For the first time in 14 years a Cunard ocean liner will depart from Liverpool for a transatlantic voyage to New York in a landmark crossing… and a bittersweet reminder of what the city lost in 1966. Tony McDonough reports
Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 will embark on her 500th transatlantic crossing in a round trip world voyage that will see passengers able to travel from Liverpool to New York for the first time in 14 years.
It was back in July 2015 that the same vessel departed Liverpool for New York in a special crossing to mark Cunard’s 175th birthday celebrations.
This followed the ‘Three Queens’ spectacular in the Mersey that saw Queen Mary 2 join her two sister ships, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria for a celebration that saw a million people gather on the river banks in May 2015.
This latest voyage across the Atlantic will depart Liverpool’s cruise terminal on May 4, 2029, and will take seven days to reach New York. It will be the culmination of a 21-day round trip that will also see the vessel call at Hamburg and Southampton.
It is a welcome return to Liverpool which Cunard likes to call its “spiritual home”. However, each one-off crossing also serves as a bittersweet reminder of when Cunard used to offer transatlantic crossings from Liverpool as a regular service.
On November 24, 1966, RMS Sylvania left Princes Landing Stage on the Mersey and began its journey across the Atlantic to New York.
This was an historic voyage, but not for happy reasons. Cunard had announced a suspension of transatlantic services between Liverpool and the US after operating the route for 126 years.
A year later, in 1967, Cunard dealt the city an even bigger blow when it moved its headquarters from Liverpool, the city of its birth, to Southampton. This truly was the end of an era.
This means that by the time Queen Mary departs Liverpool in 2029 services will have been officially “suspended” for 63 years with little sign of them returning.
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Katie McAlister, then president of Cunard, told LBN in 2024: “We have no plans to move the transatlantic base from Southampton. At the moment the place for Liverpool is really on our British Isles cruises. It is always a highlight to visit Liverpool.”
In May 2028 Cunard’s newest vessel, Queen Anne, will join the other three ships on the Mersey for another spectacular similar to the Three Queens as it helps the city mark 20 years since it was European Capital of Culture.