Cruise industry agents and media turned out to Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art on Tuesday night for the launch of Carnival Australia’s summer cruise season – and the uncharacteristically cold and rainy conditions failed to dampen the enthusiasm.
“This is going to be a summer cruise season to remember,” Carnival Australia president Sture Myrmell promised the audience, adding that Carnival’s cruise lines offered Australian holidaymakers “a fantastic range of new itineraries and new ports across 19 great ships”.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Sculpture Terrace gives grand views of Circular Quay. Myrmell spoke against the backdrop of Princess Cruises’ Majestic Princess, which set sail – with the traditional three blasts of the ship’s horn – shortly after his speech. It signalled the official start of the line’s 2019-20 summer cruise season, one of its biggest ever.
Australia’s largest cruise operator, Carnival Australia has scheduled over 600 calls by its ships to ports around Australia, as well as the local debut of two spectacular ships – Princess Cruises’ Ruby Princess and Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Splendor.
The summer cruise season began with the arrival of the 3560-passenger Majestic Princess, which sailed into Sydney last Tuesday after visiting Darwin (10 September) and Brisbane (15 September).
In all, the season will include 625 calls to 34 different ports around Australia by 19 ships from the seven cruise lines represented by Carnival Australia: Carnival Cruise Line, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line, P&O Cruises World Cruising and Seabourn.
The busiest month will be March 2020, when the line’s ships will make 121 calls to ports around the country.
“In fact, the number of local port visits by our ships has grown by more than 50% compared to the summer season 10 years ago, underlining not only the growing popularity of cruising, but also how much cruising has become part of the tourism fabric of our nation,” Myrmell said.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE COMING CRUISE SEASON INCLUDE
• Pacific Aria’s first visits to Melbourne (9 February 2020), Hobart (11 February) and Adelaide (11 March).
• =Carnival Cruise Line’s first call to Adelaide (Carnival Spirit February 29, 2020); Cunard’s first call to Esperance in Western Australia, (Queen Elizabeth on December 9, 2020); Seabourn’s first call to Portland (Seabourn Encore on March 14, 2020) and Holland America’s first calls to Moreton Island (Maasdam on December 1, 2019); Portland (Maasdam on January 2, 2020) and Phillip Island (Maasdam on January 3, 2020).
• Queen Elizabeth’s December arrival in Australia marking the first time one of Cunard’s modern fleet has spent Christmas Down Under.
• Calls at the NSW South Coast town of Eden, which has entered a new era of cruise tourism with the arrival of the first ship, P&O Cruises’ Pacific Explorer, at its new $44 million wharf. Another 21 cruise ships are scheduled to visit the scenic NSW South Coast town over the coming summer.
IMAGE: Carnival Australia president Sture Myrmell on Tuesday night with Princess Cruises’ Majestic Princess in background
