Lifestyle Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News. It began as an idea to cross the Atlantic on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 for a significant birthday.
Then the plan snowballed. What if Melbourne cruise fans Mark Eden and Jay Cadiramen could board all six Cunard “Queens” within the space of a year? “We started talking about doing a transatlantic for Mark’s birthday and the idea just grew,” Jay says. The couple didn’t only book the Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth and the new Queen Anne, they also stayed on two retired Cunard ships that are now floating hotels, the QEII in Dubai and the Queen Mary in Los Angeles.
Mark and Jay, who have been keen Cunard cruisers for a decade, began the year last summer season, with a circumnavigation of New Zealand on Queen Elizabeth and then mid-year, the big trip began. First stop, Long Beach in LA where the 1930s-era ocean liner, the Queen Mary has been docked since 1967. “It felt like going back in time when the ship was in its heyday, and we stayed in a beautiful big suite, but one of the things that was really nice was the tours,” Jay says.
For Mark, boarding the liner held special significance. “My dad was in the merchant navy during the 1950s and was an engineer on the original Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth,” he says. Mark and Jay have been keen Cunard cruisers for a decade.
Picture Supplied. “It was just really poignant for me going through the spaces,.