Australia’s largest cruise operator, Carnival Australia is preparing for its biggest ever summer cruise season, with a record 19 ships carrying more than 310,000 passengers in Australian waters.
Among the flotilla will be the two largest cruise ships to be based in Australia this summer – Cunard’s 151,400-tonne Queen Mary 2, and Princess Cruises’ 116,000-tonne Diamond Princess.
The season will kick off in Brisbane this Wednesday (21 September), when Princess Cruises’ Sun Princess arrives in the city to begin its first season of cruising from Queensland waters, becoming the largest liner and the first international ship to be based in Brisbane.
The action will continue through to mid-April 2012 when the Sea Princess sails from Sydney to the US, ending its inaugural six-month deployment in Australia.
The estimated 310,000 passengers being carried represents a more than three-fold increase from the 103,000 passengers carried during Carnival Australia’s first summer cruise season in 2004-05, when the newly-formed company had seven ships sailing Australian waters
Carnival Australia’s Senior Vice President, Jenny Lourey said that 11 ships from Carnival Australia’s fleets would be based in Australian waters, with five more ships deployed for the season alongside the six ships already based in Australia full time. Another eight Carnival Australia ships will visit Australia as part of their world cruising itineraries.
She added that the large number of passengers being carried on Carnival Australia ships this summer cruise season reflected not only the expansion in ship numbers but also the growth in round-trip sailings from Australia, with ships spending longer in local waters.
“It’s a great indication of the growing popularity of cruising in Australia as well as the economic impact that cruising is having right around the country,” Ms Lourey said.
With Carnival Australia’s 19 ships scheduled to make more than 300 calls to 24 different Australian ports between October and April, the company estimated the economic value of its fleet activity at more than AU$230 million (US$238 million).
Industry statistics show that almost half a million Australians cruised in 2010, with the industry growing by almost 20% annually over the past six years.
Carnival Australia’s 19 ships include P&O Cruises’ Pacific Jewel, Pacific Dawn, Pacific Pearl and Pacific Sun; Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth; Princess Cruises’ Sun Princess, Dawn Princess, Sea Princess, Diamond Princess, Pacific Princess and Ocean Princess; P&O Cruises’ World Cruising Oriana, Aurora and Arcadia, Seabourn’s Odyssey and Holland America’s Amsterdam, Volendam and Zaandam.
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