| Cunard's Queen Victoria will be the 12th Vista
class ship to enter service. The first two Vista class ships
were ordered by Costa as their Atlantica 2000
and Mediterranea 2003. The next four Vista class
ships were ordered by Carnival as their Spirit 2001,
Pride 2002, Legend 2002 and Miracle
2004. The next four Vista class ships were ordered by the
Holland America Line as their Zuiderdam 2002, Oosterdam
2003, Westerdam 2004 and Noordam 2006. The
11th Vista class ship entered service for P&O as their
Arcadia in 2005.
Design changes mean Queen Victoria will be 11 meters
longer than the other ships and 5,000 tons heavier giving
an increased passenger capacity. As she will join the other
Cunard ships, QE2 and QM2 on transatlantic and round the world
cruises, her hull has been built to meet the demands of the
Atlantic Ocean, with extra steel added to strengthen key decks
and bulkheads, and reinforced, thicker bow plating.
Queen Victoria will enter service in December 2007 with two
cruises planned for that month. The first from Southampton
- Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo, Hamburg and Bruges. The second
cruise also departs her home port of Southampton visiting
the ports of Vigo, Lisbon, Granada, Funchal, Las Palmas, Arrecife,
Santa Cruz, Casablanca and Gibralter.
Websites, US: www.cunard.com
UK: www.cunard.co.uk.
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