Three weeks in dry dock in October 2026
That belongs before the rest, because the period is already on sale. The
Queen Victoria goes into dry dock from 17 October to 5 November
2026, at Damen Shiprepair in Rotterdam, and returns to sea on
7 November. Three weeks during which she does not sail.
The line has not said which voyages are cancelled. If you are looking at
autumn 2026, that is the first thing to check with your advisor.
What the work changes
The Grand Lobby is refreshed, the Queens Room reimagined, the Grill suites
enhanced, and a wellness café is added. Eight Britannia staterooms are created,
three of them with floor-to-ceiling windows. Capacity stays at two thousand
guests.
The hull
Delivered in 2007 by Fincantieri at Marghera near Venice. Ninety thousand and
forty-nine gross tons, two hundred and ninety-four metres, two thousand guests,
twelve decks. She shares her series with the
Queen Elizabeth, delivered three years later.
The class system, and why to know it before booking
This is the line's distinguishing feature and the source of most
disappointment when nobody explains it. The stateroom grade you book
decides which restaurant you eat in for the entire voyage. Four tiers:
Britannia, Britannia Club, Princess Grill, Queens Grill.
Grill guests have their own dining room, their own lounge and their own open
deck, reached by coded keycard. A Britannia guest cannot book a table there,
and it does not change once aboard. In Britannia, dinner is taken at one of two
fixed sittings, or within a window aligned to the first.
This is neither a fault nor a trap: it is a deliberate inheritance, from the
liners where people travelled by class. But a guest used to ships where
everyone eats anywhere needs to know it before choosing a stateroom, because
the difference is lived three times a day for a fortnight.
The number of wheelchair-accessible staterooms is published for
no ship in this fleet. We check it at booking rather than quote a figure.
What the fare covers, and what it does not
The grand liner setting suggests all-inclusive. It is not.
The fare covers the stateroom, meals in the dining rooms and buffets, the shows
and the talks. The rest is charged.
A daily hotel and dining charge is posted automatically to your onboard
account, at a rate that varies with stateroom grade. It can be prepaid before
departure and adjusted at the Purser's Office once aboard, but it does not
vanish on its own. A separate service charge is added to bar purchases and spa
treatments.
Alcoholic drinks are charged or bought as a package. Wi-Fi is charged. Shore
excursions are charged. Some restaurants carry a supplement. None of this is
unusual in this segment, but it is worth allowing for when comparing against a
line where those items are in the fare.
Meanwhile, in the fleet
The Queen Mary 2 is the only transatlantic liner in
the fleet, and a ship of an entirely different scale. The
Queen Anne, in service since 2024, is the newest.
Booking from Quebec
The contract is with Carnival plc, trading as Cunard Line, and is governed by
the general federal maritime law of the United States despite the English home
port. The competent court changes with the itinerary: Los Angeles County,
California, for any voyage calling at a US port, and the courts of Southampton,
England, for those calling at none. From Montreal, neither is convenient.
This contract requires no arbitration, unlike several of its
competitors: a dispute is litigated before a court. It does impose a
class-action waiver, which obliges each guest to act alone.
The deadlines are tight and the second one especially so. Six months'
written notice and one year to sue, for personal injury, with ninety days to
serve. But fifteen days' notice after the voyage ends for any
other claim, and six months to act. Fifteen days. Damaged luggage, a dropped
call, a service not delivered: note your disembarkation date. Baggage liability
is also capped very low; the cap rises with the line's protection programme,
and valuables are not covered at all.
The carrier reserves the right to cancel the voyage, deviate from scheduled
ports or substitute the ship, without notice. Nothing establishes a Quebec
licence for it. Your protection comes from here: Voyages AquaTerra holds a
licence from the Office de la protection du consommateur, your payments pass
through a trust account, and your departure is covered by the compensation fund
for travel agency customers.