Aussies flock to Singapore for cruise holidays 50% cheaper – here’s what you need to know

• Aussies have been heading to Singapore as the local cruise supply dries up.
• The move makes financial sense, with savings of up to 50% on offer.
• It promises to have a huge impact on our home industry – already, Princess has moved two ships to Singapore with cheaper fares than can be obtained at home.

The announcement that Princess is homeporting two ships in Singapore has sparked fresh interest in sailing from the island state, where Royal Caribbean already has ships year-round.

It’s also likely to spark a debate about the fate of our cruise industry and the jobs it supports. If we are losing our ships to neighbouring Singapore, we are losing the benefits for our home-grown industry.

Why Australians are deserting local sailings in favour of Singapore is simple: Over two seasons, we’re seeing fewer domestic cruising options for Aussies, especially for those who live outside of Sydney and Brisbane. Australia has gone from 18 major cruise ships in the 2023/24 season to what will be only 11 large ships for the 2026/27 season, and the majority will sail only out of Sydney and Brisbane.

This leaves plenty of cruisers having to look elsewhere due to a lack of supply, as well as a number of Aussies in towns like Perth, Adelaide, and Melbourne facing the prospect of having to book return flights just to be able to cruise.

Under these circumstances, it’s natural that Aussies are starting to look elsewhere, especially when cruise favourites Princess and Royal Caribbean are just an eight-hour flight away.

Princess responded with a statement from Nick Ferguson, Senior Director Sales and Marketing Asia Pacific.

“Our Australian cruises are selling fast which is why our FlyCruise offering to destinations like Singapore is attractive to Australian guests eager to get to Asia and try something different.

“FlyCruise will remain a key component of our portfolio. We encourage our guests to book flights with Princess EZair which gives access to low fares and next port protection. https://www.princess.com/en-us/plan/ezair”

Singapore has produced another reason for a fly-cruise holiday, especially for those who have to fly to Sydney or Brisbane: it’s cheaper.

Recent Cruise Lines International Association Australasia figures show that more Australians and New Zealanders have opted for overseas itineraries.

CLIA MD Joel Katz says more work is needed to foster a thriving cruise industry into the future. Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific are incredibly popular cruise destinations but they are also a challenging environment for cruise lines to operate in, so we need a regional focus on encouraging cruise ship deployment in local waters,.

“Demand is strong, but we need governments, destinations and industry stakeholders to work together to address the high costs and regulatory difficulties we experience in the region. Cruising supports many thousands of local jobs, but we are going to suffer a decline in cruise ship deployment in this region while other global destinations reap the economic rewards.”

That decline has already started.

Many Cruise Passenger readers have written and expressed not only that they’ve recently cruised out of Singapore or are planning to, but that for many Aussies, it can work out cheaper. 

Cruise Passenger decided to run the numbers, and we found our readers were on the money.

The first is that often the cruise fares are less expensive – this is the case with cruise lines like Princess Cruises and Disney Cruise Lines. 

And from certain parts of Australia, namely Perth, it’s much cheaper to fly to Singapore than it is to fly to Sydney, meaning those in Western Australia can have an easier time flying off to Asia, rather than across the length of Australia. 

For example, a 12-day Princess cruise for someone who lives in Perth is 31 per cent cheaper out of Singapore than out of Sydney. A 12-day Princess cruise is even more affordable for someone cruising out of Adelaide, but by only 14 per cent.

Shockingly, Singapore’s fares are so much lower for Princess than out of Sydney for the 2026/27 season, that it’s even nine per cent cheaper for a Sydney-sider to lug themselves off to Singapore than to cruise locally. 

Furthermore, for those looking to cruise with Disney, the fare difference is so great, with a four-night cruise out of Sydney costing almost $1500 more than out of Singapore, that cruising out of Singapore with the Disney Adventure works out cheaper from anywhere in Australia.

With Royal Caribbean, it’s a bit more nuanced. Royal Caribbean mostly offers only shorter sailings out of Singapore and many cruisers may not want to travel so far for such a short cruise. Within their longer sailings, prices can vary greatly, and they’re often repositioning cruises that aren’t roundtrips out of Singapore but rather end in a different port.

This is why in the cruises analysed, an eight-day cruise out of Singapore actually came out more expensive than the 12-day cruise out of Singapore. 

This means that if you want to know whether your Royal Caribbean cruise could be done cheaper out of Singapore, it will be very dependent on when you cruise and which exact itinerary you opt for. 

The numbers to know

Below is an analysis of whether it’s cheaper to cruise out of Sydney or Singapore across Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises and Disney Cruise Line.

Flight prices are calculated off the cheapest return flights for November 2025 in SkyScanner, and the daily accommodation and food cost is based on Budget Your Trip. 

All fares are current off the cruise line websites as of the date of publishing and all figures are in AUD and per person.

Princess 

• It is about 10-20 per cent cheaper to cruise in Singapore with Princess when compared to Sydney.

We’ve analysed Princess’ itineraries for the 2026/27 season, when Princess will put two ships in Singapore. 

It looks at two Aussie sailings, a 10-day Great Barrier Reef sailing starting from $2899, and a 13-day New Zealand sailing starting from $4095.

The Singapore itineraries in question are a $2319 10-day Vietnam cruise out of Singapore, and a 12-day Malaysia and Thailand cruise out of Singapore, starting from $3059. These fares are predicated on fares on the day of publishing and for an interior cabin.

As can be seen, Princess fares are a lot cheaper out of Singapore, which essentially makes it so that a Singapore cruise always comes out at least a little bit cheaper with Princess.

The difference is particularly substantial for those cruising out of Perth, who can save thousands per person.

These figures will differ across different itineraries, but they show that if your Princess fare is looking steep, it’s worth casting your eyes over to Singapore.

All prices are per person based on two-guests sailing.

	Return flights	Cruise fare	One day of food + accomodation	Total cost
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Sydney	$0	10-day $2899 13-day $4095	$0	8-day: $2899 12-days: $4095
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Sydney	$389	10-day $2139 12-day $3059	$278	8-day: $2806 12-days: $3726
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Perth	$538	10-day $2899 13-day $4095	$316	8-day:$3753 12-days: $4949
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Perth	$262	10-day $2139 12-day $3059	$278	8-day: $2679 12-days: $3599
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Adelaide	$218	10-day $2899 13-day $4095	$316	8-day: $3433 12-days: $4629
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Adelaide	$690	10-day $2139 12-day $3059	$278	8-day: $3107 12-days: $4027
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Melbourne	$114	10-day $2899 13-day $4095	$316	8-day: $3329 12-days: $4525
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Melbourne	$378	10-day $2139 12-day $3059	$278	8-day: $2795 12-days: $3715

Disney Cruise Lines

• It is about 15-30 per cent cheaper to cruise out of Singapore with Disney when compared to Sydney.

Disney Adventure’s large capacity of 6400 passengers is over double that of Disney Wonder, which sails in Australia, allowing it to offer better pricing than we see locally. 

This means that Disney Adventure offers lower cruise fares than we see on local sailings. It should be noted that the more people you’re sailing with, the important this consideration should be.

A four-day itinerary in Singapore starts from $2171 for two people, whereas out of Sydney, it is $3690 for two people.

This means, due to the affordable flight prices from Australia to Singapore at the moment, it is sometimes far cheaper to cruise with Disney out of Singapore.

To cruise out of Singapore versus out of Sydney for someone from Perth is up to 40 per cent cheaper. However, if we consider that it’s more likely to sail with Disney with the whole family, this can change to a different of well over 50% of more, after considering the children’s fares as well.

This will create an interesting situation for Disney moving forward in Australia, with Singapore providing by far the most economical option for the time being.

It is worth noting that Disney does offer some cheaper itineraries out of Melbourne, so those from Melbourne wouldn’t need to fly to Sydney to cruise. 

All prices are per person, based on two guests sailing.

	Return flights	Cruise fare	One day of food + accomodation	Total cost
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Sydney	$0	4-days: $1845	$0	4-days: $1845
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Sydney	$389	4-days: $1085	$278	4-days: $1752
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Perth	$538	4-days: $1845	$316	4-days: $2699
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Perth	$262	4-days: $1085	$278	4-days: $1628
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Adelaide	$218	4-days: $1845	$316	4-days: $2379
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Adelaide	$690	4-days: $1085	$278	4-days: $2053
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Melbourne	$114	4-days: $1845	$316	4-days: $2275
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Melbourne	$378	4-days: $1085	$278	4-days: $1741

Royal Caribbean

• It will depend on when you sail on whether you will save. You should aim for longer Singapore cruises for the best value.

This analysis looks at an eight-night Anthem of the Seas sailing for $1799, and a 12-night Anthem sailing to New Zealand from $3499.

The Singapore itineraries are an eight-night cruise through Asia out of Singapore and a 12-night cruise from Singapore.

Royal Caribbean paints a slightly more complicated picture. As explained above, Singapore prices fluctuate immensely for Royal Caribbean’s longer itineraries.  

It does mean you can find longer Singapore itineraries and save big, even up to 70 per cent for those sailing out of Perth. But it won’t be as easy to find an itinerary that works as it will with the other lines.

The takeaway should be that if you spy a particularly good deal on a longer cruise, you’ll likely be able to find this much cheaper out of Singapore, as any itinerary of 10 days plus with Royal Caribbean out of Australia is quite rare, and therefore generally quite expensive. 

Then, for a mid-range cruise, it’s the opposite. Australia has plenty of options for shorter Royal Caribbean cruises of about a week, at great prices. However, Singapore has few options available in this range, so it’s a bit pricier.

If you want to cruise in Singapore with Royal Caribbean and get a good deal, aim for a 10-night plus itinerary. 

All prices are per person based on two guests sailing.

	Return flights	Cruise fare	One day of food + accomodation	Total cost
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Sydney	$0	8-days $1799 12-days $3499	$0	8-day: $1799 12-days: $3499
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Sydney	$389	8-days $2614 12-days $1543	$278	8-day: $3281 12-days: $2210
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Perth	$538	8-days $1799 12-days $3499	$316	8-day: $2653 12-days: $4353
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Perth	$262	8-days $2614 12-days $1543	$278	8-day: $3154 12-days: $2083
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Adelaide	$218	8-days $1799 12-days $3499	$316	8-day: $2333 12-days: $4033
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Adelaide	$690	8-days $2614 12-days $1543	$278	8-day: $3582 12-days: $2511
Cruising out of Sydney, flying from Melbourne	$114	8-days $1799 12-days $3499	$316	8-day: $2229 12-days: $3929
Cruising out of Singapore, flying from Melbourne	$378	8-days $2614 12-days $1543	$278	8-day: $3270 12-days: $2119