An Arctic Adventure on the Queen Anne

I’ve never been particularly interested in cruises. In fact, as someone who loves to run around new places and see as much as possible when traveling, I’m not sure I can thing of anything worse than sitting around on a large ship, twiddling my thumbs, until the mad scurry onto land to see everything, before rushing back aboard to spend more days at sea. However, the wife can be very convincing at times! I am sure she would have preferred a Mediterranean cruise with the sun beaming down on the decks as we lounged in the pools and tumbled down the water slides, though as I had agreed to go on a cruise she allowed me to pick the destination. Therefore, we naturally went to the Arctic Circle on Cunard, meaning no beaming heat, no Mediterranean palm trees and of course, no slides.

The Queen Anne is the newest in the fleet for Cunard and is built to aim at a younger generation to try and encourage more to take cruises. Just over a year old, the ship is, in my opinion, fantastic, though other passengers who have ventured on the other Queens were slightly disappointed with the Anne. I however, had never been on a cruise and could have been presented with an oversized bath and enjoyed it, so probably not the best judge of cruise liners… for now.

The ship was well laid out with only a couple of gripes – the inability to cross from one end to the other up top being the major one. There are three main stairwells: one at the Bow, one at the Midships and and one at the Aft with four lifts a piece at each. I quickly learned to lift up and walk down due to the 3000 other people trying to use them, though at busy times I did venture up the stairs to the dismay of my legs! Our room was an inside state room located at the Aft of the ship on the fourth deck meaning we were a venture away from the majority of activities, though being cooped up was never our intention and as we spent little time in the room it also made no sense to pay the higher rate for a window or balcony room.

Events on the ship were varied and frequent, from live shows and music, to pub quizzes and sporting events. Fantastic speakers meant there were 3 to 4 talks a day on various subjects ranging from the Vikings to Banksy, the Cosmos to spy craft. The live music ranged also with bands playing Irish folk music, show tune singers and classical pianists. There was always something to do or see on the ship, which certainly calmed my nerves that I would be sitting by a pool bored to death!

Shopping facilities were varied also from the Cunard shop selling various items to others selling paintings, Faberge eggs, designer bags, Rolex’s and more. In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking you were walking around a museum at some points.

So on the 26th of September 2025 we set off from Southampton to the northern reaches of the planet; stopping at Ålesund, Tromsø, Narvik and Stavanger along the way. Seeing the amazing Northern Lights, statues of formidable Vikings and explorers, arctic foxes, musk ox, wolves and bears, iconic locations, war memorials and immense fjords. Keep an eye out for the next post as I take you on our journey, to the Arctic Circle.