Crown Princess has arrived for the Australian season with some brand new treats

• Crown Princess has left dry dock and has arrived in Australia with new and improved facilities.
• Upgrades include an Irish pub and additions to the ship’s casino.
• Crown Princess has already sold out more than 20 itineraries for the season ahead.

Crown Princess is one of the fastest selling cruise ships not just in Australia, but in the entire world. The ship has sold out nearly half of its upcoming year of Aussie cruises.

Aussie’s sailing on Crown Princess will get an extra treat this year as the ship has been in dry dock and come out with some shiny new additions. The two highlights are the O’Malley’s Irish Pub and that the casino has been renovated.

The new Irish pub will replace Wheelhouse Bar and will offer the classic Irish pub experience, with food and drink for up to 134 guests at a time.

The casino has a few new machines, including new slot machines and has refreshed the design of the bar. Another minor change is a new Effy jewellery lounge where there used to be an internet cafe.

Coming out of a dry dock, the ship to have new paint, some maintenance on cabins and common areas and some more general work done to rejuvenate the interiors.

Crown Princess was last refurbished about seven years ago, so the latest dry dock improvements will be welcome.

While she’ll sail in Australia for most of 2026, despite her popularity, she won’t actually return beyond that. So if you want to get onboard, you’ll have to do it this year.

Despite most cruises already being sold out, there are still a few to pick from if you’re hoping to hop onboard. For something longer, there are still cabins available on a 28-day Australia cruise, with prices starting from $8319.

On the other end of the scale there are two and three day ‘seacation’s out of Brisbane, starting from $338 and $468 respectively.

The best value you’ll find is likely this eight-day Queensland cruise out of Brisbane, which starts from just $1140.

The popularity of Crown Princess is so high that it’s been by far Princess’s fastest selling ship even as the shiny new Diamond Princess rolls into town. For next season it’ll be Grand Princess and Royal Princess taking the reigns, so if you’re hoping to get onboard either Crown or Diamond, this is the time to do it.

See our review here.

See Crown Princess deck plans here.