Will Cunard ever launch another ocean liner again?

I actually liked that look on QE2 but it was, I understand, quite a maintenance headache. Disappeared quickly, didn't it?:D

... The traditional shaft/propeller is much more long lived and involves less maintenance than pods but, unfortunately, takes up valuable interior spaces that the cruise lines have come to love the revenue from:D.

It is extraordinary, in the early days they basically fitted cargo holds and passenger spaces within the hull, around any spare space not required by the the power-plant. How they made money transporting goods and people I do not know! Today the reverse is true.

So little non-revenue earning space is taken up nowadays by diesel engines, even when compared with the pre-war "ships of state" with their multiple boiler and engine rooms.

A commentary on pods from Payne's visit here two years ago:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=40085900&postcount=2

Yes, steam boilers took up cavernous amounts of space. It's one reason why Deltamarin's Titanic II would have been able to incorporate waste management and fresh water generation. The diesels took up far less space than the original Titanic boilers. (This never got beyond the model basin testing stage and an accumulation of evidence points to the project being abandoned.)

I believe the United States had a Nuclear Merchant Vessel called NS Savannah. It was sort of phased out for whatever reason/s.

I can see an excellent basis for Cunard to have a much smaller cruise liner with a dual purpose of alternating crossings with QM2. As I see it currently if you wish to sail both ways TA you get a half day in New York or too long for most people. If a second ship did the alternate direction you could offer both ways sailing with breaks at either end of slightly varying numbers of days to stay in USA or Europe. Sailing out on one ship and returning on the other. Then when the main TA season was not happening you could offer niche cruises in the small liner. This would in my opinion offer an excellent back up to the Queens.

Regards John

If you look at plans and diagrams of early steam ships, or better still, visit the oldest transatlantic liner still with us, the SS Great Britain, you'll be amazed at how much interior space is taken up with machinery/engines/boilers etc.

 

It is extraordinary, in the early days they basically fitted cargo holds and passenger spaces within the hull, around any spare space not required by the the power-plant. How they made money transporting goods and people I do not know! Today the reverse is true.

 

So little non-revenue earning space is taken up nowadays by diesel engines, even when compared with the pre-war "ships of state" with their multiple boiler and engine rooms.

That's very true. The huge exhaust channels that ran vertically up to the funnels used to impact on the size of interior spaces. It wasn't until the SS Vaterland that the exhaust space was able to be minimised and sent up piping alongside the hull to free up interior space - this was the first liner to boast vast open rooms and multi story rooms for first class passengers.

I believe the United States had a Nuclear Merchant Vessel called NS Savannah. It was sort of phased out for whatever reason/s.

 

 

I can see an excellent basis for Cunard to have a much smaller cruise liner with a dual purpose of alternating crossings with QM2. As I see it currently if you wish to sail both ways TA you get a half day in New York or too long for most people. If a second ship did the alternate direction you could offer both ways sailing with breaks at either end of slightly varying numbers of days to stay in USA or Europe. Sailing out on one ship and returning on the other. Then when the main TA season was not happening you could offer niche cruises in the small liner. This would in my opinion offer an excellent back up to the Queens.

 

Regards John

Alternatively, QM2 could do a few Southampton - New York - New England and/or Quebec - New York - Southampton crossings and cruises to enable people a chance to spend 4-5 days in NYC between TAs.

And I am not sure how many Europeans want to go to New York first when coming to America.

Really? As an American, New York, for me, is the gateway to the U.S. Statute of Liberty, etc., etc. We also have done the southern route TA's and love them. We are presently booked on a QM2 crossing for next May. I don't think the two TA's can be compared. One is a cruise the other a "crossing." And seeing our Lady of Liberty in the early morning hours - irreplaceable!

Really? As an American, New York, for me, is the gateway to the U.S. Statute of Liberty, etc., etc. We also have done the southern route TA's and love them. We are presently booked on a QM2 crossing for next May. I don't think the two TA's can be compared. One is a cruise the other a "crossing." And seeing our Lady of Liberty in the early morning hours - irreplaceable!

good point TG. We have sailed numerous UK to NYC transatlantic crossings and the arrival in NYC is hands down much more dramatic than our arrivals from crossings into Ft. Lauderdale.:D

Alternatively, QM2 could do a few Southampton - New York - New England and/or Quebec - New York - Southampton crossings and cruises to enable people a chance to spend 4-5 days in NYC between TAs.

A smaller second cruise liner would allow the 15% - 20% of people; doing a double voyage TA, to do a land based holiday mid cruise either in the USA or Europe. Currently QM2 shuttles to Hamburg which gives people the chance of a short break if they fly back to UK. With two ships the length of available time at each end could be varied to suit many different potential markets through the season. In addition you need to remember that people are dropped off in USA for land based holidays of five days, however anyone dropped off in Europe just prior to this need to wait for the ships return including those extra five days. This might suit some European tourers but not all. The smaller liner would also do excellent premium cruises Cunard style.

Regards John

Regards John

A smaller second cruise liner would allow the 15% - 20% of people; doing a double voyage TA, to do a land based holiday mid cruise either in the USA or Europe. Currently QM2 shuttles to Hamburg which gives people the chance of a short break if they fly back to UK. With two ships the length of available time at each end could be varied to suit many different potential markets through the season. In addition you need to remember that people are dropped off in USA for land based holidays of five days, however anyone dropped off in Europe just prior to this need to wait for the ships return including those extra five days. This might suit some European tourers but not all. The smaller liner would also do excellent premium cruises Cunard style.

 

Regards John

 

Regards John

John, How small would this Cruise Liner be if she was ever built? And would you name her after one of Britain's Queens who have not gotten a Cunard Ship named after her yet? Anyway I think that this new Cunard Ship would have to be the same size of the QE2, 963 feet long, 105 feet wide and around 70,000 gross tons. Do you agree with me regarding the size of the ship? And would you name after one of Britain's Queens who never had a Cunard Ship named after her yet? Regards,Jerry

I was thinking a bit smaller than the QE2 about 1,200 passengers. In terms of a name we could go back to Queen Anne.

Regards John

I was thinking a bit smaller than the QE2 about 1,200 passengers. In terms of a name we could go back to Queen Anne.

 

Regards John

Great idea but, would it be viable to Carnival? People would needs 3 weeks to do the trip, one week each way and one week in England /America. Queen Anne would do fine.:)

Great idea but, would it be viable to Carnival? People would needs 3 weeks to do the trip, one week each way and one week in England /America. Queen Anne would do fine.:)

If you look at world cruise sectors; three weeks or twenty one days is shorter than many of those. You only need to attract a small proportion of the QM2 passengers and in addition you might get Queen Anne passengers that are doing a fly cruise on the basis of preferred dates.

Carnival keep ordering and building ships, they are fixated on this and also look at expanding the market which lately has gone down a Japan followed by China route. The foregoing suggestion seems reasonably feasible. Obviously one would need a detailed analysis.

Regards John

And if Carnival had not bought Cunard there would be no active, true ocean liner in service today. QE2 would certainly be finished by now. Those who would sail on her anywhere are not getting any younger. And newer generations are not content with oceanviews.

what is not discussed much is the changes in passengers that will happen in the next 10 years and how and if those changes will change Cunard.

Will the Glenn Miller music in the Queens room still be popular in another 10 or 15 years?

what is not discussed much is the changes in passengers that will happen in the next 10 years and how and if those changes will change Cunard.

Will the Glenn Miller music in the Queens room still be popular in another 10 or 15 years?

Good point, and I doubt it. Even Beatle's music is on elevators now.:eek::D Maybe it will be Duran Duran.:eek:

Oh, I don't know. My Music taste seems to get older as I do!

what determines the Queens room music? Is it a Cunard dictate, i.e. the music must be of the past?,

or is it British Ballroom thing?

None of the American ballroom dance clubs I have been to in the last 20 years play music that "old".

There are some great Elton John 90s Rumbas, but you will not hear them on the QV, you will get Cab Calloway etc. instead.

what is not discussed much is the changes in passengers that will happen in the next 10 years and how and if those changes will change Cunard.

Will the Glenn Miller music in the Queens room still be popular in another 10 or 15 years?

You are kidding! Glenn Miller music - really?

As long as there is a requirement for people to cross the north Atlantic on a regular basis for most of the year, I am sure they will need an ocean liner not a cruise ship. I have seen a few videos of cruise ships in rough weather, and could never see a cruise ship leaving NY and heading into Hurricane Sandy as QM2 did.

a new QM2 sister ship and a South Hampton / Florida route thru warmer weather would be nice.

a new QM2 sister ship and a South Hampton / Florida route thru warmer weather would be nice.

Since she would be going warm Florida weather to cold UK weather the main market would probably be those who already sail QM2 but live in the southern states and would like the convenience of a Florida embarkation port. If the market research showed support for such a route then Aquitania 2 would already be in service. I don't see a strong demand by anybody from the UK wanting to vacation in Florida when they can book Mediterranean sailings.

Personally I would far rather holiday in Florida than the Med.

Aren't there quite a few repositioning cruises back and forth from Florida to Europe (including northern Europe) each year? Or am I mistaken?

I believe that a lot of the repositioning ships call at various Atlantic islands on the way, making this a kind-of one-way warm-water cruise not, as QM2 currently does, a port-to-port (no stops) traditional crossing (OK, she sometimes calls at Halifax).

Difficult to see the demand (and reason for the expense) to build a new sister ship to liner QM2 (designed with crossing the North Atlantic in a week in mind) to make such a leisurely cruise in such a crowded market.

If there was a demand for a near-year-round Florida-Northern Europe cruise service as suggested, I'm sure that Cunard would have already diverted QV or QE to the task; as cruise ships they'd be far better suited.

But Cunard haven't 'cus there isn't.

Best wishes.

Aren't there quite a few repositioning cruises back and forth from Florida to Europe (including northern Europe) each year? Or am I mistaken?

 

I believe that a lot of the repositioning ships call at various Atlantic islands on the way, making this a kind-of one-way warm-water cruise not, as QM2 currently does, a port-to-port (no stops) traditional crossing (OK, she sometimes calls at Halifax).

 

Difficult to see the demand (and reason for the expense) to build a new sister ship to liner QM2 (designed with crossing the North Atlantic in a week in mind) to make such a leisurely cruise in such a crowded market.

 

If there was a demand for a near-year-round Florida-Northern Europe cruise service as suggested, I'm sure that Cunard would have already diverted QV or QE to the task; as cruise ships they'd be far better suited.

But Cunard haven't 'cus there isn't.

 

Best wishes.

You are not mistaken. Many ships reposition along a southerly route, probably more to avoid the North Atlantic than to serve Florida. It's usually a crossing with a few stops, just as you described.

I suspect people in the UK who want to go to Florida or the Caribbean in winter are more likely to fly there than to take a long crossing and have less time at their warm destination.

You are not mistaken. Many ships reposition along a southerly route, probably more to avoid the North Atlantic than to serve Florida. It's usually a crossing with a few stops, just as you described.

 

I suspect people in the UK who want to go to Florida or the Caribbean in winter are more likely to fly there than to take a long crossing and have less time at their warm destination.

The usual route is from Southampton across to Brugges and then south to Lisbon, South West Spain, Madeira, Azores, Bermuda and into Florida. Yes it is quicker to fly, but can you really beat cruising? :D