Two of Britain’s largest and most famous cruise ships have a date in the Port of Palma this week when P&O’s MV Ventura and Cunard’s MS Queen Victoria sail into Palma on Tuesday.
It is going to be a special occasion because it will be the only time this year that the two liners will meet here in Palma.
The 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 Vista-class cruise ships, though slightly longer and more in keeping with Cunard’s interior style.
At 90,049 GT, she is the smallest of Cunard’s ships in operation and is named after the British monarch Queen Victoria.
QV’s facilities include seven restaurants, thirteen bars, three swimming pools, a ballroom, and a theatre. Queen Victoria does not carry mail and thus will not carry the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) status.
Also unlike many previous Cunard ships, 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 modified Vista-class cruise ship, and Queen Elizabeth retains the same design with some minor changes.
Nonetheless, Ian McNaught, who was Queen Victoria’s captain in 2009, has asserted that the ship is a liner based on her classic decor. Queen Victoria is nonetheless named after the 19th century monarch of Britain’s vast Empire, Queen Victoria.
MV Ventura is a Grand-class cruise ship of the P&O Cruises fleet.
The ship was built by Fincantieri at their shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy.
At 116,017 tonnes and 291.4 m (956 ft), Ventura is the second largest of eight ships currently in service with P&O Cruises.
She is the sister ship of MS Azura. She officially entered service with the company in April 2008 and was named by Helen Mirren. Ventura underwent a refit at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, during March and April 2013, and re-entered service on 7 April 2013 with a voyage to Spain and Portugal.
Ventura carries 3,192 passengers while the Queen Victoria has a capacity for 2,014.