This final blog (re-my voyages on Queen Anne) has been a long time coming. 

I don’t think that I have ever continued writing about a journey four weeks after arriving home and unpacking.  

I hope that Blogs 0094 to this one, 0126, provides a fair recollection of my time on this brand new passenger ship. 

Looking back, there was very little (if anything at all) that I didn’t like about Cunard’s Queen Anne, apart from possibly the trip hazard in the lift area! (See next paragraph)

There is much advice discouraging travelling on maiden voyages.  For me, the reasons do not really stack up.  Granted, I expect teething troubles, unintentional inefficient service, confusion, and unexpected occurrences such as falling over those low slung colour-camouflaged seats in each lift area, which injured not only me!

These days, Cunard introduces a new ship perhaps every 10 years or so.  Thus, a maiden voyage will always be a historic event in its own right.  Indeed, the maiden voyage of Queen Anne sold out, I think, in less than an hour.  My being 75, it is not very likely that I shall see another Cunarder join the fleet. I hope I am wrong!  I remember well the maiden voyage of Queen Mary 2, my increasing excitement, and the “build-up” to January 12th 2004.  I also remember the mixed feelings both in the media and on board.  But, I was glad to be there and wouldn’t have missed it for the world, despite having had my brand-new digital camera “liberated” in the Queens Room during the briefest moment of “absentmindedness”.   There was a lot of spectacular celebration throughout that voyage.  I was also on the maiden voyage of Cunard’s Queen Victoria, nothing like as spectacular, and venturing into freezing northern Europe in December 2007!  

Cunard placed its order for a new cruise-ship in 2017, some 50 years from when the QE2 was launched on September 20th, 1967.  (I was on its 40th anniversary cruise in 2007).   Covid-19 delayed the entry of what would be Queen Anne into service first to January 2024, and then with other issues, May 3rd, 2024.  When I stepped on board at around 4 p.m., I was as excited as a young child at Christmas!  The newness overwhelmed me, and there was that new car smell.  The paintwork gleamed, the decor shone, pristine and untouched.  The kettle in my stateroom still had its lead folded into its packing and needed unravelling.  I would be the only person in Stateroom 8192 to ever do that!   If this was the shake-down voyage, as has been suggested more than once, I was very happy to be on it. 

Still looking fresh from the shipbuilders, Queen Anne at Funchal, Madeira.

Cunard’s Queen Anne is a Pinnacle Class ship 23 metres longer than ships of the same type employed by Holland America Line.  From what I gather, the extra length of Queen Anne makes this a “Halifax” variant.

Computer generated images in various forms, e.g., brochures and preview videos, although recognisable, did not really convey what I might have been expecting in reality.  I didn’t know what to expect.  There is certainly more colour generally. Attractive colourful, sometimes geometric patterns adorn the lift areas and the passageways surrounding the individual stateroom entrance doors.  But nothing is garish or “Liberace.”  except possibly the cabaret shows in the Bright Lights Society, which carries this sort of thing off magnificently, before morphing into the ship’s disco later in the evening. 

I like the style and comfort of the Royal Court Theatre, which seats up to 834 guests, although there are areas where being seated behind somebody large will obscure one’s view, particularly towards the front where the seating doesn’t appear to be raked.

The shops onboard left me somewhat underwhelmed. (Shops/ shopping malls usually do!)   If I really wanted a Faberge egg, however, I wouldn’t have been disappointed or a limited-edition Banksy.

 I felt that specific Queen Anne “merch” was nowhere near as abundant as on Queen Mary 2’s maiden voyage, but surprisingly, the excellent models of the ship, in three different styles seemed to remain plentiful after five weeks, while Queen Anne teddybears and fridge magnets, among other items, flew off the shelves – some to appear later on eBay, along with commemorative menus and other maiden voyage gifts.  Thinking the model ships would soon be snapped up, I bought one of all three types of model, almost at the beginning of the maiden voyage, and had them shipped to Buxton along with other souvenirs, from Bournemouth during my second call at Southampton. 

There were inevitable teething problems during these first few weeks, but nothing untoward that I felt was unacceptable. Service in the restaurants could sometimes be painfully slow, but far from always.  Afternoon Tea presentation needed some working on, but it was always extremely pleasant especially with live music either in the background, or to dance to. Guests would take their seats well before the 3.00 pm opening time.  Turn up after 3 o’clock, and you would still be welcomed, but the service might become out of sync.   The traditional Queens Room frequently filled up for AfternoonTea, but impressively, sections of the lovely Britannia Club Restaurant were set aside  when required.  Dainty sandwiches, cakes, and scones offered were gorgeous, although annoyingly, being diabetic, I had to resist the cakes and pastries.  Cunard scones (even without the cream and jam, I am forbidden to partake thereof) are consistently fresh and delicious.

THE NAMING CEREMONY.

This was a rare and unmissable experience.  The actual ceremony was roughly 45 minutes, with other events continuing until well after 10 pm.  Usually open to invited guests only, the naming ceremony was available to all passengers who had the choice of attending in person, staying on board for special events, including a full screening of the ceremony throughout the ship, or choosing something completely different. I attended in person. I positioned myself where I could sit down on a waterfront-facing wall opposite-which Queen Anne had manoeuvred into position.  I enjoyed a clear view of the ship, less so of the stage with the crowds at a slightly higher level than where I would end up. But I was able to capture on video (although not brilliantly) some of the naming ceremony and much of the atmosphere.  I, for one, was still wondering which very important person was going to name the already in service Queen Anne.  It was announced that the City of Liverpool would be the ship’s godparent.  “Oh!” I thought, feeling slightly conned!  Cunard had  quite rightly made a big thing of its original important connections with Liverpool.  Perhaps the Four Queens could be re-registered here in Liverpool rather than Hamilton in Bermuda, as has been the case since 2011.  Just a (naive) thought, maybe.  Celebrities who I had not yet heard of thronged the stage, all referred to as icons, along with everything else!   Iconic seemed to be the only adjective I recall.  People were addressed as you guys, and one person I spoke to lamented that the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra had been referred to as the band!  That faux-pas if it happened, I missed.  Master of Ceremonies were Matt and Emma Willis, who in their well rehearsed and delivered addresses forgot, frequently, there was a letter T in the alphabet.  Seemingly, it is now fashionable not to pronounce “Ts,” a trend probably set by the always “trying-to-be-trendy” B.B.C.  I suppose the Cunard “coup” was the engagement of the world famous tenor Andrea Bocelli who wowed the gathering with his rendition of the song he (and Sarah Brightman) made famous in 1995, “Time to Say Goodbye” sung in his native Italian.

Despite my slight grumblings, the naming ceremony and associated events was overwhelmingly spectacular and extravagant, as were the three late evening fireworks displays, two of which were out of sight and I was unaware of until I saw drone footage on YouTube after arriving home!   The Cunard stage wouldn’t have looked out of place at Glastonbury, and a part of me wanted to stay in Liverpool and then make my own way to Cobh during the next day.  Then, however, I wouldn’t have enjoyed the Naming Gala Dinner and not collected a handful of remaining commemorative menus.  It wouldn’t surprise me if tickertape from the ceremony was still blowing around Liverpool days later.  Sad old me collected some as a souvenir! 

I look back with much pleasure, unexpectedly meeting my travel agent of more years either of us would care to remember.  Geographically, this was never going happen; East Anglia is somewhat off my beaten track!  However, a big shout-out to Fred Holidays of Ipswich! 

My travel agent treated me to a voucher for Champagne Afternoon Tea, which, because of some electronic inability to process, although paid for, couldn’t be honoured.  I was refunded $14 on the very last day!  I was more amused than annoyed!  Nevertheless, there must have been some severe manager who the waiters were afraid of enough not to pour me a glass of champagne from the substantial choice available and accept the voucher paid for by my travel company.

Sailing on Queen Anne during its first five weeks in service was a pleasure that will stay with me for a very long time.  Sure, there were a few hiccups, but there are, during life in general, and far more serious than waiting a long time between courses at dinner because of whatever.  The cuisine was always very good.   I’m probably biased, but I had the time of my life.  And I will request stateroom 8192 next time!

In August, I fly out to Washington D.C. to attend the wedding of my great nephew.  When the celebrations are over, I have the opportunity to wander around some of the United States by Amtrak, revisiting the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago (last attended in 2022), Niagara Falls (2001), Buffalo N.Y. (1969)  Syracuse N.Y. (for the first time) and New York City (2022) 

Many thanks for reading,

David, 13.29 hrs Friday 5th July at home.