NEW YORK -- Fans from across the Americas, some waving the flags of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, lined the streets of Manhattan to say farewell to the Salsa legend, who died last week of a brain tumor.

'Queen Of Salsa' Celia Cruz Dies

Slideshow: AZUCAR! Images Of Celia Cruz

"I came here to pay tribute to a great queen," said Jacqueline Phillpotts, waving a Haitian flag.

Taking her final ride in a horse-drawn carriage piled high with flowers, Cruz was hailed Tuesday in a tribute both raucous and reverent by thousands of fans lining Manhattan streets and mourners inside St. Patrick's Cathedral.

It was "un ultimo adios" -- a final goodbye -- to the Grammy-winning Cruz, with devotees of the beloved singer clutching photos of her, waving flags, singing and dancing on an afternoon interrupted by driving thunderstorms.

Inside St. Patrick's, the crowd of 1,500 included Cruz's husband of 41 years, trumpeter Pedro Knight; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who held Knight by the arm; Spanish actor Antonio Banderas and his wife, actress Melanie Griffith; singer Jon Secada; and singer-actor Ruben Blades.

"From heaven, you will continue to be sugar," said auxiliary Bishop Josu Iriondo, addressing the crowd in Spanish. Cruz's trademark was shouting "Azucar!" -- Spanish for "sugar" -- during performances.

Iriondo also said Cruz may have been most beloved for not forgetting her roots.

"To get to Celia, you never needed steps or an elevator," he said. "The more she went up she never distanced herself from her people."

Umbrella-toting throngs jostled for a look at the funeral carriage, pulled down Fifth Avenue by twin white horses and topped with purple and white flowers. The funeral procession included black limousines overflowing with floral arrangements and a statue of Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba.

Cruz left Cuba after the 1959 revolution and often said she would love to return -- when Fidel Castro no longer was in power. In the end, Castro, 76, outlived Cruz.

White-gloved police officers provided an honor guard as Cruz's coffin, draped in the Cuban flag, was brought up the cathedral steps.

Salsa singer Victor Manuel ended the memorial service with a rendition of his song "Life is a Carnival," writing new lyrics to Cruz at the end: "I'm singing to you, Celia."

Cruz, 77, died July 16 in her Fort Lee, N.J., home.

The celebrity-studded funeral capped a week of mourning over the death of the singer, including public viewings in Miami and Manhattan that drew tens of thousands of fans.

After the funeral Mass, hundreds of fans waited at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where Cruz was buried in a private ceremony.

She joined musical greats Duke Ellington and Miles Davis in the 140-year-old cemetery.