Queen Victoria
THOUSANDS of people are expected to welcome Cunard’s Queen Victoria on its maiden call to the ocean liner’s spiritual home when it arrives in Liverpool this morning.
The arrival of the 90,000 ton vessel on the Mersey is the symbolic moment of its UK tour to celebrate the 170th anniversary of the departure of Samuel Cunard’s first vessel, Britannia, from Liverpool to Boston in July 1840.
The visit to Liverpool will also have a royal dimension with The Duchess of Cornwall, who launched the Queen Victoria in December 2007, boarding for a ceremonial exchange of plaques.
The second-largest Cunard ship ever built, after the RMS Queen Mary 2, the 294m luxury cruise liner will be carrying 2,014 passengers and 1,200 crew and is expected to berth at 9am-9.30am. She will be visible in the Mersey estuary from 7.15am.
She is scheduled to leave Liverpool at 11pm with a short fireworks display at 10.50pm.
