Meeting the new Cunard ship: Same DNA, fresh style
Cunard has just cut the steel for the fourth ship in its fleet, but this is a brand with more than one eye on the future.
It’s a moment that has been a long time coming. At the Fincantieri shipyard in Naples, Cunard took the first step on the construction road, which will end in 2022 when the line welcomes the unnamed ship (all officials are staying tight lipped on that one).
The ship has been marketed as a forward take on the brand, in keeping with the Cunard DNA but with a slice or two of new ideas – in essence, Cunard for the 21st century.
These new concepts and ideas, as Cunard president Simon Palethorpe says, will “provide a uniquely luxurious travel experience for our guests”. Excited yet? Something unique about this new build is the fact that the line is working with a team of award-winning designers – Adam D Tihany, Simon Rawlings, Terry McGillicuddy, and Sybille de Margerie.

As Palethorpe tells Cruise Trade News: “The instruction was, if you woke up in any room across the ship, you would see enough design cues to know you were on a Cunard ship. You need to make sure the transitions work and at the same time you have to make sure you are true to the Cunard DNA, but it has to be a forward-looking vision for the brand.”
This new vision will be put to the test as Palethorpe and his team target the new to cruise market. He explains: “We really have our eye on what will appeal to those audiences. We’ve spoken to people who have not sailed with Cunard previously but have the same attitudes as those who have sailed with us.
“We’ve talked to them about what they want, whether that be the design, style, or the type of activities on board. It’s with an eye to our existing guests and those who will sail with us in the future.”
Carnival UK president Josh Weinstein argues that Cunard “doesn’t have to radically change the experience to cater for both existing and new to cruise”, but adds that the key is “the right communication at the right time”.
“For those who want the benefits of a large ship – more options, more space, more freedom – Cunard is ready for that,” he adds. “We’ve found a very good audience worldwide that is primed for growth and we need this ship to complete the strategy. Now we have a bigger canvas to work with – we can provide more choice.”

A fifth ship? Never say never
Communication with the trade is also at the forefront of Cunard minds. Palethorpe admits there is a challenge for the brand to spread its message and promises more will be revealed as to how it will engage with the trade once the ship has been named.
“We had 500 agents on Queen Mary 2 earlier this year and I had lunch with a handful,” he continues. “A significant proportion said to me, ‘I had no idea it was so good, it’s amazing’.
“On one level that made me feel great, but on the other, I thought ‘hang on, we need to make sure you know how great it is.’ We’re having conversations about how we get more agents to feel it, see it, touch it.”
And as for the possibility of a fifth ship in the fleet?
Weinstein says: “We don’t look at this fourth ship as the end. We think that the demand globally is there for the Cunard experience. The more successful we are, the more demand that gets created.”