IN HIS private life, Captain Ron Warwick pottles around in a 2.5 litre Mitsubishi motor that is on the relief side of £30,000.

In his professional life, this man is at the helm of a £560m ocean liner that generates so much power she could light up her home port of Southampton.

Welcome to the nearly-completed Queen Mary 2, a vessel that chews up maritime records like she churns up the Atlantic at speeds of up to 30 knots, or 34mph.

It is this awe-inspiring ship, set to become a 21st-century travel icon as she crosses between the UK and USA in six-day luxury voyages, that is the biggest, longest, widest and tallest in the world.

Owner Cunard said: "It is quite simply the start of a new golden age of transatlantic travel."

And it will be Captain Warwick, 62, master-designate, who will be on the 46metre-high control bridge as she enters the Solent and Southampton Water for the first time in what will undoubtedly be a crowd-pulling spectacular.

That arrival date in late December has yet to be confirmed, but Alstom Chantiers de l'Atlantique, the shipbuilding arm of French engineering giant Alstom, is under pressure. It will be hit by substantial financial penalties if QM2 is not handed over to owner Cunard at the shipyard in St Nazaire on December 22.

The 150,000-tonne passenger liner, with its opulent entertaining rooms and breathtaking bow that will become as familiar as Concorde's nose, may dock in Southampton on Boxing Day.

But Cunard, in the hands of Alstom, is itself not sure, with other dates being talked about, such as December 27, or possibly an earlier December 22.

With the deadline just six weeks away, the pace of work on board QM2 is nothing short of hectic.

At any one time 3,000 employees and sub-contractors are labouring away inside, design blueprints pinned up or laying on makeshift work benches in every section.

The noise is deafening - drilling, sawing, shouting, piped pop music. Dust is everywhere.

Miles of exposed cabling, along the floors, or dangling from the ceilings or walls, have to be stepped over or ducked under.

Carpets, wooden handrails, mahogany finishes, are protected by thick plastic covers.

Hard to imagine yet that this is where passengers will pay up to £20,000 for six sailing nights.

It is Changing Rooms - on the grandest of scales.

Through this hazardous maze Captain Warwick leads.

He knows the way despite the apparent chaos.

It was just 16 months ago that he gave the first order - for a crane to lay QM2's keel in a time-honoured ceremony.

Now she is so nearly ready, and she is proving a big draw, with thousands of people from all around this part of St Nazaire, on the western seaboard of France, turning out to see her every weekend.

"The French have pride in her," explained Captain Warwick.

"I am very proud of this ship, and I certainly hope that the people share that pride and embrace the new vessel with affection in Southampton; they have for the Queen Elizabeth 2.

"Southampton is where all the great ocean liners have docked, plying the Atlantic between New York and Southampton.

"It's going to be a very special occasion. There are a lot of people going who will be able to tell their children and grandchildren that they saw QM2 sailing up the Solent and Southampton Water for the first time to her home port. It's going to be spectacular. I have a lot of pride in her and Cunard - to be part of the company that was founded in 1839 by Samuel Cunard.

"He had this vision to bridge the Atlantic with steamships, and, despite, the war years and aeroplanes, Cunard is doing it.

"To be part of that maritime heritage, to me, is very significant."

Captain Warwick, from Frome in Somerset, is confident that QM2, with its extra-thick hull built for strength and stability, will take all the North Atlantic can throw at her in the same way the QE2 once shrugged off a 90ft-high rogue wave.

He said: "I hope to get plenty of sleep - I'm not anticipating any problems, but obviously if a situation does occur, such as poor visibility or bad weather, my cabin is directly behind the bridge."

It is the 50metre-wide bridge where Captain Warwick is master of all he surveys, and it is the state-of-the-art computer technology that he finds wonderful and reassuring. Flat screens show radar, navigational displays, safety management and manoeuvring systems, power management updates, water consumption, ballast transfer and weather systems.

For the record, there is no ship's wheel.

Instead, QM2 is capable of being manoeuvred by a single joystick.

It can move the ship sideways, or at an angle, or remain stationary over a fixed spot by use of satellite and wind gauges.

Captain Warwick, or whoever he delegates, drives the ship through four pods, each weighing 250 tons. The forward two are fixed in place, while the aft two can turn though 360 degrees.

Three thrusters allow QM2, powered by diesel engines and gas turbines, to turn in her own length, without the use of tugs.

They are operated with fingertip touch by Captain Warwick. So there we have it: the destiny of a £560m ship, some 345 metres long and 72 metres high from keel to funnel, with 2,620 passengers and 1,253 crew, dependent on a fingertip less than 2cm wide!