A typical day aboard Cunard's Queen Anne cruise ship
Thursday, 23 January 2025
Less that a year old, Cunard’s Queen Anne has just set off on its maiden world voyage. This was big news in cruise world and only a few days earlier, I was aboard, with my family, for its previous journey to Hamburg and back.
The Queen Anne is one of 10+ ships I’ve been on and even as Cunard’s second largest, it still felt very intimate - carrying only to 2,996 passengers. So, whilst there isn’t a huge amount to do, it was surprisingly easy to keep myself busy.
Here’s what a typical day on board looked like.
We are a family of early risers, so breakfast at 8:30 would typically be the plan. I was sharing a room with my brothers and they often stayed in bed until the last minute which meant I had undisturbed access to the bathroom; a surprisingly spacious one for a cruise cabin. The shower was huge.
We chose to eat breakfast at the restaurant rather than the buffet which meant heading down to to Deck 3 for a more formal dining experience with white tablecloths and waiter service.
Breakfast, like every other meal on board was a multiple course occasion. We all started with the smoked salmon, it’s a die hard Goodman favourite, and it was delicious - served with cream cheese, a slice of lemon & some zingy capers.
I liked to keep breakfast light as I knew how much eating the rest of the day involved. My brothers and dad, however, went all in and ordered second and third courses.
After breakfast, it was time to disembark - we’d arrived in Hamburg today. Getting on and off the ship was as simple as scanning the room card at the exit and stepping off the boat. A shuttle bus then picked us up from the terminal and dropped us in the middle of the city. It was a minimal hard work situation.
Germany in January was cold so we didn’t get a lot done. We wandered around the shops for a while, but after failing to find a cute café to enjoy some German treats, we decided it was just too cold and headed back to the ship for lunch.
I’d planned on having a light lunch, as I was determined not to miss afternoon tea again. However, that plan quickly went out the window when I joined my family at the buffet on Deck 9. I ate a plate of roast pork with mash and vegetables and then a bowl of ice cream. Despite my love for food, I found the constant availability overwhelming, and by this point, I was eating more out of habit than hunger - an aspect of cruising I didn’t enjoy this time.
After lunch, it will come as no surprise that we headed straight down to the tea room - a couple of hours early - to secure a good spot before the next round of eating began.
Afternoon tea was delicious, and this was one meal I truly enjoyed - not just for the food but for the theatre of it all. White gloved waiters served finger sandwiches and miniature desserts from silver platters, followed by freshly baked scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam.
As you can imagine, I was completely delirious afterwards, so I headed straight to the gym for refuge and to try and restore some normality.
The gym on board is small but perfectly functional - and honestly, how often do you get to work out with a view of the ocean right in front of you? Since it was a port day, the gym was pretty empty with most people off exploring, which meant I could get through my workout without any interruptions and was able to hang around afterwards. I find the gym really peaceful and often end up lazing on a yoga mat for half an hour after I’m done, simply enjoying the tranquillity.
I then headed back to the room to have a shower and get ready for dinner. Tonight was a formal night which meant getting dressed up. I wore a black dress and my new heels while my brothers both put on a suit jacket and tie. During the formal nights, there are photographers set up all around the ship taking photos so on our way to meet my parents for dinner, we stopped for a photo.
This evening’s dinner was the best one we had on our four day voyage. The veal that my dad and I both ordered was nice, but nothing special so as we watched everyone else go on about their beef wellington, we decided to order ourselves a second main course to share; and they were right, it was a standout dish.
For dessert, I was stuck again between the brownie and the pineapple so I just ordered them both, it seems such a normal thing to do on a cruise ship. The brownie again, was unremarkable but the rum roasted pineapple, was I think, my favourite dish of the whole cruise.
After dinner, we wandered into one of the big lounges and found a table with some nice chairs around it. Not that I needed to eat any more, my mum ordered the hot chocolate she had been telling me about for the last three days, which arrived in a teapot enough for two so I shared that with her. It came with three accompanying plates of chocolate shards, whipped cream and marshmallows.
As we were enjoying our drinks, my brother pulled out two packs of cards and told us about one of his favourite games by which everyone had to guess the rules as you go. A very confusing concept at first but we enjoyed it so much that we were up playing it, in that lounge until 2 am; before heading back to the cabin and swiftly falling asleep. I always sleep very well on a cruise ship!
The Queen Anne is one of 10+ ships I’ve been on and even as Cunard’s second largest, it still felt very intimate - carrying only to 2,996 passengers. So, whilst there isn’t a huge amount to do, it was surprisingly easy to keep myself busy.
Here’s what a typical day on board looked like.
We are a family of early risers, so breakfast at 8:30 would typically be the plan. I was sharing a room with my brothers and they often stayed in bed until the last minute which meant I had undisturbed access to the bathroom; a surprisingly spacious one for a cruise cabin. The shower was huge.
We chose to eat breakfast at the restaurant rather than the buffet which meant heading down to to Deck 3 for a more formal dining experience with white tablecloths and waiter service.
Breakfast, like every other meal on board was a multiple course occasion. We all started with the smoked salmon, it’s a die hard Goodman favourite, and it was delicious - served with cream cheese, a slice of lemon & some zingy capers.
I liked to keep breakfast light as I knew how much eating the rest of the day involved. My brothers and dad, however, went all in and ordered second and third courses.
After breakfast, it was time to disembark - we’d arrived in Hamburg today. Getting on and off the ship was as simple as scanning the room card at the exit and stepping off the boat. A shuttle bus then picked us up from the terminal and dropped us in the middle of the city. It was a minimal hard work situation.
Germany in January was cold so we didn’t get a lot done. We wandered around the shops for a while, but after failing to find a cute café to enjoy some German treats, we decided it was just too cold and headed back to the ship for lunch.
I’d planned on having a light lunch, as I was determined not to miss afternoon tea again. However, that plan quickly went out the window when I joined my family at the buffet on Deck 9. I ate a plate of roast pork with mash and vegetables and then a bowl of ice cream. Despite my love for food, I found the constant availability overwhelming, and by this point, I was eating more out of habit than hunger - an aspect of cruising I didn’t enjoy this time.
After lunch, it will come as no surprise that we headed straight down to the tea room - a couple of hours early - to secure a good spot before the next round of eating began.
Afternoon tea was delicious, and this was one meal I truly enjoyed - not just for the food but for the theatre of it all. White gloved waiters served finger sandwiches and miniature desserts from silver platters, followed by freshly baked scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam.
As you can imagine, I was completely delirious afterwards, so I headed straight to the gym for refuge and to try and restore some normality.
The gym on board is small but perfectly functional - and honestly, how often do you get to work out with a view of the ocean right in front of you? Since it was a port day, the gym was pretty empty with most people off exploring, which meant I could get through my workout without any interruptions and was able to hang around afterwards. I find the gym really peaceful and often end up lazing on a yoga mat for half an hour after I’m done, simply enjoying the tranquillity.
I then headed back to the room to have a shower and get ready for dinner. Tonight was a formal night which meant getting dressed up. I wore a black dress and my new heels while my brothers both put on a suit jacket and tie. During the formal nights, there are photographers set up all around the ship taking photos so on our way to meet my parents for dinner, we stopped for a photo.
This evening’s dinner was the best one we had on our four day voyage. The veal that my dad and I both ordered was nice, but nothing special so as we watched everyone else go on about their beef wellington, we decided to order ourselves a second main course to share; and they were right, it was a standout dish.
For dessert, I was stuck again between the brownie and the pineapple so I just ordered them both, it seems such a normal thing to do on a cruise ship. The brownie again, was unremarkable but the rum roasted pineapple, was I think, my favourite dish of the whole cruise.
After dinner, we wandered into one of the big lounges and found a table with some nice chairs around it. Not that I needed to eat any more, my mum ordered the hot chocolate she had been telling me about for the last three days, which arrived in a teapot enough for two so I shared that with her. It came with three accompanying plates of chocolate shards, whipped cream and marshmallows.
As we were enjoying our drinks, my brother pulled out two packs of cards and told us about one of his favourite games by which everyone had to guess the rules as you go. A very confusing concept at first but we enjoyed it so much that we were up playing it, in that lounge until 2 am; before heading back to the cabin and swiftly falling asleep. I always sleep very well on a cruise ship!
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