- Melbourne’s cruise capacity is set for a huge decrease from this season to the next, of around 30%.
- Even more importantly, few ships will be homeporting out of Melbourne next season.
- This has heavy financial implications for Melbourne’s cruise industry.
Melbourne’s cruise economy is set to be devastated as it moves from being a turnaround port, where passengers embark and disembark, to being just a city stopover.
Once, lines like Princess, Virgin Voyages, Cunard and P&O Cruises based ships there. Now, no ships will call Melbourne home and turnaround cruises will plunge 70%, costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
With hotels stays, onshore spend and sales of produce to ships, ballpark estimates say the city could lose as much as $130 million.
It is a stark contrast to the attention Brisbane’s new cruise terminal is getting after it welcomed its two millionth visitor this month.
Melbourne is set to see a total of 103 ship visits throughout the current cruise season. That figure set to drop to just 80 visits next year.
Meanwhile, a port like Brisbane is on the rise, with 142 visits this season, and looks set to stay strong at 138 next season, as well as having extra expenditure in winter months due to the newly converted Carnival Encounter, which will sail year-round.
However, much more worrying for Melbourne, is the type of cruise visits the city will be receiving. While in the past Melbourne has been a popular port for cruise ships to use as a turnaround port, this is about to become something of the past.
In the 2024/2025 period, Melbourne will end the wave season with 43 turnaround cruise visits, however, this is set for a huge 70% decrease for 2025/2026, where the port will host just 13 turnaround cruises.
In 2024/2025, Diamond Princess will run eight cruises out of Melbourne, Disney Wonder will run 10, Pacific Explorer 16, Norwegian Sun three and plenty of other ships will offer turnaround cruises as well.
However, as Carnival Corp-owned ships withdraw from the region, Melbourne will take an exceptional hit.
Come 2025/2026 Disney Wonder will operate another seven cruises out of Melbourne, but no other large ships will be sailing turnaround cruises out of Melbourne, apart from a one-off sailing on Queen Anne. Only some luxury and expedition ships will offer some limited turnaround cruises out of Melbourne in 2025/2026.
Why is this so important? It’s because cruise passengers spend exceptionally more money in the cities or towns of turnaround cruises than they do in transit ports, where they’re only visiting for a few hours. In a turnaround port, domestic cruisers spend an average of $507 per day, and internationals an average of $660 per day. However, in transit ports, this drops to just $197 per day for domestic passengers and $283 for internationals.
Even more importantly, the majority of cruise passengers spend additional nights in the cities where their cruise starts and ends, those who do spend an average of 5.2 nights before or after their cruise in the destination.
The table below shows the predicament that Melbourne cruising is in, even from this season to the next.
2024/2025 | 2025/2026 | |
Total ship visits | 103 | 80 (-22%) |
Turnaround cruise visits | 43 | 13 (-70%) |
Total passenger capacity for turnarounds | 91,190 | 25,217 (-72%) |
Transit cruise visits | 60 | 67 (11.6%) |
Total passenger capacity overall | 183,975 | 127,854 (-30%) |
This table demonstrates the problem Melbourne is facing, the city is set to experience a huge decline in cruise passengers that come and visit for a few days, spending money on restaurants, tourist activities, hotels, transport, and more.
Furthermore, the city will simply be seeing far fewer cruisers in general, with a 30% decrease in capacity from this season to the next.
What could this mean financially?
While it can be difficult to ascertain the exact amount of cruise expenditure that will be lost. Some quick estimates can give an idea of the economic loss Melbourne will experience as its cruise capacity drops next season.
As explained above, the average turnaround domestic cruiser spends between $507 per day and the average international cruiser spends $660 per day in a turnaround port.
We know about 75% of those who cruise spend additional nights before or after their cruise, and those who do, average 5.2 more nights in that destination.
Therefore if we take 75% of Melbourne’s turnaround cruise capacity, and know they’ll stay an average of 5.2 nights, we can estimate how much cruise expenditure will be lost from this season to the next.
In 2024/2025, with 91,190 turnaround passengers, we can assume 75% will stay for additional travel, which is 68,392 passengers.
If these passengers stay 5.2 nights, conservatively spending the domestic rate of $507 per day, this equates to about $180 million.
Whereas in 2025/2026, if we assume of the 25,217 turnaround cruise passenger capacity, that 18,912 will stay 5.2 additional nights and spend at the domestic rate, then we can equate that to about $50 million, a sharp $130 million decline.
While those numbers are just estimates and are assuming full capacity, it demonstrates the sharp decrease in cruise expenditure that is coming to Melbourne.
Why are ships leaving Melbourne?
If you ask someone in the industry or a clued-in cruiser, the likely answer you’ll receive is “port fees”. However, the real explanation might not be so simple.
The reality is that while port fees did increase and this definitely rubbed cruise lines the wrong way, the increase was only $3.50 per passenger, something that could be easily absorbed into passenger fees moving forward.
It does appear that this soured relations, given that Carnival communicated that this decision could lead to a boycott, and consequently withdrew its ships from homeporting out of Melbourne.
However, given that the increase is relatively small, and that Sydney actually has more expensive port fees, it does appear that there are other factors at play.
An obvious factor is the success of the new terminal of Brisbane, which now sees a huge amount of ships visiting and provides a great location for short cruises to the Great Barrier Reef, Moreton Island, and other Queensland ports. Furthermore, the favourable climate in Queensland makes it easier to extend the cruise season.
Another thing to consider is the withdrawal of Virgin Voyages, which was set to continue sailing out of Melbourne and be a star attraction for the city.
However such a sharp and steep decrease in Melbourne cruise traffic does draw questions as to whether it’s an active government strategy to withdraw homeporting ships, or if there is more going on in the relationship between the industry the city, and the state government.
Simply put, the current cruise situation is extremely unfavourable for Melbourne, as not only is its cruise capacity experiencing a sharp drop-off, but it’s also attracting lower quality tourists, who will only visit for just one day, rather than international and domestic tourists that want to stay in the city and explore its other attractions.
Yes totally unbelievable that this is happening to Melbourne . All the ships we,ve lost in the last year and now we all have to fly interstate to get a cruise. Sydney accommodation is very expensive as is the airfares if you don,t manage to get a bargain price which you usually have to book months in advance.
Can someone please explain why St Kilda got an upgrade to their pier costing 53 milion dollars while Station pier is slowly rotting . What a horrible eyesore for any visitor to have to look at when they first arrive in Melbourne. lt is a total disgrace to say the least, third world countries have better ports. lt isn,t functional and in some ways isn,t even safe for older people you have to walk so far to get to the end of the terminal . Wake up to yourself Melbourne and do something about it we,re in enough trouble as it is without loosing all this much needed revenue… Gloria Rutley
“In a turnaround port, domestic cruisers spend an average of $507 per day”. I find this very hard to believe. For myself in Hobart three weeks ago I spent around $100 on coffee, lunch, cathedral donation, museum admission and 90 minute bus tour. $507 per port would have doubled the cost of most of my cruises!
No mention of the deal between Carnival Corp and Port of Brisbane struck a few years ago about the number of contracted berthing days??! Melbourne port fees became the convenient story but many suspect Carnival Corp was always going to drop Melbourne once Brisbane was up and running.
Very dissapointed not to have ships homeport from Melbourne anymore. It cost a small fortune to fly interstate unless you manage to score cheap flights, which is rare! State government should be doing more to bring cruise ships back to Melbourne!
Living in Western Australia, we have found it necessary to fly almost every time we want to cruise so the decision on Melbourne does not affect us. The biggest problem for us is the high cost of domestic airfares and the airline restrictions on luggage.
We cannot understand why Brisbane is favoured. We rate Brisbane as the worst terminal in Australia. It is miles from anywhere, has no public transport, it is very expensive getting into the city plus there are almost no services at the terminal. As others have mentioned, we no longer get off the ship in Brisbane.
I sailed out of Melbourne on a NZ cruise in 2010 and noted that Station Pier badly needed an upgrade way back then. I can’t help but wonder if the sub-standard port is a factor in losing passenger ships. By comparison, Auckland has a much bigger and better wharf boasting a Hilton Hotel. So much better than our archaic shipping terminal
Bottom line is the Labor/Green/Teal lefties just don’t like development and don’t give a rats about the economic benefits cruising brings. More concerned about other agendas ruining the state at present eg taxing everyone who works hard.
Also Melbourne is too far from anywhere and too cold for most of the year. Brisbane really should become the cruising capital year round with ports in the Pacific and Asia undiscovered and just waiting for visits year round and btw closer than both Sydney and Melbourne except for NZ.
Such a shame for Melbourne. Plenty to see and do.
For anyone who has visited the new terminal at Brisbane they will
have heard the same comments.
Way to steep and a very long walk for older passengers.
Also. Quite a long bus ride into town with only a very industrial
view out of the terminal.
On our last 3 visits to the Brisbane terminal we have stayed on board.
The ship was very busy as a lot of other passengers felt the same way.
As a regular Melbourne based cruiser I will look for alternative holidays now I have to fly to Brisbane or Sydney to join a ship. It isn’t just the extra cost of the flight but the inconvenience, extra time involved and most of all the luggage weight restrictions that airlines demand. When cruising we need two sets of clothes per day due to dress codes plus extra if formal nights are expected. Sailing out of Melbourne has been a dream with no luggage restrictions and a commute of 40 minutes from home to terminal. With Melbourne’s population exceeding that of Brisbane and approaching that of Sydney, I cant believe that cruise companies are abandoning us.
Thanks so much for this report, which followed on from advice received year/s ago. It’s sad news. I’m one of the many who’ve ceased cruising due to necessity to fly elsewhere to take a cruise. I blame it almost entirely on the Victorian government’s lack of good financial management.
I can fully understand this. Victoria is a basket case financially, has more than its fair share of violent demonstrations, and the weather is not particularly nice. Why would anyone want to visit Melbourne?
Brisbane international cruise terminal is a complete and utter disaster, the whole experience is akin to cattle being loaded onto a cargo vessel. In summer it is even worse
On top of that, the port lost an average of 10 weekly turnarounds of Spirit of Tasmania when they relocated to a cheaper and better facility at Geelong in 2022.
Thank you for your explanation of the fact that port fees are not the reason cruiselines are leaving Melbourne. This is something that I have been saying on various social media pages for some time. There has been so much focus on the increase which, as you say, was only $3.50 per passenger, still $13 per passenger less than Sydney and really a non-event as far as decision to homeport or not from Melbourne. It is hard to believe that any passengers would baulk at a $3.50 increase on their fares in order to still cruise out of Melbourne. However, it seems to have been convenient to have people believe this was the cause as the cruiselines did not then have to explain the real reason why they are leaving Melbourne. I’m not convinced that Brisbane is the reason either though as there are not really more ships homeporting from Brisbane, just less from Melbourne. On that note, by the way, Brisbane capacity has not expanded with the conversion of Encounter to Carnival. Encounter has been homeported from Brisbane all year round under the P&O flag for some time now and Luminosa has always been seasonal since she came to Brisbane.
Really all this is happening because of a $3.50 per person port fee increase. I call BS. I for one will no longer cruise. I refuse to pay $1000 to fly interstate and spend a night in a hotel before boarding a cruise then having to fly back home.
I have been on many cruises and as i cannot fly i am extremely disappointed that decent cruises are now no longer leaving from melbourne. I dont understand what the problem is as the port also catered for south australian cruisers and now nothing. please explain
West Australia is even worse,we have no home ported ships anymore,only one day stopovers millions of dollars lost to our community,