Cunard's Queen Elizabeth Is Coming To Vancouver: North To Alaska
As I mentioned in last month's "You Heard It First From Rainbow Travel"
Cunard Line’s 2,101-berth Queen Elizabeth will be offering a spring Alaska season in 2019, with 10-night voyages leaving Vancouver on May 21 and 31 and June 10 and 20 for Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka, as well as Tracy Arm or Endicott Arm, Icy Strait Point, Hubbard Glacier and Victoria, capital of British Columbia.
This is a very special event, your opportunity to experience Cunard's unique British " White Star" signature service. These are the benefits you will receive as soon as you board your British experience which only Cunard can deliver:
Service of distinction
All staff are trained at their White Star Academy, so each and every member of their crew delivers the same high level of service across every element of your cruise.
Every member of their crew is polite, courteous and immaculately dressed at all times; they’re always ready and waiting to serve their guests.
Whether you’d like to find out about dining or catering for an event, room accommodation or onboard activities such as golfing, gaming or dancing, their English speaking staff are very knowledgeable about their ships and services. Ask them about experiencing our health club or relaxing in one of our spas, room service or facts about the ship. Leave the childcare to them, relax and unwind. Nothing is too much trouble.
Their heritage is something they are very proud of – in fact it’s where the name White Star Service comes from.
A History of Excellence
In return for a British government loan, in 1929 Cunard agreed to complete the construction of Queen Mary and take over the running of the White Star Transatlantic Fleet.
Today, Cunard White Star Service® is a lasting legacy of our historical connection to the White Star Line and honours the golden era of these elegant and luxurious vessels.
As well the Queen Elizabeth will offer a selection of one-way voyages from Vancouver to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Two departing on June 20 will include the full Alaska cruise and finish in San Francisco after thirteen nights or Los Angeles after fifteen. Two more pure coastal voyages will be offered from Vancouver on June 30, sailing to San Francisco in three nights or Los Angeles in five.
On her way to Alaska, the Queen Elizabeth will offer a 17-night sailing from Yokohama on May 5, bound for Vancouver via Aomori and Sapporo, Japan, before crossing the Pacific. In Alaska she will call at Kodiak, Seward and Juneau.
The Pacific crossing will also be offered as a 35-night cruise from Sydney, departing on April 1. This will follow an extensive series of fourteen cruises from Australian ports.
The last time a Queen Elizabeth visited Victoria was February 1942, just a few weeks after Pearl Harbor, and the ship’s visit was kept a secret.
The original ship spent two weeks at the Esquimalt dry dock in Victoria, from February 18 to March 10, refitting as a troopship with 3,000 extra bunks.
From Victoria, the original Queen Elizabeth proceeded to San Francisco, from where she sailed with 8,000 troops for the 7,700-mile voyage to Sydney.
Today’s Queen Elizabeth will also berth together with the original Queen Mary when she calls at Long Beach, where the latter ship has been preserved since 1967. Queen Mary 2 made her first visit to Long Beach in 2006 and Queen Victoria in 2011 while the Queen Elizabeth herself made her first call in 2013.
The 2019 Alaska cruises will be the first to be offered by Cunard since the 950-berth Cunard Princess in the 1980s, the 589-berth Sagafjord in the 1990s and 820-berth Crown Dynasty offered the last Cunard Alaska cruises in 1997.