Mary begins maiden tour around Australia
10-Feb-2012 - When Lloyd and Jill Anthony bought a caravan more than five years ago and travelled around Australia they saw a lot of the country's natural beauty and met some quirky characters.
Now aged in their 70s, the Perth couple are happy to see the country again, but this time from a different perspective - cruising in luxury.
Mr Anthony says the best part of boarding the Queen Mary 2 from Fremantle for a 28-day voyage around the country is that "someone else drives the vehicle".
Mrs Anthony said her favourite part of the cruising experience was meeting new people from all over the world and making friends.
"We're in contact with people from our first trip we ever did on the old QE2, when we crossed the Atlantic - an American couple we met - and we're still in touch with them and that's going back a long while," she said.
Queen Mary 2 is the largest ocean liner to visit Australia and arrived in Fremantle on Wednesday to begin her maiden circumnavigation around the country.
Arriving from South Africa, the 151,400-tonne Cunard ship berthed at Fremantle's cruise terminal in the morning carrying about 4000 people and left for Adelaide in the evening.
Queen Mary 2 boasts 10 restaurants, five pools, the largest ballroom at sea and the largest library at sea.
Wednesday's visit was the ship's third to Fremantle, following tours in 2010 and 2011.
During this tour, Queen Mary 2 will visit eight Australian ports across five states and the Northern Territory.
The liner will spend 28 days sailing Australian waters, which is the longest she has been based in one country outside of her northern hemisphere home ports of Southampton and New York.
Commodore Christopher Rynd said coming into Fremantle was a tight fit for Queen Mary 2, but said people still enjoyed seeing her come into port.
"She is, I am confident, the most magnificent ocean liner in the world today and probably the most magnificent ever built," he said.
Comm Rynd said the recent cruise ship crash in Italy had heightened people's awareness about cruising but said it had not affected procedures onboard Queen Mary 2.
"I am confident that the way we operate our ships and the procedures and policies that we have are absolutely adequate," he said.
In fact, Cunard says the luxury liner's maiden circumnavigation of the country reflects the growing popularity of cruising in Australia.
The number of Australians holidaying at sea has grown by an average of almost 20 per cent a year since 2002, with latest industry figures showing almost half a million Australians took a cruise in 2010, according to Cunard.
Maritime author Chris Frame, who has written several books about the Cunard ships and will give lectures aboard the Queen Mary 2, says people are still excited to see the ship whenever she arrives at Australian ports.
"She remains the last ocean liner in service, and her unique design makes her very special among other passenger ships," he told AAP.
"She is an extremely large ship, which is always awe-inspiring and her size makes her arrival in Fremantle quite a feat, as the turn in the harbour to dock leaves barely a few feet between the ship and the berth."
Mr Frame said ocean liners were different to cruise ships because they were designed to be extremely strong and stable to make long voyages in comfort for passengers.
"Queen Mary 2 is enormous. For a comparison, in tonnage, she is over three times the size of Titanic, and several hundred feet longer," he said.
When Queen Mary 2 visited Fremantle last year, she injected an estimated $500,000 into the local economy.
Mr Frame said this time she could inject close to double that because she was visiting Fremantle twice and would pick up new passengers in Sydney and Brisbane.
"All these people will spend on taxis, hotels, cafes, bars and so on. It's a great boost to Fremantle and Perth as a whole," he said.
The entire cruise is expected to generate about $10 million for the national economy.
Queen Mary 2 will visit Sydney before going north to Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin and then back to Fremantle on February 28.
She will then move on to Singapore on March 7.
The ship will visit Australia again next year during her sixth world voyage.
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If you're interested in getting onbord next year, Ucango Travel & Cruise are offering a 30 day Cunard Sale with up to $1000 onboard credit.
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