This article was on the Staten island site at:
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/qe2_anchors_off_staten_island.html
Guests on the Queen Mary 2 oceanliner were getting a long look at the Staten Island waterfront today because the ship anchored off Stapleton, delaying its departure from New York to wait for the North Atlantic to become calmer following Hurricane Kyle.
"The weather out at sea was a little rough,"said Gary Rives, a spokesman for the Coast Guard. As is a customary practice for such ships, the captain decided to postpone the journey, so guests do not have to ride over choppy water, he said. "It's no emergency; they are probably going to leave this afternoon," Rives said.
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The ship's course was due to intersect with the path of Hurricane Kyle. The Category 1 storm is churning up the northeast coast.
The Queen Mary 2 was supposed to have departed yesterday afternoon for its seven-day cruise of New England and Canada, but postponed departure from Brooklyn Pier Cruise Terminal 12, according to a representative for the Cunard Cruise Line. The delay forced the cancellation of Portland, Maine, from the itinerary.
"Obviously this is a big storm; for the sake and comfort of our pasangers, the commodore felt it made sense for them to delay the sailing," said Jackie Chase, a spokeswoman for the Cunard Line. "The ship is monitoring the weather very closely."
By this evening, Hurricane Kyle will reach the Gulf of Maine, according to Accuweather. The Maine/Nova Scotia border, southeastern Massachusetts, eastern Maine and the Canadian Maritimes will be in store for some rough weather because of the storm.
The Queen Mary 2, which cost $800 million and entered service in January 2004, is billed by Cunard as the grandest ocean liner ever built. The ship, which can carry 2,592 guests, is 1,132 feet long (that is nearly the height of the Empire State Building). The vessel has a crew of 1,200 people. It cruises at 28.5 knots and has an extra thick steel hull for strength and stability during trans-Atlantic crossings.
1 comment:
I was on the ship for this voyage and I can tell you we were not at all happy to have to stay in harbour for an extra day. Cunard over-reacted to this storm warning. Several other cruise ships left NY an the night of the storm. When we left next day the seas were oily calm..so what was all the fuss about?
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