in Scotland.

On the 8th September 2011, at the start of the festival, another Cunard cruise liner Queen Elizabeth sailed into the port of Liverpool.

The festivities lasted a week and the festival was attended by more than 100,000 visitors who delighted in the street theatre, aerobatics displays and, of course, the concert by the well-known UK soul singer Beverly Knight.

The man in charge of the festival, Alastair Stott, had the following comment “The festival has gone extremely well. We had the Queen Elizabeth here last Thursday, we've had community sailing activities and we even raced P1 power boats on the river.”

He added that Merseyside had a long and illustrious maritime history. Cunard and Liverpool were basically synonymous.

The visit by the two Cunard liners will no doubt add renewed impetus to Liverpool’s bid to become a turnaround cruise port.