The Queen Elizabeth, which makes its first Fort Lauderdale port call next week, embraces elegance and nostalgia.
The 170-year-old Cunard line managed to resist the urge to add waterslides and rock climbing walls and ice skating rinks to its new Queen Elizabeth ship, which visits Miami for the first time on Jan. 16.
Instead, the 2,068-passenger ship wisely embraces nostalgia.
From its classic black hull to interior spaces done up with elegant art deco details such as etched glass and wood paneling – and plenty of memorabilia – the golden age of ocean travel is well remembered on the 92,400-ton contemporary vessel.
The QE also maintains what may be Cunard’s best selling point – it’s British-ness.
At a naming ceremony in Southampton, England, in October, Cunard President Peter Shanks called the British-flagged ship “quintessentially British” – never mind the fact that Miami-based Carnival Corp. owns Cunard and the ship was built in Italy.
For those uninitiated in Cunard-ness, like its sister ship Queen Victoria, and the larger Queen Mary 2, the Queen Elizabeth operates with a class system. Guests in the 127 Princess and Queens Grill suites get the most pampering, including access to intimate dining rooms, a lovely private lounge and rooftop terrace.
QE is a little larger and has a few more staterooms than its sibling, the 90,000-ton, 2,014-passenger Queen Victoria, which debuted in 2007 and has 1,007 cabins compared to QE’s 1,034. But layout-wise, the ships are quite similar.
What distinguishes QE most is her décor. The new ship takes retro a step further and does it better than the earlier ship, and consequently feels more elegant.
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