Australian Cruise Season will make big waves
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Australia is set for another bumper cruise season with the nation’s largest cruise operator, Carnival Australia, announcing that a record 190,000 passengers will sail on its ships locally during the next six months.The figure is up 13 per cent on last year’s season and almost double the number of passengers carried by Carnival Australia five years ago.
The upcoming cruise season will also feature a record 217 visits to ports around the country with highlights including the maiden Fremantle and Adelaide visits of Cunard’s magnificent flagship Queen Mary 2, the debut of P&O Cruises’ latest Australian superliner Pacific Jewel and the inaugural Australian visit of the world’s newest luxury cruise ship, the elegant Seabourn Odyssey.
Carnival Australia Senior Vice President Jenny Lourey said the ships’ visits would provide a direct economic injection of more than $160 million through passenger and crew spending, supplies and port charges. “This year’s summer ‘wave’ season of visiting and local ships is all about new ships, new homeports and a swag of maiden visits,” Ms Lourey said. “We think it will be a very exciting six months, not only for passengers at sea but also for spectators on land, as there’ll be a continual parade of ships through our ports.”
Ms Lourey said Carnival was keen to open new cruise destinations around Australia. In all, the fleet will visit 24 Australian ports, including four new ports for the season – Christmas, Norfolk and Phillip Islands and Newcastle. “The expansion of our cruise itineraries means we will continue to deliver economic benefits outside major ports, while increasing the range of holidays available to Australians,” she said. Ms Lourey said the massive season ahead reflected the growing popularity of cruising in Australia, with industry statistics showing an 18 per cent annual average growth rate for passenger numbers since 2002. Cruising is expected to contribute about $1 billion to the Australian economy this year alone.
“Despite the tougher economic conditions, we’ve seen our business continue to expand this year as more and more Australians appreciate the great value of a cruising holiday, with travel, accommodation, meals and entertainment included in the one fare.” Princess Cruises will kick off the season on October 16 with the Sydney arrival of Dawn Princess, returning from her 104-night world voyage. In all, 12 cruise ships from five Carnival Australia brands – Cunard Line, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, P&O Cruises World Voyages and the Yachts of Seabourn – will cruise in Australian waters over the season.
The cruise season will see P&O Cruises’ newest superliner Pacific Jewel begin cruising from her new homeport of Sydney, while sister ship Pacific Dawn moves to Brisbane and Pacific Sun begins her maiden season of cruises from Fremantle. Meanwhile Princess Cruises’ Sun Princess will sail from Sydney and Dawn Princess will be based in Melbourne for the summer. Megaliners Star Princess and Diamond Princess will also visit Australia.
The impressive 151,400-tonne Queen Mary 2 – the largest vessel to visit Australia - is set to make waves when she makes her maiden visits to Adelaide (Mar 11) and Fremantle (Mar 14), following in the wake of her stunning little sister, the 90,000-tonne Queen Victoria, which will also be making her inaugural calls at Adelaide (Feb 24), Albany (Feb 27),
Fremantle (Feb 28) and Ex mouth (Mar 2)
Highlights of the 2009-10 Cruise Season
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HIGHLIGHTS
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