Queen Mary 2 gets royal reception in Halifax

Tens of thousands of Nova Scotians on Saturday jammed the shores on both sides of Halifax Harbour to watch the Queen Mary 2 make its inaugural visit to Atlantic Canada’s largest city.

Sunny skies and throngs of excited well-wishers greeted the world’s largest ocean liner as it turned into port at about 10 a.m. The ship was scheduled to set sail for Bar Harbor at 4:30 p.m. Atlantic time.

The QM2 will arrive at the pilot station at the mouth of Frenchman Bay at 6:30 a.m. today, according to Charlie Phippen, Bar Harbor harbor master. Phippen said he expects the ship to pull into the harbor between 7 and 7:30 a.m., about a half-hour ahead of the original schedule.

“Huge crowds, huge excitement,” said Charles Clark, president of Island Beach Co., which runs the Port of Halifax cruise ship passenger welcome pavilion on historic Pier 21, where the QM2 rested overnight.

“You could count at any hour, any time, at least 2,000 people in the pavilion,” Clark said Sunday. “I would say tens of thousands of people came to see the ship” during its two-day stay.

“They’re walking and gawking, but they’re not spending,” Clark said of the sightseers.

The biggest crowd greeted the ocean liner on Saturday morning, and another gigantic crowd was expected when it pushed off Sunday afternoon.

Although Clark said cruise ships are “business as usual” in Halifax Harbour, people were excited to see the world’s newest and largest ship, whose owner, native son Samuel Cunard, founded the company in Halifax in 1840.

The QM2 docked at Pier 21, where immigrants landed by ship during and just after World War II.

“The size of it is amazing,” said police Sgt. Wayne Grantham of the Halifax Regional Municipality. “As far as comments from the public – they just couldn’t get over it.”

Bar Harbor will be a tiny port compared to Halifax, which should make the QM2’s visit even more exciting for Mainers and their visitors, Clark said.

“I would think you would have much higher visibility in Bar Harbor,” Clark said, without the large piers and other vessels in the harbor blocking certain views.

In fact, the QM2, which can accommodate 2,620 passengers and 1,200 crew members, will be anchored in front of the Bar Harbor Inn, about 600 yards from the Shore Path.

The U.S. Coast Guard will establish a 300-yard safety zone around the ship once passengers and crew disembark for the day.

The ship will set sail for New York City at 6 p.m. today, where it will depart again on Wednesday for a new Atlantic Canada voyage that will end in Portland on Sunday, Oct. 10, before returning to its home base in NYC.

“It’s great for the public,” said Clark, who contracts to run the cruise ship pavilion for the Halifax regional government. “It gets them excited about the [port] operations, it gets them excited about tourism. It’s good for Bar Harbor. It’s good for tourism in Bar Harbor.”

But not everyone was excited about seeing the QM2. Leeann Muzerall of Jackson, N.H., who joined her husband Sunday in Bar Harbor for the Chamber of Commerce’s annual art festival, said she would rather tent in Acadia National Park than see the latest ocean liner craze.

“The biggest display of opulence in the world?” she asked. “No, I have no desire to see it.”