How Asia Cruises could revive the Aussie cruise industry

• Australian cruising has been in decline, but Princess’s new Asia cruises could offer a blueprint to turn things around.
• Rotating ships between Australia and Asia, rather than the USA and Australia/Asia, would transform the region.
• This would mean more exciting itineraries, less costs for cruise lines and more cruise ships in the Australia/Asia.

Are Asia cruises the simple solution to help solve Australia’s capacity problems? At least one leading thinks so.

Australia’s tumbling cruise capacity has already led to the country registering $1 billion less in cruise expenditure over the 2024/25 season than the 2023/24 season, and more losses are set to come. 

While it’s undoubtedly a tough time for the industry, Princess Cruises’ new itineraries for the 2027/28 season could have revealed a potential way forward for the Aussie cruise industry. Through rotating ships with Asia, rather than the USA, Australian cruises could have a regional partner to advocate with, more interesting cruise itineraries, lower fares and reduced costs for cruise lines.

Generally when a cruise ship visits Australia, it comes for the Australian wave season, more or less from October to March, and then heads back across the Pacific Ocean to the USA, often sailing out of Alaska or California, before returning to Australia.

Examples of ships that operate like this are Anthem of the Seas, which rotates between Seattle and Sydney, or Carnival Luminosa, which alternates between Brisbane and San Francisco. 

This common rotation, while beneficial for Australia and the USA, does create some complications for Australia’s cruise industry. The huge distance between continents creates high fuel costs, which can repel lines and inflate cruise fares and it puts Australia in direct comparison with influential and industry-connected American ports that want more cruise dates. It also means that when a ship goes to drydock in Singapore, this generally cuts out of the Australian season, not the USA’s.

This has led to the cruise lines shifting more ships to the USA over recent years as they tightened their purse strings post-pandemic and zoned in on maximising profits. 

However, if we take a look at Princess’s sailings for the 2027/28 cruise season, we can see what a vision for Aussie cruise could look like. 

Princess has been focusing more on the Asian region than most other cruise lines, and we can immediately see how this becomes beneficial for Aussie cruises. Not only is Princess going from two ships to three ships in Australia, but there are more interesting and varied itineraries on offer than most other cruise lines offer out of Australia, 

Sapphire Princess will rotate between Tokyo and Australia, two seasons that line up perfectly. Tokyo’s main season is from March to November, and Australia’s main season is from October to March. 

Sapphire Princess will sail in Tokyo from March 2027 until September 2027, and then make her way to Australia, and she’ll stay in Australia up until February. This means at the start and end of the season, she has exciting repositioning cruises in between Singapore and Australia, and she even offers roundtrips out of Western Australia to Bali, an itinerary that’s been sorely missed in recent years. 

We can also see a form of this with Grand Princess, which sails a large pacific circle voyage, which can also be booked as a 30-day segment from Tokyo to Sydney. 

Another example of a ship that works the Australian and Asia connection is Celebrity Solstice. Solstice offers great sailings between Sydney and Singapore, as well as a few cruises around Australia each season, alternating between Sydney, Auckland, Hong Kong and Singapore as its homeports over the summer months. 

The importance of the Tokyo connection

The key difference between Princess and other lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival, is that Princess sails a season out of Tokyo. A growing cruise season out of Tokyo would be a substantial development for Aussie cruise. As mentioned, Tokyo runs opposite the Australian cruise season, whereas sailings out of Singapore run at the same time as the Aussie season.

Therefore, while rotating a ship like Celebrity Solstice in between Australia and Singapore is beneficial for Australia and means a few extra sailings on the books, rotating a ship between Tokyo and Australia, like Sapphire Princess, means a complete Aussie season will be sailed. 

If Australia and Asia, especially Japan, were to regionally join forces in advocating for cruise ships to come to our part of the world, strong arguments and incentives could be made. Here’s how it could be done and why now is the time to strike.

• Japan is currently seeing huge growth in its cruise industry. In 2024, Japan saw 1.44 million international cruisers, a 121% increase from 2023. However, it’s still down from its 2019 numbers, meaning there is more growth to come and demand to be uncovered. 
• If Australia were to work together with Japan and other Asian partners, it can make the argument that ships will make huge savings on fuel costs, compared to ships alternating between Asia and the USA, or Australia and the USA.
• Through regional cooperation, Australia and Asia could offer incentives to cruise lines to bring them into our region, such as discounted port fees for ships that stay in the region year-round or sail between Asia and Australia. 
• Aussies have been crying out for more varied cruise destinations, which they’d see under this arrangement. 

What do you think? Can Australia, working more closely with Asia, help revive the Aussie cruise industry?