Carnival answers pleas from regional ports with sailings out of Adelaide and Melbourne

• Carnival Cruise Line has announced its new 2027/28 program, with homeports out of Adelaide, Auckland and Melbourne, as well as Sydney and Brisbane.
• Carnival Adventure will take on a similar role to what Pacific Explorer used to do, sailing out of different cities around Australia.

After constant calls from cruisers hoping for more sailings from their city, Carnival has finally answered their prayers. Cruise Passenger has been inundated with comments and letters from people who live in cities such as Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne and have been hoping for more sailings, and it appears that this constant campaigning hasn’t fallen on deaf ears.

Just days ago, Cruise Passenger analyzed how Crown Princess is by far Princess’s fastest selling ship, and maybe even the fastest selling large ship in Australia, simply because it was the only large ship in Australia that sails out of different ports in Australia, rather than just Sydney or Brisbane.

Cruise Passenger – spurred on by many passionate readers, has long campaigned and reported on the reduction in regional cruising in Australia. This not only means that many passengers were resigned to having to take a flight to cruise, but also meant that less tourism dollars were making their way to other Aussie cities and small businesses.

However, now that could all be set to change.

Carnival has announced a new program which is promising more homeports than ever before, with sailings out of not just Sydney and Brisbane, but also Carnival’s first ever sailings out of Adelaide and Auckland. As well as this, there is the confirmation of more cruises homeported out of Melbourne, as previously reported by Cruise Passenger, and this comes shortly after the news that Princess will be homeporting out of Perth in the 2027/28 season.

Carnival Corporation & plc Country Manager Peter Little said: “Carnival is sailing from five homeports in Australia and New Zealand in 027/28 and we remain the only global cruise line committed to sailing in this region year-round.

“Carnival Cruise Line has answered the call from our interstate and New Zealand guests who’ve been asking for more opportunities to book a convenient and great value cruise holiday, and we’re delighted to be offering voyages from Adelaide, Melbourne and Auckland as well as our traditional ports of Sydney and Brisbane.” 

Adelaide grandmother and Carnival Cruise Line fan Shirley Van Hout summed up how many will surely be responding, “When I heard the news, I was ecstatic. It’s about time Adelaide has a cruise ship because it means easier access. What’s good about cruise is everything is under one roof.” 

How will this work?

Carnival Adventure will take on a similar role to that of which Pacific Explorer used to play, sailing around between ports and taking on the homeporting role in Adelaide, Melbourne and Auckland. Carnival Splendor will continue to sail year-round out of Sydney and Carnival Encounter will continue year-round out of Brisbane, with Luminosa joining for the summer.

So what route will Carnival Adventure take and what will her itineraries look like? Carnival Adventure will continue sailing in Sydney like normal and then go into her dry-dock in February 2027. Afterwards she’ll sail four sailings out of Melbourne, which we already knew about.

In late May and June Carnival Adventure had a series of cancelled sailings, which left a suspicious gap in its itineraries, which we now know will be when it heads to New Zealand. The season out of New Zealand will be a long one, with nine itineraries sailing out of New Zealand, including a four-day sailing from Auckland to Sydney to reposition the ship.

Then in January 2028, she’ll navigate back to Melbourne, sailing a series of shorter itineraries, up to four-nights in length. After this, she’ll move to on Adelaide at the end of January, where she has five cruises scheduled, one being five-nights long and the others up to four-nights in length.

New Zealand wins out itinerary-wise

As far as itineraries go for the new homeports, New Zealand is definitely coming out on the top, with the most itineraries available, as well as the most variety.

The sailings out of Melbourne and Adelaide will be short sailings only, all sailings will either be to nowhere or to Kangaroo Island, apart from one five-night Adelaide itinerary that visits Port Lincoln as well.

Despite the cruises being two years away, pricing looks great, with three-day sailings starting as low as $369. Given the pent up demand and limited supply, cabins are likely to go quickly.

New Zealand itineraries offer more variety, with shorter four-night cruises on offer to Norfolk Island out of Auckland, but there are also a range of nine and ten-night South Pacific sailings that will surely be a big hit across the ditch.

A stand out sailing is definitely a nine-night itinerary to Fiji, which visits Auckland, Suva and Lautoka, and starts from a remarkably reasonable $924, barely over $100 per night.

The 10-night Pacific sailings also serve as stand-outs, as they visit a massive five ports, Lifou, Port Vila, Mystery Island, Noumea and Norfolk Island.

Check out the New Zealand sailings here, the Melbourne sailings here and the Adelaide sailings here – or click here for a full list of Carnival sailing in Australia.