Queen Victoria - changes made for Arcadia

[guernseyguy]

According to David Dingle, head of Carnival UK, in the Southampton Echo's glossy on the ARCADIA, the changes made by P&O to the QV were:

• Flat screen TVs to make room for in-cabin kettle/cups/tea & coffee (I thought those appeared in early QV images?...)
  
• More steel in her bow in preparation for world wide voyages (so where was QV going to be sailing, exactly...)
  
• Provision for internal emergency muster, rather than open deck
  
• Adapt the Galleys to prepare more bread, fried food & potatos
  
• Extra refrigeration for the bars
  
• Increased seating capacity in main restaurant...is that more seats or bigger seats...given all the bread, fried food & potatos....?
  

However, he also adds, 'In reality we did very little to the ship when

she moved across to P&O Cruises'

The comment on 'steel in the bow' is particularly alarming, and sounds as though we may have had a narrow escape, possibly Carnival, spotting a clueless Cunard, patching up a cruise ship, when their selling point is 'ocean liner heritage' decided to intervene & give them more time to get their act together.

Peter

[KenC]

Interesting ..... she certainly looks like a great P&O cruise ship, but a Cunard Queen ???? Saw her sail on her maiden voyage - photos on link below. The all white hull is an improvement on the HAL Vistas - but the extra deck makes her look very top heavy. On a windy Southampton sailing day she was listing noticably. Looking forward to sailing through Panama Canal on her in the New Year.

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/kenphill/1

 

 

Ken

[transat_jon]

From the outside, the Arcadia must be one of the most unatractive ships I have seen. I was so glad when she left Southampton! Then Aurora came home, reminding us that P&O have ships that do look right.

 

Well QE2 is here this week to make up for it.

[Crouton]

Arcadia makes QM2 look positively svelte.

[Richard Schmidt]

Arcadia makes QM2 look positively svelte.

 

Agreed. Thank God she never became the Queen Victoria. Honestly, why is it no one can see that a ship's outward appearance is truly more important than the number of "cabins" she can hold? I wouldn't be caught dead on this "ship".

 

Richard