Queen Anne has been crowned!

Yes, Queen Anne has been crowned – no, it’s not a dramatic change from the upcoming coronation of King Charles.

Artist’s impression. Supplied Cunard

Cunard Line is currently building a new liner MS Queen Anne, who’s due to grace the seas in early 2024.

Shes currently under construction in Italy, at Fincantieri’s shipyard near Naples.

Building cost is approximately 600 million $US.

On 14 April just gone, Queen Anne was crowned with the Cunard’s iconic red and black Cunard funnel. This crowning is called a ‘funnel lift’ and is a significant milestone is a ship’s construction.

The Cunard Line has had these distinctive red funnels for over 150 years, making them instantly identifiable in ports across the world.

Queen Anne is the 249th ship to sail under the Cunard flag and will complete an impressive quartet of Queens – alongside Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary II.

Queen Elizabeth visited Fremantle three times during this cruising season, in November and December 2022, and again in March 2023.

Queen Elizabeth, arriving Fremantle, March 2023. Credit Deanna Shanahan

Queen Mary II visited Freo twice in March.

Queen Mary 2. Fremantle, March 2023. Credit Michael Barker

This new liner is named after Queen Anne, the last of the Stuart Monarchs, who reigned from 1702-1714, and was responsible for bringing Scotland into the fold to create the current Great Britain.

Another ship named Queen Anne was a merchant ship that was torpedoed and sunk by a U-509, off the South African coast in February 1943 with the loss of five crew.

The new Queen Anne: is 322.5 metres long; will have the same timeless design with some modern touches; weighs 113,000-ton; and is much larger than the other queens.

She can carry 3,000 passengers – 1,000 more than Queen Mary II, and 2,000 more than the other two liners.

Guests will enjoy all the luxuries of the Britannia experience, including 24-hour room service, nightly turndown service, expensive chocolates and fine Penhaligon’s toiletries.

There are 1,397 staterooms, 13 passenger decks, 2 swimming pools, 15 lounges and bars, 9 shops, 5 outdoor Jacuzzis, launderettes for passengers and 12 elevators. A promenade deck wraps around Deck 3.

Queen Anne will also have the largest curated art collection at sea.

Queen Anne’s maiden voyage is on 3 May 2024, when she will take a five-day cruise from Southampton to Lisbon. Not surprisingly, it’s already sold out.

In January 2025, she will cross the Atlantic for a 111-night Maiden World Voyage cruise during which she’ll visit Australia – but only calling at Sydney, not Freo.

Let’s hope we see her in Fremantle before too long.

* STORY by our Shipping Correspondent, Jean Hudson @jeansodyssey. Jean is also a regular feature writer and photographer here on the Shipping News. You may like to follow up her informative Places I Love stories, as well as other feature stories and Freo Today photographs, right here.

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