Never let it be said that Cunard rush into things. It has taken 170 years for the shipping line to appoint its first woman captain. And even when she took command of Queen Victoria for the first time, there were no passengers on board, and she was only taking the ship from Southampton to Hamburg for a two-week refit in dry dock.
But next Wednesday, Inger Olsen will set sail with a full complement of passengers for a five-night mini-cruise to Amsterdam, Zeebrugge and Le Havre, and for her second voyage in command will be taking the ship on a 16-night Christmas and New Year cruise to the Canaries.
Inger, 43, was brought up in the Faroe Islands. She joined Cunard in 1997 as first officer on board Caronia. She transferred to the Yachts of Seabourn fleet in 2000 and was promoted to staff captain on Seabourn Pride in 2002.
She let me into her Cunard secret back in May on board P&O’s Azura, and my picture was taken on the bridge where, as staff captain, she was taking the ship out of Stockholm.
Inger returned to Cunard in August, as deputy captain of Queen Victoria, and has now stepped up to take the top job.
Cunard president and managing director Peter Shanks said: “While we are far from being the first shipping company to have a female Captain, it is noteworthy when such a long-established British institution as Cunard makes a break with its captaincy tradition.
“But as Mark Twain drily observed, ‘the folks at Cunard wouldn’t appoint Noah himself as Captain until he had worked his way up through the ranks’. Inge has certainly done that, and we are delighted to welcome her as our first woman driver.”
About the Author: John Honeywell
John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.
We join Victoria on Wednesday for the markets cruise and look forward to being chauferred by Inger and her crew. Looking forward to chilling out for a few days before the mayhem of Christmas!