The newly remastered Queen Mary 2 sailed into Sydney Harbour with her younger sister Queen Elizabeth for a Royal Rendezvous over the weekend, marking 10 years since the iconic ocean liner made her first visit to Australia.
Arriving in Sydney fresh from her $145 million remastering, Queen Mary 2 is currently on her maiden visit to Tasmania as part of her 118-night world voyage, while Queen Elizabeth calls at Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns as part of her 120-night world voyage.
Cunard’s flagship ocean liner underwent and an extensive bow-to-stern remastering which has seen 50 new staterooms added, including her first ever single staterooms, new Carinthia Lounge, and Cunard’s first wine cellar at sea.
Since Queen Mary 2’s first visit to Australia in 2007, Australian cruise passenger numbers have jumped by an average of 20 percent per year, growing from 250,000 to more than a million per year.
“Queen Mary 2’s maiden visit to Sydney captured the imagination of thousands upon thousands of Australians, who fell in love with her classic style as well as her state-of-the-art features, and without question, she put cruising on many Australians’ wish lists and helped fuel the industry’s phenomenal growth Down Under,” Carnival Australia executive chairman Ann Sherry says.
Furthermore, Cunard’s ongoing popularity in Australia has led the cruise line to plan longer deployments in the country in 2018 and 2019, with the cruise line announcing Queen Elizabeth will spend two months in Australian waters in 2019, the longest deployment in Australia for any of the line’s current fleet.
Her 2019 Australian season will offer a total 27 combination cruises, offering Aussies a greater range of options to experience Cunard than ever before, with seven different itineraries from Sydney and Melbourne, including two trans-Tasman voyages, three to Tasmania and stopping by South Australia.
Cunard’s 2019 world voyage program will be released 14 March, and go on sale 30 March.
