Going Coastal

Created in the 19th century, eclipsed in the 20th, ocean liners have survived to enthrall passengers into the 21st.

A strange thing happened on the way to oblivion.

The ocean liner struck a cinematic iceberg and didn’t just survive but thrived. More than a decade after Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio jumped off the sinking “Titanic,” the great tradition of trans-Atlantic journey lives on in part because of that movie about an ocean liner’s darkest day.

Nowhere was that more keenly felt than last fall when Queen Elizabeth 2 took off for her 806th and final run across the Atlantic. The trip from New York to Southampton, England ended an era in the grand history of ocean liners, but was not, as feared, the end of the whole story.

As the knife-like bow of the sleek one-stacker slowly cut through the Hudson River, the canyons of Manhattan skyscrapers passing by like stacks of books, something awaited QE2 near the Statue of Liberty. It was Queen Mary 2, the massive hybrid cruise ship-ocean liner that had been born out of the blockbuster buzz created by Titanic.

Together, they sailed under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and out past the famous Ambrose Light that signals the beginning of “the crossing.”

“This is where a true ocean liner belongs, on the open sea,” said QE2 Capt. Ian McNaught.

Once many, now few

The pair of Queens good-naturedly raced up the East Coast on the Grand Circle route taken by so many great ocean liners for more than a century. Great Western, Mauretania, Deutschland, Rex, Normandie and France. Where the Andrea Doria burned and the Titanic sank. Now the route is left nearly alone to the Cunard liners. It’s a route QE2 knows well. Since she was launched in 1967, QE2 has crossed 5.9 million miles of sea and carried 2.5 million passengers. The majority of the miles have been on the North Atlantic.

QE2’s final crossing was bittersweet. There would be a final few short trips afterward, culminating with fireworks over Southampton as QE2 left the last time for retirement as a waterfront hotel and museum in Dubai. But Queen Mary 2 carries on, becoming Cunard’s premier ocean crosser when it was launched in 2004. Ocean liner fans have mixed feelings about Queen Mary 2 with its many stacked decks of balconies similar to a cruise ship.

“Many people, I know, still don’t consider Queen Mary 2 as a proper liner,” said Dr. Stephen Payne, the naval architect who designed Queen Mary 2 and took the final crossing on QE2. Payne pointed to the newer ship’s radically raked prow — made to cut through the rough North Atlantic, the extra strength of her plating, the massive stabilizers for rough seas and the grand public rooms — all synonymous with liners. As for the balconies…

“That was the only reason we could get her built,” he said. Without balconies, the ship would have a hard time competing for revenue in the lucrative Caribbean and European cruise markets when not plying the North Atlantic.

Along with rare crossing by the newer, smaller Queen Victoria, the Cunard liners are joined on the Atlantic by an occasional repositioning cruise of other lines. All help keep passengers enthralled with “the passage” that once seemed doomed to the pages of nautical history.

Against the odds

Aboard QE2, passengers could watch a National Geographic documentary from the 1979 that asked whether QE2, then the only ship on the North Atlantic, was an anachronism in “this age of Concorde.” But it was the gas-guzzling supersonic airliner that went out of business, while transatlantic crossings have morphed from a high speed race to a one-of-a-kind cruise.

In 1952, the crossing from Britain to the U.S. was carved down to just three days, 12 hours and 12 minutes at an average speed of 34 knots, by the SS United States. The sprint across the Atlantic knocked almost 10 hours and four knots off the records set in 1938 by the venerable Queen Mary.

“Sorry, old girl,” the new liner radioed to its defeated rival.

Fifty years later, the United States is still the fastest ocean liner in the world, though it hasn’t sailed in 40 years.

A crossing in days became a luxury with the introduction of the first reliable jet service in 1958, which cut a trip from New York to London to about seven hours. The SS United States now sits a dirty orphan, parked at Pier 82 in Philadelphia Harbor, stripped of its mid-century modern interiors, its hull painted in the bright colors of the Stars and Stripes, faded and chipped. The ship is for sale and could be scrapped.

Queen Mary, the great art deco ocean liner whose speed record was broken, is a hotel and tourist attraction in Long Beach, where it has frequently suffered a financially tenuous existence.

By the early 1990s, there were only two true great ocean liners still sailing in the world — the Norway and Queen Elizabeth 2. And only Cunard’s QE2 still regularly made the trans-Atlantic run that used to attract ships from nearly every nation and the United States. The Norway, once the liner SS France, did mostly short Caribbean runs until a boiler explosion ushered her out of service in 2003. She was eventually sold for scrap.

QE2 seemed destined to be the last of its kind until the 1997 movie “Titanic” earned $1.8 billion worldwide on its way to a Best Picture Oscar and the lucrative title of highest grossing movie in history.

Ironically, a tale of the ill-fated 1912 maiden voyage of the White Star liner spurred so much interest in “the crossing” that the era of the ocean liner, once thought nearing its end was reborn. Cunard’s passenger lists were infused with new generations eager to try the same route (though without the freezing-to-death ending). Cunard showed the movie on QE2 crossings (imagine an airline flight featuring a movie about a fatal air crash). The company moved ahead with plans for Queen Mary 2, ensuring that the crossing would continue on for decades to come.

Today’s ocean liners have been reoriented toward an image of luxury and leisure. The ocean liners are expected to pull double duty as cruise ships in the Caribbean, Mediterranean or other port-hopping locales.

On the crossing, ships once competed for the title of fastest on the Atlantic. Now they intentionally slow. Queen Mary 2 can make the crossing in five days, but does it in six to provide a smoother ride and conserve fuel. For passengers eager to stay aboard as long as possible, there are no complaints.

Though competing ocean liners no longer dock side-by-side on the Westside pier in New York City, the Queen Mary 2 is not always alone in the crossing of the Atlantic. Each spring and fall, squadrons of cruise ships shift between the Caribbean and Mediterranean. Amenities range from full blown cruises to stripped down “repositioning” crews. All are offered at bargain basement rates. Among the lines offering trans-Atlantic trips this year are Azamara, Crystal, Holland America, Norwegian, Princes, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn, Silversea and Windstar.

Queen Mary 2 is likely the last of the ocean liners, many travel experts say. The market for trans-Atlantic travel can support no more than one liner — if that.

But Queen Elizabeth 2 has survived similar prognostications of doom for four decades

“The romance of the great liners is on the decline,” said a QE2 officer in a 1970s documentary on her 269th crossing. “It’s hard to re-ignite it again.”

QE would have 537 more crossing and be replaced on the North Atlantic by a big younger sister. On that final “tandem crossing,” both ships were filled with passengers eager for the old, great voyage.

The lure of the crossing has dimmed, but not yet faded away.

CHECKLIST
Cunard:Queen Mary 2 makes several regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic trips between New York and Southampton, England. Rates begin at $945 per person. Check with your travel agent or Cunard for possible discounts and packages that include one-way airfare. cunard.com or 800-7-CUNARD. Additional trips are sometimes made by the smaller Queen Victoria. Cunard also plans to launch the Queen Elizabeth in the autumn of 2010.

Other lines: Several cruise lines are offering 2009 crossings as they reposition their fleets each spring and autumn between Europe and the Caribbean. Check with a travel agent or go to the Cruise Lines International website at cruising.org for a complete list.

Former liners:

Queen Mary:The original Queen Mary is a hotel and tourist attraction in Long Beach Harbor. Rates range from $161 per night. Some rooms have retained the original art deco design of Queen Mary’s classic era staterooms. The ship is in the midst of a long-term renovation but the developer recently defaulted on loans and was taken over by investors who are looking for a new developer. The city says business operations will continue as usual. Call (562) 435-3511 or check queenmary.com.

United States:The United States is not open to the public but is docked at Pier 82 in Philadelphia Harbor. For information on efforts to restore it, call the SS United States Foundation at (703) 625-3037 or check out www.ssunitedstates.org. Another group working on the effort is the SS United States Conservancy at ssunitedstatesconservancy.org. The ship is owned by Norewegian Cruise Lines, which had at one point expressed interest in renovating the ship and bringing it back into service. However those plans have not materialized and reports in early February indicated NCL was looking for a buyer and that the ship might even be scrapped.

Rotterdam:The last great Dutch ocean liner is berth in the city of Rotterdam, where it was to become a four-star hotel, museum and conference center. The project has been delayed by financial difficulties and is under review by the Dutch government. The ship operated on the North Atlantic from 1958 to 1969. It served as a cruise ship until retiring in 2000.More information at ssrotterdam.net

Good reads:

“Only Way to Cross” by John Maxtone-Graham. I am eagerly waiting for Maxtone-Graham, who gives masterful lectures aboard Cunard liners, to update his great work on the history of Atlantic crossings. The book is currently out of print but can be found on Amazon.com for about $35.

“Record Breakers of the North Atlantic: Blue Riband Liners 1838-1952”by Arnold Kludas (Brassey’s, $39.95). Translated from the original German, the text can sometimes be slow going. But for information on all the ships, records, and illustrations and photographs, this is the most authoritative text on bookstore shelves today.

“The Sway of the Grand Saloon: A Social History of the North Atlantic”by John Malcolm Brinnin (Available used for as little as $2 from Amazon.com). A fun read about life aboard ocean liners from the class-driven 19th century to the decline of the ocean liner in the 1960s. The book was originally published in 1971 and last updated in 1986, so it’s not up to date on the resurgence of interest in trans-Atlantic ship. Still, it’s the most entertaining read of any book I’ve found about the great ships.

By GARY A. WARNER

Orange County Register