As frequent cruisers on Cunard, we find that Queen Anne has grown on us. A pity in some ways, that it will soon be off to P&O. Whilst the ship does not follow the traditional Cunard design, it still looks elegant and offers plenty of space. We find the buffet one of the most spacious of all the mainstream ships we have been on, and we like the staff serving. The balcony cabins are bright and offer plenty of power outlets, along with USB A and C ports.
The cruise itself was great in that we met our primary objective of seeing the Northern Lights (on 3 of the 12 nights onboard). The display when leaving Narvik was outstanding. The weather didn’t always work in our favour, with some strong winds and high seas meaning we did not get to Tromso. The captain diverted to Trondheim, which is not the most scenic or interesting of ports. We also spent some time after leaving Trondheim, simply sailing around in circles, which we assumed was the captain killing time rather than get to Narvik early and incur extra port costs!
We have 2 more Cunard cruises booked via Bolsover, but these may well be our last. Although Queen Anne itself was comfortable, we found that food quality and choice continues to decline. Their were some helpful crew members, but the majority seemed like they weren’t happy in their work. The entertainment onboard was very poor e.g. with not a single production show in the theatre until day 7 of the cruise.
Cunard pricing, if like us you pay the gratuities, buy a few drinks, like access to WiFi and take the odd excursion, is now bordering that of far more premium cruise lines that tend to offer ‘all included’ fares. Once the Cunard extras are added up, then a look at the Bolsover website will show offers with lines such as Oceania, Viking, Silverseas etc that make Cunard look uncompetitive on both price and quality of the offering.
Search by
Cruise Line
Cruise Ship
Rating
Great Northern lights experience, but Cunard are slipping.
