Picture exclusive: Pacific Explorer goes under the hammer as Carnival boss says new fleet will bring US cruisers Down Under

• Work has begun in transforming the former flagship of the P&O Australia fleet into the Star Voyager for the Resorts World cruise company.
• Meanwhile the boss of Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise line, has suggested closing P&O Australia and merging the ships with Carnival are among her biggest jobs for 2025.
• She maintains it is about attracting Americans to cruise in Australia and is a big opportunity.

Shipyard workers in Singapore are busy transforming the old P&O Australia ship Pacific Explorer into the new Star Voyager – our pictures show the demolition of the old P&O amenities aboard the ship.

They have just a month before she sails her first Singapore, Malaka, Jakarta repositioning cruise on March 26. See what she will look like here.

Meanwhile Christine Duffy has revealed she made the huge move last year to absorb P&O Australia into Carnival Cruises. She believes this move will attract more American cruisers, who are more familiar with the Carnival brand than they are with P&O.

She told Seatrade Cruise News: “. At the end of March, we’ll be transferring those ships over to Carnival Cruise Line. We’ve had a ship and a half in Australia for over a decade as Carnival Cruise Line so the ability for us to take these two ships and have a bigger footprint for Carnival Cruise Line means we open up that much more to the North American guests.”

Currently 15% of Carnival sailors down under come from the US, and Duffy thinks this number can rise “as long as airfares are affordable”. 

She adds that those who might generally “be intimidated by going to Australia on a plane on their own”, would be more likely to do it with a brand they “know and trust”, such as Carnival. 

“I think it’s going to be a good opportunity, and the team Down Under is really excited and all working hard for the transition.”

Duffy has become a huge name in the industry. She has made 253 ship visits and been featured in Forbes magazine, induced into the CLIA Hall of Fame, been on the cover of Seatrade Cruise Review twice and is on the US Department of Commerce’s Travel & Tourism Advisory Board.

Carnival passengers and crew will be waiting to see if the self-descvribed “Taylor Swift” of cruise comes down to Australia to celebrate the induction of the two new ships, Carnival Encounter and Carnival Adventure into the fleet.

After the two ships make the move over next month, Carnival will have a total of 29 ships in its fleet, including four in Australia.

What’s new for Carnival?

Duffy highlights Carnival’s new Grand Bahama destinations Celebration Key as the cruise line’s biggest move of 2025.

“’I had big expectations but seeing it was like wow! The quality of what’s being built, the cabanas, it’s amazing, the retail spaces, the food halls. It’s going to be great.

“We’re all in. Knock wood, based on what we saw, things are on track, on time and we’ll be ready for July 19. We’ll cut the ribbon and then following Carnival Vista on July 19, pretty much every day, there will be ships.”

As stated by Duffy, the new island destination is set to be ready in July. 

Eyes from all around the cruising world will be focused on its unveiling. It marks a key moment for Carnival in attempting to compete with the success of Royal Caribbean’s PerfectDay at CocoCay, their own private island destination in the Caribbean. 

CocoCay has proved a huge success for Royal Caribbean, with the cruise line organising all of its biggest ships around itineraries that go to the island. Carnival will be hoping to emulate this success.