Cunard orders new ship to be named Queen Elizabeth
Cunard Line has ordered a new 92,000-ton liner to be named Queen Elizabeth.
It is scheduled to enter service in autumn 2010, two years after the QE2 will leave the fleet to become a floating luxury hotel in Dubai.
“We are delighted that Her Majesty The Queen has given her blessing to our calling this new Cunarder ‘Queen Elizabeth’, after our first vessel of that name,” said president and managing director Carol Marlow.
“The decision to order another ship for Cunard Line has been taken as a result of the strong booking response to the new Queen Victoria, and we are extremely pleased that Cunard will once again become a three-ship fleet so soon after the departure of the much-celebrated QE2 in November next year.”
Cunard has signed an agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of the new 2092–passenger ocean liner at an all-in cost of approximately €500 million.
The vessel will be the second largest Cunarder ever built.
Queen Elizabeth will fly the Red Ensign with her home-port Southampton, like the other ships in the Cunard fleet.
The agreement is subject to approval by the board of directors of Carnival Corporation.
Design details and initial itineraries will be announced in due course.
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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