World Club Cunarder and great Queen Victoria update!!!

[highcbob]

For everyone not receiving the World Club booklet but would like an update

here is link to the "Cunarder" U.K. version. What is very interesting is the best

update yet on the new Queen Victoria arriving December of next year:

 

http://www.cunard.co.uk/images/Content/Cunarder%20Feb%2006.pdf

 

Bob.

[tartegnin]

and nice to see the reassurances that statue of liberty views will still be available even with Red Hook terminal ...

[Bramcruiser]

Yahoo! I am really looking forward to Cunard expanding its "Queen" fleet and look forward to a smaller Victoria that will buck the trend of the ganguatuan megaships that the other lines are coming out with. Glad to hear that Victoria is getting readied for reservations in the upcoming year.

 

Let's just hope its 3 and not 2 Queens sailing to 2010!

[guernseyguy]

Thanks for the link.....IF the dining room ends up built as illustrated it will be different from other Vista derived ships (though the 'small print' does say that 'the final design may vary') And at 18 knots cruising speed she's as fast as....well, the Cunarder 'Oregon', of 1884.....and her 'top speed' not far off the Lucania of 1894.....but thats progress for you.....

 

I guess she won't be doing Transatlantics....

 

.......Otherwise she looks like a 4m stretch over ARCADIA (ex WHATEVERTHEDAM, ex QUEEN VICTORIA), with very similar beam/draft....just a bit slower.....

 

Peter

[guernseyguy]

Let's just hope its 3 and not 2 Queens sailing to 2010!

 

They do write that there will be 'three Queen liners at the same time'.....though for how long....only time will tell.......

 

Peter

[guernseyguy]

and nice to see the reassurances that statue of liberty views will still be available even with Red Hook terminal ...

 

'Rest assured you'll still encounter Lady Liberty face-to-face as you sail in or out of Manhattan'

 

Its BROOKLYN!!!! you muppets! I give up! And the claim about the drive to JFK may be debatable....to say nothing of La Guardia or Newark......

 

Peter

[Kindlychap]

I was looking at the CWC magazine today.

 

Very disappointed by Queen Victoria. In no way can I see her replacing QE2. Far too glitzy inside. Clearly designed as a sister ship to QM2, not as an eventual replacement to QE2.

 

Which means, I suppose, cometh the end of QE2, cometh the end.

[travel-to-go]

Its BROOKLYN!!!! you muppets! I give up! And the claim about the drive to JFK may be debatable....to say nothing of La Guardia or Newark......

 

Peter

 

Actually, Peter, one of the bragging items I saw on one Red Hook page was the unobstructed view of the lady. (Soon to be blocked, no doubt, by the gentrification of the neighborhood. They've been fightnig over approval of a highrise high priced condo building)

 

Karie,

<ducking, as Peter throws a small fake metallic statue of "the Lady" at me, bright LED light in her upheld torch, the words,"Sponsored by "new Soft and Dry" on a sash around her torso> <EG>

[dougnewmanatsea]

Thanks, Bob, for the link. Certainly interesting. I suppose as a Cunard past passenger I should get one of these (the US version) but who knows if that will ever happen. I don't get HAL's mailings either!

 

I guess if QUEEN VICTORIA bookings open up at the end of this month, we should hopefully be seeing itineraries and deck plans soon, and perhaps more and better interior renderings. It will certainly be interesting to see what they do with her. Of course she will merely be a cruise ship and not a liner, but I might still be willing to give her a try... Though really for me, as a cruise ship, 90,000 GT and 2,000 passengers is far larger than I'd like. My ideal cruise ship is something the size of VISTAFJORD/CARONIA (a ship I do so wish I'd had the chance to sail in), rather smaller than this ;) !

 

But at least it looks as though, for better or for worse, she will be different from the rest of the Vista-class ships. For this, I'm very grateful. I still object to a ship that is a cruise ship, not a liner, being called a QUEEN but at least she will not be a corporate clone like ARCADIA turned out to be. (Thank heavens she didn't actually become QUEEN VICTORIA - that would have been a disaster!)

 

Incidentally, I don't think her cruising speed will really be 18 knots - I have always found Cunard to have a tremendous propensity towards typographical errors and I think this is just another one. For one thing, it would be unusual to have a cruising speed of only 18 knots if her top speed is 23.7. I was told by several officers on QE2 that QUEEN VICTORIA is to have a 22 knot cruising speed and this makes perfect sense as that is also the cruising speed of the other Vistas. If she is as fast as her sisters, her top speed should be roughly 24 knots, right in the vicinity of the top speed quoted by Cunard... But her cruising speed should be far higher than what they quote.

 

Now, personally I think they would be best off investing in a ship with a cruising speed in the 24 to 25 knot range, even if this is merely a cruise ship and not a liner, as these higher speeds do come in handy on port-intensive cruises. They are particularly useful on Mediterranean cruises from the UK and also on world cruises which involve ocean crossings, and I suppose QUEEN VICTORIA should be doing a lot of the former and perhaps eventually the latter as well. QE2 uses her speed to good effect even on cruises; P&O's ORIANA and AURORA also have high cruising speeds for ex-UK Med cruises and World Cruises and HAL's ROTTERDAM and AMSTERDAM for their world cruises as well. So really I think Cunard should follow the example of their corporate cousins at P&O and HAL and make her a bit faster. But 22 knots is still pretty respectable. 18 knots on the other hand would be terrible; a cruising speed like that would seriously limit itinerary possibilities. Fortunately, I seriously doubt that that will be her actual cruising speed...

[tumeroll]

The artists renditions of the public space on the new VVctoria look remarkably like the original public rooms on the original Queen Mary but with considerably more rouge.

[Aramis1932]

Thank you for the link. I received the US version of the Cunarder, this past week and there was no mention of the Queen Victoria. Strange.

[guernseyguy]

....I noticed is that they are using a new illustration of the Queen Vic - not the one we've seen before - perhaps this means nothing & may simply reflect the art director's preference, or perhaps the design is changed from earlier versions - though it still looks like they are putting cabins in the forward superstructure - something Stephen Payne has gone on record as saying should not be done on a Transatlantic liner, following the Michelangello tragedy.

 

Peter

[travel-to-go]

Thank you for the link. I received the US version of the Cunarder, this past week and there was no mention of the Queen Victoria. Strange.

 

I printed up the British version and compared it to my US version. I think about the only things they had in comon were the picture of Tom Cruise getting the BAFTA Brittania award and the Rod Stewart pic with his fiancees cleavage seemingly emphasized, and the recipe for the Porc Normand.

 

It would have been nice to see the article on Commodore Warwick's retirement, the QV, and of course, apparently there was a photo contest, a poetry contest, and the winners to a prize drawing from a questionnaire that I certainly didn't get! The Commodore's wife, Kim, apparently gave them an adorable picture, but of course she coudn't be in the contest! It bothers me that they seem to think we Americans would not be in the least bit interested in the articles that involve the history and glamour of the Queens and the sort of insider "Our Queens" sort of thing, such as the Commodore's retirement, as if Americans would not take the time to find out who the Captain of their ship is, much less care, or any of the other things we talk about on these boards frequently.

 

Karie,

miffed that I've been dissed by Cunard!

[Kindlychap]

....I noticed is that they are using a new illustration of the Queen Vic - not the one we've seen before - perhaps this means nothing & may simply reflect the art director's preference, or perhaps the design is changed from earlier versions - though it still looks like they are putting cabins in the forward superstructure - something Stephen Payne has gone on record as saying should not be done on a Transatlantic liner, following the Michelangello tragedy.

 

Peter

 

But the QM2 has four cabins looking out to the front - and he designed her!

[sailorbill]

Interesting -

 

According to Cunarder, Queen Victoria will have 12 passenger decks whereas Arcadia (aka XQV) and the HAL vista class ships have 11 passenger decks. That does account for the increased GRT (which is a measure of space) without significantly increasing length and keeping the same width. It also starts to explain the increase in passenger count along with having a large two story Queen's Lounge and the necessity for larger staterooms to accomodate the Queen's Grill passengers. The space ratio for Queen Victoria will be in the same range as the vista class ships at about 45 which is far less roomy than the ratio of 57 enjoyed aboard QM2. Deck plans should be very interesting when they are finally released.

[guernseyguy]

But the QM2 has four cabins looking out to the front - and he designed her!

 

They are high up, behind a steel wall - unlike the Vista class ships which have balconies and cabins the full height of the superstructure.......

 

Peter

[dougnewmanatsea]

nlike the Vista class ships which have balconies and cabins the full height of the superstructure

The forward-facing open decks on the Vista-class ships are public decks, not cabin balconies.

[guernseyguy]

The forward-facing open decks on the Vista-class ships are public decks, not cabin balconies.

 

Yep, like I wrote, 'balconies and cabins'.....the first Queen Liner to have either so low down near the bow.....and ex the QM2's suites high up, the first to have other than public rooms or crew spaces in the forward superstucture - which I think will be a pity, as its one of the things (having public rooms with views, forward) that makes the QM2 feel less vast than some less well designed platforms.....

 

Peter