Busselton will welcome a royal visitor this Monday with Cunard’s legendary flagship Queen Mary 2 arriving for her historic first visit to Geographe Bay.
Stretching 345 metres, Queen Mary 2 will be the largest ship ever to anchor in the waters off Busselton, with 2700 guests set to enjoy a day of sightseeing around region.
Over the past 10 years, the liner has become a regular visitor to Australian waters and has completed two circumnavigations of the country as part of her annual world voyage program.
Her visit follows $147 million remastering which has seen the addition of 50 new staterooms, including the liner’s first single staterooms, as well as a stylish new space – the Carinthia Lounge – and Cunard’s first wine cellar at sea.
Queen Mary 2 will depart Fremantle around 8pm on Sunday and will anchor off Busselton on Monday around 8am and is due to depart around 6pm.
Her call to Busselton is one of four maiden Australian visits she will make during her 2017 world voyage with inaugural calls to Kangaroo Island in SA and Port Arthur and Hobart in Tasmania.
Carnival Australia executive chairman Ann Sherry said Queen Mary 2’s call was further confirmation of Busselton's appeal as a cruise destination.
"Ships across our fleets have been calling at Busselton now for just over two years, and during that time it’s quickly become a popular port with our guests,” she said.
“Visitors love the region’s natural beauty and attractions as well as the enthusiastic welcome they receive from local resident.
Ms Sherry said Western Australian ports were increasingly appearing on Australian cruise itineraries, with cruise ship visits delivering hundreds of thousands of dollars in economic benefits through passenger and crew spending each time they visit a port.
"More than one million Australians take an ocean cruise holiday each year and a record number of cruise ships are now sailing in our waters, so it's wonderful to see Western Australian communities benefitting from cruise tourism,” she said.
