As the countdown to one of the most eagerly anticipated ships of the century edges closer, Cunard will be providing sneak peeks of Queen Anne’s progress from the person who knows her best. Join Captain Inger, Cunard’s first female captain, as she prepares to take the helm of the cruise line’s 249th ship next May. In this new Captain’s log series, she’ll shine a light on building milestones, signature installations and everything in between.
Packing up in my captain’s quarters onboard Queen Elizabeth usually means looking forward to a spell of leave ashore. Not this time, though! This is because I’ll be joining another ship in what promises to be a true voyage of discovery, a journey unlike any other I have completed in my 25 years with Cunard. And I’m delighted to be able to share this exciting adventure with you all.
I’ll soon have a chance to board my (very) new ship, Queen Anne. The latest in our fine line and the 249th ship to sail in Cunard colours. This newest Cunarder is being built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, and I’ll be looking forward to spending lots of time at the Marghera site near Venice over the coming months. It’s a rather special place to build cruise ships! Arriving at the yard by water taxi from the Grand Canal is an experience in itself. From there, I’ll be writing my Captain’s log, giving readers a unique insight as Queen Anne is brought to life.
The sprawling yard at Marghera is a place already steeped in Cunard history. It was here that my former command Queen Victoria was built and delivered to Cunard in 2007. Fincantieri also built my last ship, Queen Elizabeth (at the Monfalcone shipyard). From a technical point of view, these sisters in the fleet are very similar. Each has evolved from the same Vista Class of design pioneered by Fincantieri and our own shipbuilding team of experts. I remember vividly my first voyages on both ships. I was impressed by both the quality of their build as well as their seaworthiness and the very sophisticated kit at my disposal on the bridge.
Queen Anne is a Pinnacle Class ship with a different hull design to her sisters, although again one from the Fincantieri drawing boards (or computer screens!), with a huge input from the new-build team at our parent company Carnival Corporation & plc.
Modern shipbuilding is an immensely complex process requiring extraordinary expertise in both planning and production. A giant jigsaw doesn’t come close! Each time I visit a shipyard and see a new vessel being built, I am amazed by the display of skill and technical prowess in so many essential disciplines.
The Queen Anne project has now entered a very important and dramatic phase. Her hull is complete, and all the major plant and machinery is in place, deep inside the cavernous steel compartments assigned to house all the things required to operate a 113,000-tonne ship, designed to take guests on the voyages of their dreams. The team are in the process of installing her upper accommodation decks and fitting out the bridge - seeing my new office for the first time will be another memorable milestone to share with you.
I’ve spent a good deal of time poring over deck plans and looking at computer-generated visualisations of the public rooms onboard my new ship. Walking into the Bright Lights Society lounge and the Golden Lion pub on Deck 2 is already a great experience. These are bare steel, covered in scaffolding and with a maze of cabling above my hard hat and below my safety boots, but, already, I can imagine how they will look during the coming months as your renowned designers bring their striking and beautiful concepts to life onboard Queen Anne.
The first time I saw my new ship was for a big milestone in her life in September. It was also a milestone for me as I was asked to don welding gear and secure a set of specially minted coins deep inside the ship’s keel. Cunard commissioned a special Queen Anne coin for the occasion, and this was paired in a sealed container with an original coin from the reign of Queen Anne herself.
These will remain in their very special place, far, far beneath the bridge, for a very, very long time as Queen Anne crosses the world’s oceans. When the day dawns for Queen Anne to leave Venice and start her first voyage to Southampton, I have no doubt I will remind myself about those coins.
In the meantime, we’ll be creating all the other very special features which will make Queen Anne such a spectacular addition to the fleet. I’ll keep you posted along the way - and look forward to welcoming you onboard my new ship in a little over a year. Believe me, it’ll be worth the wait!
