Date Posted: 09 Mar 2010

KOTA KINABALU: At a height of 179 feet, or 54.6 metres above waterline, Queen Victoria (QV) was certainly a grand sight when she anchored at Kota Kinabalu port yesterday.

This was the second visit of Queen Victoria to Kota Kinabalu before embarking to Hong Kong at 6pm yesterday, and later to Shanghai, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore.

Queen Victoria is on its third Voyage of Discovery world tour of 106 days, starting from New York on Jan 12, carrying around 1,800 passengers and 900 crew members on her journey.

Kota Kinabalu was her 19th out of 41 ports the ship will visit.

The voyage includes three overnight stays in Sydney, Hong Kong and Dubai, plus 11 maiden calls to San Francisco, Adelaide, Halong Bay in Vietnam, Muscat in Oman and Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt.

Social hostess Jennifer Schaper said Queen Victoria was designed by Fincantieri, an Italian shipping company and one of the most advanced shipbuilders in the world.

Enter Queen Victoria and one immediately feels he or she has stepped into a world away from reality as the ship houses her own theatre, casino, pubs, cafes, shopping arcade, swimming pool, spas, gymnasium, night club, restaurants, art gallery and library.

Royal Court Theatre, reminiscent of a London West End theatre, can accommodate up to 1,800 people in addition to 16 private boxes for two, four or six guests.

“The private boxes come with champagne and your own bellboy for US$50 during production shows, while on other days the private boxes are on a first come first serve basis,” Jennifer said.

The theatre features two shows every night, ranging from Western style shows, comedies, dancers, singers, classical pianists, movies and even lectures on interesting topics.

Jennifer also revealed that Prince Charles and Camillia once sat in the same theatre when Queen Victoria was brand new.

Guests are also spoilt with a choice of pubs, including the Golden Lion Pub, Commodore Club and the Chart Room Bar.

Each of the pubs have their own characteristics and ambiance.

For instance, Golden Lion Pub holds trivia all day long, karaoke in the evening as well as serve English food, such as fish and chips, banger and mash, and cottage pie.

On the other hand, guests at the Commodore Club can enjoy their Martinis, a specialty of the bar, while taking in the panorama outside through the surrounding glass walls.

Passengers who opt for a quiet afternoon can duck into the two-storey library containing over 8,000 book titles.

“We have arts, maritime, reference books, fiction, non-fiction and biography books here,” Jennifer said.

As for meals, passengers usually eat at their assigned restaurant, or they can opt for gourmet food prepared by celebrity chef Todd English at his restaurant.

Moerdanny M Hassan, 42, a Malaysian sous chef is working at Britannia Restaurant.

“We do a six-month contract, then go on a two-month vacation.” Asked how his pay was, Moerdanny jokingly said it depended on the US currency rate.

“The job is easy, I only work for 10 to 11 hours a day then take my break,” he said, adding that he has been working with Cunard for over 10 years.

Before the bubbly chef joined Cunard, he studied at a private college in Kuala Lumpur and later worked for Royal Brunei for four years.

He also revealed that guests would have the opportunity to enjoy Malaysian cuisine with beef rendang, satay and local dishes.

William Punyer, 80, and wife Margaret,  who just came back from their day trip at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park and the museum during the shore excursion, seemed to be tremendously excited when relating their stories with the orang utans and our Bornean elephants at the zoo.

During the interview, William also revealed that he has been on Queen Mary 2 twice which travelled almost to half the world.

What drew William and Margaret to cruises like this, is perhaps the fact that there is nothing to worry about when you are on board.

“And the food is really out of this world,” Margaret added.

There are 1,007 staterooms of eight types in the ship, of which 71 percent feature private balconies.

Passengers have the flexibility to board the ship at any ports Queen Victoria visits.

Cost per passenger a day on the ship is around US$180.

Queen Victoria joined the Cunard Line of ocean liners in December 2007, and is the second largest Cunarder built at 90,000 tons and at a cost of US$522 million.

Another new cruise, Queen Elizabeth will embark on her maiden journey on Oct 12, 2010.

For more information about Cunard cruises, please contact Pacific World Travel Sdn Bhd at 03-21413070 or visit www.cunard.com.

(Source: The Borneo Post, 08 Mar 2010)