The rain held off and even the champagne bottle smashed at the first attempt as Queen Elizabeth named the largest cruise liner ever built on Thursday. \nThe Queen Mary 2, which is the longest, heaviest and tallest passenger ship in the world, claims to take cruising into a new era with every conceivable luxury, including a planetarium on board and a ?3 million (US$5.5 million) art collection, housed in its own gallery. \nIn front of 2,000 guests on the dockside in Southampton, the Queen, following in the footsteps of her grandmother Queen Mary, who launched the first Queen Mary ship on Clydeside, Scotland, in 1934, uttered the traditional blessing: "I name this ship Queen Mary 2. May God bless her and all who sail in her." \nThe Bishop of Winchester, the Right Reverend Michael Scott-Joynt, speaking in French for part of the prayers, asked for the crowd to remember the 15 people who died in November when a gang plank collapsed at the St Nazaire shipyard in western France where the ship was being built. \nCunard's director of communications, Eric Flounders, said organizers of the naming ceremony were "mindful" of the tragedy. \nBefore the naming, attended by the UK's deputy prime minister, John Prescott, and the UK transport secretary, Alistair Darling, the guests were entertained by the pop singer Heather Small and the opera singer Lesley Garrett, who sang Amazing Grace. The Queen and the guests then watched a film of the Queen Mary launch in 1936 and the launches of the first Queen Elizabeth, by the Queen Mother, and her own 1967 QE2 launch. \nEarlier the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were given a tour of the 150,000-tonne liner, which can carry up to 2,620 passengers. \nAside from endless restaurants, bars, casinos and shops the ship offers an education program devised by Oxford University and a library. Prices for a six-day voyage start at ?999, but run to ?20,000 for those taking one of the vast duplex apartments. \nThe QM2 will leave on its maiden fare-paying passenger voyage on Monday, when it sails from Southampton, which will be its home port, to Fort Lauderdale in Florida. With 17 decks and a crew of 1,253, the QM2 is due to take over transatlantic duties from the QE2 in late April. \nThe two vessels will leave New York together and dock together at Southampton before the QE2 takes on other duties, including Mediterranean cruises. \nA massive security operation had been launched ahead of yesterday's ceremony with divers searching the dock and the ship's keel. \nThe first Queen Mary is now kept in Long Beach, California, having been sold in 1967, and is used as a hotel and conference and exhibition center.
PHOTO: AP
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