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Cunard Line

Queen Victoria

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Reviewed by: Malcolm Oliver
# previous cruises: 10 to 20
Date of Trip: January 6, 2008
Itinerary: Transatlantic

The Queen Victoria is a cruise ship with some very attractive "Ocean Liner" themed decor. She is a floating museum to the golden age of Liner travel. However I must say that she does feel a little bit like an America version of what Victorian "Britishness" is, rather than a British version. Never the less, her interiors are arguably more tasteful than 90% of all other modern cruise ships.

Although a very attractive ship, her public rooms and open decks do not have the breathtaking scale and in some cases, breathtaking decor, of many of the public rooms onboard the Queen Mary 2. The positive aspect of this is that she has a much more intimate feel than the QM2. This more intimate atmosphere has already proved popular with many QE2 devotees. She will also be more popular with those with mobility problems, than her big sister.

I'm sure that the Queen Victoria will prove to be a very popular addition to the Cunard fleet, irrespective of what the purists think.

The Golden Lion "pub" probably has more atmosphere than the equivalents on both the QM2 and QE2, although it does feel a bit like a "Disneyland" version of a British Pub.

The Chart Room is not an unpleasant lounge/bar, but it's not a "room" as such, as its counterparts are onboard the QE2 and QM2, It is in part a corridor. With just 77 seats in is reasonably small. The decor features Tulip style Art Deco lamps as in the original Queen Mary's Observation bar. Live piano music is often provided.

The Library is spread over decks two and three, linked by an attractive spiral staircase. I bet the carpet was expensive as it features the signatures of famous authors. There was an excellent selection of books for loan.

The Empire Casino is quite small by contemporary maritime standards, possibly reflecting the fact that we Brits are not particularly big gamblers. It certainly is not the most attractive Casino that I've ever seen. Unfortunately for non-smokers it is a very smokey area.

The Royal Arcade is a Victorian shopping mall (hard to imagine, I know) spread over two decks. It has a centrepiece of clock by Dent & Co., makers "Big Ben" which chimes on the half hour. The clock is nestled between two sweeping staircases from deck two to deck three, with a port and starboard balcony of shops. Glass domes on the ceiling illuminate the space.

The Britannia Dining room is an art deco style room of dark brown polished wood, bronze mirrors and gold leaf. Never the less it is a great disappointment from an aesthetic point of view. It is simply not half as attractive as the QM2's Britannia dining room and dining rooms onboard many other modern ships such as RCI and Celebrity vessels.

The food and service in this dining room was generally excellent, apart from the fact that some dishes were only a few degrees hotter than my complaint threshold. I was very close to sending several back to the kitchen.

The Lido Restaurant is an attractive design, however I found the selection of food and quality available to generally be very limited and not of the quality that I would expect from a premium line. The exception was the freshly cooked Pizza and Pasta. Cunard need to rectify this as soon as possible. In addition tea and coffee pumps often provided tepid drinks, so someone urgently needs to adjust the operating temperature.

The QV has the normal range of cabin types found on all big new ship. There are 1007 cabins and 715 of these have Balconies. The cabin corridors were particularly bland. The standard cabins onboard the QV were attractively decorated in gold and blue and are of course very similar to those onboard any other "vista class" or any other new cruise ship.

All cabins are reasonably spacious. My cabin (grade C3) had two wardrobes and some shelves. There was a mini-bar, Hairdryer and Safe. Most passengers concluded that there was a serious lack of draws and the bathrooms lacked storage cupboards for toiletries. Remarkably the shower in my cabin did not flood the floor, but the sink took over than role instead.

The Royal Court Theatre is a lovely recreation of a Victorian West End Theatre. It even has 16 Private Boxes. Unlike many "real" Victorian Theatres the "Royal court" it is well raked, well air conditioned and has wide comfortable seats with good leg room.

As well as singers and performers we had a excellent selection of lectures including John Maxtone Graham (Maritime historian), Stephen Payne (designer of the QM2) and Terrance Stamp (actor).

We tried "Fencing lessons" which were great fun (a Cunard first) when other lines offer offering "belly flop" or "knobberly knees" competitions. Daily computer courses in the three "Connexions" rooms are very popular with passengers.

Eight days of restful sea: I took the maiden crossing of the Queen Victoria from Southampton to New York on 6th January 2008. This was an eight day tandem crossing with the QE2.

The majority of the passengers were British and in their 40's, 50's and 60's. There were very few children. Most passengers were well cruised, often with Cunard. Most shared a love of ships, maritime history and relished the idea of dressing for diner each evening.

(A much fuller version of this review appears in the Cruisetalk 'Ship Review' section).