- The president of Carnival Cruise Line is in Australia to show off her two new fun ships.
- She told Cruise Passenger keeping the ships here is a major cost.
- She had no choice but to close P&O Australia.
Christine Duffy has just had lunch at Luke Mangan’s Bar and Grill – “It’s my favourite” – on board the newly refurbished 29th Carnival Fun Ship, sailing to Sydney.
The former Pacific Adventure – now the Carnival Adventure – will be on show to the trade, her P&O signage replaced by the simple word: Carnival.
No Red funnel yet. That’s still to come, perhaps. Her sister ship, Carnival Encounter, is sailing to Brisbane with identical livery.
Duffy is a 10-year veteran at the top of the world’s largest cruise line. It’s a tough, number-crunching business even for the boss of the Fun Ships. It was once suggested she is the Taylor Swift of cruise, and that may be right.
She lists the closure of P&O Australia, the 92-year-old brand finally laid to rest this month, among her major achievements, and is unsurprised by the emotional reaction among Australians.
Her arguments are rationale and sensible for a global business. “This is an expensive place to operate, and so leveraging the scale that we bring as Carnival Cruise Line with a fleet of 29 ships, is allowing us to keep and operate the four ships that we’ll have here, including in the winter.”
She adds: “It’s been a huge commitment, including just time and effort, capital and investment. At the end of the day, for us, it’s all about demand – and cruise ships are movable assets. The ships will go where we believe we can support the demand.
“It’s always sad to see that a brand that people grow up with and have memories of is sunsetted but nothing is forever. I think, at least what I hope is that the guests who love POA (P&O Australia) and sailing in Australia will appreciate that doing this really is what will enable us to have four ships sailing year-round in Australia.
“Keeping a brand with three ships, given the cost of operations in this part of the world and the regulatory environment that exists here, was not sustainable.
“And so this move, while I know is bitter, sweet and comes with some level of sadness to see the POA brand go away, the alternative would not have been as good for Australia.”
More than 500,000 people are expected to cruise with Carnival in Australia in 2025, departing from Sydney and Brisbane. The cruise industry contributes more than $8 billion annually to the national economy, with Carnival Cruise Line alone delivering $2 billion.
But recent figures from the New Zealand Cruise Association reveal a 40 per cent drop in cruise visitation at the end of this year. They are a potent warning to Australia, which also faces capacity issues.
“I’m not surprised to see the results from New Zealand and a lot of that is just the regulatory environment in Australia and more recently, particularly in New Zealand. It makes it more risky and more expensive and more difficult to operate.”
In a reference to the biosecurity regulations that saw ships with a full complement of passengers turned away, Duffy said: “ I think we have ships that are still calling in New Zealand. I think I’ve got a ship right there now. But in terms of the industry, we don’t want to go with people where it’s difficult or risky for us to then have to disappoint the guest by saying: ‘Well, we thought we were going here, but now we can’t’.”
Duffy is convinced the ability to market the four ships to Americans through the Carnival Cruise Line network will be good for local cruise and the Australian economy.
“It’s good for tourism. Most people aren’t just going to come over and take a four or five- or seven-day cruise, they’re going to take a cruise, they’re going to want to visit Sydney, spend time. So we think this is a very good thing for tourism overall in Australia.”
Duffy said there were plans to sail in Asia, and there are plans to homeport one of the vessels in Melbourne for a time.
“So people in Melbourne will have the opportunity to sail directly out of Melbourne with us,” she said.
And the new trend of shorter “weekend” journeys were also on the cards.”We know that people are looking for those weekend getaways during school breaks or holidays. They’re not just waiting for the once a year, two week vacation.
“And with more multi-generational travel that’s only going to grow, giving people more and more options for what those itineraries look like.”
She said of the itineraries now posted on the Carnival Australia website: “We think we are leaning more into the short itineraries from what we may have had before, but it also includes the six-day, eight day and longer itineraries with more exotic ports.”
Duffy concedes that Carnival Cruise Lines, 12 years old in Australia, will be embedding itself into the community.
“We are here year-round. When you do that, guests begin to know, they’re going to see Carnival ships in Sydney Harbour with every turn and I think that does create a level of connection.”
There will be more investment in the two ships, which go to Singaore next year for a more radical Fun Ship transformation.
The line claims to sail more kids than any other cruise company, so adding Dr Zeus and the Fun Squads, dance parties and the Hub App to its latest acquisitions will enhance the experience.
Will fares rise as a result? Duffy wasn’t saying.
“We’ve always been committed to being accessible and affordable to the mass market and especially for people sailing with families. There are a lot of variables that go into pricing – what time of year, are you traveling in peak time, holiday times, a long itinerary a short itinerary?
“We think with four ships we’re able to give people a lot of different options and so if we were going to reduce our capacity here and only have one ship, you can afford to raise price, right?”
She points out that, in any comparison with P&O, there is more included in Carnival. So it would’t be comparing apples with apples.
She was unmoved by news that a Cruise Passenger survey showed on some sailings, Royal Caribbean was up to three times more expensive than Carnival.
She repeats: Carnival sails Australia year-round. Royal Caribbean doesn’t.
For more, go here.
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So family oriented. What about adults that want a quiet, fun filled holiday with elegant decorum, and few if any kids around.
What 4 Ships are going to be Permanent ..Encounter and Adventure ..The other 2 Only come for 6 Months of the Year.
Well if Carnival won’t sail from Melbourne, we might as well cruise with Royal Caribbean or Princess which in my opinion they are better than Carnival. So hope Carnival start sailing from Melbourne.
Why aren’t you sailing from Melbourne???? It gets expensive having to fly to Sydney and stay a night before the cruise…..no future cruising for us………….
my wife and i sailed on the pacific adventure two years ago to new caledonia on a ten day cruise . .and i have to say it was wonderful .the food choice was wonderful .we ate at the best restaurants with brilliant service .afterwards we could eat again at the self service pantry where the food was good and plentiful our cabin staff were cheerful and friendly as were all the staff we met .the pools and slides were great the oasis pool adults only right by a bar was brilliant .the entertainment first class the concerts wonderful .it was that good i wanted to stay on board .last year i went on a ten day cruise on the carnival splendour to new zealand .i have to say it was not as good as the adventure .while the ship was as good the food choice was not .the pantry was breakfast only .all other meals in the restuarants .the entertainment not as good as the adventure .i hope carnival leave the adventure as it is as i want to go on her this july .
Great news that you will sail out of Melbourne.
I disagree with the comment carnival offers more. That is at best a marginal comment. While there is the ice cream, burgers and pizza, it is really not that much better. On my last carnival cruise, most of the time if the ice cream machine was not broken, it was closed. The burgers are at very best basic, and the pizza is only pizza by virtue of it being round and some stuff on top. (they really need to sail with virgin to see haw to offer free pizza).
The biggest change people will note is the very poor drinks packages on carnival. The soft drink package is very limited and there is no refreshments package. Their alcohol package is very expensive when considering it is limited to just 15 dinks over 24 hours, and it doesn’t include everything. Both NCL and Princess have much better packages for about the same price.
The greatest difference people will notice is that carnival has a very American way of doing things that can be a bit grating for Australians. That was the greatest strength of P&O, the way they Australianised the approach to customer service and service delivery.
Another difference was the menus. Carnival have a very unhealthy American type of menu where it was easier to eat a little bit healthier on P&O. A small but important issue.
Also cost will be a major factor. Carnival is not focussed on delivering value to the cruiser in the same way P&O was. P&O understood their market and catered for it on price. Ok there was a lot of “extras” but you could cruise on a reasonable budget. The ethos of Carnival is different as it focussed on profit maximisation. This is not a bad thing, they are a public company, but profit maximisation and customer service and experience delivery come from a different perspective.
Time of course will tell, but the fact that Carnival has no plans to bring any of the newer ships to Australia I think sums up their ongoing approach to this market.
I hope time proves me wrong.
I am a great advocate for cruising and to be honest I was very vocal and lobbied the NSW and Australian Government to re start cruising in Australia and more so Sydney.
I am 75 years old. I have sailed over 258 cruises between Princess, carnival (of late) P&O (Aust) and Royal Caribbean.
Price point is very sensitive in Australia more so than the USA. Although P&O was a lower standard and more of a budget cruise line in Australia it has and had a place. There are many things that P&O offered that were better than Princess, carnival and Royal Caribbean. For example , of late, the ex Princess ships such as Pacific Adventure suited my wife and I . We have a busy life still and the three (3) night “get a way” cruises to no where really suited us. WE always have a “Mini Suit” the dining room service was good be it that the menu never changed which I saw as a negative . The theatre, shows etc was excellent compared to Carnival Splender and even princess ships.Princess only offer 2 or 3 three day cruises per year and so does Royal. I know and have known the principals of bothe Princess and Royal Caribbean for the last 50 years My contact details are below and I would love to spend half an hour over a cup of coffee talking about the Australian cruise industry
A somewhat confusing and disappointing set of comments by Ms. Duffy.
Here are a few examples…1. “This is an expensive place to operate, and so leveraging the scale that we bring as Carnival Cruise Line with a fleet of 29 ships, is allowing us to keep and operate the four ships that we’ll have here.” So, in terms of cruising costs it is logical that if P&O could operate lower cost cruises with two ships now having more under Carnival the price of a cruise should not rise. Cost efficiencies in action. 2. “…in any comparison with P&O, there is more included in Carnival. So it wouldn’t be comparing apples with apples.” This sound like corporate justification speak for we will raise prices just because there will be some free pizza and a comedy club. Is there just that much more that is driving up cruise costs with this merger ? Doubtful. 3. “Will fares rise as a result? Duffy wasn’t saying.” The silence is evidence enough that we will not see PO price levels again. 4. “Duffy is convinced the ability to market the four ships to Americans through the Carnival Cruise Line network will be good for local cruise and the Australian economy.” If this is true and more cruisers come to Australia it only supports the value of the Australian cruise industry and the ability to be competitively priced.
In all not an inspiring read. The cruising public will be watching and will judge Carnival in due course one way or the other.
Looking faward to our cruise from Sydney in July.Hopeing to have a great trip without unsupervised children.Please do something about children roaming about the ship unsupervised and being a real nuisance.especially in lifts and knocking on doors all hours of the night.we deserve to enjoy our cruise too. Just received a response that I,ve already said that before.Not true.Does that mean you won,t do anything about this subject.?
Looking faward to our cruise from Sydney in July.Hopeing to have a great trip without unsupervised children.Please do something about children roaming about the ship unsupervised and being a real nuisance.especially in lifts and knocking on doors all hours of the night.we deserve to enjoy our cruise too.