Cruise360 special

OUR sister publication Cruise Weekly has today published a special edition covering the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia Cruise360 conference on Fri.

ROYAL Caribbean Cruises’ vice president and managing director Australia and New Zealand Susan Bonner is staying tight-lipped on whether Celebrity Cruises plans to bring an Edge class ship to Australia, telling Travel Daily to “watch this space”.

Bonner recently took over as local head, joining from Celebrity Cruises’ head office in the US where she was part of the Edge build team.

Speaking to TD at the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia Cruise360 conference on Fri, Bonner hinted “put the pieces together”.

“There are four Edge class ships that have been committed to,” Bonner explained.

“The rest of the world loves Australia, Australians love innovative hardware, I’m from the Celebrity brand and I was part of the Edge build team,” she said.

Bonner told TD her goal in the new role was to see some of Australia’s infrastructure issues resolved “so that when we are given the opportunity to have additional, brand new hardware, like an Edge class ship that capacity constraints are not even part of the issue,” she said.

Bonner also said she would like to “have a really amazing relationship with the trade”.

“That’s going to be the key to our success in building and finding the additional guests that we require as we put additional capacity here,” she said.

Bonner added she would also like to make sure the company left its mark in the sustainability space.