The New Queen Elizabeth! Cunard Annouces New Ship for 2010!

Valencia, CA - October 10, 2007 - Cunard
Line announces that it has ordered a new 92,000-ton liner, to be named
"Queen Elizabeth," scheduled to enter service in the autumn of 2010.
Cunard, a unit of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE
CUK) signed an agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the
construction of the new 2092-passenger ocean liner, which will be built
at Fincantieri's Monfalcone yard at an all-in cost of approximately
$700 million. The vessel will be the second largest Cunarder the
company has ever built.

"Cunard already owns and operates the two most famous ocean liners in the world, Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Mary 2, and a third - Queen Victoria
- is due to be named by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, in the presence of
HRH The Prince of Wales, in December of this year," said Carol Marlow,
president of Cunard Line. "The decision to order another ship for
Cunard Line has been taken as a result of the strong booking response
to the new Queen Victoria, and we are extremely pleased that Cunard
will once again become a three-ship fleet so soon after the departure
of the much-celebrated Queen Elizabeth 2 in November next year.
Furthermore, we are delighted that Her Majesty The Queen has given her
blessing to our calling this new Cunarder 'Queen Elizabeth', after our
first vessel of that name."

The new ship follows a long line of
famous Cunard liners stretching back to the company's inception as the
first operator of a timetabled transatlantic service 167 years ago.

"It
is a particularly special moment for Fincantieri to have secured a
second order from Cunard at a time when we are nearing the completion
of Queen Victoria," said Mr. Giuseppe Bono, Fincantieri's Chief
Executive Officer. "Cunard is the most famous name in passenger
shipping and we are honoured to have been chosen to build Queen
Elizabeth and to continue the tradition and heritage of that great
company."

Queen Elizabeth will offer the very best of
Cunard's values and traditions, blended with every conceivable modern
luxury that today's discerning travellers expect. Through her opulent
public rooms and impeccable service, the new ship will reflect the
grandeur which has been associated with Cunard ships since the
introduction of the Mauretania in 1907; and from the outside, her black
hull, gleaming white superstructure and distinctive red funnel will
echo the classic characteristics of the company's distinctive liner
heritage.

Queen Elizabeth will fly the Red Ensign with her home-port Southampton, as is the case with the other ships in the Cunard fleet.

The
agreement is subject to approval by the board of directors of Carnival
Corporation & plc. Design details and initial itineraries will be
announced in due course.

Source: Cunard

Well this is an exciting update. I'm sorry to see QE2 departing but, it's wonderful that Cunard will once again be a three ship fleet. Looking forward to learning about the details of the newest ship - QV certainly has everyone's curiosity peaked!

Marina, thanks for posting the press release. I found it in my email this morning and came over here as soon as my office closed (1 minute ago!) and was going to post it!

I too am excited about the new ship. I do think it would have been nice to wait until after the delivery of QV to make the announcement so she could enjoy the limelight a little more. Perhaps at the meeting of the three Queens in NYC? Of course this is all just personal thoughts. Doesn't matter now! So who's going to be on the inaugral sailing on the new QE?

Very exciting news! I'd love to see if we can get a group formed for the inaugural that would be extra special!

Giovani, considering the strong Cunard following on this board I'm sure that would not be too hard! I will be doing my best to keep the latest news on her posted on the board for everyone to follow. Schedules and deck plans should come out by Spring 2009 I would expect. We could always pull a Genesis and form a group ahead of time though this board seems to be good at that!

The inaugural could be a lot of fun - just remember everyone there is an excellent chance it will be from England but, count me in as interested!

Off Topic warning...
Cruiser Brooke, I didn't know there was a Villanova in PA. My Mom's stepdad's last name is Villanueva (slight variation of spelling but pronounced the same) he is from Spain. Do you by chance have a large population of Spanish decent?

Back on Topic...
Although I would not be too excited about the long flight, I would love to be on an inaugural sailing from Southampton. It would make for a very special trip indeed!

AmbianceTraveler wrote:

Off Topic warning...
Cruiser Brooke, I didn't know there was a Villanova in PA. My Mom's stepdad's last name is Villanueva (slight variation of spelling but pronounced the same) he is from Spain. Do you by chance have a large population of Spanish decent?

Back on Topic...
Although I would not be too excited about the long flight, I would love to be on an inaugural sailing from Southampton. It would make for a very special trip indeed!

Hi Host Nina,

Villanova is home to Villanova University and we are part of the Augustinian order, named after St. Augustine. St. Augustine was the bishop of the North African city of Hippo Regius which is now Annaba, Algeria. To be best of my knowledge, he was not of Spanish decent but, I'm far from an expert in this area! And, while we don't have an overly large Spanish population we certainly have a heavily Catholic population in town. Here's a link so you can read a bit about the town: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villanova,_Pennsylvania

We're located just outside of Philadelphia on a stretch known as The Main Line.

Brooke

Hi Brooke,

Thank you for the detailed answer, sounds like your town has a very rich history behind it! Very interesting. BTW, you don't need to call me "Host Nina" just "Nina" will be fine (I'm not much for titles )

Ok, I want to be part of the inaugural, let's get this party started!

BTW - Nina and Brooke, my daughter is a Villanova graduate! Go Wildcats!!

Well, I think there is enough interest to start a poll. When we get up to 10-15 people I will submit a group proposal for this sailing and work at getting it officially formed and when pricing becomes available send out a quote request to all the agents.

I'm sure we'll have no problem filling a group