Cunard Cruises: Ships, Prices & Deals

Who Cunard suits

Cunard is the cruise line for people who like ships to feel like an occasion. The brand trades on its British heritage: it started carrying mail and passengers across the Atlantic in 1840, and the routines aboard still nod to that past. Afternoon tea is served daily by white-gloved waiters, the Queens Room ballroom has live music for dancing most evenings, and Gala evenings bring out dinner jackets and long dresses.

Cunard is owned by Carnival Corporation, which runs it from Southampton together with P&O Cruises. Southampton is the line's home port, and most British guests simply drive or take the train to the terminal rather than fly.

The typical guest is an adult couple, often British or North American, who values service and dining over water slides. Children are welcome and there are kids' clubs, but this is not a family resort ship. If you want late-night clubs, pick another line. If you want a library, a planetarium show on Queen Mary 2 and a proper ballroom, Cunard is hard to match at this price level.

The four Queens: Cunard ships

All four Cunard ships carry the name Queen. The fleet table above shows their size, age and current position; here is what sets each one apart.

• Queen Mary 2: the flagship and the only true ocean liner in service. It was built for the North Atlantic, with a stronger hull and more speed than a cruise ship, and it spends much of the year on crossings between Southampton and New York. At 149,215 gross tons it is also the largest Queen.
• Queen Anne: the newest Cunard ship. At 114,188 gross tons and about 3,000 passengers it is the second largest, and it mostly sails from Southampton to Norway, Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands.
• Queen Victoria: a mid-size ship of about 90,000 gross tons that runs the full world voyage in our data.
• Queen Elizabeth: Queen Victoria's near-twin, also about 90,000 gross tons. Its program leans on the Mediterranean and winter Caribbean sailings from Miami.

Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth share a design, so cabins and public rooms feel very similar. Queen Mary 2 is the one to pick if the ship itself is the reason you are going.

The transatlantic crossing

The Queen Mary 2 crossing between Southampton and New York takes seven nights, and every one of them is at sea. That is what makes it different from a cruise: there are no ports, no tours and no rush to be back aboard. The days fill with lectures, classes, dance lessons, the planetarium, afternoon tea and long dinners. Clocks shift by an hour on most nights, which makes westbound days feel longer and eastbound nights shorter.

Queen Mary 2 also carries dogs and cats on crossings. The ship has kennels with a dedicated kennel master, and places sell out well ahead, so book early if your pet is coming.

Our data holds 18 transatlantic sailings in the next 12 months. Most are sold as round trips, either 14 nights from Southampton or 18 nights from New York, plus one-way legs that start or end in Hamburg or Le Havre. The cheapest one-way fare we hold is €643 per person for a 9-night eastbound crossing from New York in January 2027, and the 7-night New York to Southampton crossing on 28 November 2026 starts at €772.

Cunard grades: Britannia, Britannia Club, Princess Grill and Queens Grill

Cunard sells cabins by grade, and your grade decides where you eat as well as where you sleep. This is the line's biggest difference from most other cruise lines.

• Britannia: inside, oceanview and most balcony cabins. You dine in the Britannia Restaurant, the main dining room.
• Britannia Club: selected balcony cabins with their own smaller restaurant and more flexible dinner times.
• Princess Grill: suites with access to the Princess Grill restaurant, the Grills lounge and a private terrace.
• Queens Grill: the largest suites, a separate Queens Grill restaurant, butler service and the most personal attention aboard.

The Grills work as a small luxury ship inside a liner: you share the theater and ballroom with everyone, but dine and relax in your own spaces. If that level of service is what you are after, compare it with the small-ship lines on our luxury cruise lines list. In our price data, suite fares on Cunard have a median of €509 per person per night, against €129 for an inside cabin, €158 oceanview and €185 for a balcony.

Cunard dress code and Gala evenings

Cunard keeps an evening dress code. On most nights smart attire is expected: trousers and a collared shirt or jacket for men, a dress or smart separates for women. Gala evenings come a few times on most voyages, more on longer ones, and are the night for a dinner jacket or dark suit and tie and an evening or cocktail dress. Daytime is casual everywhere on board.

You do not need to own a tuxedo: a dark suit is accepted, and the buffet is an option if you would rather skip a formal dinner.

Cunard World Club loyalty

Cunard World Club is the line's loyalty program. You earn credits for every night you sail, with more credits in the Grills grades, and move up through four tiers: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Perks grow with each tier, from member events and onboard offers at Silver to priority services and more generous benefits at Platinum and Diamond.

Where Cunard sails and from which ports

Cunard is a Southampton line first. Of the 158 sailings we track in the next 12 months, 87 start from Southampton, followed by New York (16), Miami (12), Civitavecchia (9), Hamburg (8), Trieste (6) and Barcelona (5).

By region, the Mediterranean leads with 31 sailings, mostly 14 nights or longer from Southampton or fly-cruises from Civitavecchia, Trieste and Barcelona. Then come the Norwegian Fjords (19), transatlantic crossings (18), the Caribbean (17) and Northern Europe, the Canary Islands and Spain, France and Portugal at 12 each. Short breaks of two to five nights from Southampton to Zeebrugge, Rotterdam or Hamburg are a cheap way to try the line.

The long voyages are the other Cunard specialty. Queen Victoria's full world voyage leaves Southampton on 10 January 2027 for 111 nights, from €20,607 per person, and Queen Anne runs South America Discovery voyages of 56 to 90 nights. The bars above show the full regional split.

Cunard price level and cheapest months

Cunard costs less than many people expect. The median fare across its next 12 months is €176 per person per night, below Royal Caribbean (€181), Celebrity (€215) and Princess (€218) and just above NCL (€165). By ship, Queen Elizabeth has the lowest median at €147 per night, then Queen Anne (€173), Queen Mary 2 (€192) and Queen Victoria (€208).

November is the cheapest month to sail, with a median of €131 per night, helped by Queen Elizabeth's Caribbean season from Miami. October (€162) and April (€163) follow. December is the most expensive at €203 because of Christmas and New Year voyages. The cheapest fare we hold right now is €339 per person, for a 2-night Queen Mary 2 trip from Southampton to Hamburg on 18 October 2026. All prices are the cheapest cabin, per person, captured on the date shown on the page.

How to catch Cunard price drops

Cunard fares move with demand, so prices often fall on sailings with unsold cabins and during the line's seasonal sales.

Cunard's own Cruise Personaliser is where you book dining, excursions and onboard extras once you have a booking. It does not tell you when a fare drops. For that, the Cunard deals feed lists the latest reductions, the Cunard fleet tracker shows where each Queen is now, and find a cruise filters every sailing by ship, port, month and price. A price alert from the plans page watches the sailing you want and emails you when the cheapest fare falls. If you have already booked and the price drops before final payment, ask Cunard or your travel agent whether the new rate can be applied.