This book provides details of many of the ships that cruised out of Australian ports from the early 1970s up to 2000, and all the cruise liners to have been seen in local waters since 2001, as well as a look ahead to the liners scheduled to come here later in 2007 and into 2008. The ships are listed in the order in which they entered the local cruise market. As the pages proceed it will be noted that over the years the size of the liners seen in Australia has steadily increased. In the early days cruise liners were usually no more than 25,000 gross tons, but in the summer of 2002 we welcomed the first liner to exceed 100,000 gross tons. In February 2007 the second largest passenger liner ever built, Queen Mary 2, will make a visit to our shores. For the summer of 2007-08, the Australian cruise trade will be serviced by three liners exceeding 70,000 gross tons, something that would have been thought impossible even five years ago. This book will be 112 pages, and include 110 liners that have operated cruises in Australia waters over the past 35 years. The text gives full details, including important dates, types of accommodation, interesting facts and general information, on every ship. There will also be a colour picture on every page, none of which have been published previously as the book will be released to coincide with the first visit of Queen Mary 2 to Australia in February 2007. The maiden voyage of the Cunard Lines Queen Mary 2 will start on January 10 at Fort Lauderdale, after cruising down the South American coast visiting Rio, Montevideo, Santiago, Acapulco it will go to San Francisco, Honolulu, Pago Pago (American Samoa) and on round the world via Sydney, Auckland, Dubai, the Mediterranean, Paris and London. Peter Plowman is one of Australia#65533;s best known maritime authors. His last two books were Australian Migrant Ships (pub Feb 02, reprinted July 06) and The Chandris Liners.
