Cunard's Queen Victoria at Five - new photo review and interview

            It has been almost five years since Cunard Line’s Queen Victoria entered service.  As such, it is appropriate to take a look and see just where the ship is these days.

            Queen Victoria was conceived to solve a problem that had plagued Cunard since the 1960s.  Ever since it began in the 1840s, Cunard’s business and reputation had been based on transatlantic crossings.  However, by the 1960s, the jet airliner had become the method of choice for most people traveling between Europe and North America.  As a result, there was only room on the Atlantic for one ocean liner.

Despite some who questioned whether even one liner was too many, Cunard built a new liner, the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) http://www.beyondships.com/QE2.html and entered her into service in 1969.  Although she went through some difficult times, that ship proved that there was still enough of a market to support one liner in the jet age.

            But Cunard wanted to remain a major name in the passenger ship business and you could not remain a major player with a one ship fleet.  Therefore, during the second half of the 20^th century, Cunard tried a number of ways to expand beyond the transatlantic service: mass market cruising; luxury yacht cruising; and purchasing a variety of ships that catered to different niche markets.  As a result, the line ended up with a polyglot fleet that had no real focus.

            When Carnival Corporation purchased Cunard in 1997, it decided that the way to revitalize the company was to return to the original focus.   The first step was to build a new ocean liner that would assume the transatlantic crossing role that had been fulfilled by the aging QE2.  This resulted in the Queen Mary 2, which entered service in 2004. http://www.beyondships.com/QM2.html

            The next step was to sell off the rest of the polyglot fleet or redistribute the ships to other Carnival companies which were more closely aligned to the markets those ships served.  They would be replaced by new ships especially built for Cunard.

            These new ships would not be ocean liners in the strict technological sense of the term.  Rather, they would be cruise ships designed to provide a cruise experience similar to that of the great ocean liners of the past.  They would complement QM2’s transatlantic role by providing cruises in Europe and America and by doing world cruises.  Consequently, Cunard would once again become a distinct, coherent brand.

            The first of these new ships was Queen Victoria.  Built by Fincantieri, she is based upon the Vista class design, which has been used for ships sailing with Holland America, P&O Cruises and Costa Cruises.*   However, going beyond those ships, Cunard made her longer and strengthened her hull in order to enable her to do itineraries involving rougher waters.

            What really distinguishes Queen Victoria from the other ships of the Vista design is the interior.  The overall theme of the decor is 19^th century and successfully recalls the great ships of the early 20^th century.  This is helped to a large extent by some multi-deck high public rooms such as the Queens Room ballroom that give the ship a sense of grandeur beyond its physical size.  Even after five years, the interior remains one of the elegant on the seas.

            The elegance of the physical surroundings would be for naught unless the service levels were also consistent with people’s expectation of what service on a great liner was like.  On my most recent voyage on Queen Victoria, I found the service levels to be quite good.  This may be due in part to the injection of a large number of QE2 crew members into the ship after that ship left service.  In addition, as Hotel Manager David Hamilton described it, the ship has “settled.” The crew is familiar with the physical plant and with each other and so relationships and routines have developed that make it all work harmoniously.

            Thus, Queen Victoria is a successful ship.  She does what she set out to do - - she provides a cruise experience that has the ambiance of a classic ocean liner.  Having sailed more than 70 times on QE2 and nearly 30 times on QM2, it seems to me that she has the Cunard feel about her

            Beyondships’ coverage of Queen Victoria has been significantly expanded.  The profile page has been augmented with the addition of new menus, daily programmes and informational leaflets distributed on the ship. http://beyondships.com/QV.html  The photo review has been almost entirely redone.  http://beyondships.com/QV-Tour-1.html  In addition, there is a new photo essay showing the ship in various Mediterranean ports  http://beyondships.com/QV-photos-Med.html  and there is a new interview in which Hotel Manager David Hamilton and Entertainment Director Paul O’Loughlin share some thoughts on Queen Victoria today.  http://www.beyondships2.com/cunard-queen-victoria-comes-of-age.html

* There appears to be some confusion as to whether the Queen Victoria was originally ordered for Holland America.  One of the reasons why Carnival purchased Cunard was to get a brand name that was a household name in Great Britain and which could be used in competing with P&O, Britain’s largest cruise line.  Therefore, after Carnival purchased Cunard, it designated one of the Vista class ships that it had ordered for Holland America from Fincantieri as being for Cunard.  This ship was to be the start of a series of ships that would compete with P&O and had the working name “Queen Victoria.”  However, before that ship was completed, Carnival merged with P&O.  Since there was no longer any reason to have a Cunard ship that would compete with P&O, the ship was re-designated as a P&O ship.  Today, that ship is the Arcadia of P&O Cruises.  http://www.beyondships.com/PO--Arcadia-Profile.html