The return of cruising in Queensland continued yesterday with the arrival of Princess Cruises’ Coral Princess into her new Homeport Brisbane to commence her inaugural season.
The ship’s arrival marked the first-ever ship homeported at the new state-of-the-art Brisbane International Cruise Terminal (BICT) and the first of Princess Cruises’ MedallionClass vessels to call Australia home.
Building on the momentum of sister line P&O Cruises Australia’s Pacific Explorer’s first sailing from Sydney last week, Coral Princess will depart on its first guest cruise on June 16, 2022.
Speaking on Coral Princess’ arrival, Princess Cruises’ Senior Vice President Asia Pacific, UK and Europe, Stuart Allison, said the ship’s homeport season in Brisbane was set to inject an estimated $60 million to the Queensland economy in crew and passenger spending, ship supplies and port charges.
“Queensland will feature front and centre in a new winter program of sailings from Australia, which demonstrates Princess Cruises’ commitment to cruising Down Under and to the local travel agent community. Our focus on Brisbane also reflects the demand for cruise holidays among Queenslanders, as well as the growing interest in domestic cruising,” he said.
The 2000-guest ship will offer 11 cruises departing Brisbane ranging from 3-12 nights between June and August before returning for another ten cruises this summer from November.
This year, the MedallionClass ship will make 48 calls to the State’s ports, including her first visits to Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays, Cairns and Port Douglas.
Director and General Manager of Clean Cruising, Dan Russell, said his clients would be very excited to see another cruise ship return to Brisbane.
“Our clients have been eagerly waiting for a cruise ship to be homeported in Brisbane, and to see Coral Princess here today is another great step forward for the cruise industry.
“We have a number of clients booked on this MedallionClass ship for this winter season including a couple who have booked over 50 back-to-back cruises including two Round World Cruises in 2023 and 2024. We thank these guests and all the cruise guests far and wide for their patience as we restart cruising in Australia.”
For more on Princess Cruises, head to www.princess.com