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Cunard's 2019 includes first Alaska voyage in 20 years

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Cunard Line's January to May 2019 program, ‘Oceans of Discovery,’ features the line's first Alaska voyage in more than two decades, a full world cruise and various 'Grand Voyages.'

Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria will call at 49 countries and 109 destinations in early 2019. Of these, 21 are maiden calls including Boracay (Philippines), Akita (Japan) and Goa (India).

Queen Victoria will operate a full circumnavigation, while Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth will carry out exotic voyages that offer richer, deeper and more regionally focused itineraries than ever before. They'll visit places Cunard hasn't frequented in years.

Cunard World Club members will be able to book with stateroom assignments beginning on March 28, and booking will open for the public on March 29.

Queen Elizabeth offers a series of round-trips from international ports. In between will be exotic 'Grand Voyages' such as a maiden 27-night sailing from Yokohama to Vancouver that features Cunard's return to Alaska after more than 20 years.

Queen Elizabeth will offer 25 voyage combinations ranging from five to 38 nights and 25 maiden calls. Among them: Boracay; Busselton (for Margaret River), Kangaroo Island, Hobart, Burnie and Port Arthur, Australia; and Hakodate, Akita, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato, Yatsushiro (for Kumamoto), Aomori and Muroran (for Sapporo), Japan. Maiden calls in Alaska include Sitka, Kodiak, Seward, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point and Ketchikan, while British Columbia's Vancouver and Victoria are also new for the ship.

Queen Elizabeth will overnight in Amsterdam, Cape Town, Hobart and Wellington, and offer scenic cruising in Fiordland National Park and Marlborough Sound, New Zealand.

Following a period of dedicated Japan cruises, the ship will cross the North Pacific and Gulf of Alaska en route to Vancouver. This voyage will take in northern Japan, as well as the remote Russian district of Sakhalin on the way to Alaska and British Columbia.

Meanwhile, Queen Victoria will operate Cunard’s only true world voyage in 2019, a westbound passage via the Panama Canal. The journey will depart from Southampton, cross the Atlantic to Florida, sail the Caribbean and through Panama. The ship will then sail the Pacific via Hawaii and Samoa to New Zealand. From there Queen Victoria will call at Sydney, Australia’s Gold Coast and Great Barrier Reef before traveling to Hong Kong via Darwin and Vietnam. After Asia, Queen Victoria will return to Southampton via Singapore, the Indian Ocean and South Africa.

The ship will offer 37 voyage combinations ranging from two to 107 nights, a maiden call at Malacca, Malaysia, and overnights at San Francisco, Sydney, Hong Kong and Cape Town.

Queen Mary 2’s deployment consists of 'Grand Voyages, by Cunard' and 'Regions of the World, by Cunard' in the Mediterranean, Arabian Gulf, Indian Ocean and Far East. These voyages, from one to three weeks, can be combined in many ways.

The liner's journey begins in New York with a trans-Atlantic crossing to Southampton and continues to the Arabian Gulf via the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. From there, Queen Mary 2 will cross the Indian Ocean and enter Asia via the Malacca Straits. Following this, the ship will travel north via Malaysia and Hong Kong toward China, sailing as far as Beijing before turning homeward.

The return journey will call at ports in Korea, Vietnam and India as well as an alternate selection of destinations in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, ending with a crossing from Southampton back to New York.

Queen Mary 2's program includes 28 voyage combinations ranging from seven to 108 nights and maiden calls at Doha, Qatar; Mormugao, India; Seogwipo, Jeju Island, South Korea and Chennai, India. Overnight stays are in Haifa, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin (for Beijing).