The Cunard Lines Queen Victoria cruise ship, which has just emerged from a multimillion-dollar renovation, will be in Honolulu Harbor on Feb. 24.
The Queen Victoria left Southampton, England, on Friday amid a huge fireworks display marking its debut after renovations completed in Germany.
The ship’s ceremonious launch also marked the start of its world cruise and was an element of Cunard Lines’ 175th-anniversary celebration.
The ship will be in port only one day this time ‘round but also will visit Hilo and Kahului on March 30 and 31, respectively, according to state Harbors Division schedules.
You can normally consider the ships you see berthed in Honolulu Harbor as "the usual suspects," but at 965 feet the Queen Victoria is one of only three ships of such length expected in Hawaii’s harbors all year. The Disney Wonder also measures 965 feet, but by far the largest is the 1,041 foot-long Celebrity Solstice, expected to make port calls in Honolulu and Hilo in April.
The Honolulu visit will be brief, and the ship won’t be open for public tours. It will dock at approximately 7 a.m. and depart at about 5 p.m., according to Jackie Chase, the cruise line’s public relations manager based in California.
To be on the round-the-world cruise, passengers from all over the world, with many from Great Britain, Europe and Australia, paid anywhere from $20,000 per person based on double occupancy, all the way up to and beyond $200,000, for what is called "the top Queens Grill accommodation," she said.
Passengers got to experience a ceremony marking the first flag-raising following the renovation. The flag will be flown at what the company describes as iconic landmarks as the Queen Victoria makes her way from the Azores, the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and on to Hawaii then Australia.
While none of us will be able to freely move about the floating luxury hotel while it is here, it is amusing to think that while in dry dock, some 2,000 contractors representing 30 countries got to stay on board during the 20-day, 600,000-man-hours project.
The Queen Victoria crew, from housekeeping to food and beverage, served the workers as if they were paying guests, according to a Cunard video posted online.
"We want them to say that the Queen Victoria had the best food during refit," said Mark Oldroyd, the ship’s executive chef, in the video. If you are a fan of accents, especially those of the U.K. persuasion, watch the video.
During the renovation, among many other aspects, all 3,167 mattresses in the staterooms were replaced.
The contractors replaced all 215,278 square feet of carpet covering passenger areas and replaced more than 19,685 square feet, or 3.75 miles, of pipe work insulation.
There was much more work done, but just to cite one more example, visualize a gallon can of paint. Now try to imagine more than 2,500 of them.
Inside and out, some 2,695 gallons of paint were used on the Queen Victoria, which is enough paint to cover 54 Boeing 737s, according to a Cunard statement.
For the first time ever this year, the Queen Victoria and her sister ships, the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary 2, will gather in Liverpool, England, which CEO David Noyes called Cunard’s "spiritual home," in honor of the cruise line’s 175th anniversary.
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On the Net:
» is.gd/OikBrK
» hidot.hawaii.gov/harbors/passenger-cruise-schedules
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
