Cunard Line has set a cruise restart date for July 19th aboard Queen Elizabeth out of the UK, while several other cruises aboard the ship have been cancelled so that she can reposition to Asia in April next year.

Cunard Line switched up its global deployments for its three cruise ships as it works to finalise cruise restart plans, with Queen Mary 2 resuming trans-Atlantic services in November, and Queen Victoria sailing Western Europe out of the UK from April, 2022.

Queen Elizabeth

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Cunard Line is now planning to resume operations with Queen Elizabeth first, sailing from Southampton on a range of previously announced UK voyages from July 19th. She will then transition to offering international voyages from Southampton on October 13th, 2021.

These international itineraries will include port calls on the Iberian coast and in the Canary Islands. In mid-February, Queen Elizabeth will revert to her previously scheduled season in Japan, which will kick off April 13th, 2022.

“On July 19 Queen Elizabeth’s crew and I will be welcoming guests onboard as at long last we start our return to sailing,” said Simon Palethorpe, President, Cunard Line. “This will be a momentous day for Cunard as after a long pause we finally get back to doing what we love doing, hosting guests for fantastic vacations. To say we cannot wait would be an understatement!”

“Sadly, the path for a return to sailing across international waters is less clear and we are extremely sorry for the huge disappointment cancellations will cause for all guests who have been affected. Unfortunately, there are simply too many international ports of call affected by the ongoing complexities of COVID-19, which has sadly led to this decision,” he added.

Cunard will have its full fleet back in operation by 2022

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While Cunard Line has not confirmed Queen Elizabeth’s cruise repositioning plans, its likely that she might cruise via Dubai or Muscat en-route to Asia in April next year.

In October, 2022, after her summer season out of Vancouver and then Barcelona, she is due to cruise to Australia via Safaga in Egypt and Salalah in Oman.

The port calls in Safaga on October 16th, and in Salalah on October 21st, 2022, will not be turnaround calls, unfortunately, meaning that Middle East cruise passengers wont be able to book the Middle East-Australia leg of the broader repositioning itinerary.

Cunard Line’s cancelled 2021 and 2022 voyages:

Queen Elizabeth’s sailings from the UK to Australia and her homeport season in Australia from October 18, 2021 up to and including March 9, 2022.

World Voyages on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria in 2022 are now cancelled.

Queen Victoria’s sailings from September 10, 2021 up to and including April 29, 2022 are now cancelled – five of these sailings will transfer onto identical voyages on sister ship Queen Elizabeth. These voyages are V126, V128, V129, V130 and V201.

Queen Mary 2, meanwhile, will resume sailing with a trans-Atlantic Crossing on November 14th, 2021 as per her existing schedule, and will now sail on a series of voyages around the Caribbean between January and April, 2022.

These itineraries will feature embarkation options from Southampton, New York and Hamburg. Queen Mary 2 will then resume her previously published schedule on April 24th, 2022.

Queen Victoria will embark on three new voyages departing from Southampton from April 22, 2022 which includes Western Europe, the Baltics and the Iberian Coast before resuming her existing published schedule on May 20th, 2022.