Yesterday back from Cunard Queen Anne…
Yesterday back from Cunard Queen Anne H529 Cruise - Southampton, Lisbon, Malaga, Tangiers, Vigo, Southampton. Notwithstanding the beautiful ship, fantastic food (quality, range and diversity), brilliant Britannia dining room service, excellent pursers, well designed staterooms, etc. I would not have booked had I known when the ship was commissioned the then CEO would not allow any single cabins on the vessel! It’s the 21st century and people often travel alone! I found out on the voyage and experienced direct different treatment for being a solo, though I paid the same price as a couple for my balcony stateroom as there are no adjustments (as other lines) for single occupancy of a double cabin even when Cunard accepted my solo booking. One example: we had a solos’ lunch and previously on Cunard, and on Queen Anne in 2024, we would have been gifted a small glass of Cunard fizz, nothing this trip. Another oddity: you can’t buy a drinks package for one even if there a two people in a stateroom. We all understand finance, profit, and catching up from the effects of the pandemic but Cunard, there’s a difference between adjustments and rip offs. Given you were pushing those already booked to upgrade just before we sailed by bidding, you appear not to have had a full ship and yet treated us this way. Please adjust your drinks prices to reflect the UK and not just wealthy cruisers. All agents and Cunard need to make it clear that this ship doesn’t want solo travellers.
I wondered too why someone doesn’t challenge this practise given UK & Europe selling law and practices stopped this type of direct discrimination many years ago. If you ask, you are told Maritime law, or, we are registered in Bermuda, or whatever. Not really good enough. The same is true for other lines using this rationale. The sole pricing offering is just so out of date, as is most of the entertainment on offer, excluding the wonderful Amen Corner Again and Aileen & Sticks The Insights lectures were interesting but aimed at a very very mature audience, though Nick Hewer appeals to pretty much all of us and was delightful. The other speakers were knowledgeable but somewhat staid. Daytime offerings were dull and limited in my opinion.
The Queen Anne has 1,397 staterooms, accommodating up to 2,996 guests with various types of suites and penthouses, balcony staterooms of various grades, deluxe ocean view, ocean view and inside cabins, yet the majority of guests (all balcony grades, ocean view & inside) are squashed into the Britannia restaurant where tables are very near one another. There are Ocean Grill, Princess Grill and Britannia Club restaurants (for suite, penthouse & club travellers) not fully utilised and while it is understandable there are differences, or as one cruise critic wrote ‘there is still a class system on Cunard’, yet to over provide for the elite at the expense of the majority cannot be a long term marketing approach as international and UK wealth profiles change. There are large speciality dining rooms too; again all under used across this cruise. The Artisan Food Hall is well designed and feels much better to eat in than many cafeteria style eating facilities on other ships yet the food is unimaginative and the serving staff appear to have a no-smiling rule!
Shore Excursions: Tangiers was a mess perhaps as it was the ship’s first call to the port: gangways not really safe, too few, long queues to re-embark, and some tour guides not speaking a full sentence in English. I left feedback about this for future cruisers and was given a 15% discount on the tour cost but told not to tell anyone on board! Really?
Thank you for the beautiful ship, lovely food, kindness, and pleasant other solos I met on board (and the writing pad, pen and bottle of fizz in my stateroom) yet I shall not be rushing to book again with Cunard, even though you can have breakfast in bed every morning - for as long as they keep offering it!