Queen Victoria - Condition and Likely Date for next Refurbishment?

[Terry Bill]

We are thinking of booking on the QV for 2026.  Having been on her many years ago, we love the ship.  However, she was all new and shiny then.  I know she will periodically be refurbished, but does Cunard keep their ships in good nick?  I realise she is no longer new, but is she in good condition, and do you know if she is due a refurbishment before 2026, please?

[LEESRE]

We sailed on her last December and found her to be in good shape.

[BigMac1953]

We regularly sail on all three (soon to be four) ships and are pleased to say, that they are all in excellent condition. The only exception was last year's TA round trip on which it was noticable that the exterior needed some TLC, but inside was in superb condition.

[chengkp75]

She has a dry docking due in May 2025, so if any renovations are scheduled, that is when they will happen.  Whether or not they do much beyond simple hotel maintenance (new carpeting where required, new soft goods where required, new furniture where required, etc) is up to their corporate financial situation.

[D&N]

@Terry Bill Perhaps you should specify clearly what you mean.

We're quite happy if a ship is seaworthy, comfortable and almost everything works correctly or is quickly repaired if it fails. We wouldn't be happy if we stained or damaged clothes on fixtures and fittings due to poor maintenance. And we like there to be nice backdrops (not fake photographers ones) for portraits.

Some folk get upset at seeing the smallest spec of superficial rust on a balcony or a slight scratch on an item of furniture.

I'm not sure about a May 2025 dry docking. I don't see any gap in the published schedule in latest brochure. That might be a mix up.

[chengkp75]

40 minutes ago, D&N said:

I'm not sure about a May 2025 dry docking. I don't see any gap in the published schedule in latest brochure. That might be a mix up.

The May 2025 date is from the Lloyd's Register database, the classification society that requires the dry dockings.  It is a mid-period dry docking, so there is some leeway, from about Feb to May, but since Victoria is over 15 years old, she cannot do the in service, underwater survey in lieu of the mid-period dry docking that she could do before.

[mahasamatman]

46 minutes ago, D&N said:

And we like there to be nice backdrops (not fake photographers ones) for portraits.

 

We actually prefer high-end cruise lines where they don't even have photographers.

[Pushpit]

3 hours ago, Terry Bill said:

We are thinking of booking on the QV for 2026.  Having been on her many years ago, we love the ship.  However, she was all new and shiny then.  I know she will periodically be refurbished, but does Cunard keep their ships in good nick?  I realise she is no longer new, but is she in good condition, and do you know if she is due a refurbishment before 2026, please?

Unless you are extremely picky, I really wouldn't worry. On every single QV trip I have been on, on every single day when the weather has not been gale force, I have seen teams of crew members painting, cleaning, repointing, varnishing her. Sometimes, looking at the railing (or whatever) about to go under the brush - it doesn't seem to warrant it. So my feeling is that Cunard really does take a lot of care with their vessels and a lot of things are incrementally improved. The installation of Starlink wifi is an example of this. Wifi had not-spots on QM2 but I didn't really notice any on QV, and yet it's all been upgraded anyway. 

 

I think if you were an occasional cruise passenger, I really doubt you could guess the age of the vessel, other than to say she is by no means an old lady.

Edited February 28 by Pushpit

[D&N]

4 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

 

We actually prefer high-end cruise lines where they don't even have photographers.

We do actually own our own photographic equipment, although we like to get as many as we can from the pros as well. We took about 800 last time before we upgraded to full frame, mainly of us.

 

I doubt I would ever sail on one of the so called "high-end" lines. They seem awfully casual for my liking and none of them operate a liner.

[chengkp75]

13 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

On every single QV trip I have been on, on every single day when the weather has not been gale force, I have seen teams of crew members painting, cleaning, repointing, varnishing her.

And, it has been shown that all of the mechanical scaling, sanding, etc, that the crew do to the steel of the ship, followed by painting, is basically useless in terms of preserving the steel, it is merely cosmetic.  Even if not blowing gale force, in the time between the preparation of the surface, and the actual painting, salt has gotten on the surface, and will cause the coating to fail, or the rust underneath to reappear.

[exlondoner]

14 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

Unless you are extremely picky, I really wouldn't worry. On every single QV trip I have been on, on every single day when the weather has not been gale force, I have seen teams of crew members painting, cleaning, repointing, varnishing her. Sometimes, looking at the railing (or whatever) about to go under the brush - it doesn't seem to warrant it. So my feeling is that Cunard really does take a lot of care with their vessels and a lot of things are incrementally improved. The installation of Starlink wifi is an example of this. Wifi had not-spots on QM2 but I didn't really notice any on QV, and yet it's all been upgraded anyway. 

 

I think if you were an occasional cruise passenger, I really doubt you could guess the age of the vessel, other than to say she is by no means an old lady.

This is all so true. On the other hand, before her latest refit, QM2 seemed to be occupied by squads of passengers, whose only purpose was to search for specks of rust and then report on them in reviews on here.

[D&N]

26 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

The May 2025 date is from the Lloyd's Register database, the classification society that requires the dry dockings.  It is a mid-period dry docking, so there is some leeway, from about Feb to May, but since Victoria is over 15 years old, she cannot do the in service, underwater survey in lieu of the mid-period dry docking that she could do before.

The schedule towards the back of brochure isn't the easiest place to identify gaps but I don't see any in that period. And I suppose it's possible they have voyages listed there that aren't actually on sale.

It's not important though, bluemarble's Dress Code schedules are much clearer. Perhaps I'll see it when he publishes the 2025 version.

Thanks anyway.

[foodsvcmgr]

When we were last aboard QV in August I felt that the overall condition was outstanding, one of the best in recent years.

[WantedOnVoyage]

We were on QUEEN VICTORIA in October and I thought she was kept in exemplary condition.  I mentioned it specifically to Capt. Hoyt and the quartermasters, too.  They acted surprised anyone would notice let alone compliment. They should not be. 

 

If you have served in a ship or have any extensive experience even in sailing in them as a passenger, I cannot imagine anyone finding fault with the exterior maintenance of QUEEN VICTORIA and indeed most of her interior, too, seemed in fine shape.

 

I might add she looks a lot better than other Cunarders I have sailed in over the past 47 years, too. The Captain makes a big difference I find and Capt. Hoyt likes it "Shipshape and Bristol Fashion" even if he's American!  

[bluemarble]

I'm finding the question of QV's next scheduled drydock puzzling. There was a gap in QV's schedule from 30 October to 15 November 2024 which I figured was going to be her next drydock. But that gap was subsequently filled in late last year with voyage V426N to Zeebrugge/Rotterdam and voyage V426P to the Canary Islands.

 

That led to the assumption the drydock was being deferred to 2025. And I'm seeing the report here that she's due for a drydock in May 2025. But there are no gaps in QV's published schedules for all of 2025. Nor are there any gaps in QV's schedules published so far into October 2026.

 

I believe QV's last scheduled drydock was at Harland and Wolff in May 2022 prior to her return to service in June 2022. There was also that brief unscheduled drydock in Cadiz in January 2023 for repairs to one of her blades.

[chengkp75]

19 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

I believe QV's last scheduled drydock was at Harland and Wolff in May 2022 prior to her return to service in June 2022. There was also that brief unscheduled drydock in Cadiz in January 2023 for repairs to one of her blades.

The dry docking in May 2022 was the 15 year dry dock (third special survey), and she needs to dry dock twice between that date and May 2027.  So, the mid-period dry dock (as I said, after 15 years the mid-period survey must be a dry dock), comes in with a window of Feb - Aug 2025.  The Oct - Nov time frame would have been too early.  The repair dry dock was also outside the statutory windows, so there is no credit for that dry docking.

[roscoe39]

Hi Im board at the moment and the refurbishment is for May. She is in good nick however I have noticed this year that there is a bit of rust on her hull that I have not noticed before but hey....she is built of steel and she spends her whole life at sea...salt water....steel....its bound to happen.

 

I love this ship but like all of us....we are showing a few signs of wear and tear but we are still essentially magnificent beasts.

[bluemarble]

2 hours ago, roscoe39 said:

Hi Im board at the moment and the refurbishment is for May.

 

Thanks for that confirmation. It's curious though because QV is scheduled to reposition to the Mediterranean on May 4, 2025 and has a full slate of Mediterranean cruises on her schedule from that date forward. This sounds like Cunard may need to delay the start of her Mediterranean season to accommodate a drydock which in turn implies some scheduled cruises may need to be canceled. I guess we'll have to stay tuned for further developments.

[Terry Bill]

Many thanks to everyone for the reassurance.  It sounds as though Cunard keep the QV ship shape.

[reeves35]

20 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

This sounds like Cunard may need to delay the start of her Mediterranean season to accommodate a drydock which in turn implies some scheduled cruises may need to be canceled. I guess we'll have to stay tuned for further developments.

I hope not.  I'm booked on a 14 Eastern Med cruise from Rome from 12/5/25.  If Cunard are going to cancel, they'd better let us know sooner rather than later.  Travel from AU is expensive so I don't want to have to fiddle airfares late in the piece.

[aaaaa]

On 2/28/2024 at 9:54 PM, roscoe39 said:

Im board at the moment and the refurbishment is for May.

 

May 2024 or May 2025?  The ship's sailing schedule seems full during both of those months.

[corporate services]

We were onboard in December and the ship looked fine.  I often wonder, with all the painting and varnishing that goes on all the time how much heavier the ship is than when it was launched, cos that's the kind of stupid thing I think about!

[BigMac1953]

Apparently, the ships all get heavier by around 12 tons per year (or so an engineering officer told me). That's the approximate amount of paint etc. brought on board annually.

[WantedOnVoyage]

Well not a properly maintained ship.... I never saw paint just slopped over existing paint on QV. The surface is properly chipped, primed and repainted.  

 

They used to do that in CANBERRA alas... her railings etc. looked like some ancient grotto in the end, encrusted with layers of paint underwhich I am not sure what steel was left.

[BigMac1953]

9 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

Well not a properly maintained ship.... I never saw paint just slopped over existing paint on QV. The surface is properly chipped, primed and repainted.  

 

 

 

I've often seen them paint the hull in port, using extra long brushes. No chipping or priming.