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Travel and hospitality

Cunard brings New Yorker cartoonists on transatlantic voyage

January 31, 2018

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 with the New York skyline in the background. Image credit: Cunard

 

Cruise line Cunard has invited leading cartoonist from The New Yorker aboard the Queen Mary 2 to explore the world of cartoons.

The Condé Nast-owned magazine is well-known for its single-panel cartoons that have offered a signature mix of news, culture and arts since The New Yorker’s founding in 1925. Cunard often programs entertaining and unique on-board activities that passengers would not otherwise be able to experience besides during a transatlantic crossing on one of its ships.

Cunard cartoons
Cunard’s “Cartoonist at Sea” will be on select 2018 transAtlantic crossings between June and November. The program will occur during one transatlantic Crossing per month, with the exception of September.

For the program, Cunard has invited The New Yorker’s celebrated cartoonists to host drawing sessions, workshops, hands-on demonstrations and caption contests for passengers.

Participating cartoonists at Sea will include Emily Flake, Matt Diffee, David Sipress and Ben Schwartz. The New Yorker cartoonists will all be aboard different Queen Mary 2 voyages.

Cunard partners with The New Yorker to present Cartoonists at Sea. Image credit: Cunard Line

“We are excited to partner with the creative cartoonists team at the New Yorker to entertain our guests on board Cunard’s Queen Mary 2,” said Josh Leibowitz, senior vice president of Cunard North America, in a statement.

“Our goal at Cunard is to offer extraordinary experiences to our guests, and we look forward to welcoming The New Yorker team onto these Queen Mary 2 voyages,” he said.

In another example of curating guest experience, Cunard tested the crossword puzzle skills of its passengers in a collaboration with The New York Times.

Last year The New York Times celebrated the 75th anniversary of its crossword puzzle section. The newspaper first published a crossword puzzle in 1942 as a way to comfort and distract readers after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and by 1950 the word game became a daily staple The New York Times.

To fete the occasion and entertain passengers on its transatlantic voyage from New York to Southampton in the United Kingdom, Cunard worked with The New York Times to program “The Crossword Crossing.” Hosted aboard the Queen Mary 2, passengers tested their skills while enjoying the seven-night trip across the Atlantic (see story).