Cunard 175th anniversary: cruise ships dance on the Mersey

This is the first time the ships have met in Liverpool and as the fleet sets sail along the Mersey it will be the largest group of passenger ships ever to do so.

^{The Queen Mary 2 will dance on the Mersey alongside the Queen Victoria and the Queen Elizabeth (Photo: Cunard3queens)}

The three Queens today sail in formation towards the Liverpool Echo Arena, before turning 180 degrees to face north. Queen Mary 2 will take the central position alongside her two sister ships.

The display builds to a dramatic finale in the early afternoon with a fly over by The Red Arrows, dependent on good weather.

Exciting bank holiday Monday ahead – starting with a flypast of the @cunardline #3Queens in #Liverpool at 1.51pm. pic.twitter.com/YHj3eZoxBR

— Red Arrows (@rafredarrows)
May 25, 2015

The meeting also marks the renaissance of Liverpool as a passenger port with over 50 cruise liners berthed last year.

Angus Struthers, Cunard director, said: “Liverpool and Cunard have grown up together and that bond will never be broken.”

• Cunard and Liverpool: a very special relationship

The event has taken 18 months of planning and the cruise line tested the Three Queens’ manoeuvres in waters outside Lisbon last May.

^{The Queen Mary 2 arrived into Liverpool to fanfare and fireworks. (Photo: Cunard3queens)}

Queen Mary 2 then departs Liverpool early this afternoon while the other two Queens remain in position for the rest of the day.

Tonight there will be a digital light projection onto the Three Graces, the triumvirate of turn-of-the-century buildings on Liverpool’s waterfront, followed by a firework display at 10.30pm.

Queen Victoria will sail away at 5pm on Tuesday.

Passengers on board Queen Mary 2 began celebrating yesterday morning, taking up positions on deck to wave Union flags and local football team scarves as they sailed into Liverpool from Scotland.

On deck in the early morning mist was Debbie Foster, a health visitor from Crosby. Waving an Everton FC flag she described the sense of history on board. Her grandmother had sailed with Cunard to New York in 1927, working in the ship’s laundry.

“I feel an enormous sense of pride, both in Liverpool’s seafaring history and the way the city has been reborn since the European Capital of Culture,” she said.

She added: “It’s a magical day for Liverpool and everyone involved.”

Wendy Simon, a councillor at Liverpool City Council said that the emotion in the crowd gathered by the Three Graces was palpable: “It’s fantastic that the maritime history of the city is being passed down the generations.”

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