Princess Cruises launched the sale of the Sapphire Princess’ new Australian itineraries yesterday – and demand crashed the company website.
The result show Australians are still keen to cruise – and have confidence in the line.
Cruise Passenger can reveal the ship will receive a number of enhancements, reinforcing the importance of the Australian market to Princess.
She will be enabled with the MedallionNet for her first cruise on May 1. And the ship will be undergoing a multi-million-dollar refurbishment.
Princess announced earlier this month that Sapphire Princess would be redeployed from Asian waters, to spend a winter season Down Under.
She will be calling at 19 maiden ports around the country, and a number of ports in the South Pacific.
This week they also announced some very strong value offers.
In Western Australia, she’ll be calling at places like Busselton, Broome, Exmouth as well as sail the Kimberley Coast, while on the eastern and southern seaboards, she’ll be visiting Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln, Phillip Island as well as the Great Oyster Bay and Freycinet Peninsula in Tasmania.
The Sapphire Princess can accommodate 2,670 guests and the new program includes 44 new cruises between May and October, 2020.
The ship will arrive in Perth (Fremantle) six months earlier than planned to commence an extended year-long season from May 1, 2020. Sapphire Princess will offer more Western Australian cruises than ever before with 27 new voyages from Perth (Fremantle) and will be the biggest cruise ship to be ever based in the state.
- A 3-night West Australia Getaway roundtrip sailing from Perth (Fremantle) and calling into Margaret River (Busselton). Departing May 1, 2020, fares start from $249 per person twin share.
- A 10-night Coral Coast voyage sailing from Perth (Fremantle), visiting West Australia’s coastal destinations such as Broome, Geraldton and Exmouth. Departing May 12, 2020, fares start from $699 per person twin share.
- Returning favourites include a 17-night Northern Explorer between Sydney and Perth (Fremantle) visiting destinations such as Geraldton and Cairns. Departing Perth (Fremantle) on June 8, 2020, fares start from $1,299 per person twin share. Northern Explorer departures also available from Sydney and Brisbane.
- Australia Circumnavigation voyages from Sydney, Adelaide and Perth (Fremantle) including an inaugural 29-night Round Australia cruise out of Adelaide visiting Port Lincoln, Kangaroo Island, Port Arthur, Hobart, Sydney, Brisbane, Yorkeys Knob, Alotau, Darwin, Kimberley Coast (Scenic Cruising), Broome, Geraldton, Perth (Fremantle), Margaret River (Busselton) and Adelaide. Departing from Perth (Fremantle) 10 August, 2020, fares start from $3,249 per person twin share.
- Roundtrip voyages to Fiji from Brisbane and Sydney including a 12-night Fiji cruise sailing from Sydney visiting Dravuni Island and Lautoka departing June 25, 2020, fares start from $999 per person twin share.
We booked a balcony Brisbane to Fremantle visiting some amazing ports. For well under $2000 Aus our agent told us the website crashed several times. We are very happy cruisers
The people that have booked and been cancelled should have first options and reduced fares,seeing they’ve had our money walk this time. And still waiting for refunds.
The prices advertised are in us dollars and do not include port taxes. You will need to add around an additional 200 to 300 us dollars to the cost and then convert into Australian dollars to get the final price.
Seems it was not ‘demand’ for Princess Cruises which crashed the website. Seems they advertise quad share prices rather than twin share prices. $1800 for 30+ day around Australia for quad share vs $3,500 for same in twin share! meanwhile compare that with Cunard QE prices!