Fewer big ships: Australia’s cruising boom may finally be over

The number of large cruise ships homeporting and cruising in Australia is steadily falling. If you’re an avid domestic cruiser, here’s what it means for you.

Has the heyday of big-budget ship cruising in Australia reached its peak wave? Last year 781,000 Australians chose to cruise within Australia, but next year some of us wanting to do the same will be left high and dry. And those with a taste for big, family-friendly ships are going to be especially disappointed.

Bad cruise news about ships heading for the horizon just keeps coming. Virgin Voyages’ Resilient Lady (2770 passengers) homeported in Melbourne for a single season in 2023-24 before the relatively new cruise company pulled out of Australia altogether.

In March, P&O Australia was absorbed into Carnival Cruise Line with the loss of one ship, Pacific Explorer (1990 passengers), while two others were rebranded.

Then came Cunard’s announcement that Queen Elizabeth (2081 passengers) will no longer homeport in Melbourne and Sydney after this season, and that Cunard ships will only visit Australia on world cruises thereafter.

The latest announcement is that Disney Wonder (2400 passengers), homeporting in Melbourne this summer, will no longer operate in Australia from February 2026.

Do the maths and that’s 9241 prospective passengers without an available cabin to book next year unless other ships arrive to fill the gap – and that isn’t happening.

In fact, Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean have all reduced ship capacity in Australia. And while 18 cruise ships homeported here in 2023-24, that’s down to 11 this season.

So what’s going on? Well, none of the cruise lines have ventured an explanation except for Virgin Voyages, which muttered that the security situation in the Red Sea made sailing to Australia the long way – around Africa instead of through the Suez Canal – unviable.

However, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has frequently bemoaned Australia’s high operating costs and port fees, bureaucratic complexity, and tight terminal access in Sydney. Cunard and Princess have previously expressed unhappiness about price hikes in already expensive Melbourne port fees.

There are other problems too, such as the weak Australian dollar – the shipboard accounts of most cruise lines are settled in US dollars – and rising cost of fuel. Ships in Australia have to sail long distances both to get here, and between ports of call.

Cruise lines may bear some of the responsibility. Cunard’s continuing formality, abandoned by most other cruise lines, may not appeal to all Australians. Cruise lines’ reliance on seldom-changing itineraries that visit the same Australian, New Zealand and South Pacific ports doesn’t encourage repeat customers.

Cruise ships concentrate mostly on our east coast, with Brisbane and Sydney now monopolising the bulk of sailings. As a result, 60 per cent of Australian cruisers are resident in New South Wales and 20 per cent in Queensland.

The rest remain an untapped resource. Victorians are third at a little over 10 per cent despite having a larger population than Queensland, perhaps demonstrating a reluctance to fly first before they board a cruise ship.

Yet overall, Australians aren’t losing interest in cruising. In 2023, according to CLIA, 1.25 million of us took a cruise, among the highest market penetration in the world, and a faster resumption of cruising after the coronavirus pandemic than any other nationality.

In 2024, there was a 10.2 per cent increase in Australians who chose to cruise wholly within Australia, and more than three-quarters of all Australian cruisers sailed within Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Still, with just over 19 million Americans cruising annually, you can see how cruise lines might not be wholly focused on our market.

However, the days of being spoiled for regional choice might well be over. Over the 2023-24 summer cruise season, 70 ships from very diverse companies visited Australian ports. This summer, the number is down to 63.

And while it’s mostly bigger ships that are heading for the horizon, we don’t do a great job at attracting luxury or expedition ships either – except in the Kimberley – although both are rapidly growing cruise sectors.

You’ll have worked out the looming problem by now. Interest in cruising remains strong, but there simply aren’t enough ships to meet demand.

Cruise Passenger crunched numbers and reports that Australia has lost 30 per cent of its cruise capacity since the coronavirus comeback, and that another five per cent drop is predicted by the 2026-27 season. That equates to 17,712 shipless passengers.

That means you’ll have fewer choices of cruise lines, ships and itineraries, which are increasingly linking fewer ports. Ship visits to all South Australian ports have plummeted 20 per cent. Last season Adelaide saw 27 big ship visits, but this year it will be just 12.

Western Australia saw 290 port visits by cruise ships last season; this season only 140 are expected, and by 2026-27 it will have shrunk to 90.

Meanwhile, New Zealand is sharing Australia’s cruise woes, which are interrelated because many New Zealand cruises sail from Australia. Its overall passenger capacity has dropped 20 per cent and is projected to keep falling.

The takeaway? Plan your domestic cruise holiday further in advance if you want to be sure of a particular cabin, or any cabin at all. Be prepared to pay more. The heady days of a bargain hop-on cruise are a thing of the past.