On board this year’s most surprising — and luxurious — new cruise ship (2024)

It’s midnight on Queen Anne and the ship is slipping into happy decadence. The bars are packed and live music is thumping as I wander from one venue to the next. In the Queens Room — normally a spirited but genteel ballroom — a DJ is spinning tunes, the cheering crowd grooving to the Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling. There’s a rock band in the Bright Lights Society show bar and an Irish duo in the Golden Lion pub. Swishy outfits shimmer with sequins — and I’m not just talking about the women.

We’re the first guests on board and celebration is in the air. It’s 14 years since the late monarch smashed a bottle of champagne on the hull of her namesake, Queen Elizabeth, so the excitement at being on a new Cunard Queen is palpable. The ship was commissioned in 2017 but work was, of course, interrupted by Covid. Now, the 3,000-passenger Queen Anne is here, in Southampton, the 249th ship in the company’s 184-year history.

There’s something special about a Cunard Queen. The pomp and ceremony, the scarlet funnel, the nattily dressed bellhops, the romance of steamer trunks and ocean crossings. While Cunard is part of the giant, US-based Carnival Corporation and indeed, the onboard prices are in dollars, there’s a strong sense of British maritime tradition about all three of its sister Queens. Afternoon tea, craft gins, dressing for dinner — even the four-tiered class system all hark back to cruising’s golden age.

Queen Anne is a little different. This is a contemporary take on a traditional Cunard ship. There’s certainly a sense of grandeur, with art deco flourishes at every turn. The Grand Lobby sets the tone, with etched brass pillars, a domed ceiling and a curving staircase on which people in glittering gowns pose for pictures. My cabin has some rather lovely objets d’art, including an art deco ship model in glass (glued down) and a bold geometric design in the black and white marble bathroom. The Britannia restaurant, the main dining room, is gorgeous and spread over two decks with soaring gold columns and light flooding the space from huge windows.

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And yet I feel as though I’ve got one foot in the past and one in the future. There’s a vast, airy yoga space, a juice café, a pickleball court, archery area, a sushi bar and a deluxe vintage fashion outlet selling Chanel and Louis Vuitton — all features that might tick the wish list of cruisers looking for a more contemporary vibe.

If you’re a diehard Cunard regular, you’re going to be surprised by this ship. There are venues with familiar names but a completely new look. It takes a while to find your way around; I circle the deck looking down on the Pavilion Pool twice before finding a way out.

This pool is a departure from usual cruise-ship style in that it’s under the Pavilion, a retractable glass roof designed by the architect Martin Francis, the man who engineered the iconic Louvre Pyramid in Paris, no less. The pool is overlooked by the Wellness Café, which is where I start my day with miso granola, berries and kefir, accompanied by a beetroot and carrot juice. As well as shots and juices, there are (almost) guilt-free co*cktails here. Why wouldn’t you want a kombucha bellini?

Something else that’s different about Queen Anne compared with her sisters is the addition of four new dining venues. As with all Cunard ships, the cabin you book determines the dining room where you eat. While the Britannia dining room is spectacular, if you don’t want a fixed dining time and dread the idea of sharing a table with strangers, opt for Britannia Club. You’ll get a slightly posher cabin and will have your own reserved table in the sleek Britannia Club restaurant. As a guide, a seven-night Iberia peninsula cruise in June would cost £949pp in an inside cabin and £1,599pp in a balcony cabin eating at Britannia Club. The same cruise in a Princess Grill grade cabin is £2,629pp and the Queens Grill £3,709pp.

I dine in the Queens Grill, which serves the top suites. The modern British menu is exceptional, with smoked trout, lemon sole with Jersey potatoes, and pistachio soufflé all getting the thumbs up.

On a longer voyage, I’d eat my way around the ship. There’s a Mediterranean restaurant, Tramonto, where buffalo mozzarella, confit-spiced aubergine and chermoula hake with hummus are just some of the stars on the £15 menu. In the Indian restaurant, Aranya, the menu has been created by Surjan Singh Jolly , aka TV’s Chef Jolly, and is worth every penny of the £28 cover charge.

At the back of the ship, on deck ten, there’s a sushi restaurant, Aji Wa, and a new iteration of Sir Samuel’s (named after Cunard’s founder). On Queen Mary 2, Sir Samuel’s is a coffee shop, but here it’s morphed into a smart steakhouse with dreamy views over the aft deck and pool. This will be a great spot to dine on a sunny evening.

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As cruise ships buffets are so yesterday, the casual dining venue on Queen Anne, named the Artisans’ Foodhall, promises “food stations” and á la minute preparation. But it’s essentially a buffet, where you point at what you want and it’s plated for you. Lunch was disappointing in here, but to be fair, we are the first guests on the ship. And I’m impressed by the after-11pm comfort food of tacos and shawarmas; who would have thought that Cunard would offer late-night kebabs?

My favourite bar on other Cunard ships is the Commodore Club and the version on Queen Anne doesn’t disappoint — it’s a sleek co*cktail lounge on deck 14 with 270-degree ocean views and a huge martini menu. Each of the Cunard Queens has its own gin and the Queen Anne blend is made by Summerhall Distillery, flavoured with heather, sea buckthorn and rose petals. I love the Chart Room too, looking down into the Grand Lobby and fabulously blingy, with a red marble bar surrounded by glittering shards of glass.

Cunard has gone big on partnerships with Queen Anne. Michel Roux will host two Le Gavroche at Sea residences and is also coming up with elevated pub grub for the Golden Lion, another signature Cunard venue; the golden lion in question features in the company’s logo. We can expect a gourmet take on a ploughman’s, a special Cunard beefburger and Roux’s signature three-cheese toasties. There’s a whole menu of bloody marys and a golden mary, featuring Cunard gin and pressed yellow tomato juice.

At the opposite end of the healthy scale, Harper’s Bazaar has concocted three wellness “journeys” for the spa, three-day detox programmes costing £500 apiece, including treatments, Elemis products and a suggested dining plan. Martinis in the Commodore Club are sadly not included.

There’s more. A collaboration with the British Film Institute means exclusive movie screenings in the Pavilion, where a giant screen overlooks the pool. Guest speakers on the maiden voyage will be Frank Bruno, Midge Ure and Celia Imrie. The shows in the theatre are actual plays as well as feathers-and-sequins musicals. If you’re on the maiden voyage next week, you can see the award-winning Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of). The Clarendon Fine Art gallery has some interesting offerings too; a limited- edition Banksy was unveiled this week, yours for a cool £125,000.

So what’s the verdict? I think the more traditonal Cunard regulars may stay with the safety of the sister ships. Queen Anne, though, will intrigue cruise fans looking for a more contemporary experience in a setting of old-fashioned glamour. People moan about formality and dressing for dinner on cruise ships nowadays but on Queen Anne, you’d want nothing less.
Sue Bryant was a guest of Cunard. Seven nights’ full board from £919pp on a Southampton to the Norwegian fjords itinerary, departing on June 23 (cunard.com)

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