Cruise passengers will be  spoilt for choice this summer season with a record number of ships heading to Australian  waters.
Carnival Australia will position 14 ships down under, while five more will visit as part of their world  voyages making an historic total of 310 Australian port calls.

This includes the first-ever  year-round deployment of a Carnival Cruise Line ship outside of North America  when Carnival Spirit arrives on 17  October.

Carnival Australia CEO Ann  Sherry said that their company alone expects to carry a record 325,000  passengers during summer, a five percent increase on last season.

“In all, this cruise  season we’ll carry more than triple the number of passengers who cruised with  us eight years ago when Carnival Australia was first formed and had just seven  ships sailing local waters,” Ms Sherry said.

“Collectively those  visits will contribute more than AUD$235 million to the Australian economy.”

Royal Caribbean  International will welcome the two largest and most modern cruise ships to ever  be based in Australia when Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas and Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Solstice arrive in November.

Voyager of the Seas will feature Australia’s first ice-rink at sea while Celebrity Solstice promises to bring  “modern luxury” to the region with Australia’s first real lawn at sea.

They will join Radiance of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas and Celebrity Millennium in the region, with Royal Caribbean International anticipating  a record 200,000 passengers aboard their five ships, a 165,000-passenger  increase from the number of cruisers two seasons ago.

“We are gearing up for a very  exciting and historic season: this is the beginning of a brand new era in  Australian cruising,” Royal Caribbean Australia & New Zealand Commercial  Director, Adam Armstrong said.

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Words: Natalie Aroyan