Sail Away: Uncensored prides itself on hosting free and open discussions where guests share their personal opinions and experiences. While guests raise interesting points and points for debate, these are individual views and cannot always be independently verified. We encourage all viewers to seek their own advice and research when forming opinions about the topics discussed. Sail Away Magazine does not endorse or confirm the accuracy of all statements made by guests.
Really interesting chat. We did Virgin, Celebrity Apex and Cunard QV last year - so your talk was very relevant. I agree that lack of ability to see the front of the ship from anywhere was a shame on the Apex, and a fair bit of the ship was out of bounds. But still really liked it. Only other issue was alcohol prices and confusion about whether to tip or not when sailing from the UK. Virgin was very nice too. My favourite though was Cunard QV - really liked the ship and service - currently my favourite ship. Doing MSC Preziosa next - so slightly apprehensive given your comments..
I agree with your last point very much. There is far too many influencers who are taking benefits from the cruise ships/lines who do NOT disclose these relationships. Among the worst of these involve NCL and MSC. They also create an impression that those line's premium product s is what you will get if you book a normal cabin with those lines.
Enjoyed. Thank you. I have been on 4 cruises, having taken my first in Fall 2023 and just returned from my 4th--all on Princess. I have 3 more Princess cruises booked between this year and next. I loved the Island, Emerald, and Sapphire; I found the Enchanted too large, noisy and crowded. But I think the Grand and Coral class ships are great and am surprised you don't mention them. Excellent food and service in the MDR. Same time/table/waitstaff every dinner is an available choice ("Traditional Dining"). Promenade deck. Nightly turn down service. Superb itineraries. Excellent value for the money; whenever I've compared prices for similar itineraries, Cunard, HAL, and Celebrity have always cost more. No ship within a ship. I am sailing on the Emerald out of Southampton in June and am really looking forward.
Loved your podcast with Bill. As an Australian who prefers a more traditional experience, I don’t mind that we have the older ships as they tend to have more space, Promenade deck, Crows Nest etc. What has saddened me is the closure in March of P&O Australia, which has a 92 year cruising heritage, and the moving of its last ships (former Princess Grand class) into Carnival. Carnival is retaining many of the P&O features to appease us Australians, but that will just confuse the market as Carnival Splendour and Luminosa which sail down here are typical Carnival ships! It may be time to try Celebrity Edge class!
Cunard, like P&O, started to go down when the Americans took over. I come from the 1950s, and in those days, crew went to Maritime School and knew their jobs through and through. My own father worked for Cunard, Canadian Pacific, and more, and friends of mine who joined the merchant Navy all went to Maritime School, whether they were waiters, stewards, bartenders, or deck hands. Same as staff who are not trained anymore. For instance, my wife worked for Woolworths after leaving school and was on the haberdashery counter but had tuition before being left to deal with the public.
I found this video to be very interesting and generally love your interview videos. I am fortunate in having experienced the tail end of the golden age of cruising when I used to accompany my father (who was a guest entertainer) on P&O's S.S. Canberra, firstly in 1980 and then again on several occasions in the early 1990's. I then went on P&O's Iona in 2023 and saw a vast difference in the cruising experience. I hated the latter and will not be going back with P&O. I have also cruised several times with Marella and loved the smaller ships with a happier/more friendly crew. I now want to try another , slightly more premium line to compare my more recent experiences to.
Enjoyed this discussion. After 4 cruises on Cunard, we really enjoy sailing with them. We do not take evening wear and Tux. More country club style dress. However, the #1 negative is the food quality. Perhaps keeping all the quality for Grill passengers. 🤔 seriously I agree the traditional draw for us, after experiencing, is now the main reason to sail. Regarding service, I feel it's more to do with not enough staff v quality of service. Bravo on this podcast 👏 👍👍
Never been on a cruise don't know much about them but if I ever did I would want to go on one of the canard Queens. They look like a proper ship with colours and would be nice to dress up
So right about the failures of Queen Anne; I love crossing the N Atlantic and happy that QM2 is doing that regularly; I took a world cruise on QE in 2014-wonderful, the experience on QV two years ago was very different-they ran out of bourbon! QM2 Verandah is a long way from Todd English at the beginning-downhill.ever since. My first TA was on the France in 1969-so I’ve seen many changes. You are right that the main restaurant has been diminished. I did a ‘round Africa cruise in 2023 on Zuiderdam-=excellent and very good value-except for the restaurant up-charges. Earlier ‘round South America on Princendam-no upcharges. Very good show-very glad I’ve voyaged and cruised when I did.
Great to see Bill on the podcast! Out of our six cruises last year, Cunards QM2 was the worst in both service and cleanliness. We totally agree that Cunard lovers hate to see the brand criticised. We had some interesting exchanges on our channel! We also agree that the speciality dining options are often not worth the money, but people are booking them as the MDR offerings are not as good as they used to be. Thanks for this very interesting discussion 👍
This was an extremely thoughtful and rich discussion. So bravo to the three of you. I found the comments on Cunard to be especially of interest after having just disembarked from the Queen Anne. I have been saying that Anne was Cunard's strategic pivot to Celebrity. If so the pivot will not have a happy ending and this is especially true of the food quality which I find to be substantially below that of Celebrity (Grills being an exception). Anne has no context within the Cunard brand. Perhaps that's by design. I sense that what Cunard is trying to achieve with Anne is more incremental on-board revenue generation. This appears to be the fatal flaw with the other Queens. Outside of Grills, Cunard loyalists are older (much older) and more thrifty. But on Anne, I saw a mostly empty empty Italian specialty dining, a very low occupancy for the 2'nd seating main dining, an over crowded Artisan's Dining Hall (an inability to clear and clean tables in Artisan's), a largely empty casino, a bland Chart Room where when they did have live music, the musicians are actually positioned outside the room closer to the bar area, a Pavillion Grill that took way to long for orders with low quality food. Cabins have the appropriate tech now (usb ports) but the cabinetry quality is shockingly poor. The ship will not age well. The gym is an improvement over the other Queens buts its deck 1 bow location is odd. My take-a-way: Cunard is in trouble. They seem to not know where to go with their British themed heritage. They can't pull off Carnival food quality and the gap is growing.. I suspect the brand will be gone on 10 years. Maybe the QM2 will be all that remains.
The promenade deck on queen Elizabeth is outstanding, walked it every evening after smoking cigars in the Churchill cigar lounge, which is also a fine venue
Great show! We are going to Caribbean with Royal Caribbean it has been a long time since we cruised this part of the world talking about up sell I can’t believe some of the price on the private island wow!
Great chat with Bill, some fantastic points. Enjoyed you drinking away as you chat even if it was dodgy Cunard sparkling stuff. I would not be surprised if Cunard and P&O get absorbed by Carnival for a mega brand in the next 10/15 years time. Most things have been cut due to money. For example why no long distance two week cruises from Southampton is Carnival have worked out the ultimate speed to make the most money and it costs to much to get to Rome etc. Money talks. Main dinning will be payable at some point, companies are advertising them as holidays not cruises and if you go to Spanish hotel all you get is a buffet so that is what you get for some companies in the future. Those ingredients you mentioned would be very unrealistic for cruise fares for some of prices that are charged now.. Right off for some Chair aerobics….
Queen Anne is certainly not a classic Cunarder, and I thoroughly believe that Cunard, and Carnival have completely missed the mark with it; she is not a well thought-out ship, partly owing to being an extended HAL hull (if what I've heard is correct, HAL were due to have the hull, but turned it down and so Carnival tossed it at Cunard and told them to do what they can with it). It's clear with the slow creep forward of the dining times, the relaxing of the dress codes, and other bits and pieces, that Carnival is desperately trying to turn the brand into a facsimile of itself, and cut costs and corners; yes Carnival LLC have no clue what Cunard is about or what to do with it. The new branded sparkling wine isn't pleasant compared to the Pol Acker, and it's my understanding that solo travellers get half bottles, and couples get full bottles, even though solo are almost paying for double-occupancy with the sinlge person supplement on a double occupancy cabin. On the topic of the speciality dining on Cunard: the Verandah on QV is OK, but the menu is very limited if you don't eat seafood for appetisers. The pop-up restaurants which rotate every 4 nights in a cordened off part of the Lido are decent enough - on the Christmas cruise just gone I tried La Piazza, and the Indian one. The food was better than what was being served in the Britannia restaurant, and is potentially worth the up-charge of $35/head (£28/head roughly) which is what you can spend easily for a meal out on the high street. I didn't try the restaurants on Anne in August as the menus just didn't appeal, and the Roux pop-up was mostly fish orientated.
Good or bad I'm afraid the cruising traditions are almost gone as the cruise lines steer towards resorts at sea-themed vessels to maximise returns for the shareholder. But, it's business; and they have to move forward as us older cruisers pop off the top they have to fill their ships and, therefore have to make cruising attractive to the younger generations.
That's sad as I only found cruising 5 years ago, being in my early 50s had hoped for a couple of decades of future cruises but the party ships are going to push me out, which is sad.
I find your comments about Cunard really interesting. I love Cunard and have done since first sailing on QE2 with my dad in 2008 before she was let go, therefore the lasting affection for their ships is a powerfully nostalgic one. With trepidation we’ve booked onto Queen Anne in June so we’ll see but what I find most interesting are the parallels between Cunard and Saab motor cars. Beloved by so many so loyally, I’ve had and still have a Saab car. The automotive side of Saab last made cars well over ten years ago and many like to blame General Motors for their demise since taking full control in the early 90’s. Much like Carnival with Cunard, GM never quite knew what to do with the little Swedes and much of the beloved Saabness ebbed away over the years before the inevitable happened. So much like Saab as it soldiered on, Cunard and Cunarders find themselves desperately clinging to the past as their parent companies try to keep their golden years alive and relevant today and into the future amid huge surrounding competition. As the remaining Saab numbers will only ever go down yet the affection remains as enthusiastic as ever, will the same be said for a Cunard faithful as the traditionalists fade away? Who knows, but with Saab no matter how much GM cheapened the products, the fans remained but the number of those fans just weren’t enough to make money in the end. Will Cunard suffer in the same way? Who knows but I’ll close with a comment Captain Inger Olsen made many years ago when asked about the Carnival (American!) ownership of Cunard. In a nutshell she basically remarked that this might not be to everybody’s liking but put it this way, without Carnival, Cunard would have gone to the wall years ago. Just like Saab. So roll on June I say!
We really enjoyed watching your banter will Bill. Nice seeing your faces, I have watched most of excellent your ship reviews, it’s nice putting a face with the voice. Maybe our paths will cross on a ship somewhere. I just released a video with Jill and Jerry of the Cruising Cunacks. Check it out if you have a chance. Thanks.
If you listen to them they appear to be fans of Cunard but fear it's new ship shows it is having it's brand watered down.I love Cunard, the relaxing atmosphere, the elegance and sense of space on board. Hopefully the industry can sustain a wide range of cruises for all tastes rather than being all being identikit replicas of each other.
My wife and I are going on our second cunard cruise this may, queen Victoria this time we were on queen Elizabeth in august up in alaska. We were thrilled with cunard.
As soon as I saw on another UA-cam channel that Queen Anne Curnard is identical to Rotterdam HAL, i realized that CLL (the umbrella owner) was just a stopgap meaure to Cunard's inevitable bankrupcty. I mean, I would rather do a TA on HAL or any other cruise line. I don't see the Cunard advantage, to my hard-earned money.
I would love formal night every night! I want every night to be an occasion, I would love to see a traditional sail away party! I smiled so much my first day onboard, like a child with a new toy! I want a staff to guest ratio of 2:1! Same waiter every day no matter what restaraunt I'm in! I want to go onboard and think I'm in the palace of Versaille!😂 Not this modern look resembling a nice Marriot! I would have absolutely adored the ships of yore! I do want to go on QM2 with my cat within the next 5 years! Ive only been on Silversea for a 14 day voyage in 2022 and was extremely blessed to have gone! Won't be on again for awhile and I am missing the ocean and experience so much lately! And I'm a 27 year old American.
Here's some food for thought: 100 years ago at sea, the evening dress code for Gentlemen was Top Hat and Tails, No doubt those older Gentlemen had a lot to say when the younger generation turned up at the restaurant wearing Spats and a Tuxedo?
Thanks for the interview. I'd have liked you to have drilled down more on Bill's assertion that Cunard is 'losing money'. Carnival Corp does not share individual brands $$ performance in their Annual Report, and I can't find any guidance on Cunard being unprofitable, so it would be fascinating as to what his sources are, for what would be quite a revelation should it be accurate. People have been saying Cunard will be sold, spun off or closed since Carnival bought it in 1998... yet in 2025 it is bigger than it has been since 1999. The Queen Anne Library / Pickleball court is a simple fix - move the pickelball court 😆 The Queens Room is a harder issue to address, given how polarising its design is. It does remind me of QE2's double down room, but that was specifically designed for tourist class only (as originally created) and QE2 had a far lower pax count. The Queens Room was probably my least favourite part of Queen Anne. That said, as a very regular Cunard traveller (and as you'd guess QM2 is by far my favouite current ship) I liked many aspects of the Queen Anne. The ship has more bars and lounges than the Vista Queens, I liked the commodore club, the Pavilion area is superb, and the cabin bathrooms are hands down the best in the Cunard fleet. I also remember the days when people would stop and listen if you said QE2! These days, QM2 is what makes Cunard absolutely unique among all other brands - the last true ocean liner left in service, in an age of cruise ships. Just to finish off, we must not forget, without the Carnival investment, QM2 would not exist. In fact, Cunard was literally on its way out in 1998, and would almost certainly not be here if Carnival had not saved it. Of course, we have all noticed a reduction in onboard service aboard Cunard over the years (I remember Mauretania Restaurant dinners on QE2 with sorbet between courses, individual menus every single day - dated so they could not repeat them - and Petit four of hand made chocolate truffles, that was offered on a massive tray) ... but Carnival is also responsible for saving the brand from collapse. It's a very nuanced topic. There are many, many angles to it. Let's hope QM2 - given how special she is - remains well loved and cared for over the next 20 years.
Thanks for your comment. You’re absolutely right that Carnival’s investment saved Cunard in 1998 and made QM2 possible, which we all agree is an irreplaceable part of the fleet and the last true ocean liner. Without Carnival, Cunard might not have survived. However, the decline in onboard service is undeniable, and the golden touches that once made Cunard special-like the Mauretania Restaurant’s attention to detail-feel like a distant memory. As for Bill’s claim that Cunard is losing money, we’ll be sure to press him for sources when we have him back on. Carnival doesn’t break out individual brand performance, so it’s difficult to validate, but low fares and lower occupancy on recent Cunard sailings might suggest some truth in what Bill is saying. Your thoughts on Queen Anne’s Queens Room and other features are spot on. The design is polarising, and while some areas shine-like the Pavilion and the improved cabin bathrooms-the Queens Room falls flat compared to its predecessors, particularly QM2. Completely agree that QM2 is what makes Cunard truly unique, and let’s hope she remains the pride of the fleet for many more years to come. Thanks again for sharing your perspective-it’s a nuanced discussion, and your insights add real depth. Would love to meet you in person, and have you as a guest on the podcast one day. Thanks for watching :)
@ it’s a great format and I enjoyed listening. I’d be delighted to come on the show next time I’m in your part of the world! I can tell the passion you both have for Cunard, especially QM2, and like you I want to see it at its best! Bill’s memories of the Star Cruises ships was particularly interesting to me, as they sailed in my part of the world - especially during SARS - when the ship’s repositioned to Australia. Super Star Leo became Norwegian Spirit which is in my top 10 favourites. Sadly by the time COVID hit, Star Cruises was a shell of its former self and a long way from the innovative company that invested in Leo and Virgo back in the 90s.
As you correctly note, Carnival Corp provides zero financial guidance by brand. But a few things can be extrapolated from their 10K filings: 1) Cunard seems like an outlier within the Carnival line up. 2) specifically it only accounts for 3% of deployed tonnage (before introduction of Queen Anne). 3) By comparison, Seaborne is 1% and Holland America is 9%. Princess, Carnival, and P&O (UK + Australia) are all double digits (as of 2023). 4) Cunard caters to Americans by a 9:1 ratio vs passengers from the UK. 5) so why is Cunard part of the portfolio? I think mainly because M. Arison wanted it. 6) that said, a decision was made to go forward with Queen Anne even during the despair of the Covid era. Carnival Corp is also aggressively reducing its debt profile. 7) But with 3 of 4 Cunard ships in the "getting old" category, maybe staying the course with Anne was a way to add enterprise value for an eventual sale. Pure speculation on my part. 8) You can make the case of having a 1% brand in your line up (Seaborne) because a luxury brand likely produces solid yields. 9) As a maritime consultant, I could easily make the case that Cunard get's sold as the post Covid industry metrics continue to move in a very positive direction. 10) All this aside, Cunard, even with Anne, is just too small to matter in the Carnival portfolio. It's there because Arison wanted it as noted above. 11) Pure speculation on my part but if MSC were to build a liner (and the Apponte familiy loves investing in ships and loves New York City), then it's game over for Cunard.
While I could speculate, it's painfully obvious that only some accounting tricks in the books are keeping Curnard afloat. Cunard can't outclass classy HAL. Cunard can't out-entertain fun ship Carnival. Cunard clearly is a niche market for Anglo-philes, we'll see what bookkeeping tricks CCL does to keep its shareholders happy with Cunard.
I'm not paritisan to any particular cruise lines and consider myself a casual cruiser. Having just been on Queen Anne we enjoyed it, but personally think they are stuck between pleasing their more established cruisers and finding a new market. Personally I think they should go all in on new market, accessible, upscale but modern, so ditch the ballroom dancing. But something pushing closer to Virgin but mashed up with the story of cunard history
Interesting conversation. Agree Cunard has def gone for quantity over quality. The problem they have is they cannot attract families with kids when the likes of Royal Caribbean , Carnival etc. For me the Queen Anne is not a 'real'..Cunard ship, nor can she compete with the family designed vessels. She is neither fish nor fowl. QM2 is a different ship and what Cunard should offer. Sad but your comments are spot on.
The nice thing about queen Elizabeth, queen Victoria and queen Mary II is that almost the entire ship is available to all passengers, ship within a ship sucks if you’re a typical passenger. Cunard is much more egalitarian
Cunard does the morning show, they do the paper daily events, and you can go right in for dinner with no wait with set dinner time. Many of the complainants in this video are remedied by choosing cunard
Paul Ludlow is President of Carnival UK now. He’s going to ruin Cunard like he’s done to P & O unfortunately. The theme nights are reportedly being dropped on Cunard, where’s it going to end.
100% on class based systems coming back. Look at hotels, the large grand hotels of yesterday are out of favour, and the exclusive small hotels are in. Cruising is no different.
As an American with 25 cruises completed, I do not see myself ever going on a Cunard ship as they are now. Even at the age of 67 with a tux, I don't want to be on a ship with the main entertainment being a dance floor. I like seeing all age groups on my cruise. This is 2025, not 1965, sorry.
And I don't want to be on a ship where the main dancing is with one hand holding an alcholic beverage, hopping up and down, in athleisure wear. I'm not paying good money for a dive bar environment. Sorry, not sorry.
What Cunard did with the addition of multiple cabins bolted on to the stern of the Queen Elizabeth was an atrocity. It not only looked ugly, but emphasized how money hungry Cunard were. I find it somewhat abhorrent, that the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Anne, both look like cookie cutter copies of Carnival`s livery and not unique to the Cunard brand. The thrill of traveling on a five star exclusive cruise ship that harks back to a bygone era, has virtually been thrown out the window. I get that Cunards Queen Anne has still retained the service one expects, but the look of the ship itself leaves me unimpressed.
Sail Away: Uncensored prides itself on hosting free and open discussions where guests share their personal opinions and experiences. While guests raise interesting points and points for debate, these are individual views and cannot always be independently verified. We encourage all viewers to seek their own advice and research when forming opinions about the topics discussed. Sail Away Magazine does not endorse or confirm the accuracy of all statements made by guests.
Bill is brilliant. Knowledgeable, witty and we love his vlogs.
I do miss ice sculptures, and fruit carving, and the midnight buffet was neat too
HAL and Carnival had fruit carving in 2024.
Very interesting guest, I agree with everything he said. Great episode, great interview. 👍
Really interesting chat. We did Virgin, Celebrity Apex and Cunard QV last year - so your talk was very relevant. I agree that lack of ability to see the front of the ship from anywhere was a shame on the Apex, and a fair bit of the ship was out of bounds. But still really liked it. Only other issue was alcohol prices and confusion about whether to tip or not when sailing from the UK. Virgin was very nice too. My favourite though was Cunard QV - really liked the ship and service - currently my favourite ship. Doing MSC Preziosa next - so slightly apprehensive given your comments..
I agree with your last point very much. There is far too many influencers who are taking benefits from the cruise ships/lines who do NOT disclose these relationships. Among the worst of these involve NCL and MSC. They also create an impression that those line's premium product s is what you will get if you book a normal cabin with those lines.
Another great podcast guys! 🚢👍😎
Enjoyed. Thank you. I have been on 4 cruises, having taken my first in Fall 2023 and just returned from my 4th--all on Princess. I have 3 more Princess cruises booked between this year and next. I loved the Island, Emerald, and Sapphire; I found the Enchanted too large, noisy and crowded. But I think the Grand and Coral class ships are great and am surprised you don't mention them. Excellent food and service in the MDR. Same time/table/waitstaff every dinner is an available choice ("Traditional Dining"). Promenade deck. Nightly turn down service. Superb itineraries. Excellent value for the money; whenever I've compared prices for similar itineraries, Cunard, HAL, and Celebrity have always cost more. No ship within a ship. I am sailing on the Emerald out of Southampton in June and am really looking forward.
What a podcast!
Love both your channels! Aww you have made my day!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉
Loved your podcast with Bill. As an Australian who prefers a more traditional experience, I don’t mind that we have the older ships as they tend to have more space, Promenade deck, Crows Nest etc. What has saddened me is the closure in March of P&O Australia, which has a 92 year cruising heritage, and the moving of its last ships (former Princess Grand class) into Carnival. Carnival is retaining many of the P&O features to appease us Australians, but that will just confuse the market as Carnival Splendour and Luminosa which sail down here are typical Carnival ships!
It may be time to try Celebrity Edge class!
A really interesting hour. Love the format.
Cunard, like P&O, started to go down when the Americans took over. I come from the 1950s, and in those days, crew went to Maritime School and knew their jobs through and through. My own father worked for Cunard, Canadian Pacific, and more, and friends of mine who joined the merchant Navy all went to Maritime School, whether they were waiters, stewards, bartenders, or deck hands. Same as staff who are not trained anymore. For instance, my wife worked for Woolworths after leaving school and was on the haberdashery counter but had tuition before being left to deal with the public.
The “are you the target audience “ is spot on and so important. I guess I’m the target audience for cunard.
I have loved watching this, thank you, I’m now wondering which cruise line is best for me.
I found this video to be very interesting and generally love your interview videos. I am fortunate in having experienced the tail end of the golden age of cruising when I used to accompany my father (who was a guest entertainer) on P&O's S.S. Canberra, firstly in 1980 and then again on several occasions in the early 1990's. I then went on P&O's Iona in 2023 and saw a vast difference in the cruising experience. I hated the latter and will not be going back with P&O. I have also cruised several times with Marella and loved the smaller ships with a happier/more friendly crew. I now want to try another , slightly more premium line to compare my more recent experiences to.
Enjoyed this discussion. After 4 cruises on Cunard, we really enjoy sailing with them. We do not take evening wear and Tux. More country club style dress.
However, the #1 negative is the food quality. Perhaps keeping all the quality for Grill passengers. 🤔 seriously I agree the traditional draw for us, after experiencing, is now the main reason to sail. Regarding service, I feel it's more to do with not enough staff v quality of service.
Bravo on this podcast 👏 👍👍
Cruising is the best! Great interview 👍
We sailed on Superstar Gemini and Leo in the late 90's...they are what got us hooked on cruising...
Great episode.
Never been on a cruise don't know much about them but if I ever did I would want to go on one of the canard Queens.
They look like a proper ship with colours and would be nice to dress up
So right about the failures of Queen Anne; I love crossing the N Atlantic and happy that QM2 is doing that regularly; I took a world cruise on QE in 2014-wonderful, the experience on QV two years ago was very different-they ran out of bourbon! QM2 Verandah is a long way from Todd English at the beginning-downhill.ever since. My first TA was on the France in 1969-so I’ve seen many changes. You are right that the main restaurant has been diminished. I did a ‘round Africa cruise in 2023 on Zuiderdam-=excellent and very good value-except for the restaurant up-charges. Earlier ‘round South America on Princendam-no upcharges. Very good show-very glad I’ve voyaged and cruised when I did.
Great to see Bill on the podcast! Out of our six cruises last year, Cunards QM2 was the worst in both service and cleanliness. We totally agree that Cunard lovers hate to see the brand criticised. We had some interesting exchanges on our channel! We also agree that the speciality dining options are often not worth the money, but people are booking them as the MDR offerings are not as good as they used to be. Thanks for this very interesting discussion 👍
This was an extremely thoughtful and rich discussion. So bravo to the three of you. I found the comments on Cunard to be especially of interest after having just disembarked from the Queen Anne. I have been saying that Anne was Cunard's strategic pivot to Celebrity. If so the pivot will not have a happy ending and this is especially true of the food quality which I find to be substantially below that of Celebrity (Grills being an exception). Anne has no context within the Cunard brand. Perhaps that's by design. I sense that what Cunard is trying to achieve with Anne is more incremental on-board revenue generation. This appears to be the fatal flaw with the other Queens. Outside of Grills, Cunard loyalists are older (much older) and more thrifty. But on Anne, I saw a mostly empty empty Italian specialty dining, a very low occupancy for the 2'nd seating main dining, an over crowded Artisan's Dining Hall (an inability to clear and clean tables in Artisan's), a largely empty casino, a bland Chart Room where when they did have live music, the musicians are actually positioned outside the room closer to the bar area, a Pavillion Grill that took way to long for orders with low quality food. Cabins have the appropriate tech now (usb ports) but the cabinetry quality is shockingly poor. The ship will not age well. The gym is an improvement over the other Queens buts its deck 1 bow location is odd.
My take-a-way: Cunard is in trouble. They seem to not know where to go with their British themed heritage. They can't pull off Carnival food quality and the gap is growing.. I suspect the brand will be gone on 10 years. Maybe the QM2 will be all that remains.
The promenade deck on queen Elizabeth is outstanding, walked it every evening after smoking cigars in the Churchill cigar lounge, which is also a fine venue
Great show! We are going to Caribbean with Royal Caribbean it has been a long time since we cruised this part of the world talking about up sell I can’t believe some of the price on the private island wow!
Great chat with Bill, some fantastic points. Enjoyed you drinking away as you chat even if it was dodgy Cunard sparkling stuff.
I would not be surprised if Cunard and P&O get absorbed by Carnival for a mega brand in the next 10/15 years time.
Most things have been cut due to money. For example why no long distance two week cruises from Southampton is Carnival have worked out the ultimate speed to make the most money and it costs to much to get to Rome etc.
Money talks.
Main dinning will be payable at some point, companies are advertising them as holidays not cruises and if you go to Spanish hotel all you get is a buffet so that is what you get for some companies in the future.
Those ingredients you mentioned would be very unrealistic for cruise fares for some of prices that are charged now..
Right off for some Chair aerobics….
Queen Anne is certainly not a classic Cunarder, and I thoroughly believe that Cunard, and Carnival have completely missed the mark with it; she is not a well thought-out ship, partly owing to being an extended HAL hull (if what I've heard is correct, HAL were due to have the hull, but turned it down and so Carnival tossed it at Cunard and told them to do what they can with it). It's clear with the slow creep forward of the dining times, the relaxing of the dress codes, and other bits and pieces, that Carnival is desperately trying to turn the brand into a facsimile of itself, and cut costs and corners; yes Carnival LLC have no clue what Cunard is about or what to do with it. The new branded sparkling wine isn't pleasant compared to the Pol Acker, and it's my understanding that solo travellers get half bottles, and couples get full bottles, even though solo are almost paying for double-occupancy with the sinlge person supplement on a double occupancy cabin.
On the topic of the speciality dining on Cunard: the Verandah on QV is OK, but the menu is very limited if you don't eat seafood for appetisers. The pop-up restaurants which rotate every 4 nights in a cordened off part of the Lido are decent enough - on the Christmas cruise just gone I tried La Piazza, and the Indian one. The food was better than what was being served in the Britannia restaurant, and is potentially worth the up-charge of $35/head (£28/head roughly) which is what you can spend easily for a meal out on the high street. I didn't try the restaurants on Anne in August as the menus just didn't appeal, and the Roux pop-up was mostly fish orientated.
@sinestesiagaming Queen Anne is a cruise ship not an ocean liner. That is why she looks different
What a comparison video between a crusie and a river cruise pros and cons etc... that would a be a decent podcast
Good or bad I'm afraid the cruising traditions are almost gone as the cruise lines steer towards resorts at sea-themed vessels to maximise returns for the shareholder. But, it's business; and they have to move forward as us older cruisers pop off the top they have to fill their ships and, therefore have to make cruising attractive to the younger generations.
That's sad as I only found cruising 5 years ago, being in my early 50s had hoped for a couple of decades of future cruises but the party ships are going to push me out, which is sad.
I find your comments about Cunard really interesting. I love Cunard and have done since first sailing on QE2 with my dad in 2008 before she was let go, therefore the lasting affection for their ships is a powerfully nostalgic one. With trepidation we’ve booked onto Queen Anne in June so we’ll see but what I find most interesting are the parallels between Cunard and Saab motor cars. Beloved by so many so loyally, I’ve had and still have a Saab car. The automotive side of Saab last made cars well over ten years ago and many like to blame General Motors for their demise since taking full control in the early 90’s. Much like Carnival with Cunard, GM never quite knew what to do with the little Swedes and much of the beloved Saabness ebbed away over the years before the inevitable happened. So much like Saab as it soldiered on, Cunard and Cunarders find themselves desperately clinging to the past as their parent companies try to keep their golden years alive and relevant today and into the future amid huge surrounding competition. As the remaining Saab numbers will only ever go down yet the affection remains as enthusiastic as ever, will the same be said for a Cunard faithful as the traditionalists fade away? Who knows, but with Saab no matter how much GM cheapened the products, the fans remained but the number of those fans just weren’t enough to make money in the end. Will Cunard suffer in the same way? Who knows but I’ll close with a comment Captain Inger Olsen made many years ago when asked about the Carnival (American!) ownership of Cunard. In a nutshell she basically remarked that this might not be to everybody’s liking but put it this way, without Carnival, Cunard would have gone to the wall years ago. Just like Saab. So roll on June I say!
Agree. Cunard is not what it was. We were Diamond level but we have moved elsewhere.
The midnight buffets I would bring them back the food and food art was amazing
Agree! The buffet spreads in general used to be so much more impressive.
We really enjoyed watching your banter will Bill. Nice seeing your faces, I have watched most of excellent your ship reviews, it’s nice putting a face with the voice.
Maybe our paths will cross on a ship somewhere. I just released a video with Jill and Jerry of the Cruising Cunacks. Check it out if you have a chance. Thanks.
Oh dear, im going on a 29 night cruise on a cunard soon, i hope its not all bad as the pod cast is making out.
Haha I’m doing just 7 nights in July and starting to regret my choice.
If you listen to them they appear to be fans of Cunard but fear it's new ship shows it is having it's brand watered down.I love Cunard, the relaxing atmosphere, the elegance and sense of space on board. Hopefully the industry can sustain a wide range of cruises for all tastes rather than being all being identikit replicas of each other.
My wife and I are going on our second cunard cruise this may, queen Victoria this time we were on queen Elizabeth in august up in alaska. We were thrilled with cunard.
If you have breakfast 3 times a day, you will be fine!
As soon as I saw on another UA-cam channel that Queen Anne Curnard is identical to Rotterdam HAL, i realized that CLL (the umbrella owner) was just a stopgap meaure to Cunard's inevitable bankrupcty. I mean, I would rather do a TA on HAL or any other cruise line. I don't see the Cunard advantage, to my hard-earned money.
I would love formal night every night! I want every night to be an occasion, I would love to see a traditional sail away party! I smiled so much my first day onboard, like a child with a new toy! I want a staff to guest ratio of 2:1! Same waiter every day no matter what restaraunt I'm in! I want to go onboard and think I'm in the palace of Versaille!😂 Not this modern look resembling a nice Marriot! I would have absolutely adored the ships of yore! I do want to go on QM2 with my cat within the next 5 years! Ive only been on Silversea for a 14 day voyage in 2022 and was extremely blessed to have gone! Won't be on again for awhile and I am missing the ocean and experience so much lately! And I'm a 27 year old American.
Here's some food for thought: 100 years ago at sea, the evening dress code for Gentlemen was Top Hat and Tails, No doubt those older Gentlemen had a lot to say when the younger generation turned up at the restaurant wearing Spats and a Tuxedo?
So the future is speedos and thongs in the MDR on dressy night????? Would you say the same to that?
Thanks for the interview. I'd have liked you to have drilled down more on Bill's assertion that Cunard is 'losing money'. Carnival Corp does not share individual brands $$ performance in their Annual Report, and I can't find any guidance on Cunard being unprofitable, so it would be fascinating as to what his sources are, for what would be quite a revelation should it be accurate. People have been saying Cunard will be sold, spun off or closed since Carnival bought it in 1998... yet in 2025 it is bigger than it has been since 1999.
The Queen Anne Library / Pickleball court is a simple fix - move the pickelball court 😆
The Queens Room is a harder issue to address, given how polarising its design is. It does remind me of QE2's double down room, but that was specifically designed for tourist class only (as originally created) and QE2 had a far lower pax count. The Queens Room was probably my least favourite part of Queen Anne.
That said, as a very regular Cunard traveller (and as you'd guess QM2 is by far my favouite current ship) I liked many aspects of the Queen Anne. The ship has more bars and lounges than the Vista Queens, I liked the commodore club, the Pavilion area is superb, and the cabin bathrooms are hands down the best in the Cunard fleet.
I also remember the days when people would stop and listen if you said QE2! These days, QM2 is what makes Cunard absolutely unique among all other brands - the last true ocean liner left in service, in an age of cruise ships.
Just to finish off, we must not forget, without the Carnival investment, QM2 would not exist. In fact, Cunard was literally on its way out in 1998, and would almost certainly not be here if Carnival had not saved it. Of course, we have all noticed a reduction in onboard service aboard Cunard over the years (I remember Mauretania Restaurant dinners on QE2 with sorbet between courses, individual menus every single day - dated so they could not repeat them - and Petit four of hand made chocolate truffles, that was offered on a massive tray) ... but Carnival is also responsible for saving the brand from collapse. It's a very nuanced topic. There are many, many angles to it.
Let's hope QM2 - given how special she is - remains well loved and cared for over the next 20 years.
Thanks for your comment.
You’re absolutely right that Carnival’s investment saved Cunard in 1998 and made QM2 possible, which we all agree is an irreplaceable part of the fleet and the last true ocean liner. Without Carnival, Cunard might not have survived. However, the decline in onboard service is undeniable, and the golden touches that once made Cunard special-like the Mauretania Restaurant’s attention to detail-feel like a distant memory.
As for Bill’s claim that Cunard is losing money, we’ll be sure to press him for sources when we have him back on. Carnival doesn’t break out individual brand performance, so it’s difficult to validate, but low fares and lower occupancy on recent Cunard sailings might suggest some truth in what Bill is saying.
Your thoughts on Queen Anne’s Queens Room and other features are spot on. The design is polarising, and while some areas shine-like the Pavilion and the improved cabin bathrooms-the Queens Room falls flat compared to its predecessors, particularly QM2.
Completely agree that QM2 is what makes Cunard truly unique, and let’s hope she remains the pride of the fleet for many more years to come. Thanks again for sharing your perspective-it’s a nuanced discussion, and your insights add real depth. Would love to meet you in person, and have you as a guest on the podcast one day. Thanks for watching :)
@ it’s a great format and I enjoyed listening. I’d be delighted to come on the show next time I’m in your part of the world!
I can tell the passion you both have for Cunard, especially QM2, and like you I want to see it at its best!
Bill’s memories of the Star Cruises ships was particularly interesting to me, as they sailed in my part of the world - especially during SARS - when the ship’s repositioned to Australia. Super Star Leo became Norwegian Spirit which is in my top 10 favourites.
Sadly by the time COVID hit, Star Cruises was a shell of its former self and a long way from the innovative company that invested in Leo and Virgo back in the 90s.
As you correctly note, Carnival Corp provides zero financial guidance by brand. But a few things can be extrapolated from their 10K filings:
1) Cunard seems like an outlier within the Carnival line up.
2) specifically it only accounts for 3% of deployed tonnage (before introduction of Queen Anne).
3) By comparison, Seaborne is 1% and Holland America is 9%. Princess, Carnival, and P&O (UK + Australia) are all double digits (as of 2023).
4) Cunard caters to Americans by a 9:1 ratio vs passengers from the UK.
5) so why is Cunard part of the portfolio? I think mainly because M. Arison wanted it.
6) that said, a decision was made to go forward with Queen Anne even during the despair of the Covid era. Carnival Corp is also aggressively reducing its debt profile.
7) But with 3 of 4 Cunard ships in the "getting old" category, maybe staying the course with Anne was a way to add enterprise value for an eventual sale. Pure speculation on my part.
8) You can make the case of having a 1% brand in your line up (Seaborne) because a luxury brand likely produces solid yields.
9) As a maritime consultant, I could easily make the case that Cunard get's sold as the post Covid industry metrics continue to move in a very positive direction.
10) All this aside, Cunard, even with Anne, is just too small to matter in the Carnival portfolio. It's there because Arison wanted it as noted above.
11) Pure speculation on my part but if MSC were to build a liner (and the Apponte familiy loves investing in ships and loves New York City), then it's game over for Cunard.
While I could speculate, it's painfully obvious that only some accounting tricks in the books are keeping Curnard afloat. Cunard can't outclass classy HAL. Cunard can't out-entertain fun ship Carnival. Cunard clearly is a niche market for Anglo-philes, we'll see what bookkeeping tricks CCL does to keep its shareholders happy with Cunard.
I'm not paritisan to any particular cruise lines and consider myself a casual cruiser. Having just been on Queen Anne we enjoyed it, but personally think they are stuck between pleasing their more established cruisers and finding a new market. Personally I think they should go all in on new market, accessible, upscale but modern, so ditch the ballroom dancing. But something pushing closer to Virgin but mashed up with the story of cunard history
Interesting conversation. Agree Cunard has def gone for quantity over quality. The problem they have is they cannot attract families with kids when the likes of Royal Caribbean , Carnival etc. For me the Queen Anne is not a 'real'..Cunard ship, nor can she compete with the family designed vessels.
She is neither fish nor fowl. QM2 is a different ship and what Cunard should offer. Sad but your comments are spot on.
The nice thing about queen Elizabeth, queen Victoria and queen Mary II is that almost the entire ship is available to all passengers, ship within a ship sucks if you’re a typical passenger. Cunard is much more egalitarian
Cunard does the morning show, they do the paper daily events, and you can go right in for dinner with no wait with set dinner time. Many of the complainants in this video are remedied by choosing cunard
I have been on QM2 and I thought it was a lovely ship but the food was mediocre.
Paul Ludlow is President of Carnival UK now. He’s going to ruin Cunard like he’s done to P & O unfortunately. The theme nights are reportedly being dropped on Cunard, where’s it going to end.
I really like cunard
Another plus to cunard is how well mannered everyone was, I never saw poor behavior.
100% on class based systems coming back. Look at hotels, the large grand hotels of yesterday are out of favour, and the exclusive small hotels are in. Cruising is no different.
As an American with 25 cruises completed, I do not see myself ever going on a Cunard ship as they are now. Even at the age of 67 with a tux, I don't want to be on a ship with the main entertainment being a dance floor. I like seeing all age groups on my cruise. This is 2025, not 1965, sorry.
And I don't want to be on a ship where the main dancing is with one hand holding an alcholic beverage, hopping up and down, in athleisure wear. I'm not paying good money for a dive bar environment. Sorry, not sorry.
What Cunard did with the addition of multiple cabins bolted on to the stern of the Queen Elizabeth was an atrocity. It not only looked ugly, but emphasized how money hungry Cunard were. I find it somewhat abhorrent, that the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Anne, both look like cookie cutter copies of Carnival`s livery and not unique to the Cunard brand. The thrill of traveling on a five star exclusive cruise ship that harks back to a bygone era, has virtually been thrown out the window. I get that Cunards Queen Anne has still retained the service one expects, but the look of the ship itself leaves me unimpressed.
Then don't get off the ship on port days, and you don't have to look at it. Looks are over-rated for the rest of us.
It's just a rip off now high drinks package,tips etc ,has put me right off.
Iona was soulless, exploiting staff and lacking any charm. Butlins at sea ⛵