Stephen Payne (designer) - Professional Career

Professional Career

Payne began his work with Carnival Corporation in January 1985 as a member of the design team for the Carnival Fantasy class ships which entered service starting in 1990. The last two Fantasy ships were equipped with ABB Azipod thrusters rather than traditional shaft drives, a development which influenced his later work. His next major project was the design of Holland America Line’s new flagship MS Rotterdam VI where he was project manager. Payne designed the new ship with twin funnels, a tribute to the 1959 SS Rotterdam V.

Following completion of the Rotterdam, Payne was given charge of designing the new ocean liner Queen Mary 2 (QM2) to replace the aging Queen Elizabeth 2 as Cunard's transatlantic liner. Payne instituted several design innovations to justify the new liner's construction cost. He placed the new ship's public spaces near the water line. This allowed for a premium fare balcony, rather than porthole, cabins to be placed in the hull yet high enough to have a margin of protection from the sea conditions of the north Atlantic. Payne also created more revenue-producing interior space by removing one engine room from the initial design and instead using gas turbines at the base of the funnel. Podded propulsion, rather than shaft drives, was used to free up even more interior space and offered greater fuel efficiency and maneuverability. Spectacular public rooms, restricted to only first class passengers on the great twentieth century liners, were open to all passengers. QM2 was delivered to Cunard in December 2003, on time and under budget.

Payne next lead the design team for the Seabourn Cruise Line Odyssey class ships which entered service starting in 2009. In 2011, Payne left Carnival to form his own consultancy, PFJ-Maritime Consulting Ltd.