Ship debuts

CRUISE season has kicked off with some great news on homeporting and maiden calls coming from cruise lines.

Princess Cruises has announced plans for its biggest deployment out of Sydney, with Regal Princess set to call the city home for four months from December 2020 during her Australian maiden season, joining sister ship Majestic Princess - together they will increase the cruise line’s capacity by 40% in Sydney.

Relative newcomer to our waters, Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV), has announced its new ship Vasco da Gama will make the world’s first cruise line visit to the SA port of Wallaroo in the 2019/20 season. She will also make maiden calls to Kuri Bay (WA) and to Portland and Philip Island (Vic). CMV’s premium ship Astor will cruise in Australia again this season, mostly out of Fremantle and Adelaide, before heading back to the UK in March 2019.

The newest ship in the Dream Cruises fleet , Explorer Dream, will offer seven-day cruises out of Sydney from Oct 2019 during the brand’s first season in Australia. She will offer two itineraries stopping in numerous secondary ports such as Newcastle, Gladstone and the Sunshine Coast, Eden, Philip Island and Burnie.

This news confirms that Australia continues to be a highly attractive destination for the cruise lines, with both major and regional ports benefiting from these visits. This of course brings valuable income to these destinations, allowing them to invest back into development for the future.