The decision, announced late on Tuesday (6 October) afternoon, caught many agents off guard with one agency boss saying that it had left the trade “with more questions than answers”.

From 2029, Cunard will operate three ships – Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria. All three vessels will have undergone “substantial” refits before Queen Anne leaves the fleet.

Stefan Shillito, Sovereign Cruise Club Managing Director, said he was “surprised” by the decision before suggesting that Queen Anne had not been as popular with Cunard passengers as the line’s bosses would have hoped. Queen Anne launched in 2024 and was the first new Cunard ship to enter service for 14 years.

“It’s never easy to interpret the future direction of a cruise brand, but I thought Cunard did a good job of blending the old with the new,” Shillito said.

“They will learn the lessons from Queen Anne. This is a very big and expensive project. If the ship sails with a few empty suites it costs the line a lot of money. Agents don’t always think about that. These are very difficult decisions to make and I’m glad that I’m not making them.”

'A massive gamble'

Ben Eddon‑Carruthers, owner of Huben Travel, called the launch of Queen Anne “a massive gamble” that had “not paid off”.

Ashley Quint, Director at Traveltime World, was also taken aback by the move. “Then again, some of our clients who sailed on Queen Anne told us it wasn’t very ‘Cunard’ – they felt it was too modern. Perhaps that’s why they’re moving it to P&O?”

Marco Macchieraldo, Head of Product at Paramount Cruises, noted how the London-based agency’s Cunard sales had been growing year on year, with around 35% of all bookings with the line being for Queen Anne.

Reflecting on the switch, he said: “It’s a shame. Queen Anne is a different angle to sell Cunard. It’s an excellent ship. It matched well with new Cunard customers.”

Macchieraldo added that he struggled to find “a positive” in Carnival UK’s statement which he said felt “very rushed”. 

“Cruise lines always look to drip feed information to maximise the media coverage but it feels like a missed opportunity here. It’s just disappointing,” he explained.

'More questions than answers'

Richard Slater, Owner of Macclesfield agency Henbury Travel, said: “It has certainly come out of the blue. I guess from a P&O Cruises’ point of view, if they can get another two occupants in 50% of the cabins that will drive family bookings which means more revenue.”

However, he suggested Queen Anne could become an adults-only vessel within the P&O Cruises’ fleet.

“I can see that Queen Anne is not the right size of ship and that’s why they’re moving it,” he added. “But why don’t they announce that they’re launching smaller ships from now on? Cunard is now what P&O Cruises was in the 1980s and 1990s.

“As for Cunard, they’ve left us with more questions than answers. I think it could create some uncertainty for both trade and customers.”

Eddon‑Carruthers added: “We love Cunard but it was a massive gamble building a very different style ship, and I just don’t think it’s paid off. The problem with Queen Anne is, it’s a very new and modern ship, and therefore more compact, but that’s not what its demographic expects of it.”