Publication:
The Motorship Website
1st November 2010
Article:
“A New Queen Joins Cunard” pg. 121
A new queen joins Cunard
01 Nov 2010
The new Cunarder ‘Queen Elizabeth’
The recently delivered new Cunarder, ‘Queen Elizabeth’, is the third newbuilding to enter service with this Carnival Group subsidiary in the last six years and joins an impressive line-up of passenger ships comprising the transatlantic ocean liner ‘Queen Mary 2’ and the cruise ship ‘Queen Victoria’.
Built at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone yard, Italy, at a cost of approximately £350 million ($560 million), the 90,901gt Panamax newbuilding is 294m long, 32.30m wide at the waterline, has an 8m draught and a total lower bed capacity for 2,092 passengers in 1,046 rooms, 71% of which have balconies. There are four grand suites and two master suites, as well as 25 penthouses. An additional 455 passengers can be accommodated using sofa/Pullman beds. There are 16 decks in total of which 12 are for passengers.
As with the Queen Victoria, built at Fincantieri’s Marghera yard and delivered in 2007, the design of the Queen Elizabeth is a development of Carnival’s Vista class but is 11m longer and some 5,000gt larger with an increased passenger capacity.
The diesel electric propulsion plant was supplied by Caterpillar Marine Power Systems and consists of four 12MW MaK 12VM43C and two 8MW MaK 8M43C medium speed diesel gensets delivering a total output of 64MW at 514 rpm. In addition there is a 1,293kW Mitsubishi S12RMPTA emergency diesel genset. This power plant drives the two 17.6MW ABB Azipods for a service speed of 21.7 knots at 26.3MW. Manoeuvrability is enhanced by three 2.2MW ABB powered bow thrusters.
Schneider supplied the 690v switchboard, emergency switchboard, L.V. power distribution substations and shore connection switchboard. The main diesel fuel oil booster is from Alfa Laval as well as the lubricating and fuel oil separation and filter systems and plate heat exchangers. GEA Westfalia provided the refrigeration machinery, sludge separator and bilge/oily water separator system while the sewage treatment and grey water plant was manufactured by Hamworthy Marine.
SAM Electronics supplied their NACOS 65-5 integrated bridge and command system which is based on the unique concept to functionally integrate the operation of radar and autopilot. The system includes radar, Doppler speed log, satellite log system, integrated navigation system, voyage data recorder, integrated control and display of AIS data, multiplot combining radar and ECDIS and chartpilot 1100 for presentation of ENC, C-Map, DirectENC vector and ARCS raster charts.
Life saving equipment was supplied by Fassmer GmbH and comprises 11 semi-enclosed life boats each capable of carrying 150 persons, five 150-person tender boats, two 27-person lifeboats and two 6-person rescue boats. In addition, there are 52 life-rafts each with a 35 person capacity. All the power telescopic davits for the rescue and tender boats together with the semi-gravity type davits for the life boats were provided by Navalimpianti.
Full of art deco flourishes, the newbuilding recalls the era of the 1930s ocean liners. The new liner features six restaurants offering a total seating capacity of 1,776 in addition to two grill restaurants, two theatres (Royal Court with 821 seats and the Queens Room with 228 seats), three swimming pools and a games deck on deck 9 together with a large spa and fitness centre, shopping arcade, libraries, several club style bars and cafés, a casino and many other public areas.
On 12 October, the Queen Elizabeth set off from Southampton for her 13-day maiden voyage cruise to the Canary Islands.