The Queen is moving to Australia!

There has been some exciting news revealed this week that Cunard are planning to base Queen Elizabeth in Australia in 2019.  For all of the Cunard loving Brits though there’s no need to worry as it wont be a permanent move.  She is expected to based there for 2 months and will be sailing from Sydney and Melbourne doing 7 sailings  cruises to New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania. As cruising from Australia is quite a big thing I think this will be a welcome move for all the Ex- pats and Australians alike who want to try the Cunard brand. In the past this has only been possible if doing a World Cruise Sector. This in turn will also have an impact on the local economy with more spending being done from passengers and crew when in port and also the port fees the country will get. Full details will be released late this month and they are expected to start from February 2019.

Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess and Holland America are a few of the cruise lines that have ships based in Australia for periods throughout the year offering various itineraries and ranging in duration. These tend to be there in our Winter months before returning to Europe or the Caribbean. 2018 will see a move for some  ships also. Celebrity Eclipse, which has always been a firm favourite from Southampton, will be replaced by Celebrity Silhouette. She wont be going far though as she will be based from Dublin which I’m sure will be a huge bonus for the Irish Market.  We will also see a welcome return to the UK for NCL which hasn’t had a ship based here for some years. NCL Jade will be based in Southampton from May until September before she heads off Transatlantic on 25th September to New York. 2018 itineraries for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are expected to be released later this month and it will be interesting to see what ships Royal Caribbean will be sailing from Southampton next Summer. I cant wait and hope we may see an Oasis or Quantum Class ship here in the UK but we will have to wait and see!