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Tomorrow marks a year until Queen Anne’s maiden voyage… to help prepare your customers for the Cunard experience, we chat to Claudia Carrozzi, Cunard’s beverage development specialist – and also Captain Inger Klein Thorhauge, who will take the helm of the ship
As Cunard’s resident mixologist extraordinaire, and the current (and first female) President of the UK Bartenders Guild, Claudia Carrozzi is responsible for every drink that is poured into a glass or cup, or sold in a bar, onboard a Cunard ship. Her role oversees the development of Cunard’s iconic White Star Service Bar Academy training, and she manages more than 300 cocktails that are listed on Cunard’s menus.
Cunard’s World Cruise Cocktail Quest was a fun and interactive game onboard Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria to celebrate our centenary anniversary of round-the-world voyages. Our special cocktails are inspired by 16 different destinations around the world, eg a Scorpion’s Tail (Africa) and a Pometini (Mexico) but are only served in selected bars and lounges around the ships. During the Quest, guests explored the ships searching for their preferred cocktail and interacting with the bar team to find out where the cocktail is served. At the end of the world voyages, a winner was chosen and rewarded with a Cocktail Masterclass.
Every one of our bars is a destination venue, offering a different experience through the atmosphere and entertainment. In the Chart Room, the cocktails are inspired by navigational charts and constellations, while in the Commodore Club, each cocktail is a tribute to one of our knighted commodores. Here you can also enjoy your cocktails while taking in some of the most breath-taking views, as this bar is based just underneath the bridge. All of our cocktails onboard are made with fresh ingredients – it’s hard to beat a cocktail made with thoughtful care, unique recipes and fresh ingredients.
In a first for Cunard, guests will be able to discover the Bright Lights Society onboard Queen Anne, an exhilarating new show bar inspired by historic, bold electric light installations and colours. Here passengers will be invited to share an evening of unique entertainment, in the hands of a witty and charismatic host, whilst enjoying our hand-curated drinks.
Our guests and our crew are at the forefront of what we do. Due to the complexity and the meticulous crafting that our drinks require, bartending experience it is a must. For those that do not have experience we empower them via our White Star Bar Academy. Education is the main pillar of our operation. Individuals are taught the basics of waiting and bartending, through to customer service and on to advanced bartending techniques and the essential product knowledge required for the delivery of our concepts. We are giving the opportunity to embrace a training programme that is tailored to Cunard, which is comparable to hospitality colleges or private bartending schools.
Bartenders onboard are passionate about what they do; they love the sea, travelling and meeting new people. Every day they have a different view from their bar, and an opportunity to visit cities, bars and distilleries across the world. There is a strong work commitment, being onboard for months at a time, but the experience working at sea is second to none.
The secret is understanding and achieving the balance required in your drink. This is not only related to the flavour obtained from the chosen ingredients, but also the temperature and ice dilution. The perfect cocktail is one that gives you an emotion. It’s a journey through all the senses: what you see, taste, touch and the environment where you’re enjoying the drink.
My first choice is always a dry gin martini: a good, juniper-led gin, with an olive, no fuss, best when sipped on deck, watching the sun set in the middle of nowhere!
"Sailing Queen Anne on her maiden voyage and steering the company into a new era is an amazing honour for me. The Cunard name is steeped in heritage, something that no other cruise brand in the world can compete with, so to be so heavily involved in such a momentous chapter of the Cunard story will be a career defining moment for me that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I’ve worked for Cunard for more than 25 years, so I feel a real affinity with the brand, and the cruise industry has grown beyond my wildest expectations over the past few decades.
Queen Anne will boast all the modern technology that you would expect of a ship launching in 2024. For example, there will be a brand-new system in the bridge that will be a first for the Cunard fleet, as well as countless state-of-the-art features across the ship’s public spaces.
We will be travelling across Europe for the first year or so, which will be a fantastic experience, but it will be really interesting to take Queen Anne on her maiden world voyage in 2025 to show her off to the entire globe. I never lose sight of how fortunate I am to visit so many breath-taking destinations in so many beautiful countries across the world, and it will be the privilege of a lifetime to do so as captain of Queen Anne.
It's very difficult to single out just one destination or itinerary but there is definitely something magical about visiting Alaska, it is such a stunning landscape. Sydney Harbour is also a really beautiful port to sail into and of course the transatlantic crossing from Southampton to New York is iconic for a very good reason."
