Australia sails into another record summer cruise season

Australia is about to witness another record summer cruise season, with more than 600 cruise ship visits scheduled for ports around the country over the coming months, according to the peak cruise industry body.

As the popularity of cruise holidays continues to surge, figures compiled by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia show that its member cruise lines will have 36 ships cruising Australian waters between October 1, 2014 and April 30, 2015 making a total of 642 calls to Australian ports.

Among the flotilla will be three ships making their maiden visits to Australia: Carnival Cruise Lines’ Carnival Legend, which will kick off the summer cruise season with its arrival in Sydney on September 22; Compagnie du Ponant’s L’Austral which will make its first call to Australia on December 24 when it arrives at Cape York; and MSC Orchestra which will arrive in Cairns on March 13, 2015.

Across the country there will be an impressive 38 maiden port calls to a range of cities and regional towns including Busselton, Eden, Esperance, Albany, Port Hedland and Geelong.

CLIA Australasia General Manager Brett Jardine said 18 of the ships would make a total of 253 roundtrip cruises from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle over the 2014-15 summer – a significant increase on last year’s 202 roundtrip cruises.

“This summer we’ll be seeing growth across the board – not only have the number of member line ships cruising our waters risen from 34 to 36, the total number of Australian calls by those ships has risen from 588 last year to 642 this year. In addition, the number of roundtrip cruises has also increased significantly, which means there’ll be greater economic returns all round,” Mr Jardine said.

“It’s also wonderful to see there’ll be 38 maiden port calls, up from 17 last year. So many maiden visits, particularly in regional towns, means that more holidaymakers are being introduced to more parts of Australia, which is great news for local communities.”

The 36 ships includes seven which are based in Australia year-round, another 11 which will be deployed for all or part of the summer cruise season and 18 ships which will visit Australia. Between them they will carry tens of thousands of Australian and international tourists.

“Cruising generates economic benefits for Australia 12 months of the year but there is always a peak over the summer period so it’s fabulous that we’ll be hitting a new record over the coming months,” Mr Jardine said.

The new figures come at the start of Cruise Week, CLIA’s Australia-wide consumer promotion which will run from September 1-8. CLIA’s international membership includes more than 60 major cruise line brands, which represent approximately 98 per cent of global cruise capacity. The body’s latest figures show Australia is the fastest growing major passenger source market with Australian cruisers rising by 20 per cent in 2013 to reach 833,348.

Mr Jardine said highlights of the upcoming cruise season included Carnival Legend’s debut in Sydney on September 22, a Royal Rendezvous of Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria on Sydney Harbour on March 12, 2015, the local deployment of two Celebrity Cruises’ ships and the first ever Australian visit by an MSC ship.

sourced:traveldailynews.asia