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Cunard Cruise Lines
In 1998, Cunard Lines was acquired by the Carnival Corporation and their management was merged with that of Seabourn Cruises. With the deep pockets of Carnival Corp., Cunard Line soon commissioned a new liner, one that would be unmatched in every way as Carnival Corp. had big plans for this luxury line. In January of 2004, Cunard unveiled the largest, longest, highest and most expensive ship ever, the Queen Mary 2. In May of that year, the Queen Mary 2 took over the North Atlantic liner service between Southampton and New York and became the flagship of Cunard Line. In that month QE2 was repositioned to make cruises out of Southampton for the British market. In November, QE2 became the longest serving ship in Cunard's history and was later sold in 2007 for $100 million to developers from Dubai, where the ship will be converted for use as a hotel. The venerable ship sailed its last voyage in November 2008. That same year, the company debuted the 90,000-ton, 2,014-passenger Queen Victoria and ordered its sister ship, Queen Elizabeth (the third Cunard ship to have that name). The 92,400-ton, 2,092-passenger Queen Elizabeth entered service in October 2010. Cunard line only operates large ships that are British in styling and feel and that fly the British flag. Gone are the days when the Cunard name was blurred by sub-brands -- such as Cunard Sea Goddess, Cunard NAC and Cunard Crown -- that operated a mixed bag of ships in terms of size, age and ambiance. On-board, the Cunard Line has custom seating arrangements based on your particular cabin accommodations. On the QM2 (Queen Mary 2), Passengers in the largest and more expensive suites dine in the Queens Grill, those in the junior suites dine in the Princess Grill and all others dine in the Britannia Restaurant. QM2's bread and butter is its Atlantic crossings, which take place from spring through fall. Mixed in are sailings to the Baltic, British Isles, Norwegian Fjords and Caribbean, as well as a few short European coastal cruises. Queen Victoria typically operates from Southampton (but also from ports like Venice and Athens) and heads to the Mediterranean, Canary Islands and Baltic. The ship will also sail a number of one-way Panama Canal cruises in winter 2011/2012 from Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles. The mostly Southampton-based Queen Elizabeth offers
cruises to the Baltic, Canary Islands and Mediterranean.
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Cunard Line is a luxury cruise line with a very long and
illustrious history. Founded in 1840 in Halifax, Nova Scotia by Samuel Cunard, Cunard was first used to carry
mail from Britain to North America and would maintain a weekly service. Throughout the 19th century, Cunard
Line would upgrade their vessels to larger and more luxurious ships. Though never on the breaking edge of
technology, they would adopt technological advances that were both proven and practical in the real world.
Some would say because of this, they can boast having never lost a life at sea because of a ship failure or
seamanship.
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