article_detail

Tuesday August 25 was one of the busiest days of the year at Cartagena's Juan Sebastián Elcano cruise terminal, with two of the most modern ships from their respective cruise lines arriving within the same hour.

 

The star of the day for many local expats will be the Queen Anne, Cunard Line's newest and most modern ship. Built by Italian shipyard Fincantieri, the British vessel entered service in May 2024 as the 249th ship in Cunard's long history. It measures 322.5 metres in length and 35.6 metres in width, with a gross tonnage of 113,000, a figure that reflects the ship's total interior volume rather than its weight, taking in everything from cabins and restaurants to lounges and storage areas.

 

The Queen Anne can carry around 3,000 passengers and has a crew of 1,225, reaching a top speed of 22 knots, just over 40km/h. It was officially named in Liverpool in June 2024, a city with deep historical ties to Cunard.

 

On board, passengers can enjoy 15 different dining venues, the three-storey Grand Lobby, the Royal Court Theatre and The Pavilion, a pool area topped with a retractable glass dome that also hosts film screenings and live performances.

 

Its call at Cartagena forms part of a 14-night cruise around Spain and Portugal, which began in Southampton on August 16 and will return to the same port on the 30th. Before arriving in Cartagena, the ship had already stopped in Lisbon, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona, and it'll continue on to Málaga and Cádiz before the voyage ends.

 

Docking alongside it was the Allura, the newest ship in the Oceania Cruises fleet, delivered to the company in July 2025. At 246 metres long with a gross tonnage of over 68,000, the ship has 605 cabins and suites and is aimed squarely at luxury food lovers, with twelve dining venues on board and one chef for every eight passengers. Cabins are unusually spacious too, with standard rooms exceeding 27 square metres.

 

Together, the Queen Anne and the Allura brought a combined 4,469 passengers into Cartagena, with the Queen Anne accounting for 3,000 of those and the Allura carrying 1,469.

 

The double arrival is far from a one-off for the city. Cartagena is in the middle of an especially busy fortnight, with eleven cruise ships scheduled to call at the port between Sunday August 16 and Saturday August 29, carrying a combined capacity of more than 22,500 passengers.

 

Another double port call is due on August 27, when Silversea's Silver Muse and AIDA Cruises' Aidastella are both set to dock, and the run of arrivals will wrap up on August 29 with the arrival of Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Sky.

 

 

 

Image: Cunard