- Last year, Cruise Passenger revealed exclusively that the number of cruise ships in our waters was in steep decline, and that we would see a 30% loss in capacity in 2025/26.
- Now we’ve recast the numbers for 2026/27. The situation is worse. We will lose another 5% of our capacity, meaning higher prices and 17,712 won’t be able to sail unless they fly first.
- Three major cruise lines have removed ships, and a further three are choosing to deploy one ship fewer.
Australia is quietly undergoing a cruise capacity crisis. While Australia’s first full season post-pandemic, the 2023/2024 season, was a roaring success, and the season just wrapped up was a strong follow-up, when we look a little further into the future, the picture doesn’t look quite so bright.
The fact is that the majority of the cruise lines have decided to downsize Australian operations or move their ships away completely.Â
In terms of cruise capacity, Australia is set to see about a 35% decrease across major cruise lines from the 2023/2024 season to the 2026/2027 season. This comes at a time when cruising is experiencing huge growth here and overseas, with Cruise Lines International Association Australasia predicting continuous growth to 2028.
Apart from the closure of P&O Australia, cruise lines such as Norwegian Cruise Lines, Cunard and Virgin Voyages all had homeported ships for the 2023/24 season but won’t for the 26/27 season. Furthermore, major players like Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises are maintaining their presence across the region, but scaling back their number of ships, and overall capacity.
Since Cruise Passenger first broke the story last year, most in the industry have acknowledged our figures are accurate. Now, we have run them again to uncover a worsening situation.
Mapping data across 10 major cruise lines that sail in Australia, with large cruise liners rather than luxury or expedition ships, in the 23/24 season Australia had 18 ships homeported, totalling capacity for 51,343 passengers. In the 26/27 season, our shores will see 12 ships homeported, with a capacity for a total of 33,631 passengers. This makes about a 35% decrease in cruise ship capacity amongst the major lines, or a decrease of 17,712 passengers
Essentially, Royal Caribbean, Princess and Carnival Cruises (including P&O), will each be sailing one less ship than in 2023/2024. This, plus the three cruise lines that are removing their homeported ships, equates to six fewer homeported ships than Australia.
Furthermore, while Celebrity Cruises, Disney Cruise Lines and Holland America are staying solid, it doesn’t appear that they’re looking to increase their presence in Australia with more ships or upgrade to more modern or larger ships in the near future.
The revelation comes as CLIA, and New Zealand Cruise Association and 30 other tourism and related bodies, are heading to Miami for the world’s biggest cruise conference next week. Australia is currently not on the agenda.
Charting Australia’s capacity decline
| 23/24 Ships | 26/27 Ships (capacity) | |
| Royal Caribbean | Brilliance of the Seas (2543), Ovation of the Seas (4905), Quantum of the Seas (4905) | Anthem of the Seas (4905), Navigator of the Seas (3990)* |
| Carnival Cruises + P&O Cruises Australia | Carnival Splendor (3012), Carnival Luminosa (2826), Pacific Adventure (2636), Pacific Explorer (2000), Pacific Encounter (2600) | Carnival Splendor (3012), Carnival Luminosa (2826), Carnival Encounter (2600), Carnival Adventure (2636), |
| Celebrity Cruises | Celebrity Edge (2908) | Celebrity Edge (2908) |
| Princess Cruisers | Majestic Princess (3560), Royal Princess (3600), Grand Princess (2610), Coral Princess (2000) | Crown Princess (3080), Grand Princess (2610), Royal Princess (3600) |
| Norwegian Cruise Lines | No homeported ship | |
| Cunard Cruise Line | Queen Elizabeth II (2081) | No homeported ship |
| Disney Cruise Lines | Disney Wonder (2400) | Disney Wonder (2400)** |
| Holland America | Westerdam (1964) | Noordam (1972) |
| Virgin Voyagers | Resilient Lady (2770) | No homeported ship |
| Total: | 18 ships, 51,343 capacity | 12 ships, 33631 capacity |
*Royal Caribbean’s 26/27 ship deployments for Australia are yet to be confirmed, however, Cruise Passenger believes those ships will be deployed, as outlined here.
**Disney Wonder’s 26/27 season has also not been announced, but calculations have been done assuming the ship will return. There has been speculation that Australia could see a new Disney ship.
Why is this happening?
Why is this happening? Cruise lines operate to make a profit, and are carrying huge debts as a result of the Covid shutdown. It appears that Australia is becoming a less and less profitable destination for cruise lines to operate in.
A mixture of regulatory costs, port costs, fuel costs due to our remote location, a weak Australian dollar, geopolitical pressures and the similarly high costs of key regional partner New Zealand have all come together to make this the reality.
For example, the president of Carnival Cruises Christine Duffy outlined how P&O Australia had to close to maximise profitability in an unfavourable ‘regulatory environment’ in Australia.
Due to it already being far away from the rest of the world, Australia is a naturally difficult and expensive place for cruise ships to visit, and this being exacerbated by regulatory fees and issues only makes it a trickier equation for cruise lines. ‘
Furthermore, many cruise lines appear to be prioritising sailings in the Caribbean, where many major cruise lines have their own private islands, where destinations can be visited without regulatory worries and profitability can be maximised.
Unless this trend can be reversed, and the Australian government can work with the cruise industry to make cruising in Australia a more attractive proposal for cruise lines, it’s likely that we will continue to see fewer and fewer large ships on our shores.
Is Australia to blame for New Zealand’s cruise crisis?
While the Australian cruise industry has remained relatively silent about the fact that we’re going to see fewer ships, our neighbours have been more forthright.
The New Zealand Cruise Association reported a 40% drop in port calls from the 23/24 season to the upcoming 25/26 season and wasn’t shy in outlining the reasons it believes this is happening.
The association outlined how it believes rising costs were one of the key factors driving fewer ships, as was government meddling which produced an environment in which cruise lines felt at risk.
When you have a billion-dollar asset and 5,000 paying customers to please, certainty is a business essential.
What the report didn’t mention is the reality that if Australia is seeing fewer cruise ships, then New Zealand naturally will as well. Many Australian cruises visit New Zealand.
Both Australia and New Zealand will be sending teams to an industry conference in Miami, hoping to pitch the region to cruise lines and plan for the future.
Cooperation will also be necessary at the governmental level if the two countries wish to increase the presence of cruise ships in the region.
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Get cruises back to Melbourne. It has always been a major departure point for cruisers but ships are now not using Station Pier.
I have written a number of times, to various people at Princess about the lack of Melbourne departures, the additional costs involved since shipping lines no longer depart from Melbourne. Add air fares, a nights accommodation at the beginning or end of the cruise, meals involved and travel costs to the departure port and this is putting passengers off!
I and a number of friends who were regular cruisers in the past would still love to be sailing the high seas
Cruise lines should focus on quality of destination ports rather than quantity. For example: Santo is clearly the most beautiful port near Australia and anywhere in the South Pacific. To save money (and to increase guest demand), it could overnight in Santo and spend the next day at champagne bay which is also one of the best.
With 50+ cruises with Princess, try booking a solo cabin, near impossible even though we pay double fares. Their availability on their Web page often shows for 1 pax SOLD OUT but type in 2 pax and a wide range cabins are available. Some of these cruises are for 2027. Who are they kidding? This is our thanks for supporting Carnival in not getting cash refunds during covid and opting for extra credit. Cruise Companies now want more because 2 pax spend more than 1 pax. Even less capacity will make this situation worse. Looks like I and many other will take our hard earned $ elsewhere. I certainly will, they are cutting their own throats.
Such a shame!! Was a great holiday for those families with lower incomes !! ( Affordable) Now the Australian government is going to wreck this opportunity too
We use to cruise often with Royal & had moved up the loyalty scale. After Covid we did a cruise to use up cruise credits & found that the experience was not the same & the food was not the same. There had been cut backs & no longer found cruising of worth, Nevermind that there was no where new worth going to. There is only so many times one can do a pacific cruise. So we stopped cruising & have gone back to international travel.
I love cruising but also love touring. My favourite cruise line is Celebrity but if the cost gets too great I simply can’t afford to cruise. If I can do a quality coach tour much cheaper than a cruise I am going to do that every time. I can’t travel overseas anymore because of long flights, so those cruises are out of the question anyway. If cruises are only available in certain restricted areas of the world, then what is it doing to the environment? Wake up cruise lines – short term gain will eventually lead to long term extermination! People will lose interest altogether.
First off, a cruise line like any other business will not say “we want to make more money”. But when changes happen as here, and are asked, they will then make excuses to support that reason, like the one above about ‘being costly to operate’ which is just vague noise to deflect from the above reason.
P&O could have continued to operate here – but getting rid of the brand by definition saves costs for the cruise company by removing the marketing, registration, administration and separate management that is needed for a separate brand. And given the entry level of the brand, they just didn’t want to pay the extra to maintain that. Every year they want to improve profits, not stay the same, so this helped them achieve that this year. Note that in the last year – 2024 – they increased their gross profit to $9.38 billion US, up 29% on 2023, so ending P&O was not financially forced on them, just a way of boosting profits to shareholders.
And so it is with the ships themselves. The instability and pro-business mantra brought on by Trump’s government has resulted in the USD rising, which means cruise lines make more money in the US as that currency is worth more. And ships move where the money is.
But given rising inflation in the US – not least from Trump’s tariffs – and poorer US consumers that market can’t take any more ships, so no more are likely to be removed from here.
I note no mention of the diabolical situation with Princess Cruises in 25/26 when Princess drops to 2 ships and both ships will spend time in drydock during the season.
As far as New Zealand is concerned, I blame New Zealand for less ships in Australia as regulations in New Zealand turn anti cruise ships. The possible ban on cruise ships through the sounds would be a further nail in the coffin
The cruise prices are tooo expensive Price jump since COVID Is ridiculous there are substitutes for holidays no with less expensive to choose from If l had taken my cruise credit I wouldn’t have the same cruise l would have had to pay more double plus for it so stick the cruise up $$ hungry shares prices..
That would explain why there were no Princess cruises next November 2026 when my husband and I made enquiries about going on a cruise again to Fiji.
Yeah I got criticised when I said this was happening and I also said cruise prices would sky-rocket.I also said if this happened cruises in Aust would be gone in 5 years which is a self fulfilling prophecy fro what cruiselines are doing