Longer cruises, Indian Ocean trips and more group bookings are some of the trends that Oceania Cruises has witnessed among its Australian guests. But that’s not all…
According to Oceania Cruises Vice President of International Sales Jason Worth, the cruise line has most notably seen “people really sailing for longer”.
“Especially after COVID… people had this urge to go for multiple cruises, so we’ve seen a lot of back-to-back cruises – and we don’t usually repeat cruises, so people can compare one cruise to the next,” he told media at an intimate lunch event in Sydney.
And the cruise line has some long journeys for guests to choose from, like a World Cruise that travels to 101 ports, 43 countries, 80 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in six months and offers “plenty of destination immersion in those ports”.
“We just launched our World Cruise recently… it sold really well,” Worth said, adding that there were still spaces available.
While the Mediterranean is the cruise line’s traditional market, and Australian and New Zealand travellers “are really putting the Mediterranean top of mind”, Worth says the most popular cruise among Aussies is Oceania’s “Indian Ocean Opus”, a 24-day journey that travels from Cape Town to Singapore (via Mauritius, Maldives and Southeast Asia, among other ports).
While there’s been a sharp increase in group bookings among Australians, Aussies also “typically book up the ship.. penthouses, balconies, concierge level are very common”, Worth states.
And interestingly, the cruise line is seeing a lot of new-to-brand Aussie travellers, because “we include a lot of things in the ticket price where a lot of those big ships you’re paying for everything on board”.
But it isn’t just cruisers looking to downsize from larger ships – Worth explains that the company is seeing Australians who have never cruised before.
“Guests have been trying cruise on, which is not typical. Usually, we see people migrate from a bigger cruise line to a smaller cruise line – we’ve seen a new batch of folks trying our cruise line from the hotel space, so that’s been a nice change,” he says.
The cruise line is confident those new cruisers, and others, will appreciate the culinary offering onboard Oceania’s ships.
“We do pride ourselves on having the finest food at sea… we really, really focus on the culinary space,” says Worth, who flags Oceania’s ratio of one chef for every 10 guests.
“With [new ship] Allura in 2025, we’ll have eight ships and 40 restaurants circulating the globe.”
And two more vessels will be arriving in 2026 and 2027, as part of parent company, Norwegian Cruise Line’s biggest-ever order of new build ships.
The cruise line also recently unveiled Italian-American chef, author, restaurateur and Emmy award-winning food personality Giada De Laurentiis as its Brand and Culinary Ambassador. De Laurentiis will also co-chair the line’s new Culinary Advisory Board.
“Having set sail with Oceania Cruises as Godmother of Vista, I immediately connected with the line’s extraordinary commitment to food and the entire dining experience,” said Giada De Laurentiis upon the announcement.
Tropics & Exotics
During the Sydney event (which saw guests try their hand at making dumplings!), Oceania Cruises also unveiled its new 2025-2026 Tropics and Exotics Collection that features 135 itineraries that take travellers to five continents.
The voyages, ranging from seven to a whopping 180 days – including Vista’s debut 2026 Around The World Voyage – will be on sale from 18 April 2024.
With trips to 329 ports, the collection promises to whisk guests away to some of the world’s most captivating destinations – from the vibrant streets of Panama City to the beaches of Bali and cosmopolitan Melbourne.
Plus, the collection introduces new overnight stays in places like Curacao, Puerto Rico and Mauritius.
“Our new Tropics and Exotics Collection is one of our most exciting yet, featuring a heady mix of iconic cities, remote islands and hidden gems to discover for the very first time,” Oceania Cruises President Frank A Del Rio said.
“With various voyages allowing guests to explore a region for weeks or months at a time, and several new overnight port stays, the collection offers a wealth of opportunities for our guests to explore further than ever before, savouring the many flavours of the world and enjoying uniquely curated experiences ashore in these exotic and tropical regions.”
For those looking to embark on an epic journey, Oceania Cruises offers 40 Grand Voyages that span multiple continents, from Asia to Africa to South America. And for guests more interested in diving deeper into a specific region, the collection also offers specially curated itineraries.
The full collection is available for preview online at OceaniaCruises.com.
In February, Oceania Cruises added Angie Kemp as its new Business Development Specialist, Queensland, based in Brisbane.
