Cunard has released details of the celebratory voyages and events it will host in 2015 to mark 175 years of its grand British maritime history. A series of commemorative cruises have been announced, with tickets available in Australia from today. The anniversary program includes a special voyage for Cunard’s flagship Queen Mary 2 which will see the ocean liner sail from Liverpool on 4 July 2015, following the path of the Britannia which left the city 175 years earlier to the day. This exclusive 10-night cruise is priced from £2749*.
To salute Cunard’s ‘spiritual home’ of Liverpool – where the company was founded and the company’s Head Office remained for 128 years until 1967 – the current fleet will take part in a historic three-day event from 24 to 26 May 2015.
Queen Mary 2 will arrive in Liverpool on Sunday 24 May and make her first ever overnight stay in the city, berthed in sight of the Cunard Building, which forms one third of the World-Heritage-listed ‘Three Graces’ on the Pier Head. The following morning Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria will sail into the city and all three ships will line up on the Mersey in a spectacle that is expected to draw huge crowds. Queen Elizabeth’s 16-night Baltic cruise from Southampton on 11 May 2015 is priced from £3159*.
Cunard’s 175th celebrations will begin at its homeport on 3 May 2015, when Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria will sail into Southampton together and depart later that day in formation.
Queen Victoria will then depart on a seven-night “Lusitania Remembered” voyage in honour of the Cunard flagship which was torpedoed off Ireland in 1915 while sailing from New York to Liverpool. The cruise will also remember the crew and the other 21 ships Cunard lost during the First World War, including Carpathia which had rescued all of the survivors of the Titanic.
All Queen Victoria passengers will be invited to a special service at Cobh on 7 May 2015, 100 years to the day since Lusitania was lost. Fares start from £1389*.