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What's in a name? (For Cunard's new ship)


koliviera45
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Queen Berengaria, I rather like that, and the original ship was BEAUTIFUL. Come to think of it, were any of the ocean liners of yesteryear ugly in the same way as some modern cruise ships?

 

UGLY ships of yore? YES, there were many ugly ships under most flags. Their number included some hideous looking ships like the ugly "nautonaphtes", French liners with square chimneys in place of funnels (as built) although some had fantastic interiors...odd cabin arrangements though...

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Guest SilverHengroen
It is not coming out for 5 years by which time that lovely liner will be 19 years old and probably won't get another refit before 2022. We will wait to see cunard's move. I am personally surprised at the construction of a 4th ship as I think the cunard brand is in a little bit of trouble they seem to be doing a few less transatlantic runs these days when they are only the game in town apart from relocation cruises and that is the company's niche.

19 years isn’t even halfway into her fatigue life of 40 years, so QM2 will quite possibly even outlast this new ship in service! The fact they are building a new ship - a considerable investment whichever way you look at it - suggests Cunard are not ‘in trouble’ but rather the opposite, doing well enough that they are expanding. Mickey Arison has suggested QM2 is constantly sailing full on her transatlantic crossings, but there is some doubt over whether adding a second liner and doubling capacity would be too much for that market.

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19 years isn’t even halfway into her fatigue life of 40 years, so QM2 will quite possibly even outlast this new ship in service! The fact they are building a new ship - a considerable investment whichever way you look at it - suggests Cunard are not ‘in trouble’ but rather the opposite, doing well enough that they are expanding. Mickey Arison has suggested QM2 is constantly sailing full on her transatlantic crossings, but there is some doubt over whether adding a second liner and doubling capacity would be too much for that market.

 

But they are doing less transatlantic runs the last couple of years aren't they? So if they are constantly sailing full why do less runs when they are only game in town? I may be wrong but the QM 2 never used to do runs to the Fjords or the Baltic states did it? But this year it has.

 

You have to consider for whatever reason no other company has tried to take cunard on on direct transatlantic crossings have they? What would have happen if Holland America decide to attempt to return to their former glory of Amsterdam to New York crossings and if Celebrity whose luxury and levels of service blow cunard away so I have been informed and are widely considered the top in the industry what would happen then?

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But they are doing less transatlantic runs the last couple of years aren't they? So if they are constantly sailing full why do less runs when they are only game in town? I may be wrong but the QM 2 never used to do runs to the Fjords or the Baltic states did it? But this year it has.

 

You have to consider for whatever reason no other company has tried to take cunard on on direct transatlantic crossings have they? What would have happen if Holland America decide to attempt to return to their former glory of Amsterdam to New York crossings and if Celebrity whose luxury and levels of service blow cunard away so I have been informed and are widely considered the top in the industry what would happen then?

Actually the number of QM2 transatlantic crossings each year have stayed about the same since the QM2 entered service in 2004. It is unlikely that Holland America would return to doing regularly scheduled transatlantic crossings because first they would have to build an Ocean Liner to do these crossings and you know how much more expensive it is to build an Ocean Liner vs a Cruise Ship and second the Carnival Corporation owns both Cunard and Holland America so it is unlikely that Carnival Corporation would want to compete against itself in the transatlantic market. Concerning whether Celebrity would want to enter the transatlantic market again they would have to build an expensive Ocean Liner and since Celebrity is owned by Royal Caribbean International who would probably not want to enter the transatlantic market knowing that the transatlantic market can only support one Ship and that Ship is the Queen Mary 2. Regards,Jerry
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I am sure QM2 will remain the flagship no mater what. I always opted for Queen Alexandera- nice name- and it matches well with the other Queen Consorts. The would not built a 4th Queen if Cunard did not see the need for another ship! However the name will not stated before hand- of that im quite sure- so we have a few more years to speculate!

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Guest SilverHengroen
But they are doing less transatlantic runs the last couple of years aren't they? So if they are constantly sailing full why do less runs when they are only game in town? I may be wrong but the QM 2 never used to do runs to the Fjords or the Baltic states did it? But this year it has.

 

You have to consider for whatever reason no other company has tried to take cunard on on direct transatlantic crossings have they? What would have happen if Holland America decide to attempt to return to their former glory of Amsterdam to New York crossings and if Celebrity whose luxury and levels of service blow cunard away so I have been informed and are widely considered the top in the industry what would happen then?

I think the above posters have explained the reasons quite well; I’d add though that in order to have the ship’s sailing full (not just transatlantic on QM2 but all cruises on all ships) Cunard are having to make little cuts and cost savings to keep the prices somewhat deflated from what you’d have paid on QE2 in that era - this is likely another reason they won’t add a second liner as the extra sailings to fill would create even more downward pressure on prices to keep the ships full. My guess as to why despite this, they are adding a further cruise ship is that they will deploy it (or one of the existing ships) to a new market once it is in service - they are already using Queen Elizabeth for Alaska cruises, maybe that could be developed further, or maybe they will base a ship in Australia where Cunard enjoys a similarly high mindshare to the U.K. and where cruising is becoming a very popular choice of holiday. What we likely won’t see is more of the same

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I think the above posters have explained the reasons quite well; I’d add though that in order to have the ship’s sailing full (not just transatlantic on QM2 but all cruises on all ships) Cunard are having to make little cuts and cost savings to keep the prices somewhat deflated from what you’d have paid on QE2 in that era - this is likely another reason they won’t add a second liner as the extra sailings to fill would create even more downward pressure on prices to keep the ships full. My guess as to why despite this, they are adding a further cruise ship is that they will deploy it (or one of the existing ships) to a new market once it is in service - they are already using Queen Elizabeth for Alaska cruises, maybe that could be developed further, or maybe they will base a ship in Australia where Cunard enjoys a similarly high mindshare to the U.K. and where cruising is becoming a very popular choice of holiday. What we likely won’t see is more of the same

 

I can see the 4th ship doing transatlantic crossing during the time period of the Queen Mary 2 world cruise or maybe the Victoria doing transatlantic sailings and the new ship doing a world cruise with 3 ships doing world cruise.

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This conversation sparked my curiosity to learn how many transatlantic crossings QM2 has done (and will be doing) each year. Here is the count I have come up with after examining her past itineraries and brochures showing her schedule for the next couple years.

 

QM2 Crossings Per Year

2004 = 15

2005 = 26

2006 = 20

2007 = 23

2008 = 24

2009 = 23

2010 = 21

2011 = 21

2012 = 20

2013 = 18

2014 = 18

2015 = 22

2016 = 21

2017 = 24

2018 = 24

2019 = 24*

 

* The count for 2019 includes a westbound crossing in December prior to the Christmas cruise which has not yet been announced.

 

Regards, John

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Guest SilverHengroen
I can see the 4th ship doing transatlantic crossing during the time period of the Queen Mary 2 world cruise or maybe the Victoria doing transatlantic sailings and the new ship doing a world cruise with 3 ships doing world cruise.

I’d imagine if they wanted to extend the transatlantic season they’d take the time off QM2’s world cruise - why go to the expense of building a dedicated liner and then not use her for Atlantic crossings? Especially as those crossings would be in the stormier winter where her better seakeeping abilities would be put to most use! The QV and QE do crossings now only as a part of a larger cruise route that requires it, they don’t go across to New York and turn around and come back again.

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I’d imagine if they wanted to extend the transatlantic season they’d take the time off QM2’s world cruise - why go to the expense of building a dedicated liner and then not use her for Atlantic crossings? Especially as those crossings would be in the stormier winter where her better seakeeping abilities would be put to most use! The QV and QE do crossings now only as a part of a larger cruise route that requires it, they don’t go across to New York and turn around and come back again.

 

The 4th vessel will be the second largest in the fleet larger than the Elizabeth and Victoria but smaller than the Mary. We will wait to see their move. There are any number of ways it could go.

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The entire world will be her oyster.

 

I think the obvious choice will be Queen Anne.

 

I'm guessing Queen Camila is not timely.

 

Dark horse candidate is Queen Eleanor (of Aquitaine).

 

Most creative candidate is Queen Eadgifu (c904–after 966)

 

They could go in another direction: Queen of Anglia, Queen of Australia, Queen of India, Queen of Britannia, Queen of Canada, Queen of the Seas, my personal favorite, Queen of Boaty McBoatface, you get the idea.

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QEII will be gone by 2022? Not if she takes after her mother! Otherwise, I like Berengaria. Of course the original was actually, first, the German Imperator (but you all know that). Frankly, I think the proposed external design for this ship is cruise ship / apartment block hideous. Just stick a Carnivore or HAL funnel on it!

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  • 1 month later...
Hello,

i also think Queen Anne will be the name. But what about

 

"Princess Diana" ....at least it ends with an "a" ;)

 

Cunarders traditionally ended IA and it might get confused with being a Princess ship.

 

 

Queen Charlotte has a nice ring to it,

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Guest SilverHengroen
I guess people were more astute in the 70s... ;)

 

cunard-princess-copia-2.jpg

They had to be considering the mess of naming and liveries Cunard got themselves into! :confused:

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Guest SilverHengroen
"Branding? Bah!"

I have to say probably Carnival’s biggest success with Cunard is in this area, both in terms of re standardising the black and white livery with traditional black and red funnel, and (in particular) in onboard experience. It must have been very odd when you could book a cruise on QE2, Vistafjord/ Sagafjord, Princess/ Countess, or royal viking sun and in each case be sailing with ‘Cunard’ but have a completely different experience with each! And particularly as the Internet wasn’t available to offer the info you were looking for and it was brochure/ word of mouth only...

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Oh ronbe65 I am totaly and absolutley with you! I could life with the Top Heavy Bow, I could life with the ugly stern. I absolutley refuse to board this new Cunarder when there is no propper promenade deck! Queen with no view! Oliver Comwell- very matching- they guy who had done away with Monarchie - for short time anyway!

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