Cunard’s iconic Queen Elizabeth was today greeted with a dazzling aerial light show featuring 60 illuminated drones soaring above Port Melbourne to mark the luxury ship’s first Christmas voyage from Australia and a spectacular highlight of her record local cruise season.
Producing stunning images and videos and confirming that ‘no one does Christmas like Cunard’, the city’s first-ever Drone Show saw perfectly synchronised drones fly up to 100 metres above Queen Elizabeth for an eight-minute performance.
Controlled by a team of five operators, the aerial display combined Christmas and maritime themes featuring seven colourful animated formations including Christmas tree, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and a ship and anchor. The light show finished with a drone firework and the word Cunard.
Cunard Australia’s Commercial Director Katrina McAlpine said the impressive display was a great prelude to Queen Elizabeth’s first Christmas Down Under and her longest ever home porting in Melbourne.
“Just three days out from Christmas, today’s fantastic display also highlights Australia’s growing importance to Cunard as the line’s third largest international source market,” Ms McAlpine said. “It is a distinction that has prompted Cunard to base one of the world’s most famous ships Down Under for a record 101-days.”
Melbourne is Queen Elizabeth’s main Australian home port this summer season, with the luxury ship making eight visits to the city taking more than 16,000 passengers on voyages to southern Australia and New Zealand between December 2019 and February 2020.
“The ship’s Melbourne season is going to make a significant economic contribution to Victoria, injecting close to AU$7 million into the State’s economy through passenger and crew expenditure, port fees and charges as well as sourcing of local produce from fresh fruit and vegetables to meat and wine,” Ms McAlpine said.
The season is almost double the length of Queen Elizabeth’s Australian deployment last summer and marks the first time one of Cunard’s modern fleet of three Queens has spent Christmas sailing in local waters.
Queen Elizabeth will depart Melbourne tonight and is headed to Burnie in Tasmania. After leaving Burnie tomorrow, the ship will celebrate Christmas Day at sea, sailing to Fiordland National Park in New Zealand. On board, her guests will enjoy all the hallmarks of a classic Cunard Christmas from the oversized Christmas tree in the Grand Lobby adorned with glistening decorations to a gingerbread village painstakingly handcrafted by Cunard’s award-winning chefs.
Guests will also be treated to a spectacular Christmas feast, with traditional British dishes such as turkey, chestnut stuffing and pudding served alongside Aussie favourites including a seafood BBQ and pavlova.
At 90,900 tonnes, Queen Elizabeth is the second largest ship ever to sail in Cunard’s fleet. She is home to just over 2,000 guests and 1,000 crew and features more than 10 restaurants and cafés, a Games Deck including paddle tennis, croquet and bowls, a two-storey library, a ballroom and the Royal Court Theatre.
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