Australian cruisers are calling for new cruise itineraries as fatigue in the market is forcing travellers to set sail overseas.
Just this week, a bid was put forward to transform NSW’s south coast hotspot of Bateman’s Bay into a cruise destination.
In a world where more ports are clamping down on cruise, Bateman’s Bay sounds at least welcoming. And it’s music to the ears of cruise experts, who say cruise passengers are desperate for something new.
Kelly Henderson, CLIA Cruise Ambassador and agent at iLoveCruising says that we need a broader range of cruise itineraries, with many Australians tired of the same old.
“Our Australian cruise market could benefit from bigger, better, brighter, and more diverse itineraries. Our standard ones are getting old and overdone. If you have cruised more than once in Australia, you have likely done the only offered itineraries here.
“Different itineraries and destinations could appeal to a broader range of travellers, including those who may not have previously been interested in our traditional cruise offerings.”
Australian cruisers call for change
Frequent cruiser Kellie Petersen wrote: “We definitely need new itineraries, at least more Pacific Islands. We have done Noumea six times in 18 months and are not fans of Noumea. Furthermore, leaving from Melbourne costs us nearly as much as the cruise for the family to fly there and back.”
Other cruises such as Robyn Searles can’t fly internationally for health reasons, and thus find themselves doing the same itineraries repeatedly.
“I’ve done 20 cruises and can’t fly internationally for health reasons, so keep doing the same routes. Always looking for something different. There used to be way more variety.”
Paul McLaren wrote: “Would be nice to mix things up a bit. I’d love it if the Splendor would do Port Vila, Fiji, and even places further out like Tonga. Frequent cruisers go around in circles, like the loathed port that none of us really like, Noumea.”
Lynn Jamieson said: “I wish ships would come to WA and do trips from Fremantle to Singapore, Princess and P&O used to do great itineraries that called at ports in Vietnam, as well as Bali and Lombok, but there’s been nothing much like that since Covid.”
Due to major cruise lines offering little variety in itineraries, Australians are starting to look more towards cruising overseas.
Stagnant itineraries are leading to Aussies looking elsewhere
Henderson says: “There has been a huge increase among Australians, including myself and my family seeking cruise experiences beyond the traditional itineraries offered from here in Australia. Many Australians who are frequent cruisers or looking for new experiences are exploring international cruise options for several reasons including new destinations and cultural experiences that aren’t available here.”
Could regional cruise ports be the answer?
While Henderson has seen plenty of demand for overseas cruising and a wider variety of island visits in the South Pacific, the answer could lie closer to home for Australian cruisers.
Australia has 47 cruise ports and anchorages, although the majority receive no visits from the major cruise lines.
Of these 47 ports and anchorages, just 23 will see visits from major cruise ships during the 25/26 cruise ship. During Royal Caribbean’s 25/26 season, aside from major Australian ports like Sydney and Brisbane, only Airlie Beach, Hobart (once), and Cairns will see ships, with all other ports in New Zealand or the South Pacific.
Carnival Cruises will visit seven different regional ports during the 25/26 season, Princess Cruises will visit 13, Celebrity Cruises will visit seven and Norwegian Cruise Line will visit three.
Henderson thinks more visits to regional ports could reignite the passion for Australian cruisers.
“I do – I think any variations to the current itineraries will increase interest and break up the monotony of the current itineraries. I think, given the choice and the warning that many people are about to pull in there to towns and cities with ports big enough, there are so many beautiful spots cruises could stop which will reignite the passion for cruising for many seasoned and new cruisers.
“Australia is one of the most beautiful countries in the world which has people longing to see, so let’s open the cruise ports and allow it to happen. This will in turn benefit our country, the towns, and the locals there as well as show a ship full of people what else Australia has to offer.”
What do regional ports have to offer for Australian cruisers?
- Western Australia is home to extraordinary destinations such as Esperance, Exmouth, and Margaret River. Princess offers cruises here that traditionally sell well. However, none of Royal Caribbean, NCL, Celebrity Cruises or Carnival Cruises have plans to cruise there.
- South Australia has cruise infrastructure in famous destinations such as Kangaroo Island or Port Lincoln. For the 25/26 season, Kangaroo Island has just 3 port calls scheduled from major lines and Port Lincoln just one.
- Tasmania has a spectacular coastline with destinations such as Burnie, Coles Bay and Port Arthur. During 25/26 Port Arthur will see two major ships visit (both from Carnival), and Burnie seven major visits (all from NCL).
- Queensland has fifteen separate cruise destinations, and just seven will see visits from major ships in 25/26.
- NSW has many ports that are keen to see more cruise traffic. Including Batemans Bay whose local government has discussed rebuilding its cruise facilities and Wollongong, which has offered itself as an alternative port to Sydney, amidst capacity issues.
Which regional ports do major lines currently visit?
- In 2025/26 Carnival Cruises will visit Moreton Island 12 times, Airlie Beach 13 times, Cairns eight times, Port Douglas five times, Hobart twice, and Port Arthur twice.
- Princess Cruises leads the way currently. In 25/26 the lines will visit Eden three times, Newcastle seven times, Yorkey’s Knob three times, Townsville twice, Margaret River 10 times, Albany 10 times, Kangaroo Island once, Port Lincoln once, Broome 11 times, Exmouth 11 times and Darwin 11 times.
- Royal Caribbean has very few visits to regional Australia. The 25/26 season has eight stops scheduled in Airlie Beach, one in Hobart, and three in Cairns.
- Celebrity Cruises during the 25/26 season will visit Eden twice, Hobart three times, Airlie Beach five times, Kangaroo Island twice, Yorkey’s Knob five times, Port Douglas three times and Newcastle once.
- Norwegian Cruise Lines is planning to visit Eden seven times, Burnie seven times and Kangaroo Island twice during the 25/26 season.
Sadly the US Head Offices of the affordable cruise ships coming to our region are demanding bigger ships and want bigger profits from our piddlingly weak AUD$. YES our ports are limited in this region and will be even less so with monster ships they’re now sending I just got back from a 4 night Sydney/Auckland trans-Tasman on Pacific Explorer(ex-Dawn Princess) her final sailing from Sydney. I haven’t been a fan of P&O Australia for many years due to their incredible drop in standards and will not mourn their passing.
The Pacific Explorer was okay this time, my cabin was dated but spacious, the food was mostly forgettable and the entertainment, even that you didn’t have to pay extra for was tired and at times offensive.
I had to play a stupid game of booking the trip for two as solo cabins (at my time of booking) showed no availability. On embarkation I told them my travelling companion had died. Booking for two….strange way of doing business. They charge a 100% surcharge nowadays anyway.
I notice that Princess is now pulling the same stunt.
I’ve cruised over 100 times but can see an end to this holiday option.
Sad to say
I agree with many of the previous comments. Another disappointment is the fact that there are not many cruise liners departing from Melbourne/ Victorian ports ( not sure if this is a cost thing) but Victorians have to travel all the way to Sydney to go on South Pacific, QLD etc cruises which is rather annoying.
Always the same destinations by cruise ships to Pacific island and New Zealand. We being from Victoria have to travel all the way to NSW. We were lucky we sailed three times from Melbourne, once to the pacific islands and already twice to New Zealand. We will be going again to New Zealand for the last time as no ship is going to sail from Melbourne again except virgin or NCL. But well though we miss cruising it is not worth it going to NSW and always to the same destinations.
Looking forward to cruising Brisbane to Samoa ! Bali ! Cook Islands !Thailand! Somewhere Different! Lets Go ! Princess Cruises ! Dennis
This is very true we have done a sailing that left Brisbane and stopped at Newcastle then Wollongong Sydney and back to Brisbane.
Both Newcastle and Wollongong were great stops, just think how great a east coast sailing from top to bottom would be.
I have to agree with this entire story. I’m sorry to say but most cruise lines ate quite boring when it comes to planning their itineraries. I remember saying back in the later 80s and 90s when looking at the Sitmar/ P&O brochure nothing g changed from 1 year to the next same cruise, same number of nights with the only thing that changed was the date. I know many people may not have cruised CTC but they did offer quite a diverse range of cruises. Yes we did go out to the South Pacific places like Noumea Isle De Pins, Lautoka, Suva, Yasawa, Vila but we also went through the Coral Sea and out to Tonga and Nuku’alofa. Cruises from Perth went to Bali, Singapore, Port Klang, and can’t think of the other port.Even the South Pacific cruises they did a mix with Auckland Bay of Islands then out to the Islands. I even remember the last brochure before the dry dock the Belorussiya was in capsized they had a cruise going across to LA return. They also used to do a 40+ night cruise through Asia.
All the shipping lines today just play it safe.i was an avid cruiser from the later 70s through to 2020 and cruised many lines.
If you are looking for different cruises to sail on try, Coral Expeditions coralexpeditions.com
They are an Australian owned company with Australian crew. Plenty of domestic and international off the beaten path options with small ships to get up close to what really matters!
I agree totally with the previous comments, Australians need variety, I love NZ but how many NZ cruises can you do?
It is even difficult to find a Sth Pacific cruise during the summer holiday season. Not sure why Noumea is so unpopular, love our days down at the Lagoon & Citron Bay!
Return cruises to Singapore and Asia would be wonderful.
I understand weather plays a big part during our summer up north, but we have never experienced bad weather in the Sth Pacific during Dec/Jan sailings.
My partner and I have exhausted all the venues offered to the Pacific Islands and it would be a complete waste of money to keep going. We dislike the mammoth ships and if they keep coming to Australia there is no way they could venture into small interesting ports.
If we can encourage the smaller ships to come it would be fantastic to call into small ports such as Gladstone in the north, west coast of Tasmania, ports in SA and Western Australia.
New Zealand could also increase ports to visit.
Overseas cruise travel is out of the question for us, so travel will be by car unless the Australian Cruise Industry introduces lots of new venues.
We are huge cruisers . We have done so many of the same cruises that I’ve lost count. Please expand the ports of call. It’s definitely a lovely way to see more of Australia if you don’t want to drive.
I too would like to see cruise ships offer new itineraries. Places like New Guinea, Samoa, Cook Islands would be a change from the boring south Pacific staples cruise ships seem glued to.Unless you fly to Singapore you don’t get the chance to visit the indonesian islands like Bali Lombock etc. This is a call for Royal Caribbean to step up and add to their itineraries. Unfortunately the Australian Government is too greedy with port charges and taxes which prevents travellers from visiting ports within Australia particularly in Western Australia. An overseas cruise costs less than visiting Australian ports in Western Australia from Sydney.
There are many wonderful ports to visit if we can keep our smaller ships. You can’t dump several thousand passengers in small but wonderful ports. Bring back the 700 approx ships please. It’s worth the extra cost.
I agree with what others have said. Airfares from provincial towns in New Zealand via Auckland and on to main centres in Australia are very costly. P&O, doing the winter season out of Auckland was great for many New Zealand families and also suited to some from Australia with a return trans Tasman flight. I think cruise lines could do well with more return voyages out of Auckland to the islands and I would love to do a cruise to the Cook Islands, stopping at some other island on the way there and another on the way back to Auckland. Sailing out of Auckland to Pacific destinations would be a great saving in both time and fuel costs for cruise lines and for most Australians this would only involve a trans Tasman return fare, but with a saving in time and a Tasman sea crossing. Sailing to or from Singapore, or any other Asian port, is too long and costly for a lot of us New Zealanders. A cruise from Auckland to Queensland with P&O, now canceled, was very popular and pretty much sold out a year in advance. Many years ago I did a trip to Newcastle then on to Tasmania and returning to Auckland with the old Pacific Pearl and this was very popular with Kiwi’s.
the ship is our destination, not interested in where it goes, as long as we are aboard enjoying all the ship has to offer. If we have previously been to any Australian port, staying onboard is a great option as not many passengers remain on board.
I am bored with most crusing done from the eastern states now. As a West Australian,many of us who can’t fly, we are penalised from cruising. I loved Fremantle to Fremantle cruising, along with Asia included, the cruise lines have no loyalty to West Aussies, very disappointing, so unlikely a lot of us won’t cruise again, which is sad.
We agree that cruising in the Australian region has become boring with the limited destinations offered. We live in regional Queensland so we are always having to add on the cost of flights to get to the major ports, sometimes this cost is the same as the cost of the cruise. We are experienced cruisers and prefer round trips rather than one way. New itineraries would be so welcome!
There must be a limited number of possibilities where there are facilities to cope with a ship disgorging 4000 passengers and crew. If new ports are only available for tender access, then weather conditions will have too much of an impact. We typically avoid cruises that have a large number of tender ports. Sadly, the pace of infrastructure development is painfully slow and in the South Pacific islands, glacial speed. The immediate remedy is for ports to lower their charges to better reflect international pricing and that applies to pilot services, security services and port fees. The high prices presently being charged are a form of tourism tax which flies in the face of government posturing to improve tourism funding and promotion.
My view is that there should be a move away from the mega-cruise ships towards small to medium ships that can access existing ports more readily.
Finally cruisers have spoken about the cruise lines flogging a dead horse going to the same destinations every year.Australia one of the largest islands in the world has fantastic natural beauty.I cruised with Celebrity Soltice around the top end from Fremantle to Sydney best cruise ever but alas they never went again.
I*t very disappointing that most cruise liners will not leave Melbourne port as we fine it had to travel to other states to leave on a ship
I did hear that there fees went up but at cost of about $25 per head why could they just add it on to the fare nobody would now the different very disappointing
After 30yrs cruising the sth Pacific, NZ and even as far as Singapore and Japan we’d love to see a wider range of ports to visit as the ones currently offered have been visited so many times I think we know more about the ports of call than the excursion offices aboard the ships.
Cruising continues to be so expensive for Aussies compared to the US and European markets – why? Add the cost of flights and it puts a huge financial strain for some to enjoy this form of travel. Should we be looking for better prices????
Also coming from WA why are there no cruises scheduled to depart from Fremantle in 2025/26? This adds extra costs to us as we need to get yo Melb. or Syd. Another disadvantage to us from the west.
What would be nice at least once a year a Adelaide to Adelaide to Bali and Singapore cruise would be perfect
My husband and I would love more places to be put on the cruise ship itinerary, we love cruising and don’t want to be doing the same places over and over again.
Totally agree, the first liner to introduce cruises with itineraries that visit Tonga, Solomon’s and hopefully New Guinee and Cook Islands even will absolutely make a killing. Depart Brissy and head north
Our first cruise was from Fremantle through Asia for 18 days it was a round trip finishing in fremantle on the Voyager, nothing like that is on offer now it’s all one way usually finishing in Singapore, I don’t want to fly, we have done the new Caledonia and vanauatu but would not return as didn’t really like it.
Agree with these bloggers but I see even greater opportunities to the North of Australia – what about a round trip to the Philippines from Brisbane or some of the regional ports in PNG and Indonesia or one way trips from Brisbane up to Darwin and down to Perth with fly home or fly over to Perth and do the return journey to Brisbane (and/or Sydney).
What about around Australian broken into three possible legs (taken as separate itineraries or two or all three with fly home options. Include Broome and Geraldton on West Coast, Adelaide and Kangaroo Island and /or Tassie down South, with Sydney Brisbane and Airlie Beach or Cairns up the East Coast.
Bring it on and please do it sooner than later – please send to all major cruise company scheduling departments.
Bob
Brisbane
I agree a lot of Australian ports are exhausted but the cruise companies need to try something different in their itineraries. Like do Sydney, Lord Howe Island, Auckland, Hobart and port Arthur and then back to Sydney. The same with the other capital cities mix the itineraries a bit and make it interesting for cruises to do. It’s a shame now there will only be one cruise company that are in Australian dollars on ship, all the others are in American dollars on ship that I know off. But then again some cruises don’t mind doing the same cruise over & over again as they go for the ship life and not to be off at every stop.
I FULLY AGREE WE DO ABOUT 5 CRUISES PER YEAR BUT WE ARE SICK AND TIRED TO GO TO THE SAME PLACS FROM SYDNEY WHO WANTS TO GO TO NOUMEA TIME AND TIME AGAIN ITS A DUMP. SURELY THERE ARE OTHE PLACES IN THE PACIFIC THEY CAN SAIL TO WE ARE FLYING MORE AND MORE TO CRUISE FROM SAY SINGAPORE
P&O used to do a cruise that took in Norfolk Island called The Bounty Cruise. I was looking to do that next year but I don’t think it’s on offer now that there is no P&O.
Spot on about the boredom we Australians have with itineraries. New Zealand we have visited ad nauseum, Pacific cruises are limited and expensive, Tahiti in particular. We do not like having to end a cruise in Bali,going on to Singapore or Hong Kong becomes expensive. Health issues that prevent flying limits choices as well. Greedy State governments charging exorbitant
Port charges does not help to encourage cruise lines to visit, especially
Melbourne.
Nope. Regional is not the go! Most cruisers are travellers who have done all that. Regional can be done anytime – weekends away etc. The event ones work though – Melb Cup, comedy, 80’s, Swans etc.
The thing is to do the more unusual islands coz we’ve also done the usuals to death! These: Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Norfolk, Nauru, Tarawa, Kiribate, Tahiti,(although it’s a bit far), Fletcher Christian islands. Also, the top end of Australia – Gove, Darwin, Christmas Island – “make” places like Labadee, Princess Cay, Coco Cay – on other ends of islands away from populations. Labadee etc are
“awesome”. Places off the beaten track! You might have to tender at them all, but that’s ok. And do ‘t make them 20 days. Keep them around 7-10. And bot too many sea says. And if one way (eg Port Vila, Solomon, Tuvalu, Wallis, Samoa then fly home.) … offer good fares to get home.
And Australian cruises need to be more like the US Caribbean/Mexico/Bahama ones. Class it up! Don’t just dump us on, for example, Isle of Pines/Mystery, with our towels. You go first, set up deck chairs, bbq’s, drink stations, table/chairs areas …. make it inviting and comfortable. We are LIGHT YEARS behind what the Caribbean ships do. No way they’d just dump us with a towel. We travel to the US every year and do 2-3 cruises just because of how well they do the islands/beaches! Going on 2 in Oct. There’s a lot of cruisers who are older age high networth individuals who like comfort and can cruise multiple times a year …. but you don’t get us, so you don’t get us!!. You’re missing out big time!
And smarten up the ships. P&O and Splendor are so old. P&O (Adventure/Encounter) are great old ships but the maintenance leaves a lot to be desired …. slap some paint over the rusty bits, paint chipped and scratched wood, make sure everything works, tart it up and make it look like you want us onboard. Not sure l’ll see it in my lifetime … so l’ll keep going to the US as long as l can (that’s 2 airfares you could be getting for cruises if you did them right).
Just my opinion. Over 50 cruises.
yes, agree same old same old cruise destinations. need to go further afield. for older cruise participants longer like we had before covid, around the pacific, across to South Africa, Oz to south America and back. I too dislike having to do long haul flights and use cruises to go to other countries.
Keep a few shorter runs for families and those with limite.d time but give variety
Not to state the obvious, but a key factor in itineraries is ship size. Only a few ports have the infrastructure – tourist and physical – to accommodate 2000+ guests, never mind 5000+ guests.
Even some New Zealand ports struggle to muster enough buses and bus drivers to move guests around or on excursions.
Good bye Princess. Have enjoyed many great times on your ships from Melbourne but my family will not be flying to Sydney or Brisbane to board another Princess ship.
Michael Scotter.
Cruising in the Australian region is just downright boring and no matter how ports you add, this will not change.
In the early days of cruising out of sydney, we visited nulualofa , vavau, outer fiji islands like savu savu, guadal canal, png including Rabaul and lay.
The issues including political instability and cost of long cruises have limited offerings.
Sad