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| Queen Victoria |
Ship Rating: 
Queen Victoria was designed as a classic Cunarder and features Cunard's renowned White Star Service. The ship offers unique public areas, such as a museum featuring Cunard memorabilia and Hemispheres with a 270-degree oceanview. There's a wide variety of options for evening entertainment, including the three-deck Royal Court Theatre, the Queen's Room ballroom, a traditional English Pub and a Champagne Bar. During days at sea, guests can enjoy the Cunard Royal Spa and Fitness Centre, the Lido Pool and large sunning area, the 6,000-book, two-story library, and the Internet centre. Queen Victoria provides a range of accommodations for different budgets, but each stateroom contains a bathrobe, slippers, hair dryer, direct-dial telephone, daily shipboard newsletter, nightly turndown service, 24-hour room service, satellite TV with films and music, a refrigerator and a safe.
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SOURCE: Wikipedia
MS Queen Victoria (QV) is a cruise ship operated by the Cunard Line, as is named after Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria is the running mate to Queen Mary 2, and the Queen Elizabeth. Until November 2008, she also operated alongside Queen Elizabeth 2. Queen Victoria is of the same basic design as other Vista-class passenger vessels, though slightly longer and more in keeping with Cunard's interior style. At 90,000 GRT, she is the smallest of all three Cunard ships, after the RMS Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth.
QV's facilities include seven restaurants, thirteen bars, three swimming pools, a ballroom, and a theatre.[4]
In a departure from other Cunard Queens, Queen Victoria does not carry mail and thus will not receive Royal Mail Ship (RMS) status.[edit]Characteristics and naming
Also unlike many previous Cunard Queens, Queen Victoria is not a true ocean liner as she does not have the heavy plating throughout the hull nor the propulsion system of a dedicated transatlantic liner. However the bow was constructed with heavier plating to cope with the Transatlantic run, and the ship has a high freeboard. The recently completed Queen Mary 2 had cost approximately $300,000 US per berth, nearly double that of many contemporary cruise ships, so Cunard made the economical decision to base Queen Victoria on a converted Vista-classcruise ship, and the Queen Elizabeth retains the same design with some small modifications. Nonetheless, Ian McNaught, who was Queen Victoria's captain in 2009, has asserted that the ship is a liner based on her classic decor.[5]
[edit]History
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Design
[edit]Exterior
Queen Victoria's exterior design closely resembles that of Vista-class ships built for various cruise companies.
A feature which will distinguish her from her new sister, MS Queen Elizabeth, is her more angled sloping stern, as compared to the newer ship's vertical one. In addition to this she lacks the covered games deck above the bridge, a feature which is present on the newer ship.
[edit]Interior
Queen Victoria's public rooms are mainly located on the lower-level public decks of the ship, 2 Deck and 3 Deck. Unlike the Queen Mary 2, however, there is no central circulation access, the main corridors being to the port side. The ship does have the similar grand lobby staircase with an artwork feature as on the Queen Mary ships, a relief portrait of the ship situated on the staircase sculpted by British sculptor John McKenna.
1 Deck, the lowest passenger deck, holds the lowest level of a three-storey stairwell lobby, as well as of the Royal Court Theatre. On 2 Deck can be found the mid-level of the Royal Court Theatre, casino, Golden Lion Pub, Queen's Room, Todd English à la carte restaurant, Chart Room bar, and lower level of both the library and Britannia Restaurant. The topmost level of the theatre, Royal Arcade, Midships Lounge, and upper level of the library and formal dining room are all on 3 Deck, along with a wrap-around exterior promenade. The decks above these contain mostly passenger cabins until 9 Deck, on which is the Cunard Health Club and spa, Winter Garden lounge, Lido Restaurant, and two outdoor pools. On 10 Deck is the Commodore Club, Churchill Lounge (for smokers) and Hemispheres nightclub. The Queen's Grill and Princess Grill, with their attached lounge and an open courtyard between, are on 11 Deck.
Though QV is theoretically a classless ship, it has been argued that the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2, both of which follow the same practice of separating passengers into different restaurants based on the price of the cabin they booked (the Britannia as standard for regular cabins, the Princess Grill as middle for those in junior suites, and the Queen's Grill as superior for deluxe suite occupants), are actually ships divided into three classes, despite the fact that all other public rooms are used by all passengers equally. Though this situation is similar on the QE2 and QM2, it is further enhanced on the QV by the fact that Grill Passengers (those dining in the Princess Grill or Queen's Grill) also have two private outdoor areas on 10 and 11 Decks with the specific name "Grills Terrace", a feature which also appears on theQM2 at the aft section of 10 Deck.
QV's theatre is the first at sea to have private boxes. She also has a Winter Garden lounge with a retractable glass roof and a two-storey library with a connecting spiral staircase.
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