Cunard Queen Anne Review – Our First Cunard Cruise Experience

Sailing with Cunard is something we both dreamed of long before we even discovered our love for cruising. So finally stepping onboard Queen Anne for a 7-night sailing felt incredibly special. Although Laura had stayed onboard Queen Anne for one night at launch, this was the first full Cunard cruise for both of us, and we were very excited to see whether the experience lived up to the reputation.

We were also very aware that Queen Anne has divided opinion among loyal Cunard fans, with many feeling she isn’t as traditional as the other Queens. That made us even more curious to experience her for ourselves.

We’ve shared a full video review on our YouTube channel below, or you can continue reading for the written version.

Embarkation at Southampton

We weren’t parking at the terminal, so we dropped our luggage first, parked the car, and walked back to Ocean Terminal. When we arrived, our boarding time had already passed, so we were able to enter straight away.

Inside the terminal, there were queues, but it quickly became apparent that boarding times weren’t being strictly enforced. Everyone was being directed into the same queue, including people whose boarding time hadn’t yet arrived. Despite this, the queue moved fairly quickly, and check-in itself was straightforward.

From entering the terminal to stepping onboard, the whole process took around 35 minutes, which we felt was reasonable. Once onboard, we were immediately able to speak to staff to arrange our specialty dining reservations, which we thought was really convenient.

Muster Drill & First Impressions

Cunard no longer conducts in-person muster drills. When boarding, you go directly to your muster station, scan in with a crew member who then gives you some verbal information. You then head straight to your cabin to watch the safety video. We much prefer this type of muster, it allows you to complete it as soon as you embark and then get on with enjoying your cruise.

We were very pleased to find our suitcases already waiting at our cabin when we got there, so we could have unpacked immediately if we wanted to (but we didn’t).

One early issue we noticed was with the lifts. The service lifts aren’t large enough for the luggage trolleys, which meant many passenger lifts were taken out of service to move guests suitcases. This wasn’t a problem for us as we were able to use the stairs, but for guests with mobility issues, this could mean long waits.

Our Britannia Balcony Cabin

Overall, we really liked our cabin. The décor felt modern and stylish, and the cabin was comfortable for our 7-night sailing.

We were worried about limited hanging space, especially for longer dresses, but since Laura had been onboard in May 2024, one of the wardrobe bars had been removed, creating enough room for longer items. We managed the storage well enough for the week.

We did find a couple of issues with the cabin, starting with the dressing table, this was a bit too small for our needs. We don’t think we’re particularly high maintenance but we struggled for space with for our hair products and cosmetics. We also found the bathroom storage to be quite limited.

That said, we loved the bathroom itself. The shower was spacious and the room felt well-designed. Overall, we’d happily book a Britannia Balcony on Queen Anne again.

Ship Design & Public Spaces

As Queen Anne only entered service in May 2024, the ship felt brand new throughout and she was in excellent condition. We personally liked the modern décor, although we understand why some traditional Cunard fans may not as some parts of the ship did feel similar in design to P&O Cruises Iona.

There were a few things that we weren’t keen on onboard, starting with the Promenade Deck which is unfortunately obstructed by lifeboats, meaning you can’t see the sea while walking around it. On deck 11 we also found it annoying that you can’t walk all the way around the ship due to the Grills Terrace blocking access.

Finally, The Queen’s Room is far too small for the number of guests wanting to use it, especially on a full sailing. Seating was extremely limited, and plastic chairs were often added, which detracted from the elegance you’d expect from Cunard.

Atmosphere

We sailed on a full sailing, during school holidays, which is normal for us. Despite this, the atmosphere onboard was pleasant, and we enjoyed chatting with other guests.

There were more children onboard than usual for Cunard, but we barely noticed them, we can only assume that they spent most of their time in the kids’ clubs onboard.

Most areas felt busy but manageable except for the Queen’s Room, which as we already mentioned was consistently overcrowded.

Service Onboard

Overall, service was good, but not the exceptional service we were expecting from Cunard.

We felt service levels were only slightly elevated compared to P&O Cruises, which surprised us. The ship appeared to be understaffed in some areas, particularly the main dining room, and this was most noticeable on busy evenings. On one evening, we waited 45 minutes for our drinks to be servied.

In contrast we found the bar staff to be excellent. They happily made drinks not listed on menus (such as strawberry daiquiris and pornstar martinis) and often offered large wine pours instead of two small glasses, which improved both service speed and our experience.

Food & Dining

Main Dining Room

Dinner food quality was generally good, though some portion sizes were small. One evening featured a particularly tiny chicken that we thought must have been a baby! A lot of the soups tended to taste quite similar, even though they were described quite differently on the menu.

However there were some benefits to the smaller portions allowed us, we were able to enjoy four course dinners, and sometimes order additional mains to try more dishes.

Lunch and breakfast in the main dining room were relaxed and enjoyable, we enjoyed dishes like Philly cheesesteak, noodles, and rogan josh.

Artisan’s Food Hall

There isn’t a standard buffet onboard Queen Anne, instead she has the Artisan’s Food Hall, which has different stations serving different foods. We didn’t use it often, but the food always looked appealing. Breakfast options were good, including cooked breakfasts, omelettes, and pastries. Late-night options included pizza, sausage rolls and hot dogs.

Poolside Grill

This was sometimes the only lunch option available after returning from port in an afternoon. We tried several of the burgers, including the chicken burger and alpine burger, all were cooked to order and were very good quality.

Afternoon Tea

Neither of us are big afternoon tea fans, but we felt it was a must do on a Cunard cruise. The experience was very traditional and well done, and we’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys afternoon tea. We did have a few issues with service but we think we just got unlucky with our table location.

Room Service

At the time of our sailing, room service was included for Britannia guests (this has since changed). Breakfast room service was convenient but inconsistent, with some incorrect items delivered and even an order we hadn’t placed arriving one morning. However, food always arrived hot. We also tried late night room service on a couple of occasions and we found this to be reliable and quick.

Specialty Restaurants

We had a good amount of onboard credit to use so we chose to spend some of that on dining in specialty restaurants. We thought all of the options we tried were well worth the additional cost.

Lizzy’s favourite speciality meal was the lunch that we enjoyed in Sir Samuel’s. This is a more limited menu than you would have if dining in there on an evening, but it was great value at £35 per person.

We also tried Aranya, which is a contemporary Indian speciality restaurant and our experience in here was quite mixed. Lizzy enjoyed her dishes, especially the pork belly, while Laura found hers quite bland and we’ve seen this experience echoed in other cruisers reviews.

Overall, our favourite speciality restaurant was Tramonto, which is a Mediterranean style restaurant. We thought the food was delicious, service was great, and it was excellent value for money.

Drinks Package

Cunard’s drinks package is expensive at £72 per person, per day at the time of sailing, but individual drinks are also pricey. With cocktails, wine, and non-alcoholic drinks included , it worked well for us.

Entertainment

Entertainment onboard was varied and high quality, we enjoyed a wide variety of theatre shows, lectures and music.

In the theatre we particularly enjoyed Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), it was great to see something different on a cruise ship and the cast were excellent. We also enjoyed the band and dancing in the Queen’s Room, although as we previously mentioned it was often exceptionally busy in here which did effect our enjoyment levels.

We also loved the Bright Light Society shows which were free at the time of our sailing. We probably would pay for these if we were onboard Queen Anne again as once again, it was great to enjoy something different.

Lizzy was a big fan of the insight lectures, on our sailing we were luck enough to have the wonderful Leslie Nicol who played Mrs Patmore in Downton Abbey and Dr Paul Stickler who’s talks were based around historical murder cases.

Disembarkation

The disembarkation process itself was smooth and efficient. However, we did experience the same luggage issues as on embarkation day due to the passenger lifts being used to move suitcases. We also thought it looked very messy to see the suitcases piled up in the lift lobby areas.

On the morning of disembarkation, we skipped breakfast and were off the ship very quickly. It was easy to find our luggage in the terminal and we were soon on our way back home.

Final Thoughts

For £799 per person, this cruise was excellent value. We even struggled to spend all our onboard credit which was definitely a first for us!

We really enjoyed our first Cunard cruise and would happily sail on Queen Anne again. However, we’re now very keen to experience the other Queens to see whether they offer the more traditional Cunard service many loyal guests talk about.

Queen Anne is clearly Cunard’s most modern ship, and while that won’t suit everyone, it suited us very well.