Victoria pays maiden visit

Queen Victoria heads south after her Auckland stay. Photo / Dean Purcell

When Captain Paul Wright, skipper of the Cunard Line's newest liner the Queen Victoria, was asked by his school guidance counsellor what he enjoyed doing, he responded "looking out the window".

The sage educator told Captain Wright he'd never find a job doing that, but as luck would have it, that's exactly what fate had in mind.

Standing on the bridge of the 90,000 tonne liner, he laughed as he recalled the story and thanked the weather gods for "giving the rain a break" during the ship's one-day call at Auckland's Princes Wharf.

Despite vast panels of controls at the touch of a hand and two comfortable-looking navigators' chairs, Captain Wright said he tended to pace while on the bridge instead of watching the world go by from a seat.

"I'm a bit old fashioned in that way," he confessed.

His impressively opulent charge however, launched in Southampton by the Prince of Wales just two months ago, is anything but.

As one of three "Queens" in Cunard Line's fleet, the Queen Victoria harks back to the golden era of travel while incorporating all the modern comforts passengers have come to expect.

Art works worth more than $2 million - including original etchings by the liner's namesake and her husband Prince Albert - adorn the walls.

In a world-first for cruise liners, the Queen Victoria also has private West End-style viewing boxes within the impressive Royal Court Theatre.

More than 2000 guests can be accommodated in the $754 million ship's 1000 bedrooms, 70 per cent of which have balconies with sweeping views.

And unlike its predecessors, the Queen Victoria has an impressive manoeuvrability.

"It's different from the QE2," said Captain Wright.

"She [the QE2] goes backwards and forwards very well but that's about all she does."

The Queen Victoria, by comparison, could turn in its own length and seldom needed tug boats to guide it into port, he said.

After arriving early yesterday the Queen Victoria left last evening for Napier, Wellington and Australia.

In Sydney an era will end when two of the world's great cruise liners - the QE2 and the Queen Victoria - meet for the last time.

The QE2 is on her final voyage and the younger sister is on its maiden round-the-world trip.