Which cruise lines are sailing in Australia for the 2026/27 season?
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The upcoming 2026/27 cruise season is set to be an exciting one for Australians.
The season will perhaps be defined by an upswing in luxury sailings, with lines like Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Viking and Silversea set to bring at least two ships over throughout the summer. While some larger lines like Cunard or Disney won’t be present, more Australians than ever will be enjoying the finer things at sea, as they get whisked around the Aussie coastline on smaller and smarter ships.
Also noteworthy is a Royal Caribbean season that may feel like one of farewells. We’ll see Quantum of the Seas sail the last scheduled sailings in Australia, after serving as one of Australia’s favourite ships for years. Next year will be the first year for Royal Caribbean’s new Lelepa Beach Club, which raises questions on the alterations of some itineraries.
Cruisers will get to enjoy a couple of select sailings on the recently remodelled Celebrity Solstice, which will join Celebrity Edge as part of Celebrity’s local fleet in Australia.
We’ll see another year of Carnival Cruise Line dominating the market with four ships sailing, including three which sail year-round. Halfway through the season, we’ll see Carnival Adventure go into drydock, with plenty of people curious to see what changes onboard, particularly given that the ship will head to America in 2028.
As yet another summer of cruising rolls around, here are all the cruise lines and ships that will be sailing in Australia that you need to know about.
Carnival Cruise Line
What to know: Carnival is the most prolific cruise line in Australia and while you can find all kinds of travellers onboard, families are the most popular demographic. They offer the lowest-cost fares of any line in Australia and are known for high-energy sailings packed with activities.
From Sydney
Ships: Carnival Splendor, Carnival Adventure
Where can you sail to?
The most popular sailings are short cruises to nowhere, trips out to the South Pacific, sailings up north into Queensland and New Zealand itineraries. In February, Carnival Adventure will sail to Singapore and back as part of a dry dock, offering a couple of different options for Aussies. Following the dry dock, Adventure will offer two sailings out of Melbourne. Both of these ships currently sail year-round in Australia.
From Brisbane
Ships: Carnival Luminosa, Carnival Encounter
Where can you sail to?
Out of Brisbane the most popular sailings are cruises to nowhere, South Pacific itineraries and four to seven-day itineraries into North Queensland, such as to the Great Barrier Reef or the Whitsundays. Carnival Encounter sails year-round out of Australia and Carnival Luminosa sails about half the year out of Brisbane, alternating between Australia and America.
Royal Caribbean
What to know: Royal Caribbean offers an absolute classic family vacation experience for Aussies. In terms of pure things to do onboard, you can’t beat a Royal Caribbean cruise. Royal Caribbean has the biggest ships that you’ll find in Australia, and onboard you’ll find everything from indoor skydiving to surf simulators.
From Sydney
Ships: Anthem of the Seas
Where can you sail to?
Throughout the 2026/27 season, Anthem of the Seas will offer a series of sailings out to New Zealand and the South Pacific, as well as shorter three and four day cruises to nowhere. At the start and end of the season, Anthem will sail between Hawaii and Sydney, offering something different.
From Brisbane
Ships: Quantum of the Seas
Where can you sail to?
During Quantum’s last Australian season for the time being, you can find a range of shorter sailings up into North Queensland, as well as plenty of shorter three and four-day cruises. There are also plenty of itineraries out to the South Pacific of seven or eight days.
Princess Cruises
What to know: Princess is a hugely popular cruise line in Australia, offering the big ship experience and all its amenities, but without the chaos of a family cruise line. Princess slows down the cruise experience to offer something a bit more refined, while still having to plenty to do, see and enjoy onboard.
Ships: Grand Princess and Royal Princess
Where can you sail to?
Princess operates differently from Royal Caribbean or Carnival. The ships don’t have one homeport. While the vast majority of sailings offered start of Sydney and Brisbane, you can also find homeported cruises out of Perth, Melbourne, Auckland and Adelaide as the ships move around Australia.
Princess also offers a lot more variety in its itineraries than most other big ship cruise lines in Australia. You can find short ‘Seacations’ that sail to nowhere, as well as some that visit ports like Eden and Newcastle. Then you can find itineraries to places all around Australia, such as into South Australia, Tasmania and the Great Barrier Reef.
Princess also offers sailings out to New Zealand and the South Pacific for international options. However, perhaps their most famous offerings are circumnavigations of the Australian coast that sail right around the country and often offer passengers the chance to embark and disembark at different ports to best suit their needs.
Celebrity Cruises
What to know
Celebrity Cruises offers another distinct big ship modern cruise experience. Trading buffets and dining halls for innovative venues and modern furnishings. The line has a strong focus on dining and sophistication, but still brings a lively onboard experience.
From Sydney
Ships: Celebrity Edge, Celebrity Solstice
Where can you sail to?
Similarly to Princess, Celebrity offers great domestic options; they do base nearly all of their sailings out of Sydney. Celebrity offers special wine cruises that generally visit ports across Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, with a focus on food and beverage experiences.
You can also find regular sailings to New Zealand the South Pacific, including sailings that visit one or two ports in Fiji. There are also classic Great Barrier Reef sailings on offer that go up into Queensland.
Celebrity Solstice offers a few sailings each season, but there are some interesting repositioning cruises between Hawaii and Sydney and Sydney and Singapore. This is also a one-way cruise between Sydney and Auckland, and back from Auckland to Sydney.
Norwegian Cruise Line
What to know
Norwegian Cruise Line offers family fun but with a slightly more toned-down, resort-type feel when compared to the other family lines. While it’s larger and new ships sail in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and the Caribbean, the ships based in Australia and Asia are smaller and designed for longer voyages.
From Sydney and Auckland
Ships: Norwegian Spirit
Where can you sail to?
Norwegian Cruise Line’s signature sailings in Australia are one-way sailings between Sydney and Auckland, which allow the line to offer more relaxed and immersive New Zealand sailings. However, there are also other sailings on other such as trips into Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria. Norwegian Spirit operates nearly year-round out of the Pacific, so at the beginning and end of the season you can enjoy sailings between Sydney and Lautoka, offering guests a chance to see a different side of the Pacific.
Holland America Line
What to know
While Holland America Line is one of the less talked-about cruise lines in Australia, it enjoys a few months of sailing here each summer, where Australians enjoy its brand of sophisticated and relaxed sailings. The line focuses more on refined dining and entertainment experiences, with a bit less flash than the other major cruise lines. Expect quieter and more tranquil ships, top-notch service and an extensive program of live music.
From Sydney and Auckland
Ships: MS Noordam
Where can you sail to?
Holland America Line also has its Australian specialty in one-way sailings between Sydney and Auckland. These back and forth sailings of two-weeks make up the majority of Noordam’s 2026/27 Australian season. For something different, to kick off the season, the ship will sail a 35-day circumnavigation of Australia and Papua New Guinea, visiting ports across every single state and territory in Australia.
Silversea Cruises
What to know
Silversea is all about ultra-luxury and all-inclusive comfort. Depending on where you’re sailing, the itineraries can have more of an expedition flavour or be more traditional luxury cruises. Silversea is especially known for its butler service in every single suite, which ensures your every need is catered for throughout your cruise. Silversea also keeps guests coming back with its Sea and Land Taste program, where restaurant menus change to reflect local ingredients and cuisine, complete with cooking demonstrations and classes.
Ships: Silver Moon and Silver Dawn
Where can you sail to?
Silversea offers a mixture of domestic itineraries, as well as international sailings to Asia and New Zealand. A stand-out sailing is definitely a 34-day itinerary from Sydney to Tokyo, or for something different you can also sail from Lautoka to Singapore, enjoying the Pacific, Australia and Bali along the way.
There are also for standard two-week Sydney to Auckland itineraries up for grabs, or a complete East Coast exploration that goes from Melbourne to Sydney.
Oceania Cruises
What to know
Oceania Cruises is a luxury cruise line, focusing its cruises around the ‘best dining at sea’, luxury service and interesting, left-of-field itineraries. Oceania offers great inclusions and luxury amenities, but without the sky-high prices of other luxury lines, making it a great option for those looking to try a more luxurious brand of sailing for the first time.
Ships: Oceania Riviera, Oceania Vista
Where can you sail to?
Oceania doesn’t homeport in Australia in a traditional sense, but rather sails around the wider Oceania region, winding past Australia throughout the summer. You can enjoy domestic sailings that visit more common Aussie ports, such as Townsville, Cairns, the Whitsundays and so on. Or you can enjoy longer sailings out into Bali or the Pacific, which generally hover around the 20-days mark.
There are also two-week sailings between Australia and New Zealand which often offer great value and even some sailings in and out of Perth, which explore the West Coast of Australia. You can also enjoy a full sweep of Australia and Asia with a 40-day Sydney to Auckland itinerary.
Regent Seven Seas
What to know
In the world of cruise, Regent Seven Seas is the height of luxury. While some luxury lines balance their experience with elements of expedition cruising, Regent prefers to focus on pure luxury and service. You can still expect long and exciting itineraries, but the focus is definitely found in the dining, amenities and service found onboard. Regent is also one of few lines that offers a truly all-inclusive experience, even including shore excursions.
Ships: Seven Seas Explorer and Seven Seas Splendor
Where can you sail to?
Seven Seas Explorer will spend a few months sailing around Australia and to Asia, and Seven Seas Splendor will make just a quick stop in Australia, sailing one itinerary from Sydney to Singapore.
On Explorer you can enjoy sailings between Australia and Asia, such as from Bali to Sydney or from Darwin to Bali. Also on offer are sailings between Sydney and New Zealand, ranging from 14 to 16 nights to offer plenty of time to see everything.
There are also purely domestic sailings on offer, such as a Sydney roundtrip and a Sydney to Darwin sailing.
Viking
What to know
Viking offers something between an upper-premium and luxury experience, and they have their offering down to a tee. Viking has an extremely loyal customer base who know what to expect, even though all the ships look the same and have the same facilities. Viking offers an extremely classy and sophisticated voyage, focused around comfort, tranquillity, and indulgence.
Ships: Viking Orion and Viking Venus
From Sydney and Auckland
Where can you sail to?
Viking Orion offers a series of sailings between Sydney and New Zealand, as well as some longer sailings between Bali and Sydney. If you’re looking for a truly exotic itinerary, Orion will sail a 90-day cruise from Auckland to Vancouver, which can also be broken down into segments, such as from Sydney to Laem Chabang.
Viking Venus offers largely similar itineraries, but sails a slightly longer season, sticking around in Sydney and Auckland until March, before also sailing an epic sailing of 77-nights from Sydney to Vancouver. Viking is another line that specialises in New Zealand sailings, so there are plenty of options to snap up between Sydney and Auckland, which are generally 12-day sailings.
Azamara
What to know
Azamara sits right in the pocket between premium cruising and luxury cruising, offering a unique chance to have a small-ship, intimate experience at reasonable prices. While they don’t have the luxury of the upscale lines, you can expect great inclusions, quality service, high-level dining and exciting itineraries. Azamara continues to grow in Australia and prove increasingly popular with Aussies.
Ships: Azamara Pursuit and Azamara Quest
Where can you sail to?
Azamara offers maybe the best range of itineraries in Australia, particularly for those who are looking to sail for a bit longer than the standard cruise length. Itineraries can look like a 19-night cruise Australia to Indonesia, two-week Queensland and Northern Territory sailings and even a 34-night sailing from Hong Kong to Sydney.
The smaller ship sizes allow the Azamara ships to visit ports that Aussies on bigger ships may not get to visit, which allows Azamara to do these longer itineraries all over coastal Australia and Asia. There are also shorter, more standard sailings like New Zealand sailings and domestic Aussie cruises that visit New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
Ponant
What to know
Ponant is a luxury cruise line, with its cruises catered more towards adventure and expedition experiences. The ships are very small, accommodates between about 200 and 300 passengers, offering guests the chance to visit more ports and explore further into rugged and isolated areas.
Ships: Le Soleal
Where can you sail to?
Ponant won’t be sticking around for long in the Australian summer, but you can enjoy a sailing from Bali into Cairns, then there’s a nine-day sailing on offer from Cairns into Dunedin in New Zealand.
Crystal Cruises
What to know
Crystal Cruises is all about ultra-luxury and service. It’s common to hear Crystal Cruises guests say that they feel more taken care of on Crystal than any other line. Guests can look forward to top-level dining, entertainment and service as part of a refined and traditional cruise experience.
Ships: Crystal Serenity
Where can you sail to?
This summer, there’s just one local sailing available with Crystal, which is a 15-night sailing from Auckland to Brisbane, offering a slow and immersive journey through New Zealand and Australia.
Coral Expeditions
What to know
Coral Expeditions is a small Australian-owned cruise line, offering expedition trips on small ships with generally about 100 people onboard. The small size of the ships combined with the local knowledge of the brand means you can find some of the most exciting itineraries in Australia and its surrounds with Coral Expeditions.
Ships: Coral Discover, Coral Adventurer, Coral Geographer
Where can you sail to?
Coral Expeditions sails to a diverse range of destinations in and around Australia. You can find sailings all around the West Coast of Australia, including the Kimberley and the Abrolhos Islands, as well as in the top end of Australia out of Cairns.
There are also sailings in PNG, the Great Barrier Reef, Melanesia, New Zealand, Tasmania, South Australia and more. As far as getting to see different parts of the Aussie coast, itinerary-wise, Coral Expeditions is the best line for it.
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