Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 186 days

 

With just over six months before her maiden voyage, I have received some new pictures from the Fincantieri shipyard where Queen Elizabeth is currently under construction. This stage of the new build process is a very interesting one, but not the most visual as it involves a lot of metal work, cabling and ducting. However the outside of our Queen has changed, with her familiar Federal Grey hull, white superstructure and iconic red funnel showing she really is a Cunarder.

 

 

Inside the ship, things have moved along a lot. The initial stages of the outfitting involve more metal work such as constructing the inner non supporting bulkheads, which often cover main support pillars such as the ones in this view of Cafe Carinthia looking forward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the above pictures, I am also including virtually the same view from Queen Victoria to give you an idea of what the end view will look like. Having said that, as regular followers of this Blog will know, that although architecturally she will be very similar, the decor will be unique to Queen Elizabeth. This next shot is of the Golden Lion Pub where you can see the beginnings of the dividing walls and the windows into the Royal Arcade on the left hand side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next picture is somewhat more difficult to decipher. This is the Royal Court Theatre on Deck 2 from the back, showing the balcony above and the stage at the far end. As with a lot of the ship there is a huge amount of scaffolding in place at the moment as the various craftsmen work on the deck heads.

 

 

In all venues there is a tremendous amount of wiring for the lights, power, telephones, digital sound system, alarms etc. It always amazes me how they manage to get all that incredibly complex cabling right. For the next shot we are moving to the Lido on deck 9 and the pizzeria section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then staying in the Lido you can see the specialised stainless steel work that is taking place for the main buffet area, which is at the aft section of the Lido.

 

 

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Moving up to deck 10 forward is the signature Commodore Club which began on Queen Mary 2, and has been such a great success as a larger venue on Queen Victoria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the same deck is the venue that will pay homage to its namesake on QE2; The Yacht Club. Although it will occupy the same space as Hemispheres on Queen Victoria, the nautical decor will give it a very different feel.

 

 

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Moving outside to the Pavilion Pool area on deck 9 midships, the metal work that will be covered in teak is nearly complete as you can see from this view of the steps and the two whirlpools.

 

 

The area is covered at the moment by a temporary shelter while the special paint treatment is applied. The view looking aft from this point will actually be different as well, because of the vaulted roof of the Garden Room, which as you can see from this picture has now been glazed.

 

 

I hope to be back soon with more pictures but again my thanks to Simona Capraro in the Monfalcone ship yard for all her help in getting me these fantastic pictures.  Also thanks to Marius and the on board photo team who recommended a really good new digital camera, so I could get these great interior shots of Queen Victoria.

 

I’ll be back next week with more news from the World Voyages on both Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria and I’ll keep you posted on any further announcements or developments with Queen Elizabeth. Cheers for now Alastair.

 

 

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 214 days

 

Welcome to another Blog which marks yet more Cunard milestones. Firstly, this is our 80^th week of Blogging, and this is the 152^nd post, so thank you to everyone back in Southampton for all their help, but more importantly thank you for reading them, and for all your questions and comments. It’s been a busy week as both Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria continue their World Voyages and we’ll of course keep you posted on their progress. Today Queen Mary 2 is on her way to Adelaide in South Australia and Queen Victoria will leave Hong Kong this afternoon after her overnight stay; I’ll post some pictures from there soon.

 

For this Blog, I’m pleased to post some new pictures of Queen Elizabeth in the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy where she is currently under construction in her outfitting dock. But before I share them with you, here’s this week in Cunard’s history, for the week 12 to 18 March:

 

12 March 1950	Caronia makes her maiden call to Naples, Italy
15 March 2007	Cunard announces Queen Victoria’s first summer voyages
16 March 2007	Queen Mary 2 makes her maiden transit of the Suez Canal
17 March 2009	A press release from Cunard reveals the first information about the new Queen Elizabeth due to be launched 18 months later
18 March 1839	Samuel Cunard agrees to a tentative contract with the British Admiralty to “Convey mail from a point in England to Halifax and back twice a month”
18 March 2008	Queen Victoria makes maiden call at Singapore

 

Tomorrow (12 March), will be exactly seven months before Queen Elizabeth begins her maiden voyage, so it’s perfect timing to show you some new pictures.  I asked Simona Capraro if she would take some pictures for us and she kindly sent these earlier this week. Firstly, this is how she looks at the moment in her outfitting dock. 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile inside our new Queen, one of the last sections of the ship’s infrastructure to be added was the Grills section, on deck 11 in the middle of our new liner. This is what I would describe as an enclave for guests who have booked the suites on board. As you may know there are two restaurants in this area; the Princess and Queen’s Grills. Although there is not much there at the moment here’s a picture of the Princess Grill, looking aft.

 

 

 

 

This, of course, is what the restaurant will look like when it is complete.

 

 

 

 

When I was at the float out ceremony in January, we filmed the Grills area, and to complete this Video Blog we have added an exclusive interview with Teresa Anderson, Cunard’s Vice President Interior Design, who has been responsible for the stunning Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth interior design.

 

 

Meanwhile around the rest of the ship, more areas are starting to become recognisable; well just. Here’s what the bar that will dispense delicious coffees throughout the day, looks like now, and a reminder of what it will look like in October; Café Carinthia.

 

 

 

 

 

Another recent addition to Queen Elizabeth was the elegant spiral staircase that will be the centre piece of her 6,000 book Art Deco styled library.

 

 

 

 

A favourite venue on board is Cunard’s signature bar, the Golden Lion Pub, which plays host to everything from Quizzes to Karaoke, Sing-along’s to Darts and much more including wonderful Pub Lunches! In these pictures you can see the progress the space is making along with what it will end up looking like.

 

 

 

 

That’s it for another week, but I’ll be back on Monday with a Blog featuring Queen Victoria’s latest “Star of the Month”, as well as a lot more posts to come. Please do keep those questions and comments coming, it’s always great to hear from readers. Cheers for now, Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 294 days

 

With exactly 42 weeks to go until Queen Elizabeth enters service, I have some stunning new pictures to show you. There are so many key moments in the new build process, but for Cunard, the addition of the iconic red funnel has to be a very special one. We’ll come to that in a moment, but Simona Capraro, who has done such an amazing job over the months taking photos of our new Queen’s progress, took some other fascinating pictures as well:

 

 

Here you can see the two ABB pods which will literally hang from the stern of the ship, moving Queen Elizabeth through the water with two of these propellers.

 

 

6 x Mak M43C diesel engines will create the electricity to power the ship and the pods, which can rotate 360 degrees. This means, just like her two sisters, there is no need for a rudder or stern thrusters. I’m afraid I don’t get much more technical than that, apart from telling you that Queen Elizabeth will have a top speed of 23.7 knots which is the same as Queen Victoria.

 

The bow section has also recently been added and this brings a wonderfully elegant line to our stunning new Queen.

 

 

Don’t worry, the letters spelling out “Queen Elizabeth” are still there, but along with the rest of the new bow section, have just been painted with the special protective paint. The letters will be prominent again when the bow is painted in the traditional Federal Grey paint with the lettering in white just like her sisters.

 

It was a busy week as the funnel was delivered to the dry dock from one of the other areas of the yard. When you see it like this you realize how colossal it is.

 

 

The funnel was then lifted gently in to place:

 

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It’s quite a tight squeeze under the massive crane with only a few feet to spare. The total height from her keel to the top of the funnel is 64.6 metres which is nearly 212 feet (of which 56.6 metres or 185 feet will be above the waterline). What a splendid sight that is and to me becomes the crowning glory of the construction process, often referred to as topping out.

 

There is now very little left to add to the main superstructure, but this will happen over the coming weeks. As you can see from this picture she is already looking fantastic:

 

 

The next important event will be early January, when Queen Elizabeth’s hull will touch water for the very first time. The final details of the Float Out are still being made, but rest assured we’ll all be there to capture the excitement of the day with photos and video footage to be posted on this Blog shortly afterwards.

 

I’ll be back on Thursday with a festive Blog and pictures of our decorated Queens, but in the meantime I hope you are enjoying this special time of year wherever you are. Cheers Alastair.

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 313 days

 

Welcome to another special Queen Elizabeth update, and the last of the videos and pictures from my visit to the shipyard a couple of weeks ago. Thank you for all the great comments, especially about these updates; we’ll certainly keep them coming and will try and get some more pictures posted before Christmas. The next key date everyone is waiting for is when Queen Elizabeth will be floated out from her dry dock and move to her first outfitting dock. I’m afraid I don’t have a firm date on that yet but we understand it will be at the beginning of January. I’ll of course let you know and we’ll hopefully get some pictures and video of that to you very soon after the event.

 

I also have some more news about recent awards Cunard Line has won. In the recently announced annual Porthole Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards, Cunard was awarded ‘Best Onboard Educational Programs’, ‘Best World Itineraries’ and ‘Best Transatlantic Itineraries’. With that great news here’s this week in Cunard’s history, for the week 4 to 10 December:

 

4 December 1975 QE2 completes her first million miles of steaming

6 December 2008 Queen Victoria makes maiden call at La Goulette

10 December 1999 The Caronia is renamed at a ceremony in Liverpool

10 December 2007 Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall names Queen Victoria, Cunard’s 147th ship.

 

 

So now back to Queen Elizabeth and the third and final installment with pictures and video from my visit to the shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. As we walked forward through the ship, I had to really think hard about which space we were in. Passing through the Queens Room and Royal Arcade, I was excited to see how the Royal Court Theatre was looking. Walking in on deck 2, I was greeted by this incredible view of what will be the stunning auditorium.

 

 

 

 

With a bit of imagination you can see where the seating will be, with the stage area directly ahead in the middle. Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Court Theatre will have the same amazingly clear sightlines, so don’t worry, the big steel girders are just there temporarily while the shipyard strengthen the structure around the theatre. The big white panel on the stage is the biggest fire screen door that will be on the ship. This leads from the stage to the scenery dock area where the scenic elements of shows will be kept. Just before you ask, I’m afraid I don’t have any details on the shows yet, but I do know they will be brand new shows, designed exclusively for Queen Elizabeth. Of course, as with all the breaking news items on our new Queen, I’ll let you know as soon as I can. Meanwhile it was time to try out one of the theatre boxes.

 

 

 

 

 

Queen Elizabeth will be just the second ship in the world to have private theatre boxes, following their huge success on Queen Victoria. I had to clamber up scaffolding to get there, but it was so good to see it all coming together. So here it is, the final video clip of our visit:

 

 

Our thanks again to Simona and Antonio in the Fincantieri ship yard for all their help over that weekend. They were so accommodating with their time and I think the results of their patience speak for themselves. We’ll try and get some more pictures soon but in the meantime I’ll be back on Monday with a very different Blog which tells a moving story from one of our crew members. Cheers, Alastair

 

  

Two months after my last visit we have some more pictures of Queen Elizabeth under construction in the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. Last Thursday Queen Victoria made her first call to Venice this year and our guests enjoyed what I believe to be one of the most incredible cities in the world. I will do a full blog on our day there very soon and this will include some great pictures of the city, from the ship, as well as some stunning video footage of her arrival taken by our cameraman who watched Queen Victoria’s dramatic arrival from the shore side.

 

As we made our final approaches we could just see in the background, the Fincantieri ship yard in Marghera where just over 21 months ago Queen Victoria was completed.

 

As soon as we arrived, our guests set off to explore this beautiful city, while I started the ninety minute drive down the coast to the small town of Monefalcone to see how our new Queen was taking shape. So donned with a hard hat, I was taken around the yard and was amazed at the amount of ship sections and machinery, literally everywhere, all ready to be assembled and create our new liner. This is one of the boilers that will be in the technical spaces of Queen Elizabeth.

 

 

The numerous sections that will comprise the ship are made in to different blocks in various sheds around the yard and then put together to make bigger ones which become so large they are often worked on outside. It is sometimes a challenge to work out which piece is which, but I am fairly confident this block is the aft section of what will be deck 2 of the Britannia Restaurant.

 

 

Then as we turned the corner, it was the moment I had been waiting for, since seeing the keel being laid on the 2^nd of July. (If you haven’t seen those pictures or video you’ll find them on the 6^th, 9^th and 13^th of July postings.)

 

To be able to see into the dry dock, where in just a few months Queen Elizabeth will take to the water for the first time, was probably the most exciting part of the day. The progress was staggering as you can see from this photo which is looking aft with the ship’s bow in the foreground.

 

 

It gives you a great cross sectional view of her hull before the forward section, including the bulbous bow, is added. The height of the front section here is “A” deck which houses mainly crew areas including crew cabins which arrive in “Pods”, and you can see them covered in white plastic. If you look carefully you can also see the section of the hull which has been painted white, and where this starts is promenade deck 3. I think the open section that goes from “A” deck to deck 2 will eventually be the forward “A” staircase.

 

Moving along the port side of the ship you could see there are still many sections of the ship’s keel still waiting to be placed. The section on the right hand side of this photo is in its final position ready to be attached to more sections in the middle.

 

 

 

 

You can see the wire cables holding the last block in place (on the left of the picture), and these will remain there until the welding is complete. And if you look carefully you’ll see on this next photo the narrow gap of a few millimetres, waiting to be welded.

 

 

This next picture shows the aft section of the keel where the massive “Azipod” motors and propellers will be attached to underside of the missing section of hull. Also, as you can see, there is still one more small section to add to the very aft of the keel.

 

 

Then I was in for a real treat, yes I was actually going to be allowed to board the ship – well what there was of her anyway! I don’t know but my claim to fame may be that I was the first Cunard Employee to do so – who knows!

 

 

It was quite a strange feeling walking up the gangway knowing there was only a small part of here, yet realizing that crew will be boarding the ship for the first time in about a year’s time ready to take up their positions to prepare her for the maiden voyage. I entered on the “A” deck gangway and although it was very dark, with just a few lights powered by shore side generators, as I looked aft, I could just about make out to what I think will be the guest entrance to the Medical Centre. (The white doors on the left hand side)

 

 

It was an amazing day and I’d like to thank Simona Capraro who looked after us so well in the yard, along with Luca Fornasiero and Carlo Fucile from Fincantieri who were kind enough to give up their valuable time to show us around. The exciting news is that this is just part one of the pictures from this visit; I’ll post part two soon and these will be ones taken from a position I wasn’t sure was going to be possible. I was also accompanied by our cameraman, Andrew, who is currently preparing a video of the visit for this Blog which will also be posted soon.

 

So please keep logging on, as I have lots more to share with you and of course I’ll try and answer your questions too. I’ll be back on Thursday, if not before, with more news around the fleet. Cheers – Alastair