Touring the endless hallways and sweeping decks of the Queen Mary 2, you’ll find gleaming wood panelling, deep red carpeting and authentic Art Deco details.
You’ll also find a hall of fame with larger-than-life, black-and-white photographs of some of the many stars who sailed on the ship’s predecessor, the Queen Mary: Buster Keaton. Bing Crosby. Charlie Chaplin. Elizabeth Taylor. And we’re just getting started.
What you won’t find, though, are the names of the celebrities who will call the world’s largest luxury liner home during the Olympic Games — even if you ask nicely.
”There will be some celebrities on for the next couple of weeks,” said Carol Marlow, who oversees the Cunard Line for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
So … can you tell us who they are?
”I wish I could,” she answered politely while watching the afternoon sunlight shimmer off the water at the port of Piraeus, where the Queen Mary 2 arrived on Wednesday.
During a reception for dignitaries and journalists, David Gevanthor, vice-president of marketing, bragged that the cruise line has hosted more heads of state, celebrities and sports stars, than any other.
”And we’ll do it again,” he said. ”We just can’t tell you who it is.”
Even the ship’s kind, snowy-bearded captain, Commodore Ronald Warwick, wouldn’t budge: ”We are a famous ship and it’s our expectation that we’ll attract famous people.”
Like … the US men’s basketball team, for example?
”Uh, we don’t have anybody famous on at the moment,” he replied.
Membership has its privileges, and privacy apparently is one of them. But the rich and famous — and the rich and merely sunburned — were being protected both inside and out.
The Queen Mary 2, which can accommodate more than 2 600 people, sailed into Athens under tight security, one of eight cruise ships that will be home to thousands of VIPs and world leaders for the Olympic Games.
The ships dock in a special Olympic zone that has a protective shield around it, including thousands of elite commandos, soldiers, barbed-wire fences fitted with motion sensors, surveillance cameras, X-ray machines and detectors for radiological, chemical and biological materials. Sensors can even detect the noise of a swimmer under water. Gunboats and helicopters will patrol from the sky at the port 10km south of central Athens.
Besides the $800-million QM2 — which is nearly four football fields long and 21 stories tall — are the liners Ocean Countess, World Renaissance and Silver Whisper. Four others are expected to arrive over the next two days to offset the shortage of luxury hotels in the city.
Former President Bush, his wife, Barbara, and granddaughters Barbara and Jenna, along with a team of Secret Service agents, will stay on a private yacht owned by Greek tycoon Spyros Latsis. His yacht Dumara, which is on its maiden voyage, is expected to dock at the port on Friday.
Greek newspapers reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin will stay on another large Latsis yacht, the Alexander. – Sapa-AP