'Queen Elizabeth' Ship: On board with a first look

Today in Southampton, England, the new Cunard Line ship, the third Queen Elizabeth, was named by the actual Queen Elizabeth. Built for $634 million, it's the third QE to be named for her. I was invited to be one of just 1,600 people to attend the naming ceremony. Watch our first-look video of the lavish interior of this ship, the third in a lineage that goes back to the Great Depression.


Cunard President Peter Shanks introduced the ship by declaring that the new vessel would ease the economy "by easing dollars of out American pockets." Then 85-year-old Queen Elizabeth, wearing royal blue from hat to hem, pushed a button that smashed a bottle of white wine against the side of the ship, proclaiming her as her namesake.

It turns out a little Anglophilia can go a long way -- it can even lure middle-class, British-obsessed Americans across an ocean at upscale prices. But could you afford to travel like this? Not long ago, more people could.