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Cunard trio to sail over 100,000 nautical miles on 2016 World Cruises

Cunard announced its World Cruises for 2016 ahead of them going on public sale on September 10, 2014.

Mary Bond, Editor in Chief

August 29, 2014

3 Min Read
Credit: Seatrade Cruise News

Cunard will operate world voyages on all three ships in the fleet: Queen Victoria sails via the Panama Canal while Queen Mary 2 will also perform a full circumnavigation, for the first time since 2009, via South America’s Cape Horn. Queen Elizabeth will sail Down Under and back through the Suez Canal, allowing time to explore South Africa, Australia, Japan and the Far East in particular depth. 

All three ships will sail from their homeport of Southampton on January 10, 2016 and will return together to Southampton on May 10.

Each ship will offer overnight stays at Rio, Sydney, Cape Town, Singapore, San Francisco and Dubai. In addition, there are later sailing times – after 9pm at between eight and 10 ports of call on each of the world voyages.

Between them Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria will visit 92 ports in 49 countries, making 35 maiden calls including 10 where Cunard has never visited before: Amber Cove, Dominican Republic (Queen Mary 2), Kangaroo Island, Australia (Queen Victoria), Port Victoria, Seychelles (Queen Victoria), Réunion (Queen Elizabeth), Newcastle, Australia (Queen Elizabeth), Cebu, Philippines (Queen Elizabeth), Jeju-do, South Korea (Queen Elizabeth), Hiroshima, Japan (Queen Elizabeth), Okinawa, Japan (Queen Elizabeth) and Keelung, Taiwan (Queen Elizabeth).

In total, the three ships will sail over 100,000 nautical miles.

Fares for a full circumnavigation start at £107 per person per day, with all meals, entertainment and travel included.

Queen Mary 2 is sailing a 120-night Western Circumnavigation via South America with an overnight stay in Rio, and scenic-sailing in the Beagle Channel, around Cape Horn and through the Magellan Straits of Chile before the ship crosses the South Pacific for the very first time, with calls in French Polynesia. After New Zealand and Australia – with an overnight stay in Sydney – Queen Mary 2 sails to Shanghai and Hong Kong, then on to Vietnam’s Halong Bay before heading for Bangkok, Singapore and then Dubai for an overnight stay before returning to the UK through the Suez Canal.

Queen Victoria will set out on a 120-night Western Circumnavigation via the Panama Canal - paying a special tribute at Long Beach, California to the original Queen Mary on the80th anniversary of her maiden voyage - before staying overnight in San Francisco. Queen Victoria then sails via Hawaii to close-cruise in New Zealand’s scenic fiordland and call at seven Australian ports – including an overnight stay in Sydney - before heading for Hong Kong, Singapore and an overnight stay in Cape Town en route back to Southampton.

Queen Elizabeth sails south on a 121- night loop which features seven of the ten ports of call never before visited by Cunard. After a three-day stay in Cape Town, the ship will visit seven different Australian ports – with an overnight stay in Sydney. Visiting the Philippines to Hong King, Shanghai and South Korea, the itinerary also includes six Japanese calls, timed for the best chance to see the cherry blossom. After Vietnam, an overnight stay in Singapore and calls in Thailand and India, the ship sails to Dubai and Aqaba (for Petra), transiting the Suez Canal to return to the UK.

Full World Cruise Cunard Fares range from £12,799 per person to £138,649 per person for Queen Mary 2’s120 night circumnavigation from and back to Southampton, January 10 to May 10, 2016, including free on-board spending money of between $600 - $1,800 per person.

Shorter ‘Sector voyages’ are also available for 4-25 nights.

About the Author

Mary Bond

Editor in Chief

Mary Bond is Group Director, Seatrade Cruise a division within Informa Markets and responsible for the Seatrade portfolio of global cruise events, print and online cruise publishing.

Mary is also the publisher and editor-in-chief of Seatrade Cruise News and Seatrade Cruise Review magazine.

Mary has worked in the shipping industry for 39 years, first for Lloyd’s Register of Shipping before joining Seatrade’s editorial team in 1985.

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