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Cunard's trio of liners to perform "river dance"

Xinhua, April 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Three famous Cunard ocean going liners will perform what is being dubbed a river dance next month to celebrate the cruise company's 175th birthday.

The routine, which will involve synchronized manoeuvers of the ships, will be performed on the River Mersey as the liners, Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, and Queen Elizabeth pay tribute to Cunard's ancestral home, Liverpool. An estimated one million people are expected to attend.

Details of a three-day program of celebrations on the Mersey were announced Thursday in Liverpool by Cunard.

The captains of the three liners, as well as the River Mersey's own pilots, have spent months on simulators rehearsing the routines that will be performed when all three Cunarders sail in formation into the river on May 25, a public holiday in Britain.

The event, 'Three Queens Salute to Liverpool', has taken four years of planning.

Cunard director Angus Struthers said: "When you think of previous visits by just one of our current ships, and the majestic sight that is, just imagine what three great Cunard Queens together will look like. The three largest Cunard ships ever built, together, here in our 'spiritual home' of Liverpool."

"When the very first Cunarder, Britannia, left Liverpool for North America on that first crossing on July 4, 1840, she changed the face of ocean travel forever, which is why Cunard is proud to celebrate 175 years of uninterrupted service."

The build-up begins on May 24 when Queen Mary II -- Cunard's flagship and the biggest passenger ship ever to sail up the Mersey -- sails into Liverpool, berthing at the city center terminal at the Pier Head, marking the first time she has stayed overnight in Liverpool.

On May 25, the fleet formation will be aligned in the river in the to salute the Cunard Building, Cunard's headquarters for nearly 50 years until 1967.

The three ships will execute synchronized turns to starboard, so that the bows of all three ships will be seen against the backdrop of Liverpool's famous water front.

"Should weather conditions be favorable on the day, further river dance manoeuvres will be performed by the three ships," added Struthers. "It will be great few days of maritime history." Endit