Like her sister, Queen Victoria, the new Queen Elizabeth was a modified version of the popular "Vista-class" design (such as Holland America's Zuiderdam, Oosterdam, etc and P&O's Arcadia,
which had herself originally been intended as the new Queen Victoria until it was realised that the basic design would not meet the demands that would be made of her for Cunard, particularly on the North Atlantic; and
so a longer, strengthened, hybrid design was born.
See Oosterdam (Vista-class) >>
As with the other "Vista-class" ships, she was built by Fincantieri of Italy, but at their Monfalcone shipyard near Trieste, whereas Queen Victoria had come from their Marghera shipyard near Venice.
There was much unconfirmed speculation as to who would christen the new Queen Elizabeth but, as widely predicted, she was christened in Southampton in October 2010 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Queen Elizabeth was almost identical to Queen Victoria but slightly larger and at 90,901 gross tons, she usurped her sister as the second largest
Cunard Liner to date.
Below: The Cunard Queens, drawn to the same scale
Queen Elizabeth on her Transatlantic crossing in 2011.
As members of the Cunard World Club, on 10th October 2010, the day after her naming ceremony, Andrew & I were among a large number of guests invited by Cunard to tour the new ship.
While her interior layout is similar to that of Queen Victoria, her decor is quite different and incorporates more of the late Art-Deco styling of her illustrious predecessor.
My photo-tour of Queen Elizabeth upon her delivery in Southampton in 2010 can be found on at Captain Martini >>
After a maiden cruise to the Canaries and a few warm weather cruises, the new Queen Elizabeth made her first winter crossing of the North Atlantic in January 2011, in tandem with
Queen Victoria and I had the privilege of being aboard Queen Victoria for this voyage, which offered some impressive views of the new ship at sea in both good weather and later on, in foul!
Gale Force 10!
By Day 8 of the voyage, there was nowhere else to go but straight into the teeth of a gale! The outer decks were closed
so I had to take this video clip of Queen Elizabeth through a window on Promenade Deck.
The second video clip here was taken by "portiz79" in the Commodore Club on Deck 10 of Queen Elizabeth herself!
After an eventful transatlantic crossing, both ships then joined Queen Mary 2 in a freezing-cold New York for a spectacular "Royal Rendezvous" and winter fireworks departure.
A Tandem Crossing
Queen Elizabeth's Bulbous Bow
Queen Elizabeth arrives in New York
Royal Rendezvous All 3 Queens together
Cunard uses its great Transatlantic heritage to evoke a somewhat romanticised picture of the "traditional ocean liner" and it has been said that Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth are
"cruise ships masquerading as ocean liners".
Nevertheless, the 2 new Queens are supremely comfortable cruise ships and while they may not be able to maintain in high seas the speed of QM2 or indeed, that of their
illustrious predecessor, QE2, they handle surprisingly well; in any event, the economic imperatives of today are rather different from those of the 1960's, when speed was all-important.
Queen Victoria and the new Queen Elizabeth in New York
While both ships lack a covered pool (a necessity for a "liner" in my opinion), the interior of Queen Elizabeth invokes the style of her 1940's predecessor and is a wealth of maritime art and history, which fits well with
the "corporate image";
Cunard is after all, just one of the many brands of the Carnival Corporation and the quality of the cruising experience aboard Queen Elizabeth
is an extremely good one.
Total Mileage on board Queen Elizabeth: 1,042 nautical miles
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