Queen Victoria heading for Barbados

[sail1658]

Current ship tracking shows Queen Victoria in the Bay of Biscay with a speed of 15.7 knots heading for Bridgetown, Barbados with an arrival date of 25th November 2021. She is not scheduled to return to service until 22nd April 2022 on a 5 night cruise from Southampton to Amsterdam. 

 

Any ideas what may be happening?

 

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by sail1658

[Ray66]

"Queen Victoria will be getting winter sun as a mobile support ship for both P&O, Cunard and other carnival brands in the Caribbean"

according to this post:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2743910-queen-victoria-current-location/page/6/#comment-62099960

 

[sail1658]

Thanks for this reply. I had previously missed this post.

[jimbo1683]

5 hours ago, Ray66 said:

"Queen Victoria will be getting winter sun as a mobile support ship for both P&O, Cunard and other carnival brands in the Caribbean"

according to this post:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2743910-queen-victoria-current-location/page/6/#comment-62099960

 

What does 'support ship' mean?

[bbtablet]

Could it be where Cunard/P&O etc will send you if you test positive for covid, rather than disembark you in Barbados etc.? - a sort of plague ship!

Then, provided you recover before your original ship leaves the Caribbean, they could pop you back on, especially suitable for the Southampton - Southampton Caribbean cruises where there are a lot of jumpy passengers at the moment scared of being dumped ashore thousands of miles from home and consequently actively considering cancelling.

[sogne]

4 isolating new crew b4 they go to their assigned ship

[bbtablet]

8 hours ago, sogne said:

4 isolating new crew b4 they go to their assigned ship

Yes, I agree they could have "spare" crew to replace any crew that get sick - even senior personnel can be replaced easily if there is a duplicate standing by. If I was Cunard/P&O management I would feel very distant from being able to manage difficult COVID related situations the other side of the Atlantic - the solution would be to have a set of spares - people, resources, cabins, technicians, equipment, even a whole ship - just as I used to carry a load of spare parts in the boot of my Mk1 Cortina, nearly enough to rebuild the engine by the roadside (including a tow rope - now there's an image: Queen Victoria towing Queen Mary 2 back to Southampton on the end of a rope!).

 

On another thread, two more contributing couples say they have cancelled their QM2 January 2022 Carribean Southampton to Southampton cruise today.

We are not flinching (yet!).

[molecrochip]

Crew which were brought on board P&O in April/May for the restart, are now rotating off at the end of their contracts. 

 

Space is needed for replacement crew to prepare, and also for leaving crew to spend a few days until their flights are ready. It's simpler than trying to put crew into local hotels before/after flights (which are still reduced in number).

 

The ship may also come in helpful if a Covid outbreak occurs.

[Aplmac]

If I'm not mistaken

a large Cunard ship with distinctive black funnel, partially shrouded in red

lies at anchor in Carlisle Bay, Barbados.

 

She would appear to be at the Quarantine Anchorage

about a mile offshore Bridgetown, 

on an outer reef we used to dive on, back in the 1980s.

 

Hope this adds to the situation?

[Aplmac]

A quick look at marinetraffic.com confirms the presence of Queen Victoria

as described above...in Carlisle Bay, Barbados.

 

She's the the ship lowest in the diagram, out in the Bay

-with something else alongside?

 

[Aplmac]

Local cruise industry expertise here on the island

confirms that Queen Victoria will be here for quite some time yet

-as late as April next year, I was led to believe-

serving as a quarantine ship for shifts of crew, and the like.

 

Recent snip 8 p.m. from marine traffic

shows her at anchor far out in Carlisle Bay.

 

[bazzaw]

"serving as a quarantine ship for shifts of crew, and the like."

I can kind of understand this - but why BARBADOS? - somewhere else, like India, Philippines, Eastern Europe 🙂 maybe. 

 

 

 

 

[exlondoner]

Presumably because there are going to be lots of Carnival ships in the area.

[bazzaw]

8 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Presumably because there are going to be lots of Carnival ships in the area.

Hmm - hadn't thought about other  Carnival Corp cruiselines. 

[Solent Richard]

On 11/29/2021 at 12:01 AM, Aplmac said:

Local cruise industry expertise here on the island

confirms that Queen Victoria will be here for quite some time yet

-as late as April next year, I was led to believe-

serving as a quarantine ship for shifts of crew, and the like.

 

Recent snip 8 p.m. from marine traffic

shows her at anchor far out in Carlisle Bay.

 

She's still there today Aplmac.

 

Good to see you're still around after all these years.

 

 

[Aplmac]

On 12/5/2021 at 6:17 AM, exlondoner said:

Presumably because there are going to be lots of Carnival ships in the area.

 

Yes, you're right.

Queen Victoria was just languishing in the Solent for too long..

..and yes it's now Winter Cruise Season in the Caribbean

and there will be Carnival Corp. ships in the area

that might make use of this 'transfer station'!

 

QV is going to be a permanent fixture on our horizon

until well into the New Year 2022.

[Aplmac]

I should be getting my Nikon DSLR body-only tomorrow.

 

I have 5 lenses waiting on it  -  (my D60 died 2.5 years ago)

so hopefully there will be a few photos of QV in the next few days.

 

Meanwhile here's a stern shot I got of her many years ago

un-docking? ... in the Port at Bridgetown, in dull evening back-light

 

[Aplmac]

As viewed from the South Coast of the island...

where QV is seen just outside of Needham's Point and the Hilton Hotel.

 

[Aplmac]

Resplendent in the morning sun -at anchor in Carlisle Bay, Barbados.

 

[Aplmac]

Queen Vic seems to be no longer in our Barbados waters.

 

I just did a search on marinetraffic.com

and she is between St. Lucia and St. Vincent

heading W-N-West at 12 kts. -bound for destination LCCAS

wherever that is! - Anyone know?

 

[Host Hattie]

That's the port of Castries, St Lucia

[Aplmac]

2 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

That's the port of Castries, St Lucia

 

Yes.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-60.9/centery:14.0/zoom:11

 

 

[Aplmac]

She's in the inlet right now - 7:15 local p.m.

Will she dock at Point Seraphine? or across the inlet at Cargo?

 

[Turtles06]

My wife and I were in Barbados on December 8 aboard the Celebrity Silhouette. It was very interesting to see the Queen Victoria anchored in Carlisle Bay, where we spent the morning at the beach. I only had my small waterproof camera with me, so not the great shots of @Aplmac, but here she is. 
 

[Aplmac]

QV is docked at the Cargo berth in Castries.

 

Costa Deliziosa is already at Point Seraphine.