Queen Elizabeth Ship

June 18th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

Queen Elizabeth Ship

Queen Elizabeth Funnel

Wow I have just learned that Queen Elizabeth Ship, the new one, is going to be sailing the seas very shortly.  Really I just can’t believe it! I mean another Cunard Queen to sail the seas and with such a famous name as ‘Queen Elizabeth‘ I mean what a name choice? Of course she will follow on the tradition of the great Cunard Queen Elizabeth ships.

I thought I’d set up this blog and talk about all things about the new Queen Elizabeth ship with a few old Queen Elizabeth Ship thrown in for good measure.  I mean stuff about Queen Elizabeth II or QE2 as it was known, and maybe a bit of Queen Elizabeth I also (I think the last I saw it was its fiction role  in that James Bond movie).

So the things I am going to write about on the Queen Elizabeth Ship are things such as who made it? Where was it made? Who commissioned it? Why is it called Queen Elizabeth? Under what cruise ship line does it sail? Why does it have a British Ensign and a British port (Southampton)? Will it sail through the current Panama canal and will it go through the new one?

I am going to talk about all these things and of course cruising on her, the cruises, the ports, the places to see, the places to go, the functions on the ship, the fabulous Cunard experience, the White Star Service, the Queen Rooms, the size of the staterooms; child care on the Queen Elizabeth ship; mobility on the Queen Elizabeth ship; well everything I can think about and what you want to know about too.

My wife and I just love cruising and we have been on Queen Elizabeth Ship’s sister ships, the Queen Victoria (Ship) and the Queen Mary Ship.  As far as I am aware the Queen Elizabeth Ship is going to be very much the same as Queen Victoria Ship with a new additional features, well I should say improvements, on Queen Victoria – and some different decor.

Anyway its going to be a fun time and I hope you enjoy our Queen Elizabeth Ship together.

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Queen Elizabeth Ship At Southampton

March 27th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

You might have gathered as you have read this blog that I haven’t actually been on the Queen Elizabeth Ship from Cunard. In fact the closest I have come to getting anywhere near it was in January 2011 so a couple of months ago. We have been on the Christmas Cruise with Queen Victoria two years in a row now. And for the last two years it has been down to the Canary Islands and back. I’ll have to do a post on here for the trip as Queen Elizabeth will be doing the same cruise next Christmas so I expect you’d like to get an idea of what to expect. Anyway we went on the Christmas cruise with Queen Victoria and it arrived back in Southampton on, I’ll have to check the date, the 5th of January. We arrived at the Queen Elizabeth 2 terminal and in the terminal next to it was docked Queen Elizabeth. So it was a case of getting in the car and then driving down to see if I could get some decent photos. I got a few and the best one I took as we drove by in the car, my wife was driving, and I currently use it as the wallpaper on my Mac here at home which is the funnel photo at the front of this blog. I took some photos of the back of the ship and it is distinct in that it is different to the Queen Victoria ship in that it is much squarer. I think they have decided to make the suites bigger on the back, so unlike the Queen Victoria which has large outside areas on the back of the staterooms at the back on the Queen Elizabeth they have used the same space by making the rooms bigger without the outside space.

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Queen Elizabeth Ship Naming

February 23rd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Here is a good video showing everything you need to know about the launch of the Cunard Queen Elizabeth Ship. Really you’ll see everything I wrote about in my earlier post of the naming of the ship and the background history of the previous Queen Elizabeth ships: the first Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2).

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Queen Elizabeth Ship Video

October 12th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

Wow this great video of the Queen Elizabeth Ship is really fabulous showing the guys who made it doing the pre delivery checks and also the really fabulous interior. It really does look different from the Queen Victoria Ship that we went on a cruise of the Canaries last Christmas (2009).

The shape of the new Queen Elizabeth Ship is certainly distinctive in that it has a different back end than the Queen Victoria Ship making it easily recognizable.

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Queen Elizabeth Names Queen Elizabeth Ship

October 11th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

HM Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kin...
Image via Wikipedia

Today the Queen Elizabeth named Cunard’s new cruise liner ‘Queen Elizabeth’ at the ship’s home port of Southampton in England UK. Her precise words were: “I name this ship Queen Elizabeth. May God bless her and all who sail in her”. Then the Queen pressed a button which activated the bottle holder contraption to smash a jeroboam of 2009 Rothschild Graves against the bow (Cunard’s custom is to use white wine rather than Champagne).

There was lots of clapping, tickertape and fireworks.

The Queen wore turquoise hat, silk dress, and wool overcoat.

Lesley Garret sang Amazing Grace and choirboy Alexander Howard-Williams gave rendition of Jerusalem. The Queen was presented with a posy by Dan Garabette aged eight.

The Queen had a wander around the ship and admired the Art Deco Style, saw the picture of herself, hanging in the Grand Loby, that had been especially commissioned to mark the occasion, met the Captain, Christopher Wells, sounded the fog horn, met some of the other  crew, went into the shops and the ballroom, went into the theatre and stood in a box which has been designated ‘The Royal Box’. She admired an 18ft high Art Deco frieze designed by her nephew Viscount Linley. When she left there were three cheers, so the Queen Elizabeth left and left the Queen Elizabeth ship ready to sail the seas in the choppy economic waters.

Queen Elizabeth, aged 12, in 1938 had been beside her mother, who was then Queen Elizabeth, at the naming and launch of the original Queen Elizabeth ship and in 1967 she herself christened Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2).

The Queen Elizabeth ship becomes the second largest ship in Cunard’s fleet with it being slightly bigger than the Queen Victoria Ship, in which she is very much alike except for a different back end or stern I should say. Of course the Queen Mary 2 is Cunard’s largest ship with it being a genuine ocean liner. Cunard now has the youngest fleet of cruise ships in the cruise business with three new ships in six years.

The Queen Elizabeth ship cost £300 million (though a CNN report said that in fact it cost 634 million dollars – I’ll check) to build and is 91,000 tons of one big ship and will be something to really look forward to crusing on.

For us, unfortunately we haven’t got a cruise with her booked, yet, we have just returned from a two week cruise in the Mediterranean on the Queen Mary 2 to celebrate my fifty birthday and our next cruise for Christmas is booked with Queen Victoria again out of Southampton. Maybe next year for Queen Elizabeth. Whilst on the Queen Mary 2 there was certainly a buzz of anticipation about the new Queen. Some of the crew we met on the Queen Mary 2 were going to be taking up new jobs on the Queen Elizabeth at the end of our cruise – we got into Southampton on the 1st of October.

The maiden voyage of Queen Elizabeth was sold out in 29 minutes 14 seconds and 2092 passengers will be setting off tomorrow on the ships 13 day voyage of the Mediterranean and Canary Islands.

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Queen Elizabeth Ship – The Verandah

June 24th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

Cropped screenshot of Rita Hayworth from the t...
Image via Wikipedia

Cunard have announced that a special dining experience in the shape of ‘The Verandah’ is going to be on the new Queen Elizabeth ship. And really it just sounds fantastic. It looks like it is going to be located in the position of the ship that is occupied by Todd English on Queen Victoria, so just off the Grand Lobby. I hope they’ve got the design right this time as the problem with Todd English on Queen Victoria is that the bar is at the back of the restaurant and nobody knows it’s there, and you feel that you shouldn’t be there when you have to walk through the restaurant to get to it. And because of this nobody goes in there.

Anyway back to ‘The Verandah’. So no Todd English? For me this is a fabulous announcement because although we love to go to Todd English, and have done on both Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, something new like this will make us want to cruise with the new Queen Elizabeth ship that much more.  I have been thinking if the Queen Elizabeth ship is to going to be nearly exactly the same as the Queen Victoria Ship what will there be to look forward to when booking a cruise with her. Well this this is it! A really fabulous exclusive restaurant.

The Verandah is going to offer contemporary French cruise with the finest food designed by Jean -Marie Zimmerman, the winner of the coveted Michelin star award for excellence. The food will highlight the different regions throughout France.

And on top of this it will have the Cunard dining experience with the White Star Service AND the restaurant is  going to be reminiscence of the original Verandah Grill that was on the first Queen Mary and first Queen Elizabeth ships which was frequented by Royalty and film stars (including Rita Hayworth and Clark Gable) .  So not only will the food be fantastic, it will be delivered fantastically on Wedgewood Plates, with fantastic service, and in an atmosphere will be fantastic too in a restaurant to Wow. (Was that enough ‘fantastics’ for you?!)

And the photo I found of Rita Hayworth here sums it all up in one word: elegance. You can just imagine her dining in the original Verandah grill looking just like this.

Now where is that Cunard brochure again? Let’s get dailing…

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