At Sea

May 8^thand 9^th, 2024

When I had booked our 3 back to back cruises I had been able to get us in the same stateroom for the 3 trips. However the computers and Cunard thought otherwise, and we ended up being in a different cabin for the 2^nd leg of the voyage. Not a huge deal as the cabin stewards help move your possessions, but it still means packing suitcases again, and I am so done with packing.

I had made several trips to the pursers office to see if the situation could be rectified, and maybe the people who were taking over our cabin could get a free upgrade? No such luck.

Our 2 sea days were as busy as ever with Zumba, choir and lectures. The best lecture was Chris Frame’s talk on QE2. I thought I knew everything there was to know about QE2, but I learned quite a lot from his presentation.

I remember how when QE2 first came into service my mother declared that she was way too brash and that she would never sail on her. She was not alone in her thoughts about the new ship, however, over the years QE2 morphed into the ship that we all got to know and love, and were despondent when she made her final voyage to Dubai.

Will the same happen with Queen Anne I wonder? We are so lucky that if she really isn’t our cup of tea, we have 3 wonderful alternatives for our voyages. I am sure that she will get a dedicated following over the years. Because of the Grills on deck 10 and 11 if you are trying to go from the front to the back of the ship you will meet with dead ends. Sort of like QE2.

Sea days (or any days really) are made for lunch in the pub. As always it was very crowded but we were able to squeeze into a table in the corner.

I wanted to order a Strongbow cider, but although Strongbow is available in other bars on the ship, the pub doesn’t serve it.

There is some of the regular fare on the menu such as fish and chips (and mushy peas) and a ploughman’s lunch, but no chicken curry or steak and ale pie alas. However, these apparently do appear as specials on certain days.

The specials today were cottage pie, gammon egg and chips, and steamed lemon pudding. You can also get a burger for an upcharge. I’ve been told that the burgers are pretty good, but I don’t come to a pub for a burger.

I opted for the ploughman’s. It was not what I was expecting, but maybe it is a more modern version of the old standard. There was a slice of bread and a slice of cheese, shredded pickled onions, a very large thick slice of ham, and a Scotch egg. At first I thought the waiter had brought me the wrong dish. I like a bit of pate, fruit, and chutney, but not on Queen Anne. But then I love looking at the portrait of Princess Anne, my favourite royal, as I have my ploughman’s and Strongbow cider on QM2. Hmmmmm. Maybe I should go down to future voyage sales and get Chris to book us on another QM2 voyage……..

Lunch took a while, and it was 2:00 PM when we left the Golden Lion. When we walked past the Queens Room every table was already taken with people waiting for afternoon tea at 3:00 PM. We bumped into a friend and she said she had got to the Queens room at 1:30 but there was already nowhere to sit. Not a good state of affairs at all. Apparently you can also get tea in the Britannia Club dining room, but that’s not the point. Tea in the Queens Room with the string trio playing in the background is all part of a Cunard voyage. Well, that is something else we will have to get used to.

However, there is one tradition that hasn’t gone by the wayside. It was the final formal night, and everyone in the Chart Room and dining room was in formal clothes again, not a T shirt or shorts anywhere on board.

We went to the Chart Room for predinner drinks. Although the décor is a bit drab, the Chart Room has a very nice clubby feel to it, and is a great place for predinner drinks. The string trio were playing, but the music was soft and didn’t interfere with conversation. This was such a pleasure after the noise on Princess.

The dining room looked  lovely. The napkins were folded in my favourite fold, and looked better than when I do it. Larger starched napkins probably help.

Dinner was delicious – chateaubriand and crepes Suzette. My kind of meal.

After dinner we decided to go and watch the dancing in the Queens Room. There was no ballroom dancing, but there were 2 dancers/acrobats swinging from the chandelier.

We were all given a bottle of Prosecco as a gesture of appreciation for the chaos on the first few days of the voyage. It was an interesting way to placate us.

In preparation for sandal wearing in the Canaries, on our last sea day I decided to get a pedicure. The nail salon is light and bright, and you can look out the large windows and watch the ocean go by as you relax and soak your feet in the warm bubbling water. Bliss.

I made another visit to the Cunard shop on board in the vain hope that they may finally have some Queen Anne Maiden Voyage merchandise. I was out of luck. There are a few Queen Anne items, such as water bottles, but NOTHING that acknowledges the maiden voyage. Not even a T shirt or tea towel. It was very disappointing. The shop itself is also very disappointing. It is tiny and there is only room for a few people in there at one time. Most importantly, no Queen Anne scarves, and they had sold out of Queen Anne bears.

At least there aren’t those tacky tables outside the shops selling discounted jewelry and hand bags. Well not as yet. Maybe they will appear on a future voyage.

The shops themselves are all very nice, with the usual selection of over priced goods. There are several shops, but I am yet to find the sundry shop or book shop. Maybe they simply don’t have these on board.

Next to one of the shops is the Cabinet of Curiosities. I am not quite sure what this is all about. It has handbags, jewelry, and photos of the royal family with a couple of tiaras. I assume they are fake, but maybe they are real.

For our last dinner of this segment we joined friends for dinner in the Britannia Dining Room. The food and service were significantly better than on the first night we had eaten there. However, the dining room itself is somewhat bland. Usually I love a minimalist look, but this may be taking minimalism too far. It really needs a bit of colour to make it more interesting.

We returned to our room to finish packing for our move tomorrow.

I really had hoped that there would be a maiden voyage keepsake on our bed. I had already been thinking about how we would pack something like a little Wedgewood sweet dish. But there was nothing to commemorate the voyage. Not in china, not in wood, not in glass, not in metal. Nothing. I do think Cunard could have done a little bit better.

I am so happy that we were able to be on the maiden voyage. It was a wonderful experience, and I have loved every minute of the voyage. It would have been better if there had been more celebration of the fact that this is the maiden voyage, but you can’t have everything.

We didn’t hit an iceberg or have engine failure. There were no disasters, except for a few people not getting dinner on the first night. And I am so glad that we don’t have to disembark tomorrow – I do like being on Queen Anne 