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 For
a long time the undisputed queens of the sea were the liners built in the
1960's, the QE2 and the ss FRANCE (later to become the NORWAY). There were
other large passengers ships, notably the CANBERRA but somehow it was the
Cunarder and the French ship that captured the imaginations.
Are Disney then learning something that others have singularly failed to
do? That is, the public like a classic ship.
This week we learned that Meyer-Werft in Papenburg, Germany have been chosen to build two new
ships for the US company. What is striking about them is that they will
pay homage to the past, with two red and black funnels and a long, sleek
black hull. (See picture above) Admittedly the QE2 only ever sported 'that
funnel' and indeed it was only later in life that Cunard decided to make
more of an issue of the colours, black and Cunard red, But saving a brief
period, which most wish to forget, she has always looked like the classic
transatlantic liner.
We live in a new era of cruising. Not since the golden years of passenger
shipping have we seen so many large passenger ships on our oceans, and we
have never seen them in such sizes. History alone will tell us if this is
a golden era, or perhaps even just the start of one. But for all that we
have plenty of cruise ships in excess of the size of QE2, none get
anywhere near the amount of press coverage as she, a much smaller vessel,
gets, even 40 years on.
The only other ship to come close to her legendary status is her fleet
sister, the QUEEN MARY 2. It may be simply because, at present, she is the
largest passenger ship in the world, although that crown won't be worn by
her for very much longer, but it I suspect it is because of two reasons:
she has a black classic liner hull and she reminds people of her
incredibly famous and iconic namesake, the original QUEEN MARY, now
permanently berthed at Long Beach, California. Although many old-timers
would baulk at such a comparison.
Let me ask you a question, and be honest, if I said CARNIVAL DESTINY,
could you instantly tell me why she should be a very famous vessel, and
can you tell me, without doing a Google, what she looks like?
Even shipping buffs go blank when I ask them, so full marks if you could
have answered me and described her even vaguely. No need to hang your head
if you couldn't.
She was, cue trumpet fanfare, the first passenger vessel to exceed 100,000
tons. Surely that should be on everyone's lips, but I will bet you a pound
to a penny that if you asked the average man or woman in the street what
ship they thought was the first to breach that magic figure, chances are
they'd say QUEEN MARY 2, or even QE2 or perhaps the old QUEEN MARY. They'd
say anything but CARNIVAL LEGEND.
Even shipping buffs would struggle to answer correctly.
The reason? For the same reason part two of the question would pose
equally non-productive. For the record, this is what she looks like:
Okay? Now apart from that rather distinctive funnel, there's a problem.
One that is getting bigger and more numerous, and therein lies the whole
crux of this article. There have followed ships even bigger than her, many
of them. Ships that should be more famous by far than an ageing liner much
smaller than her and them, but DESTINY and her copycat followers will never compete for
instant recognition no matter how big they get, because they all look the
same - like floating 1960's resort hotels. They just don't look like
ships.
Not in the classic sense anyway.
So this brings me to my point. Are Disney determined to make you remember
their post-100,000 tonners?
And will it work?
Where I live we see plenty of the new liners every year, but hardly anyone
bothers with them. They are the biggest ever seen, they eclipse in size
both the QE2 and the old NORWAY (R.I.P.), but I have only ever seen huge
crowds to see those two old dears. The others, huge as they are, barely
register any emotions apart from - hmm, like a block of flats.
I have a feeling the two Disney ships will do rather better...
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