Lines respond to Lelepa with longer stays and destinations in the 2027/28 cruise season

• Rival cruise lines are stepping up their offerings in the 2028 cruise season.
• The Lelepa Effect means more destinations, longer stays and a fresh look at shore excursion.
• We look at what’s on offer in what promises to be a historic season.

Aussie cruisers have been complaining for years about their homeported cruise ships offering little destination variety.

Thanks to Royal Caribbean’s new private beach club, things are about to change in the 2028 cruise season.

Lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival are looking to build up their own exclusive offerings, like Royal Caribbean’s upcoming beach club in the South Pacific and Carnival’s new cabanas at Moreton Island. 

Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are both bringing upgraded, refurbished ships to Australia to entice cruisers, with Ovation of the Seas and Celebrity Solstice both getting huge makeovers in the past year. 

Princess on the other hand is looking at expanding itineraries and variation, bringing Sapphire Princess to Perth next year, offering a series of West Coast and cross country itineraries. 

Meanwhile Norwegian Cruise Line is focusing in on over night stays and cruise tours, adding multi-day tours of Sydney to the start of its cruises. This is likely done with a hope of attracting more international visitors, who are looking for a longer and more well-rounded trip in Australia.

We’re seeing all the major cruise lines in Australia level up their offerings in hoping of enticing both repeat and new cruisers, here’s a rundown of who’s doing what. 

Royal Caribbean 

By far the big headline for Royal Caribbean is their upcoming beach club at Lelepa in Vanuatu. The cruise line will begin sending the vast majority of its sailings out of Australia straight to Lelepa from late 2027, in what will be a big shake-up for Royal Caribbean and Aussie cruise in general. 

At the beach club you’ll be able to find a couple of different beach spaces, including an adults only area, a nature trail, beach games, various restaurants, water sports equipment that you can rent and more.

It’s also worth mentioning that Royal Caribbean will bring Ovation to the Seas back to Australia for the 2027/28 season and the ship will be upgraded since the last time it sailed here. There’s a totally revamped pool deck with private cabanas and a new whirlpool, new restaurants like Izumi Teppanyaki and Giovanni’s, a Starbucks, the Sound Cellar nightclub, an expanded casino and more. 

Carnival

While it’s not quite a beach club, Carnival is building 20 exclusive cabanas on Moreton Island. The idea of these cabanas is that a big group of cruisers rents them together and enjoys a more shady and convenient day.

While they have a steep price of $400 for the day, they take up to eight guests. In the cabana you can find a in-fridge, lockable storage, ports for phone charging, a fan, complimentary towels and more. 

While it’s a relatively modest start, this could signal the beginning of Carnival looking to establish more exclusive places in Australia. 

Celebrity Cruises

It’s worth a mention to say that Celebrity will also be visiting the beach club at Lelepa, as Celebrity is also owned by Royal Caribbean Group. Although Celebrity will not visit Lelepa as frequently as Royal Caribbean, with only a couple of sailings scheduled to head to Lelepa. The line also has its own new offering with the upgraded Celebrity Solstice already locked in for a couple more season of sailing in Australia. 

Solstice now has a series of new cabins, the exclusive ship-within-a-ship ‘The Retreat’, a new open lawn venue Sunset Park, new restaurants and lounges and more. 

The catch is that Solstice only sails a couple of sailings each summer in Australia, but between the beach club and the upgraded ship, Celebrity will have some new offerings for cruisers.

Princess Cruises

Princess is probably the line that has put the most emphasis on seriously expanding its itineraries, as for the 2027/28 season it will bring a new ship to Australia and sail out of a new city. 

Sapphire Princess will sail to Perth and offer a series of sailings up and down the West Coast of Australia from October 2027 to February 2028. The ship will also briefly head across to Sydney and Brisbane, offering some larger explorations of the coast for those who hop onboard.

At either end of the season will be a sailing between Perth and Singapore, which also offers a different sailing for Aussies who are hankering for something new. 

Norwegian Cruise Line 

Norwegian Spirit is celebrating five consecutive seasons in the 2028 cruise season, marks its fifth consecutive season in local.

Homeporting in Sydney; Singapore; and Auckland, the ships will offer guests itineraries that span eight to 21 days.

NCL debuts in Esperance (12 January 2028) for the first time, and an overnight in Fremantle two days later. There will also be overnight calls in Melbourne and Adelaide.

Back-to-back cruises will also be on offer on two sailings: a 19-day Singapore-to-Sydney voyage departing 9 February 2028, followed by an 11-day Sydney-to-Auckland cruise departing 28 February and concluding on 10 March 2028.