Carrying 2,600 passengers who paid handsomely for the privilege, the world's largest cruise ship, Queen Mary 2, set sail for the US on its maiden voyage on Monday.
The 136,000-tonne Cunard Line vessel left the southern English port of Southampton at 6:30pm on a 14-day journey to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, its first voyage with fare-paying passengers.
PHOTO: AP
The maiden departure, marked by fireworks and a brass band, was an hour late.
"We have had some issues with the baggage operation. There was significantly more baggage than we anticipated," said Cunard Line president Pamela Conover.
As a small flotilla of boats turned out to watch the giant liner pull away, passengers lining the ship's balconies waved Union Jack flags and threw streamers.
Although Cunard has denied reports of a terrorist threat against the vessel, security was tight and police maintained a high profile.
Ceremonies welcoming the vessel to Southampton on Dec. 26 were subdued out of respect for those killed when a gangway collapsed Nov. 15 at a shipyard in St. Nazaire, France, where the ship was built.
Thousands of people watched last week as Queen Elizabeth officially launched the ?550 million (US$1 billion) ship, which is named after her grandmother, Queen Mary, wife of King George V, who reigned from 1910 to 1936.
The new cruise liner, the second ship to be named after Queen Mary, took more than five years to build. It is 347m long and 73m high -- as tall as a 21-story building. It will take over the trans-Atlantic duties of the Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liner.
Its 2,600 passengers will have the run of six restaurants, five swimming pools, an art gallery and a movie theater that doubles as a planetarium.
Fares for Queen Mary 2's fully booked maiden voyage from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale began at US$4,400 per person for 14 nights and rose to US$48,310.
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