Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam undertakes drydocking of Cunard’s Queen Victoria
- Date
- November 2026
- Ship name
- Queen Victoria
- Ship type
- Sea Cruise
- Yard
- Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam (Botlek)
- Tasks performed for this project
- Maintenance Refit
On 17 October 2026, Cunard's 294-metre cruise ship Queen Victoria arrived at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam's (DSR) Botlek location for a 20-day maintenance and refit project. The work, which followed the docking of fleetmate Queen Mary 2 in 2023, took place in the yard's 405 x 90-metre Drydock 7.
Well prepared
DSR began preparing for the scheduled drydocking more than a year in advance. The team made several visits to the ship to assess the workscope and held multiple meetings with Cunard to align on project requirements.
Scope of work
The project on the 2007-built ship combined DSR's maintenance programme with an extensive interior refit carried out by Cunard. As part of the regular maintenance scope, the underwater section of the hull was blasted and a new paint system applied, alongside a programme of scheduled machinery maintenance.
Supporting Cunard's refit
DSR provided Cunard with 1,500 m² of warehousing, together with outdoor space for container storage, to support the refit of the ship's interior spaces. This included a refreshed Grand Lobby and Queens Room, enhanced Queens Grill and Princess Grill Suites, eight additional Britannia staterooms and work on the new Pavilion Wellness Café. The scale of the work required six cranes – three yard cranes and three mobile cranes – to be mobilised every day.
Safety focus
With its usual focus on safety, DSR created an isolated walkway so that Queen Victoria's crew of approximately 1,000 could come and go from the yard without coming near potential hazards and without needing personal protective equipment (PPE). At peak times, up to 500 yard personnel worked on the vessel alongside the ship's crew and Cunard's refit teams, on a project totalling 75,000 man-hours.
On-time departure
As with all cruise ship maintenance projects, timing was key, with Queen Victoria scheduled to return to service as soon as the work was finished. The ship left the yard on schedule on 6 November and sailed to Southampton to welcome guests on board.