Cunard has released details of its 2019 international cruise programme, which will include a record two-month season in Australia.

Australians will be able to choose from 27 local cruises on the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship, which will be based in Melbourne and Sydney from February to April 2019.

The longest deployment Down Under for any of Cunard’s current fleet, Queen Elizabeth’s Australian season forms part of the cruise line’s global “Oceans of Discovery” programme, which features cruises on all three Cunard ships: Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth. This programme will include 109 destinations in 49 countries, including 21 maiden port calls.

In Australia, Queen Elizabeth will operate seven roundtrip cruises from Sydney and Melbourne. These include a five-night cruises to Tasmania from Sydney, a six-night Melbourne-Tasmania voyage, and 12-night cruises from both Sydney and Melbourne to New Zealand, including an overnight call in Wellington.

The season will also include Queen Elizabeth’s maiden call to Burnie, in northern Tasmania.

Another feature of Queen Elizabeth’s 2019 programme will be two roundtrip cruises in Japan, including a nine-night circumnavigation of Honshu during the cherry blossom season. From Japan, Queen Elizabeth will sail across the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver and Alaska.

Queen Victoria meanwhile, will embark on a round-the-world voyage from the UK in January 2019, including calls in New Zealand and Australia. And Queen Mary 2 will offer a series of regional cruises in Asia, with calls at Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia.