The world's largest cruise ship, the Queen Mary 2, has been launched amid fanfare seven weeks after tragedy struck at its French shipyard and 15 people died.
The ship was launched by the British Queen before 2,000 guests at the southern English port of Southampton, accompanied by fireworks and the strains of the Royal Marines Band, contrasted with the subdued send-off the vessel received as it left France two weeks ago.
When it sailed from the western port of Saint-Nazaire, festivities were cancelled and candles lit for 15 relatives and friends of shipyard workers who died in mid-November.
The victims plunged 25 metres to their deaths after a dockside gangway to the cruiser collapsed.
Bad luck continued to plague the ship after it arrived in Britain, when two women in their 60s broke their legs in separate incidents aboard.
The British-registered liner is 1,132 feet long - the equivalent of 41 London double-decker buses - and over 236 feet high. She can take 2,620 passengers.
The vessel's 17 decks include five swimming-pools, sweeping staircases, soaring public rooms, a grand ballroom, a 360-degree promenade deck and a host of luxury shops.
The QM2 will be capable of crossing the North Atlantic at a brisk 30 knots (34.5 mph).
The QM2 is due to start her 14-day maiden voyage to Fort Lauderdale in the United States on January 12. Its operator Cunard Line, part of American cruise group Carnival Corp, said the trip had sold out months ago.
A one-way passage from Southampton to New York starts from 999 pounds rising to 15,500 per head, plus a daily service charge.
The new ship took the crown for largest cruise liner from Royal Caribbean's 1,020 foot-long (310 metre) Liberia-registered "Voyager of the Seas", launched in 1999.