The ship will sail six roundtrip cruises from Melbourne and two from Sydney during the season
By
Elizabeth Robinson |
Cunard Cruises’ Queen Elizabeth will be based in Australia for 101 days during summer 2019-2020, sailing six roundtrip cruises from Melbourne and two from Sydney.
These cruises will feature an array of itineraries to South Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between December 2019 and March 2020.
“Over the past few years we’ve seen unprecedented growth in demand for the Cunard experience in Australia, so it made sense for us to invest further in the market and extend the sailing season of Queen Elizabeth even more in 2020,” said Simon Palethorpe, senior vice president of Cunard Cruises.
“Our new 2019-2020 summer season will not only feature more cruises, it will also offer some exciting new itinerary options which we hope will entice even more Australians to experience Cunard’s legendary service and style.”
Passengers will be able to sail from Melbourne to New Zealand over the festive period with Christmas Day spent cruising the Tasman Sea, Boxing Day in Fiordland National Park and New Year’s Eve in Auckland Harbour.
Other cruises from Melbourne will include voyages to South Australia and Tasmania. Following her two-month Melbourne deployment, Queen Elizabeth will sail to Sydney where she will cruise on two roundtrip voyages from the city.
Her Sydney offerings will include a new 14-night cruise to Papua New Guinea, featuring the cruise line’s maiden calls to the Conflict Islands and Kiriwina in the Trobriand Islands.
Other maiden visits during the summer season include Cunard’s first call to Esperance in Western Australia, while Queen Elizabeth will be making her inaugural visits to Albany, Whitsunday Islands and Darwin.
Queen Elizabeth features over 10 restaurants and cafes, a games deck with paddle tennis, croquet and bowls, a two-storey library, a ballroom and a three-deck Royal Court Theatre seating 800 guests and offering private boxes.