Princess Cruises to double sailings to New Zealand from 2028 – 60,000 cruisers set to arrive

• Princess Cruises is doubling its New Zealand sailings for the 2028/29 season.
• This is great news for New Zealand’s cruise industry, which has lost 40% of its cruise tourists in two years.
• Princess announced the new itineraries while celebrating the arrival of Crown Princess into Auckland to kick off the cruise season.

Princess Cruises has revealed that it will double its itineraries to New Zealand starting from the 2028/29 season. This marks great news for cruisers and New Zealand’s industry alike.

The move, announced while the line was celebrating the arrival of Crown Princess in Auckland, will make Princess the number one cruise operator in New Zealand, ahead of Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

It isn’t currently confirmed which ships will be sailing for the 2028/29 season, but the Sydney cruise terminal schedule shows Grand Princess, Royal Princess, Island Princess and Emerald Princess sailing out of Sydney from late 2028.

This would mean four Princess ships in our water, marking a major show of confidence from Princess in Australia as well as New Zealand.

Princess will visit nine ports in total, stopping at Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Lyttelton, Dunedin, Picton, Napier and Timaru, as well as sailing through Fiordland National Park.

It’s confirmed that some of these voyages will start and end in Auckland, but more details will come when Princess officially announces its 2028/29 sailings.

The most likely scenario is that the majority of these cruises to New Zealand will sail as round-trips of about two weeks from Sydney and Brisbane. Another possibility is that Princess could offer more one-way itineraries between Sydney and Auckland, which cruise lines like Celebrity and Holland America offer.

For the upcoming season, Princess is sailing to New Zealand nine times, so doubling their itineraries should equate to about 18 sailings a season.

On a ship like Royal Princess, which has capacity for about 3500 passengers, this can mean 63,000 visitors a season on Princess ships alone.

This is a huge boost for New Zealand, whose cruise industry has been struggling. New Zealand has lost about 40% of its cruise visitorship over the past two years, and the new injection of cruises from Princess will go a long way towards helping the industry recover.

The New Zealand government and local cruise industry have a specific cruise plan for industry recovery and growth, which has already seen Carnival divert new cruises to New Zealand, the building of a new cruise terminal and now this news from Princess.

At the celebration of Crown Princess’s arrival, Princess Cruises Vice President Asia Pacific Matthew Rutherford said: “More port calls mean more guests visiting regional communities, creating opportunities for tourism operators, hospitality businesses, retailers, and local economies.

“We are proud of our longstanding connection with New Zealand and the role Princess plays in helping more international visitors experience Aotearoa’s remarkable destinations.”

Minister for Tourism Louise Upston, who is a strong advocate for cruise, added: “This is a vote of confidence in New Zealand as a cruise destination and shows when the Tourism sector and Government work together, it delivers for New Zealanders. More port calls mean more visitor spend flowing into our regions, supporting local businesses, tourism operators and jobs right around the country.”

Princess has been building up its partnership programs in New Zealand. Read our review of shore experiences here.

Could this mean four ships for Princess?

This season Princess has just two ships sailing in Australia, down from four ships in the 2023/24 season. This has been leading to limited availability and high prices as cruises sell out quickly, plus less variation in itineraries and fewer cruises out of other parts of Australia, such as Melbourne and Adelaide.

Next season, Princess will be back to three ships sailing out of Australia, with the arrival of Sapphire Princess, who will sail mostly out of Western Australia, and only stay in our waters for about three months.

However, as mentioned, the Sydney cruise schedule shows Grand Princess, Royal Princess, Island Princess and Emerald Princess all visiting Sydney in the 2028/29 season. Cruise schedules are subject to change and these are not confirmed deployments, but it could be a sign of Princess increasing its investment in Australia.

Why this is good news for cruisers

Apart from just having more options and more immersive itineraries, having more New Zealand sailings should mean lower prices and less booked out cruises.

Currently, Princess sailings to New Zealand are generally more expensive than their sailings to the South Pacific or Queensland. This is because New Zealand is a popular destination, and cabins go quickly, meaning prices tend to go up as well.

For example, some New Zealand sailings for the season ahead start as high as $5000 per person, due to the limited availability of cabins. Having more cruises should bring these prices down and make last-minute journey’s more possible.