| IMO | 9320556 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 90,049 GT |
| Length | 294.0 m |
| Beam | 32.3 m |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 2014 |
| Service speed | 23.7 knots |
| Builder | Fincantieri |
| Yard | Marghera |
| Hull number | 6127 |
| Launched | 2006 |
| Maiden voyage | 2007 |
| Class | Vista (2002)-class cruise ship |
| Operator | Cunard Line |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Queen Victoria is a Vista-class cruise ship operated by Cunard Line, built by Fincantieri at its Marghera yard near Venice — the dataset records the builder simply as Fincantieri, and its yard field repeats the company name rather than the Marghera yard her own article specifies — and delivered in December 2007. At 90,049 GT she is the smallest of Cunard's ships in operation, a deliberate counterpoint to the line's flagship Queen Mary 2: a cruise ship in the Cunard tradition rather than a true ocean liner, built on the same basic Vista platform Carnival Corporation used across several of its brands.
She has carried one name and one operator throughout her career, and she is named, like the monarch she honours, for continuity: Queen Victoria was the second of the three modern Cunard "Queens" of her generation, between Queen Mary 2 (2004) and Queen Elizabeth (2010).
Key specifications
The dataset gives 90,049 GT, 294.0 metres length and 32.3 metres waterline beam — matching her ship article, which adds an extreme beam of 36.6 metres over the bridge wings, a height of 62.5 metres from keel to funnel, a draught of about 8.0 metres and 16 decks in total, 12 of them for passengers. Her dataset capacity of 2,014 reflects her as-built figure; after her 2017 refit added cabins, sources quote 2,081 passengers and a crew of about 900–980, figures that vary by listing.
She is driven by two ABB Azipods of 16.7 MW each, powered by a Sulzer (Wärtsilä) ZA40 diesel plant of about 63,400 kW combined. The dataset's 23.7 knots is her maximum speed; her article gives a service speed of 18 knots, a distinction that matters for a ship whose working life is spent at liner-style cruising pace rather than at her limit.
Design and construction
Queen Victoria was ordered on 3 December 2004 at a reported cost of about £270 million. Her keel was laid at Marghera on 12 May 2006 and she was floated out on 15 January 2007 — the launch the dataset records by year. An earlier Fincantieri hull had in fact been announced for the Queen Victoria name and was reassigned during construction to another Carnival brand, which is why some early reporting of the ship's construction confuses two hulls.
Within the shared Vista platform, Cunard's version was lengthened slightly and restyled: a more raked and traditional stern treatment than her Holland America and P&O cousins, heavier interior joinery, and public rooms arranged for Cunard's class-tiered dining system rather than a single open restaurant.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
Floated out at Marghera on 15 January 2007, Queen Victoria was christened at Southampton on 10 December 2007 by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall — now Queen Camilla — and sailed on her maiden voyage the following day, 11 December 2007. The naming is remembered in Cunard lore for a bottle that initially failed to break against the hull, an omen sailors traditionally dislike, before the ceremony was completed.
Her maiden voyage was a short northern-European cruise, after which she took up the pattern of her career: Southampton-based cruising, transatlantic crossings in company with her fleetmates, and, in season, world-cruise sectors.
Career by operator
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2007–present | Queen Victoria | Cunard Line |
Queen Victoria has never changed name, owner brand or operator. The one registry change in her record is administrative: she was registered at Southampton from 2007 until October 2011, when, with the rest of the Cunard fleet, she was reflagged to Hamilton, Bermuda. Deployments and itineraries are deliberately not catalogued here; this directory records the ship, not her sailings.
Onboard character
Queen Victoria's era-defining quality is not a gadget but a social architecture: Cunard's "Grill" system, in which passengers are assigned to restaurants by cabin grade — Britannia for most, Britannia Club above it, and the Princess and Queens Grills for suite guests, each with its own dining room, lounge and deck terrace. The ship was designed around that hierarchy, with the Grills' rooms grouped at the top of the ship, and it remains the clearest surviving expression of class-tiered cruising in the industry.
Around it sit the rooms that define her in passengers' memory: the Royal Court Theatre with its private boxes, an early example of a cruise-ship theatre designed like a West End house; the two-deck library; the Winter Garden conservatory; and the Commodore Club overlooking the bow. Interiors deliberately quote the earlier Cunarders — dark wood, marble, art-deco geometry — rather than the resort style of her contemporaries.
Major refits and incidents
Her defining refit was the four-week, roughly $40 million refurbishment at Fincantieri's Palermo yard in May–June 2017. A new aft block added a Lido sun deck and 30 staterooms, raising double-occupancy capacity from 2,021 to 2,081; 43 Britannia Club staterooms were created on Decks 7 and 8 with a dedicated Britannia Club restaurant; the Grand Suites — named Aquitania, Berengaria, Mauretania and Laconia after classic Cunarders — and five new Penthouse Suites were rebuilt; and the Chart Room was re-created off the Grand Lobby. Every stateroom was refreshed in the same programme.
No major incident involving Queen Victoria was found in the sources consulted for this guide.
Sister ships and class
The dataset classes her as Vista (2002) class. Her closest relative is Queen Elizabeth (2010), built to a near-identical Cunard version of the Vista design; beyond them, the Vista platform underpins ships for Holland America Line, P&O Cruises and Costa across two decades — Zuiderdam and her sisters, Arcadia, and others. Within Cunard's own fleet she sits between Queen Mary 2, a bespoke transatlantic liner, and the Vista-derived Queen Elizabeth, with the still newer Queen Anne (2024) built on a different, larger platform.
Fate and where she is now
Queen Victoria remains in active service with Cunard Line, registered at Hamilton, Bermuda, as the dataset records. Approaching twenty years in service, she is the middle Queen of her generation in age and the smallest in size — and, of the three, the one whose career has been the steadiest: one name, one operator, one defining refit, and no change of role.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cruise_ships, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Queen_Victoria, https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/refurb-design-interiors/queen-victoria-back-from-40m-refit-with-new-restaurant-staterooms