Cunard, the cruise line with the closest ties to the British royal family, will mark the Queen’s diamond jubilee with a special event in Southampton in 2012.
All three ships in the fleet, all of which have a member of the royal family as their godmother, will mark the occasion with a Three Queens event on June 5, the bank holiday to celebrate the jubilee.
Like sister line P&O Cruises, to mark the brochure launch, Cunard is also offering an additional 10% off early bookings made before May 31, for 2012 bookings.
This comes after the trade arm Complete Cruise Solution reduced base commission to travel agents from as much as 15% to 5% saying it wanted to take back control of pricing.
Details of Cunard’s jubilee event and booking incentives were released today along with information about the full sailing programme for the operator in 2012 that goes on sale on April 4.
In total the three ships in the fleet, Queen Mary 2, Queen Victroia and Queen Elizabeth, will sail 84 voyages visiting 129 ports and 48 countries.
The programme offers overnight stays in some popular ports (see below) to meet growing demand from cruise customers to spend more time in port and other booking incentives including free car parking for some roundtrip Southampton cruises and onboard spend.
Peter Shanks, Cunard president and managing director, said: “Since the high profile introduction of Queen Elizabeth last year, Cunard has seen a step change in interest and demand in the fast growing UK cruise market.
“With three ships in the fleet, our range of itineraries and holiday choices is greater than ever before – proving attractive both to loyal Cunarders and to first-timers.
“It’s no surprise that we will be celebrating Her Majesty’s jubilee in fine style. We intend to make it an occasion Southampton and our passengers won’t forget.”
Other highlights of the programme ship-by-ship included:
• Queen Elizabeth will spend the first half of the summer sailing out of Southampton before an inaugural Mediterranean fly-cruise season from Venice, Civitavecchia (Rome) and Athens offering a series of 12-night voyages. In early 2013 Queen Elizabeth will embark on a new Pacific Islands voyage offering a 91-night cruise from Southampton or a 36-night voyage from Los Angeles.
• Queen Victoria will spend the summer sailing out of Southampton to northern Europe and Mediterranean destinations. A new feature will be overnight stays in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Istanbul, St Petersburg, Madeira and Venice
• Queen Mary 2 will cross the Atlantic 20 times during 2012 on her popular transatlantic voyages between New York and Southampton. Queen Mary 2 will also offer voyages to Northern Europe, Canada and New England and a new 16-night central Mediterranean voyage.