Is Queen Victoria Really A Ship For Crossing Oceans ?

Cunard’s three Queens, Mary, Elizabeth and Victoria are classed as  liners, not cruise ships. The word indicates that the ships are built for long voyages crossing oceans, not just sailing in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.

The first cruise I ever did was on Fred Olsen`s Braemar, a small ship that is well suited to calm waters as she is flat bottomed and bobs about a lot, especially when going through the Bay of Biscay as I discovered! It was so rough that all the glasses and plates slid off the tables in the restaurants and the Captain had to come down to reassure us we weren’t going to sink. We all survived thank goodness.

My only experience of a full transatlantic crossing was on the wonderful Queen Mary a couple of years ago. The sailing was a the end of August and I must admit I was a little apprehensive as the thought of not being able to see land for 6 or 7 days was not very appealing. How wrong I was, the journey was fabulous, the sea as calm as a millpond and the only time we ever felt any movement at all was one day right up on the every top deck. This ship was built to cross oceans, she has stabilisers but they were never used on our sailing, as she cuts through the waves rather than riding over them. The arrival into New York early in the morning was one of the best experiences I`ve ever had.

Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth are also both part of the Cunard fleet, both smaller than Mary but still classed as an ocean liners – but are they ? I`ve have recently spoken with several passengers who took the first leg of Queen Victoria`s world cruise from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale and the crossing appears to have been rough to say the least .

The comments range from ” dreadful” to ” not the best crossing in the world “, with the majority saying they hated the sailing. We have had bad weather here in the UK, which has spread across the Atlantic from America, but the ship should be able to cope shouldn`t she? That’s what she was built for after all and rough seas are a regular occurrence on trans ocean voyages.

 A little bit of research tells a slightly different story about Victoria. The ship was originally intended to join the Holland America fleet and unlike many previous Cunard Queens she  is, apparently,  not a true ocean liner as she does not have the heavy steel plated hull although the bow was constructed with heavier plating to cope with the transatlantic crossings. Queen Mary  cost approximately $300,000 per berth, but with Victoria the decision was made to construct her on the design of a vista class cruise ship for economic reasons. Her interior is in classic liner style but surely her ability to offer a comfortable ocean crossing must be the most important thing.

I would be very interested to know if anyone else has thoughts on this ship, she is lovely but maybe she is better suited to calmer waters ?