Choosing Cruising Blog

Queen Elizabeth

The ship will feature various English’ for international clientele such as an outpost of Fortnum & Mason, the quintessential English store found at the heart of London’s Piccadilly stocking preserves, biscuits and other gifts. There will alsob be men’s designer clothing by Hackett of London and hand-woven Scottish woollen products from Harris Tweed.

Here is a preview of the wooden artwork to be featured in the Grand Lobby of Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, whose maiden voyage is in October 2010.

Queen Elizabeth Art Deco

(more…)

Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth floated out on 5th January 2010 in at at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone shipyard near Trieste. Three specially-selected coins were welded under the ship’s mast for good luck and then blessed by a bottle of Italian Prosecco.

View Larger Map
The innaugral cruise leaves on 12th October 2010. See the itinerary here

Here is a summary of the latest competitions run by cruise companies:

P&O Cruises is holding a running contest to find dancing stars to perform on it’s newest ship Azura during the VIP naming ceremony on 10th April 2010

For 3 years Thomson has been “Get Up and Dance” which starts again in January 2010 onboard Island Escape.

If you are a keen photographer, submit your photo of a Fred Olsen Ship/destination to www.fredolsenphotocompetition.co.uk with a camera as first prize, a watch as second and £75 onboard spending credit as third.

Are you a sculptor? Cunard is looking for a five-metre-tall sculpture to adorn the Royal Arcade shopping area of their lastest ship Queen Elizabeth. Judging will be decided in January 2010 by a panel including Charles Saumarez Smith, chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts.

Opera singers have the chance to vie for €15,000 and a performance at the Vienna Opera house in the Hapag-Lloyd “X Factor” style competition

Cunard have published the design & itinerary for their latest ship Queen Elizabeth. The inaugural cruise is 12th October 2010. This ship is their second biggest and the third one to be introduced in the last six years.

The ship is named from the original Queen Elizabeth in 1938 but with some modern changes mixed with the interior design of the original.

Queen Elizabeth

(more…)