Queen of the seas – Queen Mary 2 met another queen – Kochi, the Queen of the Arabian sea on 7th March. She was here at Kochi for about 26 hours. She’s the largest passenger ship in the world and is on a trip round the world.
On 7th March at about 8 pm we went to the Kochi Wharf to see Her Majesty. On seeing her I felt the thrill coming up my spine as she was gigantic, much bigger than I had expected. She is as high as a 23 storied building and 345 metres long. She was so close to the Kochi Wharf that it seemed as if she was a huge building and not a ship. Her front and rear ends were blocked from our view by trees which made her look more stately. As it was night, she was lightened up and looked very beautiful. Some of her passengers waved at us.
I understood from the newspaper that her capacity is 2650 passengers and 1300 crew. each passenger had to pay a huge amount of about 90 lakhs for a trip round the world in 80 days. She has a huge library, 4 swimming pools, 5 theaters, a huge dance floor, 10 restaurants, a planetarium, a jogging track, a cultural academy and an art gallery with world famous art works. She is 72 m high and has 13 decks. And oh! 1310 cabins with 80% having their own balconies. Amazing, Isn’t it?
She looked so majestic and her name suited her very much. These luxurious ship touched only our “Kochi” in the whole of India. On the 8th afternoon, we also went to see her off. She looked so different in the daylight but she wasn’t leaving yet. Most of the passengers had gone for sightseeing in and around Kochi. Some had even gone to Alapuzha (50 km from here). As a result, some passengers were late in coming back. We had to wait there in the hot, scorching sun. It was a breathtaking view even though the sun was unbearable. We all grew very sweaty.
Almost the whole of Kochi was there, with not even a place to prick a needle. And then we heard the Queen’s horn. BOoong! BOoong! At last, all the passengers were back and we saw her slowly coming our way. All the passengers were out on the balconies, decks etc waving their hands, towels and flags at us. We also waved back. The people rose from their seats on the grass to get a better view. The smaller boats of Kochi were like ants compared to her. Thick black smoke was coming out through her “chimney” and as she sailed to the sea .
Her departure time was at 2:00 PM, but she left at 3:00 PM only. She sailed past us quickly but stayed in view for a long time. Here are some pictures of her:
Regards
- Rupashri
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