Queen Victoria ... #267

An alternative view of an iconic cruise ship merging with the cargo sheds at the Port of Wellington.

The Wellington sun came out after a grey drizzly welcome for the Queen Victoria, the newest cruise liner to visit New Zealand. View video: Aboard the Queen Victoria . The 294m long cruise ship is half way through its inaugural world tour, and sailed into Wellington with only two empty cabins, the rest filled with about 2000 guests. Unfortunately the combination of public events and the arrival of the liner had buses of passengers stuck in traffic as Aotea Quay backed up with the main waterfront roads closed. As Cunard’s newest cruise liner, the $676 million Queen Victoria was launched last month in Southampton, England and is touted as harking back to the golden age of cruising. It has more than $2 million dollars of art on board, including original sketches done by Queen Victoria and her husband Albert, and sports the first floating theatre with private boxes in the tradition of London’s West End. The ship is on a global circumnavigation from its base in Southampton and has visited Auckland and Napier since Friday. Thanks to theDomPost news for the background information.