No, you’re not actually seeing double – the picture shows Cunard sister ships Queen Victoria (left) and Queen Elizabeth together in the Norwegian fjords at the tiny port of Flåm, at the head of Norway’s Aurlandsfjord.
It’s another occasion when a small shot at the top of this column would be inadequate, so click on the picture to see a bigger version.
The 450 inhabitants of Flåm are used to being outnumbered by visiting cruise passengers, but although they welcome up to 500,000 a year from more than 150 ship visits they don’t often get as many as the 4,200 who arrived on Monday – most of them heading straight for the railway for a spectacular 12.5-mile journey to Myrdal.
The Cunard sisters had, in fact, been together since leaving Southampton last Friday, and visiting Stavanger on Sunday. The exchange of horn-blowing as they left must have been deafening in the narrow confines of the fjord.
From Flam they went their separate ways; Victoria completing a seven-night cruise by visiting Olden and Bergen; Elizabeth heading north to Tromso and Spitsbergen on her 14-night voyage.
About the Author: John Honeywell
John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.
There were four ships in Flaam on May 30. P&O Aurora, Royal Carribean Brilliansce of the Seas, Holland America Ryndam and Pulmantur Empress so on that day probable there were more passengers than the two Cunard ships