Cunard has made a series of food donations to charity over the past four weeks from two of its ships.

Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, both currently moored in UK waters with no guests on board, have donated 25 pallets, equating to approximately 23 tons of their supplies, to UK food rescue charity, UKHarvest.

UKHarvest is a not-for-profit perishable food rescue operation that collects quality excess food from commercial outlets and delivers it, direct and free of charge, to charities, to provide assistance to vulnerable men, women and children across the UK.

The food donations from both ships have been made up of frozen and chilled fruit and vegetables in addition to other nutritious dry food, including staple pantry food, cereal and chocolate.

Cunard executive chef Nicholas Oldroyd said: “The Cunard team, both ship and shore, are so pleased to have been able to make a small difference with these donations, especially at this time when so many people globally are going through such a difficult time. We would like to thank our partners, including the Port of Southampton, in making this happen.”

UKHarvest founder and CEO Yvonne Thomson added: “This contribution of nutritious food has been incredible, especially during the covid-19 lockdown period.

“We have been able to donate to covid-19 emergency centres, deliver food parcels to vulnerable people and ensure that school children have been fed. This is the beginning of a relationship with Cunard and we can’t thank Cunard enough for their generosity.”

Cunard recently extended its pause in operations to November. For Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, Cunard has cancelled all sailings that were due to depart up to and including 1 November 2020 and for Queen Elizabeth, departures up to and including the 23 November 2020.

P&O Cruises also donated 8.5 tonnes of fruit and vegetables from Ventura to UKHarvest in May.