Cunard’s 185th: “Sea Of Glamour” Stories

Posted onAuthorChris Owen

On May 27, the world’s most iconic luxury cruise line will showcase untold stories from guests around the world as part of its exciting new Sea of Glamour exhibition celebrating 185 years of Cunard.

Curated by celebrated British photographer and filmmaker Mary McCartney, the exhibition features 185 incredible images – sourced from the Cunard archives, and a collection of guest pictures, chosen from more than 1,000 photographs submitted by hundreds of guests from across the globe.

Archive images will include rare shots of Hollywood icons, musicians, and politicians at sea, alongside historic moments with royalty.

The QE2 cleaners pose together on deck in 1975. 1,800 passengers pay to be pampered whether they’re on the milk run between Southampton and New York, or on a dream cruise around the world. This means a mountain of work for the girls who serve the drinks, clean the cabins and rush around the place with their cans of aerosol cleaner. The girls are called cyclic cleaners because they go round in a continuous circle of work, keeping the QE2 sparkling at sea. Linda McAndrew of Bournemouth is one of the cleaning girls who start work at 7.30am and finish at 10pm with a break for lunch and three hours off in the afternoon. Linda is on the team cleaning the seven spiral staircases each 13 storeys high. She said,”Often I’m cleaning one side and they’re already dropping sweet papers and cigarette ash on the side I’ve just cleaned”.. She goes on to say “we’re seeing and meeting new people all the time and often passengers stop to say hello and what a good job we’re doing”. “We get a few hours off in New York and other ports to go sightseeing and shopping. We can sunbathe on the crew’s own deck during our afternoon break and on cruises out of New York there is a swimming pool for the crew”. Picture taken 1st August 1975

Cunard is a proud pioneer of luxury ocean travel, boasting a strong British identity – but its iconic ships have touched lives across the world. This exhibition is a platform for their stories to be heard on a global scale.

From America to Australia, Canada to Germany, Japan to the UK, Cunard guests’ pictures help tell a magical story of life on board the iconic liners, from the 1900s to the present day. These captivating moments of family holidays, friendship groups, wedding ceremonies, milestone anniversaries, and more will help recreate Cunard’s magic at sea at The Royal Liver Building in Liverpool, England this Spring.

For the 185th anniversary image, Mary McCartney will also capture a portrait of Cunard’s Queen Anne Icons in Liverpool on the exhibition’s opening day, offering a fresh and captivating perspective on the brand’s deep-rooted history with its spiritual home.

The Icons are all proud Liverpudlian women: Spice Girl and author Melanie C, broadcaster and community leader Ngunan Adamu, local restaurant entrepreneur Natalie Haywood, Liverpool music and cultural legend Jayne Casey, and British Olympian heptathlon athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

Sea of Glamour exhibition

The Sea of Glamour exhibition will be open to the general public at The Royal Liver Building in Liverpool between May 28, 2025, and June 17, 2025, before setting sail around the world aboard the Cunard fleet.

It will feature a stunning collection of 185 photos of Hollywood icons, musicians, politicians, and royalty from the Cunard archives, alongside newly curated images from the public to form a timeline of iconic moments that will immerse visitors in the magic of nearly two centuries of transatlantic travel.

Visitors will be treated to an experience of glamorous maritime history like no other, with interactive moments including an immersive audio storytelling experience, transporting visitors to life aboard Cunard ships through the stories of guests past and present, as well as striking sculptural installation, Sails of History, whose beautiful feature sails will be suspended mid-air in The Royal Liver Building. The sails themselves will serve as dynamic canvases for the images of the exhibition.

To find out more about the Sea of Glamour exhibition and the brand’s iconic seafaring history, visit www.cunard.com/seaofglamour

For more information about Cunard or to book a voyage, contact your Travel Advisor, call Cunard at 1-800-728-6273, or visit www.cunard.com.

For Travel Advisors interested in further information, please contact your Business Development Manager, visit OneSourceCruises.com, or call Cunard at 1-800-528-6273.