The biggest Princess Cruises’ ship to sail local waters this summer - the 3082-guest Emerald Princess - is now on her way down under after departing from Southampton.

In a voyage reminiscent of the line voyages of last century, the 113,000-tonne superliner will spend the next 48 nights sailing across four continents from Italy to India via the Suez Canal and south through Asia en route to her new home in Australia.

Making the first of seven maiden Australian port calls in Fremantle on November 8th, Emerald Princess will cruise via Melbourne on November 13th, arriving at her new Sydney homeport on November 15th.

Stretching 290 metres, Emerald Princess is one of Princess’ largest ships and is certain to turn heads as she sails from the Emerald City from November 2016 to April 2017.

Princess Cruises vice president Australia & New Zealand, Stuart Allison, said the ship’s arrival would take the cruise line’s Australasian capacity to a record 11,800 berths across five ships during the 2016-17 cruise season.

“We’ve been basing ships down under for 15 years but the debut of Emerald Princess in the Emerald City will make this a summer to remember for Princess.

“With five of Princess’ 18 ships cruising local waters this summer, Australia ranks as the cruise line’s biggest market outside the United States,” Allison said.

Emerald Princess features more than 1,500 guest rooms, including nearly 900 balcony staterooms, with every room offering the Princess Luxury Bed designed to deliver the ultimate night of sleep at sea.

Emerald Princess will spend her inaugural five-month season of cruises from Sydney sailing on 13 roundtrip cruises to destinations in the South Pacific, New Zealand and around Australia.