High and lows of Australia cruise season 2025/26, as the last of 63 ships departs

• The Australia cruise season is coming to a close, with the wave season nearly over.
• It’s been a season of drama and memorable moments, with new ships arriving and trusted favourites leaving.
• Here’s a rundown of the defining moments of the Aussie 2025/26 cruise season.

Another Australia cruise season is coming to a close, with Anthem of the Seas sailing out of Sydney next week to mark the end of the wave season and a transition into the quieter winter sailings. 

A total of 63 ships came to our shores this cruise season, as Australia maintained its spot as one of the top cruise markets in the world. 

This season saw new ships like Anthem of the Seas and Discovery Princess visit, the consolidation of Carnival’s post-P&O Australia shake-ups, a farewell to Disney Wonder and a strong presence from upscale luxury ships as well.

There was also the double calamity of the local line, Coral Expeditions, which was first hit when a passenger died after apparently being left on an island, and then sufered when a ship ran aground.

While this season showed a drop in capacity compared to the 2024/25 season, it still felt like a shining success watching all sorts of ships come through Sydney Harbour, the Brisbane International Cruise Terminal receiving its 500th cruise ship.

To recap and relive some of the cruise season just gone by, Cruise Passenger has picked out the key moments that defined the season.

Crown Princess sells out 

A surprising candidate emerged as not only Australia’s most popular ship but one of the world’s, which was Crown Princess, selling out almost her entire season of Aussie sailings. 

As a ship operating out of various Aussie cities where some cruisers feel starved of sailings, such as Adelaide, Hobart and Melbourne, her itineraries were snapped up. 

Even with the shiny new Discovery Princess arriving, Crown Princess proved the most popular Princess ship, selling out around 90% of its itineraries between October 2025 and April 2026. Unfortunately she’ll be moving onto other markets soon, but next season Australia will have Grand Princess and Royal Princess available for Aussie cruisers.

Carnival Encounter dry dock 

Many eyes were keenly fixed on Carnival Encounter’s highly anticipated drydock, as it would reveal the medium-term plans that Carnival has for its newly converted P&O ships, Encounter and Adventure. 

While some were expecting the ship to be largely transformed, many were surprised when it was revealed that the changes were minimal only, with a couple of tweaks to venues and some fix ups around the ship emerging as the main changes. 

Encounter and Adventure remain divisive ships but they definitely have their fans and will continue to provide holidays for thousands of Aussies every week.

Anthem of the Seas’ first season and a mechanical hiccup 

Anthem of the Seas enjoyed its very first season in Australia, sailing out of Sydney. While she’s certainly similar to the Royal Caribbean ships people have enjoyed over recent seasons, Ovation of the Seas and Quantum of the Seas, she also brings her own flavour and identity and proved popular over her first season.

She did have a notable hiccup after suffering some technical difficulties with an engine, which resulted in the cancellation of a 10-day sailing to New Zealand. Anthem of the Seas sailed down to Eden where it completed its repairs before resuming sailings as normal.

The New Zealand resurgence

New Zealand has definitely been turning heads across the ditch with its new focused and dedicated cruise strategy. After the local cruise industry and federal government got to work on a proper cruise plan and strategy, we’ve seen New Zealand make a series of strides towards recovering the cruise traffic that it lost in recent years.

New Zealand managed to get Carnival Adventure to come over for some homeported sailings, shut down a potential ban on cruising in Milford Sound, announced a brand new international cruise terminal and more in the months since putting together their official cruise strategy. 

This season also saw New Zealand step up its volunteering and welcoming efforts with cruisers, including Cruise Passenger reporters, noting an increased attitude of welcoming from the Kiwis when cruising over there. 

Discovery Princess pays a visit

Discovery Princess’ Aussie arrival was exciting for a range of reasons. Not only did it represent a new ship coming to Aussie shores, but it was also a shinier ship than we’re used to seeing here, only having entered service in 2022.

She even happened to be in our waters as she turned four years old, with celebrations enjoyed onboard. 

Unfortunately, her time here was short-lived, only spending a few months on our shores, but plenty of guests reported enjoying the chance to check out one of Princess’s newer ships and hopefully she or a similar ship will be back soon.

We say goodbye to Disney

This season marked the last for the foreseeable future that we’ll have a Disney Cruise Line ship on our shores, with Disney Wonder moving on to sail in the USA for now. It appeared that the premium pricing of Disney was putting a strain on Aussie wallets and cruisers weren’t quite willing to fork out Disney money for now. 

This also happens at the same time that the massive new Disney Adventure starts sailing out of Singapore, providing an alternative for Aussies who are still looking to sail with Disney. 

It’ll undoubtedly be a shame over the coming seasons to not see Disney’s bright ships coming to our shores, but the cruise line hasn’t ruled out more Aussie deployment in the future. 

A surprising Carnival switch-up 

A bombshell was dropped by Carnival this season, with the line revealing that Carnival Adventure will begin sailing half the year in the USA from 2028. This is surprising for many reasons, not least of all that the ship has a very Australia-oriented design as it comes from P&O Australia. 

This moment did represent another blow to the cruise industry in Australia, which has experienced a pattern of ships leaving or reducing their Australian sailings. 

This will leave Carnival Splendor and Carnival Encounter as the only year-round ships to sail out of Australia, and casts doubt over the future of Carnival Adventure and whether she’ll really continue to return to Australia.  

Luxury ships find a new home

Australia continues to be a popular destination not just for large cruise ships, but for smaller luxury and expedition lines as well. We’re seeing cruise lines like Oceania and Azamara boost their presence in the region, as well as visits from cruise lines like Silversea, Seabourn, Crystal Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Scenic and more.

The majority of these lines definitely involve a decent price rise compared to a traditional cruise line, but some such as Oceania and Azamara can have surprisingly reasonable fares, and more comprehensive inclusions than other lines. 

Highlights included three Silversea ships coming through, Seven Seas Mariner stopping by as part of her world cruise and Crystal Cruises re-establishing its presence in Australia.