Australia is set to witness another record cruise season this summer, with more than 600 ship visits scheduled for ports around the country over the coming months.
According to figures compiled by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia, 34 ships will make 612 calls to Australian ports during the southern hemisphere summer season, which runs between 1 October 2014 and 30 April 2015.
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 in Sydney on 22 September; Compagnie du Ponant’s L’Austral, which will make its first call to Australia at Cape York on 24 December; and MSC Orchestra, which will arrive in Cairns on 13 March 2015.
Another highlight will be the ‘Royal Rendezvous’ of Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria in Sydney Harbour on 12 March 2015.
Eighteen of the ships will make a total of 253 roundtrip cruises from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle, and there will also be 37 maiden port calls to a range of cities and regional towns including Busselton, Eden, Esperance, Albany, Port Hedland and Geelong.
“This summer we’ll be seeing growth across the board; not only have the total number of Australian calls risen from 588 last year to 612 this year, the number of roundtrip cruises has also increased significantly, which means there’ll be greater economic returns all round,” said CLIA Australasia’s general manager, Brett Jardine.
“It’s also wonderful to see there’ll be 37 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 34 ships include seven which are based in Australia year-round, another 11 that will be deployed for all or part of the summer season, and 16 ships which will visit Australia.
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