Though the elegance of the Queen Victoria is understated, it is hard not to notice.
Soaring staircases, paintings of royalty, rich mahogany in the two-story library.
The same goes for the pride the ship’s operator, Cunard Line, takes in its illustrious, 171-year history.
Filling the Cunardia area of the ship are artifacts of its storied history, such as old newspaper clippings, models of earlier Cunard ships, snippets of letters that guests — famous and infamous — have written while onboard.
On Wednesday, the Queen Victoria arrived at Port Canaveral after picking up passengers in Fort Lauderdale to start a 16-day Atlantic Odyssey cruise that will end in England after stops that include the Bahamas, Bermuda, and Lisbon, Portugal.
Unlike many of the ships that are based in Port Canaveral, the Queen Victoria doesn’t have a home port.
Its British background is evident all around, from the ship’s design to scheduled afternoon tea parties to its Golden Lion British pub. It is registered in Southampton, England, and was christened by Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, for its maiden voyage in December 2007.
