David Jones was Carnival Australia’s corporate communications manager from 2009 to 2022. Now he laments the departing of the best leaders our cruise industry had and asks: what happens next?
As P&O Cruises Australia prepares to sail its last summer cruise season, the cream of Australia’s cruising industry gathered recently in an upstairs lounge at Darling Harbour’s historic Pyrmont Bridge Hotel.
It was a get-together to farewell two of the local industry’s leading lights, Stuart Allison and Ryan Taibel. Stuart Allison hasn’t been lost to cruising — he is soon off to Britain to take up a senior role at P&O UK.
Two conclusions are inescapable. The demise of P&O Australia has sparked a significant loss of talent from the local industry. It is also seeing the departure of members of the “Ann Sherry Generation”.
It raises a number of questions about the future prospects of the Australian cruise industry. Will year round cruising remain a local feature? Have the authorities made it just too expensive for cruise companies to operate profitably in this market?
One thing we do know is that we have steadily seen the departure of the “Ann Sherry Generation” of leaders who were at the forefront of the decade-plus years of exponential growth.
Brand warriors including Stuart Allison and Ryan Taibel provided the ballast for Sherry’s audacious goal, as CEO of Carnival Australia, to see a million Australians cruising by 2020.
The fact that the goal was reached five years early is testament to Sherry’s drive, determination, ambition for the industry and sheer courage in a career sense to make it happen.
Sherry recruited a band of loyal lieutenants and, together, they didn’t just change one thing. They changed everything about local cruising to transform the product and the perception of it.
As the P&O fleet grew ultimately to five ships and Princess consolidated its long-term presence in Australia, the rest of the world took notice and sent their ships for the abundant opportunities in a growing market.
So, it’s time to drop the nostalgia lens. Sad as it is and, while marketers infer that P&O Australia is merely being folded into Carnival Cruise Line, the reality is that the foundation brand of Australian cruising is going, going and almost gone.
With one summer season to go, 2024-25 will seem like any other rather than a swansong for Australia’s oldest cruise line. There will, however, be plenty of tears come March.
Look a little further ahead and it seems inevitable that capacity will take a hit with at least some retreat in the number of Australians cruising. After all, Pacific Explorer will be gone and Cunard’s local seasons will be no more.
It will be interesting to see if year round cruising from Australia remains intact. In being run from here, P&O effectively anchored the full year presence along with Princess’s home ported ships.
The cruise industry doesn’t tend to pick arguments with governments. Shipping is a highly regulated activity, and, at that, by multiple tiers of government.
The industry is unlikely to say it out loud but there was always a suspicion that governments didn’t value cruising other than to assume the ships were sailing on oceans of gold and bringing it with them.
Far too often came unilateral edicts on fees and charges accompanied by a take it or leave it attitude.
From time to time, there were subtle hints that cruise ships, being mobile assets, didn’t really have to be here and could easily sail away.
However, taking ships out of this market was unlikely when an entire corporate structure, now reduced, supporting the ships was located here.
Who is to say that won’t happen now that more decisions, strategic and operational, are being made in America rather than here?
Authorities responsible for Australia’s prohibitively expensive port charges should accept at least some responsibility for any uncertainty that now prevails.
It is why Victoria’s decision to whack up port fees came as such a hammer blow and had cruise lines saying sayonara, enough is enough.
International cruise lines can’t be expected to send their ships halfway around the world only to be bled dry by fees and charges.
As the P&O years come to a close, the question of the cruise line’s special relationship with the South Pacific in which, for example, hundreds of Ni Vanuatu crew have worked on its ships also comes into focus. Will that special relationship that made such a big economic and community contribution in the Pacific Islands, one of Ann Sherry’s passion projects, continue?
When the years of double-digit annual growth were going full tilt, who could have imagined that Australia would be saying goodbye to its homegrown cruise line and that uncertainty would pervade the local industry’s growth prospects?
And now weakened by a much diluted talent pool minus a generation of leaders who helped build an industry almost from scratch.
Well I am not surprised that Carnival are pulling P&O out of Australian waters after the dreadful cruise we just experienced on the P&O Encounter.
At the probability of repeating myself We were to sail on an Island Hopping cruise.
Without any warning other than being informed that New Caledonia etc was off the itinerary, but at the same time other Islands would replace those two stops we agreed to still sail.
We went from Brisbane as far as Mystery Island but didn’t stop due to a crew members health, and pushed on to Vanuatu.
We set sail that night back to Brisbane!! no other comments and no compensation, and P& O are not even interested, their answer is go and claim on your insurance, what great service!!
So in a nut shell we spent $4,500 for a day in Vanuatu !!!
Never again Carnival , we have cruised for over 25 yrs, but you have lost our vote
Why doesn’t anyone just say it: the cruise industry is being brought to its knees by charges imposed by government, both state and federal that just rip the profitability out of their operation. With Port charges about three times higher than other parts of the world largely driven by union wage demands. Unions are ruining this country behind the apron strings of labour and all Australians are poorer for it. Governments only think 3 years ahead and won’t tackle union demands for more and more wage increases. The cruise industry is dying, simple as that
Hypocritical to blame the Australian government for its cruise charges, yet at the same time praise the Greek government for increasing its cruise charges to a similar level.
The charge is paid by the customer so doesn’t affect cruise line finances, and the charges here are paying for greater/better infrastructure than you get in Greece. Plus the charges are smaller, and less than the increases cruise lines themselves impose such as increases in fares.
The simple reason is they believe they can get more revenue from the US where the USD is worth more, and they are mobile so they always go where they can get more, to boost returns to shareholders. Even if our charges were reduced, so we shortchanged Australians – the cruiselines would still be leaving. Cause the $10 difference is a drop in the ocean, and as said doesn’t even affect their finances.
P O were the best under Ann Sherry it was going ahead and great fun let us hope it continues to enjoy. Thank uou
So sad about no cruises from carnival in Melbourne love cruises and it was so easy living in Melbourne and cruising from here. We have 47 cruises and want to travel more please come back . Helenp [email protected]
The Australian Government needs to wake up and realise how important is the cruise market here in Australia.
By putting Port taxes up and listening to the so called greens that they think it’s polluting their space us rubbish!
Tourism brings millions of dollars and cruise ships is an essential part of this.
Wake up you hierarchy in Government before it’s too late !
I am deverstated that our Australian Cruise Industry is leaving our wonderful country i have been cruising since the Sitmar days 1988,why is the Government so greedy im now 89 and still love to Cruise i find it is wonderful to be able to board at Sydney with my Scooter and Walker so much easier than dealing with Air travel its wonderful for anyone with a disability i love to go to Melbourne each January to the Australian Open, next year will be my last then another in March will be the end of our beloved Cruises its also sad of all the staff that will be out of work that work in the Cruise Industry
The Australian Labour Party are the destroying every thing especially the so called prime Minister this needs to be published about the high Port fees
Melbourne tourism will suffer from the lack of ships docking here how stupid to tax the companies so highly cutting of noses to spite the face as the saying goes I have been involved in tourism for years this does not make sense cruises from Melbourne please
Australia is going down the gurgula, every Australian industry is leaving our shores!!
I have heard from one cruising official that Australia and New Zealand must reduce port fees and restrictions on cruising. New Zealand cruising must die if they ban cruise ships from Milford Sound.
Australian cruising is dying by a thousand cuts. I doubt Australians will pay higher fees that cruise lines want.
Expect world cruise ships to include Australia on their itinerary but that will be that.
Is 2030 to soon to predict end of Australian cruising
I’m one of those generation of leaders who was involved in creating our cruise industry having commenced in 1974 with Chandris Lines.
Thence through with CTC Cruises representing the ships from the Soviet Union; thence to P&O Cruises in 1980; thence to P&O Sitmar Cruises in 1988 through to 2004.
Thence to various cruise wholesalers until I arrived at MSC Cruises .
I am now a Customer Service Agent at Station Pier, Port Melbourne , having spent 50 years service in the cruise industry. And still hope to continue to contribute through my passion for our unique Australian based cruise industry.