Having initiated the concept in 1922 and having sailed more World Cruises, carrying more passengers around the world than any other line, Cunard announces its World Cruises for 2016 today, 26 August, ahead of them going on public sale on 10 September 2014.
Cunard will operate world voyages on all three Queens. Queen Victoria offers a classic passage right around the world via the Panama Canal while flagship 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 Sunday 10 January 2016 and will return together to Southampton on Tuesday 10 May.
Each ship will offer overnight stays at three of the world’s most iconic cities, including Rio, Sydney, Cape Town, Singapore, San Francisco and Dubai. In addition, later sailing times – after 9pm at between eight and 10 ports of call on each of the world voyages – will allow passengers the opportunity to get more of a sense of the rhythm and the evening attractions of these destinations.
Between them Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria will visit no fewer than 92 ports in 49 countries. And even after all these years, the three largest Cunard ships ever built will make 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 and their itineraries will offer countless opportunities for discovery with holidays ranging from eight- night fly-cruise sectors to 121-night world voyages.
Fares for a full circumnavigation start at just £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 the waterfront cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong, then on to Vietnam’s picturesque 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 classic 120-night Western Circumnavigation via the Panama Canal – paying a special tribute at Long Beach, California to the original Queen Mary on the 80th 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 allows for full immersion in the ancient cultures of Japan with six Japanese calls in total, timed for the best chance to see the spectacular cherry blossom. After Vietnam, an overnight stay in Singapore and calls in Thailand and India, the ship sails to Dubai and Aqaba (for the ancient site of 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’s 120 night circumnavigation from and back to Southampton, 10 January-10 May 2016, including free on-board spending money of between $600 – $1,800 per person.
Cunard Fares for ‘liner voyages’, cruising to or from Australia and flying the other way, begin at £4,449 per person, including the return flight to the UK and $140 per person on board spending money, for Queen Elizabeth’s Southampton to Freemantle (the port for Perth) 33 night sailing 10 January – 12 February 2016.
Shorter ‘Sector voyages’ where passengers fly-cruise between ports are also available for 4-25 nights. For example, the nine-night Hong Kong to Singapore sector aboard Queen Mary 2 (29 March – 7 April 2016), calling at Hanoi (from Halong Bay), Bangkok (from Laem Chabang) and Sihanoukville, Cambodia, has Cunard Fares starting at £1,969 pwer person, including return flights and $40 per person on board spending money.
Angus Struthers, Cunard Director, says:
“A Cunard World Voyage offers the most authentic of cruise experiences and in 2016 with all three Cunard Queens offering opportunities to explore right across the globe the choice is better than ever. Passengers discovering the world with Cunard will always be able to enjoy the added thrill of the warm welcomes and special farewells which Cunard ships receive wherever they go. And those passengers can travel safe in the knowledge they are sailing with the World Cruise experts, Cunard having started this great travel tradition way back in 1922. A World Cruise is a wonderful experience, but a World Cruise with Cunard is the stuff of legend!”
