How different is the QE and QV?

[lissie]

I've only done one cruise - on the QE last Feb to PNG ex Sydney. It was great, and because we booked a future cruise on board which was cancelled I have FCC burning a hole in  my pocket.  Currently I'm seeing some good prices on QV for the trans-Atlantic in Feb 21 .  

 

My question I know the QV and QE are sister ships. Are they identical? We really liked the QE - particularly enjoyed hte space,  the main public rooms, the commodore club and the pools and  promenade deck. Does QV have the same ? 

 

I assume the QV itinerary is  part of a round-the-world trip. Does that make you 3rd class passengers coming on for only part of a RTW?  Will anyone speak to us who have been on the ship since the UK? 

 

Its a long-shot - given  that Australia borders are still closed and NZ will charge us on return for 14 days quarantine - but I'm dreaming ok! 

[BigMac1953]

The big difference is the colour of the paint and decoration, otherwise they're identical, apart from the games carbuncle on top of the QE.

 

They are both Vista Class. QV used to have a raked stern, but now has the same shape as QE when they added extra cabins.

 

Go for it!

 

Stewart

[exlondoner]

I marginally prefer the rather lighter decor on QE, but, quite honestly, they are so similar, I forget which ship I am on. 😀

[sfred]

Sorry, my last post was cut off mid-typing.  Reposting...

 

Hi lissie.  Hope things are well for you in NZ.

 

The wife and I have done several QE and QV trips and most recently were on QV in February for the South America segment of its world cruise.  We love both ships (although QM2 remains our favourite).  We've never felt at at all 3rd class doing only a segment of a world cruise. 

 

QV and QE are nearly identical, and all the major public rooms are in the same place on both ships.  You need a sharp eye to notice small subtle differences.  The ones I've noticed:

 

--  As BigMac noted, QE has a more extensive games area at the forward end of deck 11 (bowls, paddle tennis, croquet and a large chess board on the raised roof over the deck 10 yacht club).

--  QV is Edwardian in decor, QE Art Deco.

--  QV's theatre is red, QE is blue.  The side aisles on QE extend all the way to the stage.  QV's aisles end several rows back so that the first several rows of seats extend the full width of the theatre.

--  QVs roof over the deck 9 winter garden retracts (although I've never seen it in other than the closed position) while QE's is fixed.  The deck 9 pool area doors to the winter garden are in the centre on QE, and on the sides on QV.

-- QE's voyage sales office is on deck 1 across from the pursurs desk.  QV's is on deck 2 just aft from the queens room.

-- QV used to have a raked stern, but the last refit welded additional cabins to match QE's layout.  QV's deck 9 aft pool is further forward than QE's, as a result of the formerly raked stern.

-- Supposedly QV has thicker steel plating to handle rough seas, but passengers would never be able to tell.

 

Anything else that others have noticed?  I probably missed some other details.

[Ray66]

3 hours ago, sfred said:

QE's voyage sales office is on deck 1 across from the pursurs desk.  QV's is on deck 2 just aft from the queens room

 

And because they moved the QV's future sales office into what was once a shop, there is now one less shop on the QV and everything is crammed into the book shop. Social distancing will now probably mean only one person at a time in there.

[Craigrlewis]

 “ QVs roof over the deck 9 winter garden retracts (although I've never seen it in other than the closed position) while QE's is fixed.”
 

The roof is now welded closed! Worker told me that its been fixed so it wont ever open again.

He wasn't sure why but suspected that there were too many “i want it open” versus “I want it closed- well you cant please all of the people all of the time!

 

As thread implies minor minor differences.
 

Me - I prefer Elizabeth as like Exlonder I prefer the lighter shades But I also prefer the captain who tends to be Inger Olsen.
IMHO a total ambassador for everything that is Cunard.

Edited July 29, 2020 by Craigrlewis
Typo

[seacruise9]

Hi, 

 

I have cruised aboard both the Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth and think they are very similar. As noted above, there are some slight differences. If you liked the Queen Elizabeth, I am sure that you will like the Queen Victoria. Along with the Queen Mary 2, these are my favorite ships.

 

In May 2015, I did a transatlantic crossing from New York to Southampton on the Queen Victoria that was the final segment of the world cruise. Also, in 2017,  I did a short segment of the Queen Mary 2's world cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore. I never encountered a superior attitude from the full world cruise passengers. In fact, I enjoyed talking to them and hearing about the prior portions of the cruise. I would not hesitate to book a segment of a world cruise.

 

Chuck

[BigMac1953]

1 hour ago, Craigrlewis said:

I also prefer the captain who tends to be Inger Olsen.
 

 

...who was also the captain of the QV.

[bluemarble]

Just to get into the minutia of cabin counts, QE does have a few more cabins than QV. The addition of cabins to QV during her 2017 refit did not produce an identical aft cabin layout to QE.

 

By my count from the deck plans, QE has a total of 7 more aft Britannia Inside cabins than QV. Here are the details:

QE has 4 more aft inside cabins on deck 4

QE has 3 more aft inside cabins on deck 5

QE 1 less aft inside cabin on deck 6

QE 1 more aft inside cabin on deck 8

 

QE has 2 more aft Britannia Balcony cabins than QV (on deck 5).

 

QV also has that anomaly with the way the aft-facing Queens Suite cabins are graded on deck 8 which we have discussed in another thread. To recap, first of all, the QV deck plans are out of date in that they show the aft-facing Queens Suite cabins on deck 8 graded as Q4 when they are actually Q5/Q6. Second, for some reason that isn't clear to me, the two outer-most aft-facing suites on deck 8 of QV (8174 and 8179) are grade Q6 while their two neighbors toward the middle (8176 and 8181) are the higher grade Q5. I would have expected that to be reversed, the same as how the similar aft-facing suites are graded on decks 4 and 5 of QV and how they are graded on deck 8 of QE.

 

OK, enough of all that minutia from this deck plan nerd.

[Jack E Dawson]

Lissie,

Are you sure about the trans-Atlantic crossing date? I looked on the Cunard web site and don't see any of their ships doing a trans-Atlantic crossing in February of 2021. This could be my error. 

 

Jack

[AspirationalFlyer]

They are very similar, albeit with some physical differences as described above. I personally think the dining room on QE has more of a “wow” factor, but I really like Art Deco and think it works well on ships (including modern ones). 

 

I’m not sure if this can be easily verified, but crew on QV and QM2 have previously said that QV has the highest customer services ratings of the three ships. 

 

I’ve been on all three ships and I’ve personally has the best customer service experience on QV. Of course this may just be historic and materially impacted by the current pandemic and many crew either leaving the Cunard ships or being moved around. 

[john watson]

On ‎8‎/‎1‎/‎2020 at 2:26 AM, Jack E Dawson said:

Lissie,

Are you sure about the trans-Atlantic crossing date? I looked on the Cunard web site and don't see any of their ships doing a trans-Atlantic crossing in February of 2021. This could be my error. 

 

Jack

I think the voyage referred to is Sydney to London 60 days 28 Feb 2021.  It is not immediately obvious this is Transatlantic due to the routing.

 

Regards John

[ew101]

Here is a semi related question.  If both QM and QV are perfectly good, why was not a third one built when they needed another ship?   I guess the idea of "more cabins" comes to mind.  I really like the layout of both ships.  

[BigMac1953]

The basic design is called Vista Class.

 

Many cruise operators use the basic design and incorporate their own internal layouts.

 

Things move on and newer designs become available, hence the new hull and interior. Otherwise we'd all be travelling in a Titanic lookalike.

 

Stewart