Queen Anne 14 night cruise to the Canary Islands and Madeira
We had booked a Princess Grill suite and as our suite was not available until 2.15pm we went to the Grills lounge for a pre-lunch drink and had a excellent lunch in the Princess Grill. The service was extremely attentive. We then did a tour of the ship and were very impressed. It is a more contemporary design to the other Queens and I can understand why regular Cunard guests may prefer the more traditional decor.
We were very impressed with the size of the suite but the wardrobe and storage space could have been bigger. Mid cruise, the fitted more cabinets into the Suite. The bathroom was compact but it had a great walk in shower and the usual Penhaligon toiletries and lovely soft dressing gowns.
Dinner in the Grill was excellent and nothing was too much trouble for the waiters. We had three waiters looking after our table. After dinner we went to listen to the Irish band in the Golden Lion Pub. We did not make the show.
We had three sea days enroute to Madeira but there was a packed programme onboard with quizzes, talks and plenty of other activities. The evening entertainment in the theatre was a Pride and Prejudice play. We followed this by listing to the pianist/vocalist in the Commodore Club. Onn our second sea day we had a very interesting talk by the actor, Robert Powell, on the life and works of Charles Dickens. In the evening it was a formal Black and White theme and it was good to see almost everyone dressing up. The evening menu for the dinner was excellent and if there was nothing you liked you are able to order from an a la carte menu which includes Dover Sole, rack of lamb, duck in orange sauce, Chateau Briand and other dishes. Some had to be pre-ordered at lunch time but menus were placed in our suites every evening. The evening show by the MacDonald Brothers was excellent.
The following sea day we listened to a talk by a forensic dentist, Judith Hinchliff, who was involved in indentifying bodies after the 2004 Tsunami. I had another excellent dinner that evening of crab cocktail, duck a l'orange and Crepes Suzette.
On the 5th December we arrived in Madeira where we were docked for 2 days. Cunard provided a shuttle into town. Funchal's Christmas lights were wonderful and it was good to be able to walk through the town in the evening. The temperature in Madeira was about 22c. There was a fantastic vocalist in the theatre on our second evening in Madeira, Shona Lindsay.
The 7th December we arrived in La Palma and I loved this port. The capital is small with a long main street with traditional architecture and lots of great shops. We were back in time for lunch and I tried the fish tacos which were excellent. In the evening I had Dover Sole, finished at the table, followed by a Grand Marnier. In the evening we listened to music in the Queens Room, which seems smaller than the Queens Rooms on the other ships.
On the 8th December we were in Tenerife and just had a wander around Santa Cruz. It was Sunday but a lot of the shops were open. For dessert in the evening the maitre'd flambed Cherries Jubilee for us. The cast put on a play, Brief Encounter, which was very good.
On 9th December we took a coach booked through Cunard to visit Maspalomas and Puerto Mogan. It was a lovely day out . The dinner again in the Grill was excellent and I had Tournedos Rossini.
The 10th December we were in Lanzarote and took a coach to Playa Blanca. We had about 4 hours there and explored the old town and the marina area, where we had lunch. Another great dinner in the evening with rack of lamb and a vanilla and pistachio souffle. The evening entertainment in the theatre was the New Amen Corner and they were excellent.
We had a day at sea on 11th December and it was another formal evening, a masquerade ball.
On 12th December we arrived in Lisbon. After temperatures in the 20s, temperature dropped here to 11c but it as sunny. We had a pleasant walk round the city and visited the Time Out market. In the evening we went to the Bright Lights cabaret lounge to see a performance of Noir, an audience participation type of show. Later the Bright Lights becomes a nightclub/disco.
13th December, a sea day, I attended an interview of Robert Powell by the cruise director in the theatre. It was very interesting. It was another formal evening and the theme was Roaring 20s. I had another excellent dinner of scallops, Chateau Briand and Cherries Jubilee.
14th December was our last sea day and there was so much going on it was difficult to fit eveything in!. We visited the Bright Lights Society again for a production called Fizz which was very good.
On 15th December we embarked and everything went smoothly. We had a wonderful time on the Queen Anne and we have booked to sail on her again. The age profile was about in the 70s but with the style of the ship, I think Cunard are trying to attract a younger age group. We could not fault the food, service and entertainment. We only tried the buffet once, which I thought, lacked choice and I heard there were long queues on sea days but the main Britannia restaurant was open and they served food in the Golden Lion Pub.
All in all it was a wonderful cruise.
