Cunard Queen Anne Naming Ceremony

03 Jun 2024

Queen Anne is expected to arrive on the Mersey soon after sunrise on what promises to be the most eagerly awaited port of call on the exclusive 14-night voyage.

Plans are being made for her arrival to include a special salute to the city where Cunard’s pioneering transatlantic service – and passenger shipping itself – was launched in 1840, and where the iconic Cunard Building forms the centrepiece of the Three Graces.

The 14-night British Isles Festival Voyage will depart Southampton on 24 May with maiden calls to Edinburgh (South Queensferry), Invergordon, Greenock, Belfast, and Liverpool where guests sailing on the voyage will have an exclusive opportunity to join the Naming celebrations before a spectacular, late evening departure bound for Cobh followed by her return to Southampton.

The formal Naming will be the highlight of a day of celebration for Queen Anne, currently nearing completion in Italy.

The event in Liverpool is expected to draw tens of thousands of spectators to vantage points alongside the river at Pier Head, between New Brighton and Seacombe on Wirral and on beaches at Formby and Crosby in Sefton. A live global broadcast will ensure the eyes of the world once again fall on a Cunard event in Liverpool.

Cunard ships have previously attracted more than a million spectators to the banks of the Mersey, first for the maiden call of the renowned QE2 in July 1990, and in 2015 for the Three Queens ‘royal rendezvous’ in front of the Cunard Building to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the most famous name in shipping.