Princess Cruises’ two-ship Aussie season with is selling out – 70% of cabins are already gone for 2025

• Princess Cruises itineraries are selling out at unprecedented rates in Australia, with 50 per cent of sailings this year already completely sold out, and the remaining sailings are going quickly as well.
• Cruise Passenger has calculated that around 70 per cent of cabins across the line’s 2025 itineraries have sold out.
• For those who still want to sail with Princess this year, the average cost starts from around $400 per day.

Cruise Passenger calculations show that Princess cruises in Australia for 2025 are already about 70 per cent sold out for the year, with even Princess executives encouraging Aussies to get on a plane to cruise. 

This is the first season in some time that the line has only sailed two ships during our wave season. It has deployed two further vessels in Singapore.

At its height, Princess had four ships around the country and was the nation’s favourite premium cruise line, sweeping the board at awards. including our own here at Cruise Passenger.

Now the fleet has been redeployed to Europe or the Caribbean.

Early indications are that tens of thousands of Princess fans will be disappointed this year as the line tries to cram all of that demand onto just two vessels.

Nick Ferguson, Senior Director Sales and Marketing Asia Pacific, acknowledged to Cruise Passenger this week that with Aussie cruises going quickly, Princess fans should look to fly-cruise.

“Our Australian cruises are selling fast, which is why our FlyCruise offering to destinations like Singapore is attractive to Australian guests eager to get to Asia and try something different. FlyCruise will remain a key component of our portfolio.”

The change to deployments means cabins are more limited in Australia than anywhere else in the world for Princess sailings, with fares increasing due to the dynamic pricing that cruise lines use.

There are 26 Princess itineraries sailing from September to December this year, and of those, 13 are already sold out.

Even amongst those that remain, cabins are selling quickly. Princess has five cabin categories: interior, oceanview, mini-suites, and suites, and many of the remaining cruises have several of these categories already sold out.

Cruise Passenger estimates that around 70 per cent of Princess cabins have been booked between September to December 2025.

What’s available now is at higher prices

What also comes as a concern to regular Princess cruisers is that the cruises left come at a higher price point.

For example, there are still two 14-day New Zealand cruises out of Sydney available. However, even for just an interior cabin, these two cruises average $350 per day. 

Some of the other cruises that are still available are above the average day rate for a premium cruise line, such as a 22-day round Australia sailing, which is sold out in every category except for balcony cabins, which start from $23,749, which is more than $1000 a day.

Another remaining option is a 28-day sailing around Australia, which also only has balcony cabins, and starts from $13,154, nearly $500 a day.

For those looking to sail out of alternative ports, there are some sailings in the region that depart from places like Auckland and Hobart.

There are still cabins available on a four-day Auckland ‘seacation’ and only one seven-day Tasmania cruise out of Hobart, which only has Balcony cabins remaining, and starts from around $400 per day, or $2753.

All cruises departing from Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane are sold out in all categories.

Departing from Sydney, there are three two-day ‘Seacations’ left, a cruise to Tasmania and a Southern-Australia sailing with only mini-suites available.

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Aussie Princess sales are unprecedented compared to other regions

While cruises being 70% sold out might sound like good business, it’s rare in the world of cruising.

Cruises very rarely sell out. This is because cruise lines use dynamic pricing, which means the fewer cabins available, the higher the prices. This means that cruises rarely sell out, and the last few cabins on a cruise can prove extremely costly. Furthermore, cruise lines often overbook ships, on the assumption that some passengers will cancel or will accept offers to move cruise.

Therefore, even though cruise lines generally operate close to capacity, it is very rare to see cruises sell out, and this reflects Aussies’ significant appetite for cruising with Princess, despite Princess lessening their interest in the region and pulling out ships.

For example, if we analyse the same months for other Princess itineraries around the world, we can see Australian ships are selling out at rates on a different scale from any other market in the world.

• From September to December this year, Princess will sail more than 100 cruises out of the Caribbean, zero are sold out.
• From September to December this year, Princess will sail 23 voyages out of Asia, zero are sold out.
• From September to December this year, Princess will sail 19 voyages on the California Coast, zero are sold out.
• From September to December this year, Princess will sail 69 voyages out of Europe, six voyages, nine per cent in total, are sold out.
• From September to December this year, Princess will sail 26 voyages out of Australia and New Zealand,13 voyages 50 per cent in total, are sold out.

While Princess executives are promoting fly-cruise to Aussies, Australia’s demand for cruise, when compared to other regions, would appear to indicate that another ship would do well here.

Princess has been asked for a comment.