The 85,000-ton, 1,968-passenger Queen Victoria is being built at Fincantieri's Marghera (Italy) shipyard.

The keel ceremony takes place on 12 July; a prefabricated section of the keel, which serves as the base of the ship, will be lowered onto the building dock.

Ultimately, the ship, when completed, will feature a covered wrap-around promenade deck, a forward-facing observation lounge, and a large Lido pool with a retractable roof. Exterior elevators with glass walls will rise ten decks high on both sides of the ship.

The Queen Victoria was originally intended to be part of Holland America's Vista class of ships but the order was transferred to Cunard by corporate parent Carnival Corp.

Cunard maintain that Queen Mary 2, which is being built at France's St. Nazaire, is on schedule for a January 12, 2004 inaugural. Much of the work is now focused on slotting in prefabricated interiors, such as staterooms, and on-site building of public spaces.

Source:Net

[ 07-12-2003: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

O.K. it can be argued that ships have shared similar designs in the past, however the adaptation of the Vista Class, into various cruise brands, take the art to a new level of blandness. Henry Ford’s car mass production techniques have finally reached the high seas! Of course it all makes perfect business sense!

I’m sure that the general public will have great cruises on these ships. In fact ninety-nine per cent of them will not have a clue what a Vista Class ship is, anyway. They will only be interested in having a good cruise experience, whatever the pedigree of the vessel.

Naming a ship after a British monarch, and giving her a Cunard funnel and paint job, will not make her a 'real queen' as far as I’m concerned.

However, we will all know the truth!

[ 07-12-2003: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

If I were the Design Director, I would divide the ship into uptown, at bow, midtown, and downtown at aft.

The interior styles would all be what Cunard pioneered.

Uptown: Aquitania Edwardian
------------Old World formal

Midtown: Queen Mary Art Deco
------------Country Club casual

Downtown: QE 2 London Mod
---------------Left Bank, NYC Chelsea, South Beach trendy

Entertainment would follow interior style

There would be 3 dining rooms in each nieghborhood with the respective decor.

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
O.K. it can be argued that ships have shared similar designs in the past, however the adaptation of the Vista Class, into various cruise brands, take the art to a new level of blandness.

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I can relate to your sentiment Malcolm and ofcourse most passengers if asked which ship they sailed will reply with: “I don’t know the name but it was a big ship” (like that is a unique quality these days)

You could also see it like this: with a bland Vista class as a sailing mate to QM2 will definable make QM2 “sparkle” more.

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
Naming a ship after a British monarch, and giving her a Cunard funnel and paint job, will not make her a 'real queen' as far as I’m concerned.

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I would have preferred AQUITANIA or BERENGARIA. Naming her after one of those ships would be obnoxious enough. Calling her QUEEN VICTORIA is like a bad badge-engineered car.

Ford just released a front-wheel drive Jaguar with a four-cylinder diesel engine. I think that car is analogous to this ship! Probably not bad, but being being sold as something it is not, and will never be!

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Originally posted by desirod7:
It would be great if she has a traditional wrap-around promenade deck.

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quote:

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If I were the Design Director, I would divide the ship into uptown, at bow, midtown, and downtown at aft.

The interior styles would all be what Cunard pioneered.

Uptown: Aquitania Edwardian
------------Old World formal

Midtown: Queen Mary Art Deco
------------Country Club casual

Downtown: QE 2 London Mod
---------------Left Bank, NYC Chelsea, South Beach trendy

Entertainment would follow interior style

There would be 3 dining rooms in each nieghborhood with the respective decor.

At 85,000 tons she can handle different styles and would give a sense of place to those on board.

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I think that would be a fantastic idea, but sadly I imagine the design team will have to work within the constraints of the existing Vista layout for the most part, which would mean the main lounge would be Edwardian while the main dining room would be 1960s Mod.

As an aside, I don't think we can really say that AQUITANIA pioneered her style of decor - I think it would be fairer to say that she perfected it. Most British ships of the era had decor of that general style, though obviously of varying quality. AQUITANIA was the best ship of her kind, but also one of the last, as more WWI stopped new ships from being built until the 1920s and by then more modern designs were creeping in, culminating with the very avantgarde ILE DE FRANCE.

QUEEN MARY in fact hardly pioneered anything either; she was roundly criticized for being too conservative. Art Deco probably first came to ships on ILE DE FRANCE and that was in a much less conservative form.

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Originally posted by cruiseny:

I agree.

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If the new QV was to do nothing but line voyages (from Southampton, England to Capetown, South Africa and back for example), would she be considered a liner or just a cruise ship that sails as an ocean liner?

Would it be possible to consider any cruise ship an ocean liner by the route she sails or is it based only by the design of the ship?

It seems to me that several of today's cruise ships (Oriana & Aurora come to mind) could actually do liner-type voyages year-round. Perhaps not across the Atlantic, but there are many other voyages that were considered liner routes before the arrival of the jet. P&O had many liner routes that had several port stops along the way. Could this type of service begin again and be profitable?

A cruise ship pressed into liner service.

Would it be possible to consider any cruise ship an ocean liner by the route she sails or is it based only by the design of the ship?

It's based on both, but I think design comes first, and carries the most weight, in other words, what was she intended for, regardless of what she actually became used for, i.e. a liner pressed into cruise service (a la the S.S. France/Norway).

[ 07-15-2003: Message edited by: CGT ]

[ 07-15-2003: Message edited by: CGT ]

"Like QE2 and QM2, the liner will have a Queens Grill offering single-seating gourmet dining, in addition to the grand Aquitania Restaurant. There will also be a unique Colonial Restaurant on Deck 11 with spectacular panoramic views."

Okay they are actually calling this cruise ship a "liner". HA! Also, interesting that the alternative restaurant would be called the "Colonial". I guess they mean British Colonial, but British Colonial what? Colonial India? Caribbean? Certainly not American Colonial. I wonder what they mean by "Colonial". Decorated like the living room of some British Colonial Viceroy? Also interesting that the main restaurant shall be called the Aquitania dining room. Hrmmm, that's what they should have named the ship!

[ 07-15-2003: Message edited by: CGT ]

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Originally posted by Ðraikar:
I also wonder what they ment by Colonial

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Decor, I suppose?

'Brilliance of the Seas' has the 'Colonial Club' which is a bar and lounge with an Indian Raj (British Empire) type theme. It's got picture of Indian Elephants (used as off-road vehicles for big game hunting) on the walls.

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Originally posted by cruiseny:
From what I understand, that Deck 11 restaurant will be a "curry house".

That belongs on P&O, not Cunard!

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Cruiseny said:
That belongs on P&O, not Cunard!

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Originally posted by CGT:
Where do you get your information from?

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That particular information came from a private conversation.

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Originally posted by Keitaro:
There you go. Not only are they sharing same ship design, but products too .

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Well P&O and Cunard have not shared the same ship design.

That said I DO think that this ship is overlapping a bit with P&O, if not in marketing, in reality. Only time will tell if there will be a substantial difference between the "upscale" QV and the "mainstream" P&O fleet. Of course QV was conceived before the P&O Cruises fleet was part of Carnival...

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Originally posted by CGT:
Found these comments in the press release:

"Like QE2 and QM2, the liner will have a Queens Grill offering single-seating gourmet dining, in addition to the grand Aquitania Restaurant. There will also be a unique Colonial Restaurant on Deck 11 with spectacular panoramic views."

Okay they are actually calling this cruise ship a "liner".

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I assume by "they" that you mean Cunard, but you don't actually say so.

Whose press release did you read? Did you read the release on Cunard's web site? Did Cunard actually use the term "liner" for QV? Or are you quoting from an edited version of a Cunard press release: i.e edited by a third party?

As someone who has written press releases in the past, I have seen how they get edited before being printed in newspapers and magazines.

In other words, you cannot take any statement as gospel unless it comes straight from the proverbial horse's mouth.

One recent example of a Cunard press release being twisted was the press release announcing the choice of the name Queen Victoria. Notwithstanding what was widely reported, Cunard never said that in 2005 they will have 3 ships in service named after British Monarchs (an untrue statement). They simply said they would have 3 Queens in service (a true statement). It was "the media" that twisted their statement.

Just call me curious.

[ 07-16-2003: Message edited by: Brian_O ]

quote:

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Cruiseny said:
Well P&O and Cunard have not shared the same ship design.

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Yes I mean Cunard.

Whose press release did you read?

Cunard's.

Did you read the release on Cunard's web site?

Yes.

Did Cunard actually use the term "liner" for QV?

Yes.

Or are you quoting from an edited version of a Cunard press release: i.e edited by a third party?

[ 07-16-2003: Message edited by: CGT ]