BRIEF HISTORY
Cunard Line
announced, in late 2004, that it had placed an order for a
new luxury ocean liner to be named Queen Victoria, and has
transferred the Queen Victoria that was under construction
(at the time) in Italy to its sister line, P&O Cruises. The
new 85,000-ton, Panamax vessel will accommodate some 1,850
passengers and will enter service in late 2007. She will be
built by Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani SpA, at its
Marghera (Italy) shipyard, and is expected to have an all-in
cost of approximately €390 million Euro.
The tremendous success of Queen Mary 2, particularly the
demand for its suites and junior suites, has prompted Cunard
Line to make these changes to its plans. “The design of the
new Queen Victoria will be more consistent with the grand
ocean liner style of Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2,”
explained Pamela Conover, Cunard’s president. “It is clear
that the traditional elegance of Cunard has broad appeal
among discerning travelers worldwide, and we want to be sure
that our new ship has all the luxurious Cunard attributes
our clients expect.”...
Cunard's Queen Victoria will be the
12th Vista class ship to enter service. The first two Vista
class ships were ordered by Costa as their Atlantica 2000
and Mediterranea 2003. The next four Vista class ships were
ordered by Carnival as their Spirit 2001, Pride 2002, Legend
2002 and Miracle 2004. The next four Vista class ships were
ordered by the Holland America Line as their Zuiderdam 2002,
Oosterdam 2003, Westerdam 2004 and Noordam 2006. The 11th
Vista class ship entered service for P&O as their Arcadia in
2005.
Design changes mean Queen Victoria will be 11 meters longer
than the other ships and 5,000 tons heavier giving an
increased passenger capacity. As she will join the other
Cunard ships, QE2 and QM2 on transatlantic and round the
world cruises, her hull has been built to meet the demands
of the Atlantic Ocean, with extra steel added to strengthen
key decks and bulkheads, and reinforced, thicker bow
plating.
Queen Victoria has entered service in December 2007 with two
cruises planned for that month. The first from Southampton -
Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo, Hamburg and Bruges. The second
cruise also departs her home port of Southampton visiting
the ports of Vigo, Lisbon, Granada, Funchal, Las Palmas,
Arrecife, Santa Cruz, Casablanca and Gibralter.
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