Cunard Line has announced that its new
85,000-ton cruise ship, which is scheduled to enter service in 2008, will be
named Queen Victoria. Based in Southampton, England, the Cunard Queen Victoria will be
the second largest Cunard Queen ever built. Together with the current flagship,
Queen Elizabeth 2, and Queen Mary 2, the biggest passenger liner ever, the
Cunard fleet will include three Queens for the first time – truly the most
famous ocean liners in the world.
Cruise
Queen Victoria will enter service in the company’s 165th anniversary and will
operate cruises to and from Southampton to the Mediterranean, the Canaries,
Northern Europe, the Caribbean, and South America. The 1,968-passenger vessel
will feature a covered wraparound promenade deck, a forward-facing observation
lounge, a large Lido pool with a retractable magrodome, and 10 of the12
passenger decks will be served by exterior glass-walled lifts. Like QE2 and QM2,
the liner will have a Queens Grill, offering single-seating gourmet dining.
There will also be a unique Colonial Restaurant on Deck 11 with spectacular
panoramic views.
Queen Victoria cruises will offer a wide range of
accommodations, large standard outside cabins (170 square feet) and a high
percentage of balcony cabins (67%), thereby bringing new levels of luxury and
choice to passengers preferring to depart from a European port. Cruise
Queen Victoria!
The on-board menus, entertainment and lecture program will be geared to British
tastes and the currency will be sterling. Queen Victoria will fly the red
ensign; she will have the name of her home port, Southampton, on her stern, and
she will have a British Captain and Officers.
In design terms the cruise Cunard Queen Victoria will have an undeniably British feel with two British design
teams being responsible for the interior of the Cunard Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria is being built at Italy’s Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera, near
Venice, with her keel laid on July 12, 2003. One of the most technically
advanced shipbuilders in the world, Fincantieri has built more than 7,000
vessels, including many for Cunard’s parent Carnival Corporation. Originally
ordered as the fifth in a series of five 'Vista' class ships for sister company
Holland America, the contact was signed over to Cunard before the keel was laid
and Holland America then ordered a further ship for delivery in 2006.
Enjoy a Cruise on Queen Victoria. The
lead ship in the series, Zuiderdam, entered service in December 2002.
No cruise schedules have yet been
announced. Her float out is scheduled for May 2007, prior to
her delivery in March 2008.She is scheduled to enter service in April 2008. |