Queen Mary 2

So I was coasting in my helicopter yesterday and noticed this huge monstrosity floating into the Bay. This huge icon caused sailboats to crowd the Bay, cars to line up on the Golden Gate Bridge, and people to gather at any open space to view the Bay waters. What was this monstrosity you ask...It was the Queen Mary 2, the Mother of all cruise ships, docking into San Francisco.

Some quick facts about the Queen Mary 2:

-The ship is on an around-the-world-in 81-days cruise.

-The Queen Mary 2 cost $800 million and three years to design and build.

-The Queen Mary 2 displaces 151,000 tons, more than three times the size of a World War II battleship, and is 1,131.9 feet long -- 279 feet longer than San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid is high.

-The ship carries 3,090 passengers and 1,254 crew on the QM2.

-There are 15 bars, seven restaurants, and 14 decks.

-A ticket for the top-of-the-line suite on the ship's current around-the world-in-81-days voyage costs $185,905 per person. The least-expensive cabin for the trip is $21,185.

-Portions of the voyage are cheaper -- the 14-day trip from San Francisco, sailing Feb. 5, is $36,559 at the high end and $4,199 for an inside cabin.

-The Queen Mary 2 is so large that it had to wait for a change in the tidal current to dock at Pier 27 under Telegraph Hill.

-It is the largest ship ever to sail to San Francisco since the first European vessel 233 years ago.

-Fewer than 30 feet separated the Golden Gate Bridge's underside from the ship's tallest point.

-The bar pilot must bring the ship under the Golden Gate Bridge, turn it in the San Francisco Bay and then dock it along the San Francisco waterfront in a space that only allows for a margin for error less than 70 feet.

-The ship draws 32 feet of water, but there is only 200 feet of deep water between the face of Pier 27 and shallower water.

-The ship's steering wheel is smaller than the steering wheel of a go-kart, and there is also a kind of joystick arrangement that lets officers move the propellers, mounted on pods that are similar to outboard engines on motor boats. There is no rudder.

-The ship has a combination of gas turbine and diesel electric engines that give the Queen Mary 2 a service speed of 25 knots. The vessel averaged 27 knots Friday morning, sailing up the Pacific off Puerto Vallarta.

-The ship also has formal nights ("one of the most distinctive parts of the Cunard experience," the company says); no one in jeans and flip-flops need show up for dinner.

Credit: San Francisco Chronicle