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Originally posted by Keitaro:
...does anyone out there think RCI might want to reclaim operators of "World's Biggest Ship"?

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Of course they do! However, they may not think it is finatially viable, as yet?

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Originally posted by Cunardcoll:
Me too , I think Cunard deserves the to be the owner of a true Queen and the world's biggest ship , also I would like Cunard to operate the worlds largest fleet like in their glory days.

Jochen

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I don't know if this will ever happen. Carnival is not building up Cunard like they have done with Holland America and Costa. Cunard will lose CARONIA, gain QUEEN VICTORIA and QM2, and probably lose QE2 in the not too distant future. This will leave Cunard as a two ship operation until something else is eventually ordered... who knows when that will be?

Frankly, I think Cunard today is VERY overrated. I don't really know if they "deserve" anything. They are already thought of in a higher caliber then they actually deserve as far as I'm concerned. Maybe their reputation will be more earned when the new ships come online.

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Originally posted by Ðraikar:
I hope its latter then sooner, i think a queen deserves the title for a little while.

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Deserve? This is business! RCI will want to eclipse her glory as soon as possible, market forces allowing!

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Sokker14 said:
They said they had no plans as she is completely different, and that even if they ordered a new ship right now, which they arent, it would be 18 months or so until a bigger ship would come out. So don't look for anything soon from RCI. Sorry.

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Cruiseny said:
I don't know how many more newbuilds RCI really needs, they have three more coming (SERENADE, JEWEL, MARINER)... Do they need, and can they afford, more ships?

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[ 05-30-2003: Message edited by: Keitaro ]

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Originally posted by Keitaro:
I have a feeling they have some-sort of plans. (snip) I think in the next year, RCI will announce something.

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Originally posted by Keitaro:
They could always become an up-scaled Carnival.

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Originally posted by Dave the Wave:
I had heard the QM2 was to be 150 tons at one point which would make her bigger than the 142 ton Voyager class.

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Despite what Cunard may say, QM2 will be roughly 142,200 GRT according to the latest official estimates (the actual tonnage of course not determined yet). VOYAGER-class ships are all 137,276 GRT except EXPLORER at 137,308 and NAVIGATOR (presently the one and only largest passenger ship in the world) at 138,279. I find it odd that MARINER's present registered tonnage is back down to the original 137,276 while NAVIGATOR is larger... I would imagine that in the end MARINER will turn out to be 138,279 like her sister, but only time will tell. Despite RCI saying that all of them are 142,000 GRT, they are in fact NOT all the same size and all of them are several thousand GRT smaller than RCI's inflated figure.

I wonder how long it will be before MAJESTY winds up being replaced by a Vision too... IF she is? The SOVEREIGN-class ships are actually very well suited to the short cruises; for one thing it helps to negate the effect of their tiny cabins, plus pax on those itineraries are likely to be less-demanding (not that there's anything wrong with these ships, I rather like them in fact though our experience on MAJESTY was less than stellar for reasons having nothing to do with hardware).

[ 05-31-2003: Message edited by: cruiseny ]

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Crusieny said:
It would seem as though they(RADIANCE-class) will replace the VISION-class ships on the most prominent itineraries, while VISION-class ships are slowly moving into the present SOVEREIGN-class territory of small ships; specifically ENCHANTMENT OF THE SEAS now going to 4- and 5-day schedules from FLL replacing MONARCH.

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What I am surprised is they decided not to use SPLENDOUR or LEGEND to replace MONARCH. I think either one would have been better IMO. The ENCHANTMENT could still be competive on the longer cruises like the Panama Canal and even 10-11 days Caribbean.

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I rather like them in fact though our experience on MAJESTY was less than stellar for reasons having nothing to do with hardware).

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[ 05-31-2003: Message edited by: Keitaro ]

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Originally posted by Keitaro:
What I am surprised is they decided not to use SPLENDOUR or LEGEND to replace MONARCH. I think either one would have been better IMO.

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No... LEGEND and SPLENDOUR have something valuable; they are faster than the other ships in the fleet. They were specifically designed for longer cruises and I doubt you'll see them on the really short ones any time soon.

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Got any pictures or review?

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Sorry, but I haven't. Just not worth writing up a review for a cruise two and a half years ago. As for pictures, I've got them somewhere but not scanned in and not many of the ship IIRC anyhow. Perhaps in my spare time over the summer I'll dig them up and see if I've got anything worth scanning in.

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Cruiseny said:
No... LEGEND and SPLENDOUR have something valuable; they are faster than the other ships in the fleet. They were specifically designed for longer cruises and I doubt you'll see them on the really short ones any time soon.

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