Ship - Cunard Queen Victoria cruise liner - postcard

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Queen Victoria - Cunard Liner
• Publisher:  Cunard
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).

------------------------------------------------

Postage & Packing:

Postage and packing charge should be showing for your location (contact if not sure).

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. Please wait for combined invoice. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

UK - PayPal, Cheque (from UK bank) or postal order

Outside UK: PayPal ONLY (unless otherwise stated) please.   NO non-UK currency checks or money orders (sorry).

NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

----------------------------------------------

Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

*************

MS Queen Victoria (QV) is a cruise ship operated by the Cunard Line, and is named after the late British monarch, Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria is the running mate to Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth. Until November 2008, she also operated alongside Queen Elizabeth 2. Queen Victoria is of the same basic design as other Spirit-class cruise ships, though slightly longer and more in keeping with Cunard's interior style. At 90,000 GT, she is the smallest of Cunard's ships in operation.

QV's facilities include seven restaurants, thirteen bars, three swimming pools, a ballroom, and a theatre.^[3]

In a departure from other Cunard Queens, Queen Victoria does not carry mail and thus will not carry the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) status. 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-class cruise 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.^[4]

Originally destined to be an addition to the Holland America Line fleet, the order for a Vista-class vessel put into Fincantieri was soon transferred by Carnival Corporation & plc (parent company to Holland America, Cunard, and P&O) to Cunard with the intent that the vessel would become the MS Queen Victoria.^[5] The keel was laid down at the Fincantieri ship yard in 2003. However, due to restructuring within Carnival Corp., as well as a later decision by Cunard that modifications should be made to the design to bring in certain aspects which had proven successful on the Queen Mary 2 (such as decor, junior suites, dining alternatives, promenades, etc.), the hull was then designated to become the P&O ship MS Arcadia.^[6] A new Queen Victoria was subsequently ordered with Fincantieri in 2004, which was 11 meters longer, 5,000 tons larger, and with an increased passenger capacity of 2,000.^[7]

Her keel was laid on 12 May 2006. 80 prefabricated steel ""blocks"", each complete with interior structure, cabling, and ducts, and each weighing 325 tons, were then added. The completed hull with superstructure was floated out on 15 January 2007, after having a bottle of Prosecco smashed against her side by Maureen Ryan, a Cunard employee who has served on all four Cunard Queens.^[8] The ceremony also saw the traditional placing of coins on the mast – in this case a Euro and a gold Queen Victoria sovereign were welded beneath the radar mast.^[9]

QV left the Port of Venice on 24 August 2007 to commence her sea trials,^[10] and, after handover to Cunard, arrived in Southampton to fanfare and media attention on 7 December; much of the coverage being focused on the ship's superlatives, and representing the QV as ""Cunard's most luxurious ship.""^[11] The same day, the ship was officially named by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, continuing the tradition of Cunard Queens being named by royalty.^[12] The bottle of champagne did not break upon impact with the QV's hull, which according to nautical superstition is a bad omen.^[13] However, a backup bottle was immediately successful.^[14]

At the end of October 2011 Queen Victoria and her fleet mates changed their registries to Hamilton, Bermuda to host weddings on board. Also the word ""Southampton"" across the stern was replaced by Hamilton.^[15]

Captain Paul Wright was appointed master of Queen Victoria in October 2006.^[16] Captain Christopher Rynd became secondary master. Captain Ian McNaught^[17] (of QE2 fame) briefly commanded Queen Victoria before transferring to Seabourn.^[18]

QV undertook her maiden voyage, a 10-day cruise to northern Europe, on 11 December 2007. Following this and a cruise to the Canary Islands, the QV embarked on her first world cruise, circumnavigating the globe in 107 days. (The first ship to have previously done so—also named Victoria—took 1,153 days in 1519 to 1522.) The first leg of this voyage was a tandem crossing of the Atlantic with the Queen Elizabeth 2, to New York City, where the two ships met the Queen Mary 2 near the Statue of Liberty on 13 January 2008, with a celebratory fireworks display, marking the first time three Cunard Queens had been present in the same location. Cunard declared that this would also be the only time the three ships would ever meet,^[19] owing to the QE2's impending retirement from service in late 2008,^[20] though the ships did meet again in Southampton on 22 April 2008, resulting from a change in the QE2's schedule.^[21]

In May 2008, QV struck a pier in Malta after her thrusters malfunctioned. However the damage was minimal, allowing the ship to continue operating, but repairs resulted in her missing a port of call in La Goulette.^[22]

Queen Victoria completed her third World Cruise in 2010 where she was joined by Captain Chris Wells who was aboard to familiarise himself with the Vista-class ship before taking command of Queen Elizabeth in late 2010. During a call at Sydney, QV was illuminated in pink in support of Breast Cancer Research.^[23]

On 9 December 2010 Cunard announced its first female captain, Faroese born Inger Klein Olsen,^[24] who would take command of Queen Victoria beginning on 15 December.^[25]

type=printed

period=post-war (1945 - present)

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100mm)