Australia is coming off a near-record season, with 1.25 million people taking a local cruise over the 2023/24 wave season. However, this doesn’t appear to be leading to extra investment from the major cruise lines. Quite the reverse.
Cruise Passenger has analysed deployments and found, despite booming demand, the number of suites and cabins available is falling. And the cruise lines’ industry body, Cruise Lines International Association Australasia (CLIA), is warning our cruise boom could plateau as a result.
The Australian cruise business in Australia has had good week: positive CLIA figures, Royal Caribbean ships heading our way, and reports of younger travellers opting for cruises. But the future deployment picture looks quite different.
Through the 2023/2024 season, amongst the major cruise lines of Carnival, Royal Caribbean, P&O, Celebrity and Princess, there was a total of 13 homeported ships. Adding up the capacity of each ship gave a grand total of space for 39,640 passengers.
However, there are only 11 ships scheduled to homeport in Australia come the 2025/2026 season. The capacity of each ship adds up to space for 33,829 passengers.
Furthermore, Virgin withdrew from the Australian market after just one season. Meanwhile, Cunard has announced it won’t be homeporting Queen Elizabeth in Australia from 2025/2026 onwards.
If cruise is booming globally and in Australia, why aren’t the major cruise lines sending more, bigger or better ships our way?
A calculation based on the announcements so far shows cruise lines are reducing capacity by 15 percent. This is thanks to a lack of berths, high costs, rules, and regulations.
Joel Katz, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Managing Director in Australasia says if Australia can’t manage logistical and regulatory complexities, Australia’s cruise capacity could be set to plateau, as it booms elsewhere.
“Demand for cruising has certainly recovered and global forecasts are strong. But cruising in Australia and New Zealand is not guaranteed to continue in line with global growth.
“Australia’s summer season ahead is likely to be only slightly up in terms of overall capacity. Longer-term deployment may see a plateau into 2025-26.
“Cruise lines have spoken about the high cost of operating in this region and the regulatory complexities that make local cruising difficult. One of the consequences we are seeing is an increase in shorter cruises with fewer port calls. As cruise lines look to navigate the high-cost environment and keep cruising accessible to their guests
“Another consequence may be an impact on the number of ships deployed in this region. Or a reduction in their length of stay, which reduces choice for cruisers and hits the local tourism economy.”
Katz says that more work is needed between the government, ports and destinations to keep cruise thriving in Australia.
“It is important that the right settings are in place to ensure Australia is internationally competitive. Collaboration among governments, ports, and destinations is vital. This is along with balanced regulation and reasonable costs to foster a thriving cruise economy in this region.
“CLIA and cruise lines are closely engaged with governments and other stakeholders. We will continue advocating for an industry that is worth $5.6 billion a year to the Australian economy.”
The numbers
While other factors are relevant such as the number and length of itineraries, the numbers show that aside from P&O Australia, the major cruise lines operating in Australia are not upping the size or quantity of their ships in Australia.
- Carnival Cruises currently has Carnival Splendor and Carnival Luminosa sailing in Australia. Both ships have capacities of 3012 and 2826 respectively. Currently, these two Carnival ships are set to continue homeported in Australia up until 2025/2026, with no new ships coming.
- In the 2023/2024 Royal Caribbean had Brilliance of the Seas, Ovation of the Seas and Quantum of the Seas homeporting in Australia. The ships have maximum capacity of 2543, 4905 and 4905 respectively. Brilliance won’t be returning next season while Ovation and Quantum will. However, those two ships won’t return in 2025/2026, and will be replaced by Anthem of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas. Moreover, Anthem has the same capacity of 4905. On the other hand, Voyager can carry a max of 3602 passengers.
- P&O will be keeping their fleet of Pacific Explorer, Pacific Adventure and Pacific Encounter consistent over the coming two season. The ships respectively can carry 1990, 2636 and 2600 passengers.
- Over the 2023/2024 season, Celebrity Cruises brought Celebrity Edge down to Australia. It is set to stay as the cruise lines only homeporting ship in Australia over the following two seasons, with a capacity for 2908 passengers.
- Throughout the 2023/2024 cruise season, Princess Cruises had four ships sailing in Australia, Royal Princess, Grand Princess, Majestic Princess, and Coral Princess. The ships have a capacity of 3600, 2610, 3560 and 2000. However, next season Princess will operate only three ships in Australia, Royal Princess, Diamond Princess, and Crown Princess. These ships can carry 2670 and 3080 passengers respectively. Then there will be another reshuffle for 2025/2026, with Discovery Princess entering the mix. it has a capacity of 3660. Meanwhile, Australia will see Crown Princess remaining and Grand Princess returning.
In total this means that the capacity of the major five lines add up to 39,640 in 2023/2024, 35,132 in 2024/2025 and 33,829 for 2025/2026, from 2023/2024 to 2025/2026. This represents a decrease of just under 15%, a definite downward trend amongst the major lines. This doesn’t necessarily mean bad news as it could mean a number of things such as more Aussies opting for luxury lines. It could also mean more ship announcements still to come. However, it does show that the major cruise lines aren’t necessarily upping their capacity or bringing bigger ships to Australia over the coming seasons.
None of the biggest 30 ships in the world by capacity have come to Australia. The biggest are Ovation and Quantum which sit in equal 3rd place, and both are leaving Australia in two seasons. They’re only being replaced by one ship of the same capacity and one of a lower capacity.
1.25 million Australians took a cruise in 2023, and 84.8% cruise locally in Australia, New Zealand or the South Pacific. This means that a total of 1.06 million Australians cruise locally. Furthermore, 217,000 overseas visitors cruised in Australia, New Zealand or the South Pacific. This brings the total to approximately 1.28 million people jumping on cruises out of Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Moreover, Carnival Corporation’s 2023 annual report says that 5.5% of its revenue comes from just Australia. On the other hand, according to CLIA, Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific cruising represents approximately 4% of the total market.
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I’ve only been on 2 cruises with Princess line. The first I enjoyed because it was a smaller ship with around 2000 passengers. The 2nd cruise was a bigger ship with around 3000 passengers. Personally I prefer a smaller ship. There’s too much activity on lager ships. Anyone can go to a resort on land and do the same thing. Looking out at the ocean, lazing around on a sunlounge and walking around the outside of a ship is what I want. So cruise liners make smaller ships so we can enjoy the sea once more.
They provide single cabins for solo passengers why do u have to pay single supplement extra if thewwònþ don have single cabinst
Agree with most of the comments regarding Elite status on Princess and disappointed that this has been eroded with introduction of Plus and Premier and should be looked at again as far as included wifi etc to retain that highly competitive loyalty following that we strived for for so long!!
On top of this, all three major companies that I’ve sailed with over the past six months have downgraded their MDR menus and food quality once enjoyed pre covid,AND are serving a majority of food lute warm at best!
Gone down from EXCELLENT to quite poor..Not good enough
Get your act together or lose more bums in berths!!!
There are other factors in that the volume cruise lines have slashed fares and had heavily discounted special offers to get pax on board and then try and drive revenue from them on board. This also changed the demographic of many pax to deal seekers with low spend!
What would be interesting to know is whether the ships that operated here to date were profitable and I doubt some were (hence Virgin Voyages pulling out). Suez is not the real reason with the Med and Caribbean much more profitable.
I agree with the comment that many Aussies especially boomers are now looking for smaller, more luxurious ships and they can afford it.
CLIA unfortunately does not provide the stats for the numbers of Aussies travelling overseas to cruise with potentially could be because the places to visit from Aus cruises are limited and they are seeking new experiences and places to visit.
My wife and I are Princess Elite customers who is angered by the introduction of the Plus and Premier packages. One of the great things about cruising was you were being rewarded for being a loyal customer.
THIS IS NO LONGER THE CASE. Elite level has been totally devalued.
Unless changes are made to re-instate some value for elite level, we will no longer cruise with Princess.
Sometimes you have to send a message to greedy companies like Princess who take our loyalty for granted.
As an Elite member with Princess Cruises with over 1,000 cruising days, I am also disappointed at the erosion of the loyalty programme. As a non-drinker, Princess Plus is a complete waste of money as the only part usable is the WIFI, and as I only need to clear emails a couple of times a week, this is equally uneconomic. The free WIFI minutes we used to enjoy allowed this perfectly.
Princess clearly needs to be adding additional levels to their loyalty program to encourage longer term loyalty than just 150 days.
Come on Princess, look after your loyal passengers or you will lose us to the competition.
Might be because they cannot relocate / reposition using the Suez Canal because of the war/s. Also a lot of the bigger ships will not fit through the Panama Canal. NCL Bliss is pretty much a Panamax ship. The alternative is to relocate from Australia to Alaska or Asia. There’s a limit on that and maybe the ships they send here are not the ones they want there. So it may not be the Australian demand but logistic issues for ship relocations inbetween Australian seasons.
A specialist cruise journal should be accurate on cruising.
You say RCL’s Anthem of the Seas is older than Quantum.
This is incorrect. Quantum is the oldest, and Anthem is newer-although this doesn’t mean the implication Quantum is somehow worse is true.
The truth is…one berth on the eastern side of the harbour is not good enough. White Bay can only cater for smaller ships. We need one newr fort pension side. The naval base will be ideal and they should move to Jervis Bay. That will open for the major ships to berth there. Cmon Albo! Wake up to yourselves!
I agree with David McNamara. I have been an Elite traveler with Princess for a number of years now. (29 cruises, 298 cruise days). My situation is complicated ffurther by two factors:-
1) I live in Perth Western Australia, meaning that to connect with any meaningful Princess cruise, I have to pay a substantial airfare to get to embarkation.
2) Having lost my wife to cancer over 3 years ago, I am now having to travel solo. I still want to continue cruising, but Princess have no solo cabins (except for a few insides on the new builds,) which means I have to pay almost double the twin share fare if I want solo occupancy. Other cruise lines are adapting much faster than Princess to the needs and wants of the increasing numbers of solo travelers.
I would also say that as an Elite, I am angered by the introduction of the Plus and Premier packages. What this means to me is that I now have to pay for things that I previously got as part of the Elite package (EG. WiFi). As a minimal drinker, the ” free” drinks mean nothing to me, and of course, travelling in Australia/NZ gratuities are included in the fare.
All in all, I have to say that I no longer feel in any way ” special” as an Elite passenger, and I encourage Princess to rethink their packaging .
Sadly, I for one will be looking closely at other lines when next I plan a cruise
Sadly West Australia has no home based ships. Not only that, no Fremantle to Fremantle cruises. People here are not happy about this. The odd Fremantle to Fremantle overseas cruises for 2024/25 are booked out. Shame on the cruise lines overlooking us
Melbourne facilities are a disgrace, and authorities charge like a wounded bull, no wonder cruise lines think twice of sending their ships down under.
Just what we need,more bad news,when is Sydney harbour going to build that second cruise terminal on the ocean side of the Sydney harbour Bridge, they have had more than enough time,but no terminal, now we are seeing the consequences of delays.with cunard leaving Australia ,it has mess our future cruise plans up out of Sydney each year. Come on Australia, keep up with the rest of the world, very disappointing.
There are a number of things to consider here. Firstly, the cruislines, or should I say, CRUISE LINE – Carnival,that owns most of the current vessels and flags operating in Aussie waters today, are trying too hard to get back the money they lost during the Covid crisis. They don’t mind charging us passengers extra for services that were previously included in a standard cruise fare, but they baulk at things like rising port charges, Australia’s Port of Melbourne coming to mind. To that end, hearsay is that they’re slapping Melbourne in the face and cutting this port out of their itinerary if they can.
They think that Aussies are a soft touch and misinterperate the Aussie easy going attitude as stupidity but hey, let’s remind them that the bulk of Aussie cruisers filling berths right now are smart folk with a lot of experience under their belts. They are big spenders but are definitely not stupid. We can spot rip offs from the Crows nest to the keel plates. We will let them know when things are fair and also let them know when they’re not. Looks like many are voting with their feet. The switch talked about,in this article ie. dumping companies like P&O and heading over to higher quality servers is where my wife, plus many of our friends, are headed.
The new cruiseships earmarked for Aussie waters are of course, huge party vessels filled with young folk having a blast, good for them I say but some words of advice, don’t get so pissed on their 400% marked up drinks that blur your vision.
Really the larger ships are much harder if can’t berth at wharf. Do find not as enjoyable , the Dawn a great size , maybe something just bit bigger than the Dawn be ok. These larger ships, re restaurant, shows etc not enjoyable. Need more staff also for larger ships. They really work hard the staff.
Enjoy cruising & hope continue do so while able. Have met some lovely staff & friendships with them & their families.
Thank you for cruising Australia ️️️
There’s no point in bringing the big ships down to Australia, there are only a very limited number of ports that they can call at.
Also, the Victorian Government need to implement the changes that they promised to do when the Spirit of Tasmania moved to Geelong. It is not a question of high port charges but a Green council that is to blame for the loss of cruising starting and finishing in Melbourne after next season.
We need more better access for Cruise ships. More ports & ship terminals.
White bay Terminal in nice, but a different place to get to, plus most ships can not go under the Sydney Harbour Bridge to access it.
Cruised recently on Coral Princess. (I am an Elite Level Cruiser over 150 days on Princess). Very disappointed It is as old rusty and as dated as the ship it replaced in Australia (Sea Princess). Princess really need to start using the more modern ships ported in Australia.
My next cruise I will be looking at other cruise line, (for the first time ever)because of Princess introducing Princess Plus and Princess Premier (pay for extras) has greatly eroded the value of the Elite loyalty plan
We are Princess cruisers but are very disappointed that they hardly have any cruises from Brisbane any more. Those that do home port here for this small amount of time, just cruise up and down the coast and New Zealand, not to the islands
Being in Adelaide we have the additional flight costs. Very few ships leave from Adelaide. We are pretty bored with the itineraries in Australia and looking at other locations
There’s no doubt the cruise travelling has been booming since post covid pendmic. I often find it easy and flexible to book a cabin with solo travelers supplement waiver offer in the month of December. Now it’s hard to find such opportunity nowadays, the number of solo travelers has increased rapidly in recent years and unfortunately the majority of cruise companies not willing to adapt of the new trend.
We hope that princess cruises will leave and return to Fremantle more often it makes prices high if we have to add air fares.please try we love cruising with you.
The only potential offset to this could be if RC go year around from Queensland in 2025/26.
Melbounre/Victoria also need to sort out their berthing costs, and Queensland (Port of Brisbane Corporation) needs to decide if they are going to proceed with the building of the second berth.