Sun to homeport in WA

PRINCESS Cruises’ Sun Princess will spend a record 121 days homeporting in Western Australia’s Fremantle during the 2019/20 cruise season.

The move is being hailed as the biggest investment that any cruise brand has made in cruising in Western Australia and it is expected to inject $32 million into the state’s economy.

“I’m delighted to announce this significant investment to Western Australia, doubling our capacity in this great state by 100% over the 2019/2020 season,” said Princess Cruises senior vice president Asia Pacific, Stuart Allison.

Sun Princess’ homeported season will include 28 cruise ship visits, including 18 to regional port destinations in WA.

The deployment follows the Government’s commitments to improvements and upgrades at the Fremantle, Broome and Geraldton ports.

“When Carnival stopped homeporting in Western Australia because of some regional port issues, we acted swiftly to rectify the problems and committed to improvements at Geraldton, Broome and Fremantle ports,” said WA Premier Mark McGowan.

McGowan noted over 100,000 West Australians took a cruise last year, representing 4% of the state’s population.

Last year Princess Cruises announced Sun Princess would be redeployed to Fremantle in Oct and early Nov 2018 for five departures ( CW 10 Oct 2017).