Cruising to Adelaide has plunged 56% – that’s why South Australia joined CLIA, the cruise industry body

• South Australia has just joined CLIA as a partner as it looks to boost cruising in the state.
• A Cruise Passenger investigation shows why: Adelaide will see 56% fewer visits from large ships when measuring the next season against this one.
• The end of P&O Australia and reduced Princess capacity next season are key factors.

South Australia has joined Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia as an executive partner as it looks to rescue its plunging cruise capacity and reassert itself as a key player for cruise in the region.

The port of Adelaide enjoyed strong 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, but those at the helm are clearly aware that those numbers are about to fall and are looking to try and reverse the trend.

Throughout the 2024/25 season, which is currently wrapping up, Adelaide saw 27 visits from cruise ships with more than 2000 passenger capacity. This included six visits from Pacific Explorer, four from Norwegian Sun, four from Diamond Princess, and plenty of other ships stopping by, such as Crown Princess, Celebrity Edge, Queen Elizabeth and more.

However, the outlook doesn’t look quite so bright for the 2025/2026 season, coming up in just a few months. The port will see just 12 visits from ships that carry over 2000 passengers. This marks a 56% decrease in large ship visits. This significant drop is clearly ringing alarm bells and encouraging the state to take advantage of CLIA’s network and attempt to boost cruising in the area.

In the 2023/24 season, cruise delivering $227 million into the economy of South Australia, a number that will surely take a significant hit as cruise traffic slows down. In that season, Adelaide and Kangaroo Island saw a combined overall 70 ship visits, a number that will drop 20% to 56 visits for the 25/26 season. 

As mentioned above, only a small percentage of these will be larger ships, meaning a more significant hit for the local economy. 

This has been a theme around Australia, Melbourne is also set to see a dramatic decline in cruise capacity, of about 30% from this season to the next. 

This trend is due to a number of reasons. One is that P&O Cruises, who sailed around Australia, has been absorbed into Carnival Cruise Line, which centres its operations mostly out of Sydney and Brisbane, and visits fewer regional ports than P&O used to.

Similarly, Royal Caribbean home ports ships only out of Sydney and Brisbane, with most itineraries either short cruises or cruises to the Pacific, Great Barrier Reef and New Zealand, but only very occasional cruises to other regions such as Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia or Western Australia.

Furthermore, Princess Cruises visits lots of regional ports, however, will sail fewer homeported ships in the 25/26 season.

Other cruise lines such as Cunard and Norwegian Cruise Lines have been greatly reducing their presence in Australian waters, also contributing to the drop-off in cruise visitation for ports such as Adelaide and Melbourne.

SA aims to boost cruise

However, while Melbourne has remained fairly passive in regards to cruise, South Australia seems more keen to buck the trend.

South Australia Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison has previously outlined her eagerness to grow cruising in the state, through creating a Cruise Attraction Working Group. 

She outlined some of the actions being undertaken at a conference last year: “We have made upgrades to the Port Adelaide Passenger Terminal and given grants to local councils to develop cruise visitor infrastructure in both Port Lincoln and Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island.

“We’re also working with industry partners to increase the number and variation of pre- and post-touring packages.”

CLIA Australasia Managing Director Joel Katz told Seatrade Cruise News about his hopes for the region.

“The city of Adelaide has successfully developed into a key cruise gateway in Australia’s south and our partnership with the South Australian Tourism Commission will help raise awareness of what’s on offer to cruise visitors —not only in the capital, but also surrounding regions and other ports.”

A new South Australian port to consider

The small town of Wallaroo has long been campaigning to get more cruise vessels to visit, and it will soon see its first ship since 2020 when Seabourn Quest arrives on March 20, 2027. 

The town packs in just 3700 people, meaning the 458 guests aboard Seabourn Quest will make a huge impact. 

Mayor Roslyn Talbot has been campaigning to get cruise ships in the region for years and years, and feels excited to see ships back on their way to the town.

She told Australian Rural and Regional News: “As a community, we love where we live and we love any opportunity to showcase that.

“The community really rallied behind the cruise ships when they came here last time — they recognised the benefits.”

Copper Coast Council chief executive Dyalon Strong echoed the sentiment: “The cruise ships will bring about an injection of visitors — that means money spent at our local businesses.

“At a higher level, it puts and keeps Wallaroo on the map as a destination.

“We’ve got all of the attributes of a fantastic destination, and the fact we can welcome cruise ships into our own port is the icing on the cake.”