- This summer Australia will be home to 46 international cruise ships.
- It will include some of the best, most luxurious and biggest ships in the world.
- Luxury ships from lines such as Regent Seven Seas, Ponant, Viking, Oceania, Cunard and Seabourn are set to visit from October to March next year.
Two standout stars will be Regent Seven Seas Explorer – “the most luxurious ship ever built” – and Le Ponant, the beautiful French sailing ship that will transform experiences in the Kimberley.
Luxury Travel
“Luxury travel has been the fastest to recover and we’ve seen some interesting trends. We’re seeing a much broader range of destinations – bucket list destinations…” says Steve Odell, SVP & Managing Director Asia Pacific, Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Mr Odell revealed that the average spend on a cruise has risen to above $30,000 for two people.
Regent Seven Seas, which is celebrating 30 years of cruising, is already two-thirds full for 2023, and the line is now turning its sales teams on 2024 and even 2025. Between P&O Australia, Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line and Celebrity Cruises alone, 11 of the big ships will take to Australian shores. Princess will sail three ships across Australia and New Zealand, including the popular Majestic Princess.
Dave Humphreys, director of sales at Royal Caribbean International Australia and New Zealand, says pent-up demand has bookings looking extremely strong. “Bookings across Royal Caribbean’s Australia 2022-2023 summer season are performing well, with huge demand from Australians who are eager to get back to sea…” Mr Humphreys says if you have your heart set on a particular cabin or suite category you should move fast.
Buoyant Season
Norwegian is also expecting a buoyant season with Norwegian Spirit, which has had a $150 million makeover, taking center stage. She will be sailing around our coasts and to New Zealand from December. Viking will be sailing Orion and Mars from December around Australia and to New Zealand.
CLIA Managing Director Australasia Joel Katz says demand is strong across the industry. “The sight of magnificent international cruise ships back in Australian and New Zealand waters has created a huge sense of anticipation and cruise lines are reporting good demand for cruising over the coming summer and into the future,” he says.
In November last year, of Australians who have never cruised before, only 43 per cent said they would be open to cruising, but that number has now rebounded to 56 per cent. Similarly of the 73 percent of past cruisers who last November said they would cruise again in the next few years, 81 per cent are now ready to commit to sailing.
Furthermore, among both cruises and non-cruisers, 65 per cent said they were likely or very likely to book a cruise in the next two years. The momentum will only continue in the following season as heavyweights Virgin Voyages and Disney Cruises pay their first visits to Australia, Celebrity brings its first Edge class ship to our shores and numbers tick back towards the massive 60 ships that visited Australia during its last pre-COVID wave season.
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Source: Cruisepassenger
