Queen Elizabeth Sells Out in 29 Minutes

rogue · April 2, 2009

Just 29 minutes.

That's all it took for the maiden voyage of Cunard's much-awaited new ocean liner, the Queen Elizabeth, to sell out today after it went on sale worldwide at 8 a.m. ET.

Cunard says the frenzy for the first voyage of the 2,092-passenger ship, a replacement for the recently retired Queen Elizabeth 2, set a new record at the line. Never before in Cunard's 170-year history has a maiden voyage sold out so fast.

The October 2010 voyage sold out even more quickly than last year's final voyage of the QE2. That sailing sold out in 36 minutes when it went on sale in June 2007.

Cunard today also put five more Queen Elizabeth voyages scheduled in 2010 on sale, and the line says those trips sold heavily, too. In all, more than half of the space on the ship's six 2010 voyages sold within the first two hours of Cunard's phone lines openings.

Only customers who have sailed before on the line were allowed to book today. The ship goes on sale to the general public tomorrow.

“This is an impressive record set by what will be an impressive ship and speaks volumes about the Cunard brand as well as for the resilience of the cruise sector as a whole in these challenging times,” says Carol Marlow, president and managing director of Cunard Line.

The Maiden Voyage, now sold out, will depart from Cunard’s homeport of Southampton on Oct. 12, 2010, en route to the Canary Islands.