Photo by Jihan Rodríguez

Here is a site!!  This is the brand new Queen Mary 2 docked at Pier 6 in Cristobal.  This photo was taken last week and was posted in the March 10, 2004 issue of the Panama newspaper La Prensa.  There is no way this baby will come near fitting in the Panama Canal Locks!  Note the standard size cruise ship in the slip next door.  The QM2 really dwarfs that one!

The Queen Mary 2 is the largest, longest, tallest and widest passenger ship ever conceived and built.  She weights 151,400 tons and has length of 1,132 feet and a beam of 135 feet.  The height (keel to funnel) is 236 feet or taller than a 21 story building.  She can carry 2,620 passengers and a crew of 1,253.  Top speed is 30 knots (34.5 mph) being pushed by a 157,000 horsepower gas turbine/diesel electric plant.  Total construction cost 800 million dollars.  The Queen Mary 2 took her Maiden Voyage on January 12, 2004 from Southampton, England to the U.S.

Old Cristobal and Limon Bay has never seen such a site in it's history!!

Thanks to Nina Brown for sending me this photo.