Clarendon Blues and Cunard Red: a port day on board Queen Anne in Cape Town harbour

Caption here: (Photo: Tony Jackman)

11 Apr 2025

Awaking at dawn, we find that we’ve docked in Cape Town while we slept. The day ahead leads us to a fine Japanese dinner in the Aji Wa restaurant after champagne in the Sky Bar overlooking the lights of the city and mountain.

The blues on board Cunard’s Queen Anne have captivated me all week. Navy and plush dark royal blues in the Chart Room, many other shades here and there as you wander through its beautiful rooms, from restaurants and lounges to bars and the venues where all sorts of shipboard activities happen all day.

Trivia quizzes, workout sessions with dozens of people from all over the world mimicking instructions from an energetic crew member on stage; card games, deck exploits and sports, everything that happens on land, really, but within the relative confines of a large passenger ship.

Another blue has been mesmerising me all week as well. To reach our appointed restaurant, Britannia, we need to walk, first, past the Golden Lion pub (which, yes, we have come to know well), then the Chart Room that I wrote about earlier, and finally the Clarendon Art Gallery, just before you enter Britannia.

The library on board Queen Anne, adjacent to the Commodore Club. Note how the carpeting and chairs pick up the colours from the Atlas. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

Clarendon is long and narrow, which is a clever design for an onboard gallery, so that you can only be enchanted by art with every step you take. And much of it, this week, is the most glorious blue. The artist is Cape Town-based Jared (Jed) Kruger, who describes himself on his Instagram page as an ink artist “exploring the depth of the sea”. He has been the guest artist on board for this leg of Queen Anne’s maiden world voyage, from Durban to Cape Town, and these arresting paintings in blues you could get lost in, even drown in, have been a soothing factor in a wonderful and at times difficult week. (Explained in a Shipboard Diary earlier this week.)

Read more: Chart Room Blues: A black-and-white gala dinner, offset by moody blues

But there are shades of gold everywhere too, and variations of red. The effect of it is all very British, as it should be. And it is clear that most of the roughly 3,000 passengers are British (you only have to walk along the decks and through the function rooms for this to be undeniably true), but there are passengers from other nations, from Germany and the USA to the Far East. So a Japanese restaurant is not at all out of place on board.

This is one of the handful of eateries on Queen Anne where meals are paid for and not included in your shipboard package. And with prices in US dollars, you might want to budget for these special venues if or when booking a Cunard cruise (the same applies to certain restaurants on all of their ships).

Jared Kruger's striking blues welcome you to the Clarendon Gallery. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

At breakfast time this morning we decided to make a change from our appointed restaurant, Britannia, where we have enjoyed satisfying breakfasts (I was glad to have black pudding on my breakfast plate for a change, and on Wednesday I ordered Scottish kippers, always a treat). Di had been watching videos of what she calls “the boys”, two British lads who take Cunard cruises in northern climes and make videos of their shipboard exploits. They had lovely things to say about the Wellness Café on one of the highest desks overlying the Pavilion pool. Sorry, lads, you’re on your own with this one. The meal of peas and edamame beans on sourdough topped with a poached egg was not a happy experience and the low point of this week of food at sea. It was meant to be a variation on guacamole, but if it's just something green (but not avocado), with none of the flavour spikes guacamole gives you, what is the point?

There was black pudding on my breakfast plate at the Britannia restaurant. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

But I did not like the edamame breakfast at the Wellness Cafe at all, though the poached egg was good. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

So we decided to go to the Artisan Food Hall instead, but it had just clicked over to 10am and, this being a port day, it was shut down on the hour, blinds pulled down and all. A steward helpfully suggested we order room service, so this was me learning that on a port day, you need to get off the ship. In normal circumstances, I’d be first off, but this was a working day for me, with our disembarkation due the next day (Friday).

The room service menu was good, so a Cunard Cumberland Sausage Muffin came to the rescue, served with a perfect poached egg and Houses of Parliament Sauce, how British is that? Erm, that’s HP sauce to you and me, with Big Ben on the bottle.

That was then. Now we’re in the Japanese restaurant everyone has been raving about, and a farewell dinner is in store as our little group gets a touch celebratory and we all toast this fabulous little adventure. Shaun and Sandy McCarthy, the Johannesburg-based duo who have run the Whitestar operation and its Cunard account for years, having taken it over from Shaun’s mother who started it, have been wonderful hosts, friendly and engaging at every turn, with Shaun making a brief toast at the start of our dinner in Sir Samuel’s Steak and Grill the evening before.

The Pavilion, with a big screen playing movies or videos all day. The Police were on at brunch time on Thursday. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

The Pavilion pool deck is a glorious place to be on a sunny day; the Wellness Café overlooks it. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

At Aji Wa Japanese restaurant, situated in the higher reaches of the ship, we’re joined by South African journalists and influencers who have boarded for a tour of the ship and dinner, mirroring my experience a year earlier when I boarded Queen Mary in Duncan Dock for a similar tour and dinner at the QM’s grill house.

Paired with our meal is a trio of sakes of varying strengths and flavour profiles, and Aji Wa promises “a harmony of flavours”, although when googled the name simply means flavour or taste, with a definite article. It’s a five-course dinner with two options for the main course.

Three pieces of a “premium selection” of sushi, nigiri and sashimi set the scene, followed by the miso and shiitake broth with tiny dice of smoked tofu (I’m always sceptical of tofu but this was truly delightful on the tongue), bamboo, nori and tenderstem broccoli.

Sushi, sashimi and nigiri: (Photo: Tony Jackman)

Miso broth, much adorned: (Photo: Tony Jackman)

Hirata bun with smoked chashu pork: (Photo: Tony Jackman)

Amazing spring chicken: (Photo: Tony Jackman)

Whisky baba: (Photo: Tony Jackman)

My second favourite course came next: hiragana (steamed buns) with a filling of chashu pork, carrot, cucumber and sesame; so delicious. Then, from the robot grill, the most delectably tender and madly flavourful spring chicken glazed with Cunard Jukusei Sake Kasu (a white paste from the pressed lees of sake during its production). I could easily have chosen the cedar-planked sea bass with sudachi (Japanese green citrus), miso, and sliced ponzu. But I’m glad I chose the spring chicken.

Dessert was a golden ball of soft deliciousness with a slight crunch at the edge: Akashi-Tai Shiraume Ginjo Umeshi and Hatozaki whisky Baba with lime marmalade and a topping of Chantilly cream. Sweetly fruity plum sake contrasted with gently tangy lime, wonderful.

And then, that moment of farewells, hugs, smiles and regrets that it’s over, but not before the charms of Cunard’s Bob Dixon, our host along with Shaun and Sandy McCarthy, sent us on our way with a super-smart Cunard gift bag of the line’s own very special gins. We’ll toast them all, and this fabulous week on board Queen Anne, with those very gins.

And there she is now, moored at E berth, the first time this particular Cunard queen has visited Cape Town. Bless her and all who sail on her. DM

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