Aussies take to cruising in luxury

A record number of Australians are living it up onboard Cunard's luxury superliners Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary 2 this year.

The two elegant liners made maritime history this week, passing each other for the first time in Sydney Harbour and Cunard director Peter Shanks said about 1000 Australians were travelling on the two ships.

The elegant Queen Elizabeth has more than 10 restaurants and cafes, 12 bars and clubs, a three-deck Royal Court Theatre, two outdoor swimming pools, a games deck including croquet and bowls, as well as a library with 6000 books.

The liner is on a 103-night voyage and will next visit Melbourne, before continuing on to Fremantle, and then returning to Southampton via Asia.

During an average day on the Queen Elizabeth, 624 bottles of wine and 327 bottles of champagne are consumed. Meanwhile, 4188 eggs and 287 litres of fruit juice are downed.

Annual tea consumption onboard the Queen Elizabeth would almost fill an Olympic size swimming pool and the liner's guests will use more than 140,000 toothpicks each year.

"We've had about 30 per cent more Australians on the two ships this year than we had this time last year," said Shanks.

The ships are carrying about 6000 passengers in total and the joint visit is expected to generate close to $3 million for the Sydney economy.

Mr Shanks said he hoped to one day see Cunard's three Queens - Elizabeth, Mary 2 and Victoria - meet in Sydney.

"We'll continue to send our ships down to this part of the world on a consistent basis for many years to come.

"It's our ambition to have our three Queens in Sydney, but we have to wait until we have somewhere to park our ships."

Queen Elizabeth on her maiden voyage and Queen Mary 2 on her fourth visit manoeuvered around Sydney's Fort Denison on Tuesday into their separate berths - Queen Elizabeth at Circular Quay and Queen Mary 2 at Garden Island.

AAP

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