How Cunard Is Catering to the North American Market

The official introduction of Queen Anne to the Cunard fleet will help the cruise line grow its North American market. 

That’s according to Cunard vice presidents Jamie Paiko and Matt Gleaves, who sat down with TMR after launching Queen Anne in its home port of Southampton to media and just before it set sail on its maiden voyage. 

“North America is massive for us,” Gleaves said. “Having four ships allows us to visit more locations than we have been able to historically. But North American guests have always been important. We see them flying to Europe to join the ships from the U.K. and Mediterranean, and joining the world cruises, so there’s a huge amount of variety.“ 

In the past cruise sales wave, 28% more North American guests booked with Cunard than they have in the last decade, signaling a significant increase in demand in the market. That number is only expected to grow now that Queen Anne is at sea by giving other ships more opportunities to set sail from ports in the North American region. 

“The great news for North America is since Queen Anne joined our fleet, Queen Elizabeth can now spend all year round for the next year in North America,” Gleaves said. “So that’s exciting in terms of close-to-home sailing.” 

Queen Elizabeth will spend this summer in Alaska and winters sailing out of Miami with 33 roundtrip voyages to the Caribbean. The ship will also have roundtrip sailings from Seattle starting next year.  

Queen Anne will touch in Los Angeles and San Fransisco during its maiden world voyage beginning in 2026, which has few staterooms available. In addition, Queen Victoria will have a South American voyage leaving from Fort Lauderdale next year.  

And of course, Queen Mary II will continue its transatlantic journeys from New York to Southampton, as well as traveling throughout Canada, New England, and the Caribbean later this year. 

Cunard has BDMs working with North American travel advisors to sell the product. Advisors can visit onesourcecruises.com to enroll in Cunard Academy and get access to other training programs, tools, and other courses and resources. 

“We also have expanded our sales team to include partner support so there is a dedicated line for sales specifically,” Paiko said. “So if advisors need help with groups or finding that right voyage for a client, they can contact the partner support team.“