The days are longer, the sun is shining brighter but more importantly the cruise ships have started making their way into Australian waters for the 2015/16 wave season.
And what a season it’s going to be!
We’ve got several new ships coming in, seven new homeported vessels, new onboard activities, new itineraries and new destinations. It’s going to be crazay (sic).
The peak cruise period officially kicked off this week when Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess made her way into Sydney Harbour.
Bringing some 2,670 passengers, she’s the first of 41 ships expected to make hundreds of calls to Australian gateways this cruising period.
Carnival says it has some 22 ships sailing in local waters over the next four to five months, making around 170 calls to Sydney alone.
In total the cruise corporation expects to carry more than 530,000 cruisers – more than the population of Tasmania – over the summer period.
As well as the line’s usual vessels (Sea Princess, Pacific Jewel, Carnival Legend, Carnival Spirit and Dawn Princess – just to name a few), this season the company will introduce three new ships to the market.
And that’s just Carnival.
The second largest company cruising Down Under, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines has a total of six ships from its three brands heading to the country. The first of the giants vessels, Radiance of the Seas, will arrive on 9 October before heading off on her first itinerary.
In addition to our favourite friendly giants, the cruise company will have four new ships cruising from Sydney and for the first time, Brisbane this season.
Here’s the complete 2015/16 wave season run down:
Meet the Newbies
They may not be brand spanking new, but they’re surely new to the region and we can’t wait to try them all out.
First let’s start with the ships home porting from Australia:
Pacific Eden.
The new additions to the P&O fleet, Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden, will make a grand entrance in November during a five-ship display on Sydney Harbour.
The ships’ arrivals will be met with celebrity performers and thousands of party-goers.
As former Holland America vessels, the two P&O newbies have been completely renovated with all new dining options, new activities and fun new social spaces.
Golden Princess.
Princess Cruises’ Golden Princess will make her inaugural visit to Australia in October. The 2,600 passenger ship will be based out of Melbourne where she’ll sail on local and South Pacific itineraries.
Also arriving down under from the Carnival Australia group is Holland America’s Noordam, which is scheduled to arrive on 25 October. During her six-month stay she will add some 1,916 beds to the local fleet while making nine roundtrips and six-one way departures.
Noordam.
Royal Carribean Cruise Lines has three new vessels in the region, including Legend of the Seas, which will be based out of Brisbane and Explorer of the Seas, which will join sister-ship Voyager of the Seas in Sydney.
Plus Australia will get its first AzAmazing visit when the cruise company sends its first Azamara Club Cruises vessel to the country. Azamara Quest is scheduled to arrive in local waters in January. She will arrive in Australia from Bali for a circumnavigation route of Australia.
Legend of the Seas.
Another coup for the local market is the return of Star Cruises this season after a ten year hiatus. The Asia-based cruise line will send SuperStar Virgo to Australia on 13 November from Hong Kong. She will sail in southern waters for a month before returning to Asia on 31 December 2015.
Other ships also scheduled to arrive locally are Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Millennium, Costa Cruises’ Costa Luminosa and Ponant’s Le Soleal.
New places to cruise from
Demand to cruise FROM different locations around Australia continues to grow as travellers emphasise their desire to cruise straight from their doorstep.
While traditionally Sydney has been the popular port for cruise ships to commence local itineraries, this season will see lines like Princess, P&O and Royal Caribbean homeport in new destinations.
As mentioned above, on her inaugural visit Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas will be based out of Brisbane for the wave season where she’ll sail on South Pacific and local itineraries.
With the fleet expansion from three ships to five this season, P&O has more wiggle room to base its vessels from new destinations such as Fremantle.
Menawhile, Pacific Aria will join Pacific Dawn in Brisbane for parts of the season where she’ll operate itineraries to the South Pacific.
P&O will also have its biggest ever presence in Melbourne with its first summer sailing from the city between December to March 2016. The cruises will head to Adelaide, Sydney and Auckland.
And from April next year (which is towards the end of the season) P&O will send Eden over the Fremantle where she’ll conduct 12-night cruises to South East Asia.
And then there’s Princess Cruises’ Golden Princess, which is not only arriving in Australia for the first time but sailing out of Melbourne for the cruise line’s inaugural itineraries out of Victoria’s capital.
New places to cruise to
I realise boats and cruise ships are different, but I couldn’t resist guys.
Australians will have more choice than ever when it comes to itineraries, with cruise lines adding new destinations around the region.
This season there’s set to be roughly 40 maiden port calls.
Among the new spots include Indonesia, which P&O’s Pacific Eden will take Aussies to for the first time from Fremantle.
There’s also the Solomon Islands, which have also been added to Pacific Eden‘s schedule. Meanwhile, Pacific Aria will make the line’s maiden call to Steward Island during a 10-night round-trip itinerary circumnavigating the country.
Other inaugural calls will be made in Lizard Town, Gladstone, Brunie and more.
