Queen Mary 2 to head to north Qld
Posted
In a boost for north Queensland tourism, the ocean liner Queen Mary 2 will stop in the Whitsundays in 2010.
The famous liner has never been to Queensland. A lack of facilities for large liners helped to ensure Brisbane will not host its first visit.
The ship's owner, Cunard, says it did not want a repeat of scenes in February when the Queen Victoria was forced to dock at the grain terminal and passengers had to wade through flooded marquees.
Chief executive Ann Sherry says the Queen Mary 2 , the biggest liner ever to visit Queensland, will head to Airlie Beach instead.
"The Whitsundays gives us access to the Great Barrier Reef which is obviously a place that many people on a world cruise would want to go to," she said.
"I think its disappointing that it's not coming to Brisbane.
"As I've said before, Brisbane and the surrounding areas do have a lot to offer, but we've also got to think about passenger experience and we got plenty of negative commentary from some of the previous passenger visits to Brisbane, particularly the Queen Victoria visit and that did weigh on our discussion and decision about the itinerary for Australia."
Brisbane has been dropped from Cunard's world schedule for 2009 and 2010.
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