Royal Caribbean’s Eden snub “sad” – but the town that loves cruise is still a big hit with passengers

• While the small town of Eden was dealt a blow by not appearing on Royal Caribbean’s latest cruise itineraries, it’s still growing and driving forward as a port.
• Eden will feature prominently in the Australian brochures that are presented to cruise line executives at the Miami Seatrade Conference this month.
• An important goal will be getting cruise lines to visit Eden on short three and four-day cruises.

The tiny of town Eden on NSW’s South Coast only has a population of 3500. That’s a thousand less people than passengers on Ovation of the Seas.

But that doesn’t stop this picturesque NSW port from punching well above its weight in the cruising world.

In fact, when Aussie cruise executives and government representatives visit the huge Seatrade Conference in Miami where all the cruise lines meet and network, Eden will be in the front page of Australia’s brochure as the pin-up port, such is the welcome its residents give to cruise guests.

Eden serves as a great example of what cruising can look like when it really benefits a local population and brings Aussie tourist dollars to small coastal towns.

Royal Caribbean’s decision to direct the majority of its 2027/28 cruise traffic towards the South Pacific private beach resort of Lelepa and put Aussie towns like Eden on the back burner had some concerned that this would be a body blow to the local economy.

However, Cruise Eden Director Debbie Meers says its not a worry for the small town, who are still primed to see plenty of cruise ship traffic over the next couple of seasons.

“Is it a big loss? Look, I wouldn’t put it that way. I think it’s sad that any ship decides to not visit Eden because Eden’s the best place in the world,” Meers told Cruise Passenger.com.au in an exclusive interview.

“So, yeah, I think it’s sad when we lose any ship out of an itinerary, whether it be for itinerary changes or weather cancellations or anything else that happens in the world that creates, like, such, you know, major events that creates a change. So, yeah, of course we’re sad.”

Both Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruises offer three-day cruises out of Sydney, which generally don’t visit any ports. These cruises have the time to visit Eden, or other towns like Newcastle, but generally sail to nowhere, likely to avoid port fees and the other costs of docking.

Meers says it’d be great if more of these cruises ended up visiting Eden and that she believes cruisers want this as well.

“We love those cruises because everyone’s really happy and they’ve had a day at sea and then they come off and eat and go, wow, I think we could drive here, which is one of the reasons we love cruises that repeat visits because people want to spend longer at our port.

“We do understand there are three-day cruises to nowhere. We understand the economic benefit for the cruise lines doing that. But I think guests are really asking, let’s go to a port. And they do listen to it. And they have been coming to Eden over this season. And that’s been a real positive for us.

“I think we’re doing a great job in the survey response from guests that have been in our port. I hope the cruise lines listen to that because they love our port.”

While fingers are often pointed at the government for not doing enough to support Australian cruising, Meers says Eden gets great support from the government, and is excited that Eden will be front and centre when Australia is being pitched to cruise executives at the Miami Seatrade Conference.

“And that’s, you know, Destination New South Wales, Port Authority of New South Wales, Destination Southern New South Wales. And certainly the member organisation, Australian Cruise Association, is representing us so well. And look, we’ve just seen the latest brochure and newsletter that’s going to be launched at Sea Trade in Miami tomorrow. And we’re in the front pages.

“We’re ecstatic that we’re being held up so highly with great stories about our port. So I think the government is right behind us, not just with financial infrastructure investment and supporting of Cruise Eden, but also with their marketing of our port.

“It’s really up to the cruise lines. And hopefully, you know, in the meetings they have over in Sea Trade, they’ll be reminded that, cruise passengers love ports. They love the vessels, of course, but there’s plenty of time for both. And the combination of both the vessel and the ports is what makes it a great cruise experience.”

Meers highlights the impact that cruising has had on Eden as a major economic contributor.

“cruise has enabled our community to develop and more engaging attractions and touring opportunities for shore excursions and I think that’s been a benefit of cruise you know our major attraction the Eden Killer Whale Museum has been able to able to update and and enhance their exhibitions for cruise guests and I think that’s the real plus with cruises.

“It’s really feeding a community to feed back to crews. It’s a great cycle of economic investment and I love it.”

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