The world’s largest ocean cruise liner, the Cunard’s flagship M V Queen Mary 2, a modern Bermuda flag cruise vessel called Chennai Port with 1255 crews and 2528 Passengers on board with 29 passengers embarked and 74 passengers disembarked. Queen Mary 2 arrived with guests from United Kingdom (1396), United States of America (324), Australia(180), Germany(161), Canada (133), New Zealand (41) and other countries. Queen Mary 2, under the command of Capt. Christopher Wells arrived from Langkawi, Malaysia to Chennai, being the maiden call of the luxury cruise liner to Chennai Port and set to sail to Kochi on the same day.

This cruise vessel is berthed at the newly modernized Cruise Passenger Facilitation Centre in Chennai Port. Queen Mary 2 is the largest transatlantic ocean liner ever built, with a gross tonnage of 148,528 GT, the post-Panamax ship having served as the flagship of the Cunard Line. Queen Mary 2 is 345 meters long, 48.7 meter breadth and has a draft of 10.3 meters. She has a maximum speed of just over 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) and a cruising speed of 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), much faster than a contemporary cruise ship.

The facilities include fifteen restaurants and bars, five swimming pools, a casino, a ballroom, a theatre, and the first planetarium at sea. She has 13 decks (8 decks with 1363 cabins) and provides passenger space ratio (PSR) of 45. P. Raveendran, Chairman, Chennai Port Trust and Capt. Christopher Wells, Master of the Vessel exchanged commemorative plaques as a token of goodwill on the Cruise Liners maiden visit to Chennai Port.

The Chairman, briefed the officers of the Queen Mary 2 on the cultural and historical importance of Chennai and its features and status on the world tourism circuit. He also highlighted the historical importance of the Chennai Port and the role played to promote International Cruise Tourism in India. He hoped that with the modernized Cruise Terminal the Port may attract more such Cruise vessels in future.