Cruise Passenger readers always have plenty to say about what’s going on in Australian cruise, and in the broader cruise community. In Your Say, Cruise Passenger looks at the issues our readers are writing to us about on our blogs, posts and newsletters.
While Aussie cruise passengers are so keen on cruise that they’re generally pretty ready to snap up whatever cruises are on offer, they do of course always have a few things on their wishlist for cruise lines to change.
A feature of the last few years of Aussie cruising has unfortunately been a lack of variety. We’ve seen cruise operations focused mostly out of Brisbane and Sydney, with Great Barrier Reef and South Pacific itineraries dominating the selection.
Furthermore, within the South Pacific, cruise lines have zoned in on New Caledonia and Vanuatu, pulling back on visits to other places such as PNG, Fiji, French Caledonia, Tonga or other destinations.
Cruisers have also been getting a bit shorter for Aussies, particularly from the family lines. It’s tricky to find a cruise these days that’s longer than 11 or 12 nights, with many Aussies missing some of the two-week options that they used to have.
Linda Van said: “We want longer cruises in Australia too. We loved the 14 night NZ from Brisbane this year. What about Brisbane to the southern capitals longer cruise?” and David Larsen said: “I’d like to see the return of the circumnavigation of Australia cruise again.”
Cruiser Marilyn Willis has called for longer cruises to New Zealand to return: “Would love to see the longer NZ cruises come back. It used to be 14/15 days and often one way, then fly back to Oz or fly to NZ to board. They only seem to go either north or south now.”
Plenty of Aussie Cruise Passenger readers have called for more destination variety.
Cruiser Jill wrote: “ Australians need variety, I love NZ but how many NZ cruises can you do? Return cruises to Singapore and Asia would be wonderful.”
Another cruise Diane wrote: “My partner and I have exhausted all the venues offered to the Pacific Islands and it would be a complete waste of money to keep going.
“If we can encourage the smaller ships to come it would be fantastic to call into small ports such as Gladstone in the north, west coast of Tasmania, ports in SA and Western Australia.”
Another reader, Cheryl, wrote: “I too would like to see cruise ships offer new itineraries. Places like New Guinea, Samoa, Cook Islands would be a change from the boring south Pacific staples that cruise ships seem glued to.
“Unless you fly to Singapore you don’t get the chance to visit the indonesian islands like Bali, Lombok etc.
“This is a call for Royal Caribbean to step up and add to their itineraries.”
Wendy Flynn wrote: “We agree that cruising in the Australian region has become boring with the limited destinations offered. We live in regional Queensland so we are always having to add on the cost of flights to get to the major ports, sometimes this cost is the same as the cost of the cruise.”
Nigel Beavis added: “Finally cruisers have spoken about the cruise lines flogging a dead horse going to the same destinations every year.Australia one of the largest islands in the world has fantastic natural beauty.I cruised with Celebrity Solstice around the top end from Fremantle to Sydney best cruise ever but alas they never went again.”
Elsewhere, Aussie punters are still commenting on the decline of Disney in Australia.
Gayle Forster wrote: “Unfortunately in Australia the average price was ~AUD$450 per person per night when other cruise lines that are regularly here average closer to $220 per person per night (even cheaper at times). I get it, Disney is NEXT level (we cruised DCL from Port Canaveral previously), but when so many people are struggling just with the cost of living, double the price is hard to justify.”
Other Aussies are skeptical about the opening of Lelepa and if it will be worth the hype.
Scott Leonard wrote: “Even if Lelepa opens, it will just be a beach with deck chairs. Royal will not develop it. Australia is not America; we do not want monster ships and no option but south pacific islands. Looks like trans Pacific cruises will be the only reason we cruise Royal to or from Australia.
“They should bring Project Discovery forward. The issues many countries have with cruises is their size!”
Please keep those comments coming!
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Over recent years we’ve been seeing less domestic cruising options for Aussies, especially those who live outside of Sydney and Brisbane.
I would like to cruise round trip from Brisbane or Cairns visiting places like Japan or Singapore or Thailand or even Korea. Some people don’t like to fly so round trip cruising is the only option to see these places.
We were school holiday cruisers, unless cruising over seas. For many years we enjoyed short adventures ( up to 14 days) to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Also to parts of Australia. But having exhausted these areas it would be a waste of money to keep cruising.
Also most cruise lines have nearly halved their itineraries and cruise prices have soared. We are not interested in the mega ships and would never think of going on a Royal Caribbean ship, much too big.
Please take heed of what Australian cruisers want.
While docking difficulties for very large cruise ships are understood, more stops in small Australian coastal towns would be a wonderful way of supporting these towns. Eden in NSW is just one example where a town wants more cruise ships and where there are interesting things for passengers to see and do. One of the best small ports I’ve ever visited on a cruise, was Portland in Victoria. There are undoubtedly many more small ports in interesting coastal towns around Australia.