Australia/NZ Cruising News

[steverk]

10 hours ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

Why so many Lines pulling out of Australia?

If memory serves,  Virgin said they were pulling out because unrest in the middle east made it unsafe to transit the Suez canal. Without the canal, it was too difficult and expensive to deploy in to Australia and New Zealand. 

[Chili]

 

[smokeybandit]

22 hours ago, steverk said:

If memory serves,  Virgin said they were pulling out because unrest in the middle east made it unsafe to transit the Suez canal. Without the canal, it was too difficult and expensive to deploy in to Australia and New Zealand. 

Sounds like a scapegoat to me.

[Chili]

Folks,   if you where thinking about booking Anthem or Celebrity Edge out of Sydney during the 25-26 season. Get the credit card out !!!

The competition is pretty bleak and they are selling quickly ,even Voyager looks like a premium ship compared to the Carnival and P&O ships.

A few friends went on Carnival out of Sydney and they said it was worse than P&O . Filthy old Costa ships run over with kids and drunks.

[Jamesszy94]

Yeah it's a real shame that cruise lines are pulling out of Australia. Maybe if our port fees weren't so high and we had more ports to choose from that could accommodate the larger ships...

[KWofPerth]

Singapore cruises for 2025-26 are now available. Looks like they've dropped off the Vietnam and Bangkok ports. There is an 8-nighter to Bali available, otherwise it's all just 3 and 4-nighters.

[Chili]

28 minutes ago, KWofPerth said:

Singapore cruises for 2025-26 are now available. Looks like they've dropped off the Vietnam and Bangkok ports. There is an 8-nighter to Bali available, otherwise it's all just 3 and 4-nighters.

I wonder if Voyager goes to Singapore after the Brisbane 25-26 season.

Short cruises keep emissions down ,it’s all they can do at the moment.

Hopefully we will be producing ship methanol here soon . There is supposed to be 2 plants coming online ,One in Tasmania and one here in Victoria.

 

[twangster]

22 hours ago, Chili said:

I wonder if Voyager goes to Singapore after the Brisbane 25-26 season.

Short cruises keep emissions down ,it’s all they can do at the moment.

Hopefully we will be producing ship methanol here soon . There is supposed to be 2 plants coming online ,One in Tasmania and one here in Victoria.

 

How do short cruises reduce emissions?

If cruise length is a factor in the emissions equation that seems very short sighted.  

[Chili]

39 minutes ago, twangster said:

How do short cruises reduce emissions?

If cruise length is a factor in the emissions equation that seems very short sighted.  

Well ,short distance and while in port they don’t use as much fuel is what I was getting at , Not the length of time.

Im still trying to find out if port days add to their emissions. Places where they hook up to shore power could be debatable.

Los Angeles would be a good example and they probably hook up to renewable energy while in port 

[twangster]

8 hours ago, Chili said:

Well ,short distance and while in port they don’t use as much fuel is what I was getting at , Not the length of time.

Im still trying to find out if port days add to their emissions. Places where they hook up to shore power could be debatable.

Los Angeles would be a good example and they probably hook up to renewable energy while in port 

Short cruises can still have distances to get there and with normal hours in port the ship is burning fuel running multiple engines while not at the pier yet.  The typical four night itinerary has a sea day so burning fuel 24 hours.

Tampa's five night cruises are considered short but requires the ship run higher speeds to make it to Mexico.  

There are very few shore power ports today.   Vancouver has had shore power available for twenty years, it just hasn't been legally mandatory.  Los Angeles is another but shore power isn't free.  California doesn't want air pollution that gets trapped by the mountains and lingers for days.  In California 67% of the grid comes from non-renewable sources with natural gas the largest source making up 37% yet LNG ships are still required to plug in to shore power.   It's about moving the pollution somewhere else and it's a revenue source.  With a nearly $4k vessel commissioning charge so that ships are allowed to plug in where they are then charged around $300 per hour means that it would be cheaper to run on diesel but that isn't allowed by law.  Rates are set by the terminal operator usually a port authority of some sort, who typically have to show a profit on their balance sheets.  Someone has to pay for the shore power infrastructure that cost the port to install.  It isn't taxpayers paying for it.  It's the ships.

A seven night cruise doesn't mean the ship is hauling full out between every port. Many itineraries are built to avoid that.   In fact with new speed restrictions (to lower emissions) the distant port legs have been eliminated in most cases. 

The reason Royal is leaning towards short cruises is all about serving the new to cruise market that is the demographic making up the majority of their customers right now.  For example, with less than 3% of all Americans having ever been on a cruise before, the 97% is their target.  New to cruise don't want to commit to seven nights in case they don't like it or get sea sick.   That 97% are the people filling ships right now.

Short cruises allow them to charge more per night since the overall price tag remains low and within reach for more folks.  

[Chili]

P&O Australia will be no more as of early next year.Carnival will absorb it.

P&O Explorer will disappear,probably the scrap yard and one of the carnival ships may go somewhere else in the future.

Thats another brand and 2 ships gone from the Australian market but they are old dirty ships. Doing us a favour really.

Royal Caribbean are you listening?

 

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2024/06/carnival-cruise-line-to-absorb-po-australia-in-2025/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2SU_S_uRMobBEfy6Q37-V-GMYZPLt2zHey_EjYy5tnsdm2XSBtIGHTb74_aem_Ab1d_0Wyd2CYcjBAdmxfEP77_tnhX2H2Kq-R-AvwWIWJ-_bWCV4z0jge7Io-RTINfyLF0hTSGEwjLts3sY8AT6xc#google_vignette

 

[Jamesszy94]

On 6/4/2024 at 12:54 PM, Chili said:

P&O Australia will be no more as of early next year.Carnival will absorb it.

P&O Explorer will disappear,probably the scrap yard and one of the carnival ships may go somewhere else in the future.

Thats another brand and 2 ships gone from the Australian market but they are old dirty ships. Doing us a favour really.

Royal Caribbean are you listening?

 

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2024/06/carnival-cruise-line-to-absorb-po-australia-in-2025/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2SU_S_uRMobBEfy6Q37-V-GMYZPLt2zHey_EjYy5tnsdm2XSBtIGHTb74_aem_Ab1d_0Wyd2CYcjBAdmxfEP77_tnhX2H2Kq-R-AvwWIWJ-_bWCV4z0jge7Io-RTINfyLF0hTSGEwjLts3sY8AT6xc#google_vignette

 

As sad as it is, I'm not surprised P&O Australia is disappearing, they keep advertising cheap cruises all the time, and I have a feeling it's because noone ever sailed with them or they couldn't fill ships. I feel like a huge part is because they've been using older ships for like the past 20 or so years and there were never any newly build ships specifically made for them. People want to try new things... that's just my take though.

[Jamesszy94]

I sailed on the Pacific Eden back in 2016, and while she was a really nice ship, she did feel a bit outdated. Carnival Panorama was supposedly built specifically for Australia as the lines first "new" ship, but Carnival decided to keep it at Carnival instead

[Chili]

A rumour Azamara might move in ?

Where are those Vision class ? Are they still for sale?

Wouldn't be good to see a year round joint venture with RCG 

 

 

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/azamara-may-send-ships-to-australia/

 

 

[Jamesszy94]

The news that P&O is being absorbed into Carnival, as well as Cunard, Princess and Virgin pulling out of the Australian market makes me worried that Royal will be the next to go...

[steverk]

2 hours ago, Jamesszy94 said:

The news that P&O is being absorbed into Carnival, as well as Cunard, Princess and Virgin pulling out of the Australian market makes me worried that Royal will be the next to go...

You have a point, but I think they'll see it as an opportunity.  Less competition means higher prices and bigger profits.

[Chili]

9 hours ago, Jamesszy94 said:

The news that P&O is being absorbed into Carnival, as well as Cunard, Princess and Virgin pulling out of the Australian market makes me worried that Royal will be the next to go...

It’s a bit of a worry but Royal needs somewhere to send their Alaskan ships during the northern winter. I think we will always get one in Sydney.

All those port upgrades that have been done,like Eden and Hobart to take a Oasis class is waste of money.

[Jamesszy94]

They could just decide to send their ships to Europe or something.

[Chili]

10 minutes ago, Jamesszy94 said:

They could just decide to send their ships to Europe or something.

Quantum and Voyager class won’t go through the Panama Canal and it would be winter in Europe anyway.

About the only place they can send them at the moment is California or Australia.Singapore usually gets a ship from China during the northern winter ,so we can rule that out.

We don’t really need another cruise terminal in Sydney now ,put that way !

I wonder what has really caused it ,I suppose a combination of things.

 

[Jamesszy94]

6 hours ago, Chili said:

Quantum and Voyager class won’t go through the Panama Canal and it would be winter in Europe anyway.

About the only place they can send them at the moment is California or Australia.Singapore usually gets a ship from China during the northern winter ,so we can rule that out.

We don’t really need another cruise terminal in Sydney now ,put that way !

I wonder what has really caused it ,I suppose a combination of things.

 

A combination of a lot of things. Adrian (Thecruiseandtravelguy) thinks it's the increasing port fees for the different destinations

[Zambia-Zaire]

5 hours ago, Jamesszy94 said:

A combination of a lot of things. Adrian (Thecruiseandtravelguy) thinks it's the increasing port fees for the different destinations

LoL….it the Global Economy & the Financial Landscape. Simple as that. Disposable capital is nefariously fading for the other 99.5%.

[Chili]

I wasn’t aware Australia has American style PVSA and cruise ships get a exemption but apparently the exemption is under review.

 I was wondering why Royal Caribbean only has a couple of domestic cruises for the 25-26 season.

https://cruiseweekly.com.au/news/govt-silent-on-cruise-exemption/78903

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/cruise-industry-campaign-for-change/

[Jamesszy94]

 

[Chili]

13 hours ago, Jamesszy94 said:

 

The prices for the 25-26 season are pretty obscene . Even with a few free drinks,it’s not a cheap holiday anymore.

[Jamesszy94]

7 hours ago, Chili said:

The prices for the 25-26 season are pretty obscene . Even with a few free drinks,it’s not a cheap holiday anymore.

I think 2025-2026 might be my last cruise in Australia. It's just way too expensive to cruise in Australia, better off flying to Singapore and then cruising from there. 

^ Follow up video to the last one

[Chili]

If anyone is interested,there’s a petition to extend  coastal cruises in Australia.

 

https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN6353?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3VEcoULo0dl1cxljvDsu0gkqzJVYImxFYj35fLPLthPAnVlexvBEXEr2A_aem_1gVPiVw-CFT4stjyI0HspA

 

 

[Jamesszy94]

 

[smokeybandit]

Ovation now shows up on the summer 2025 LA port schedule.

[twangster]

On 6/10/2024 at 11:02 PM, Chili said:

A rumour Azamara might move in ?

Where are those Vision class ? Are they still for sale?

Wouldn't be good to see a year round joint venture with RCG 

 

 

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/azamara-may-send-ships-to-australia/

 

 

Azamara has all those old R class ships.  They are 2/3 the volume of my beloved Empress.  

Vision class added to the Azamara fleet would be like Icon versus Voyager class in Royal. 

 

[Chili]

3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Ovation now shows up on the summer 2025 LA port schedule.

It’s got a booking for a transpacific in Tahiti  April 2025 .

I wonder if it will go straight through to L.A .?

[Jamesszy94]

Ovation is showing Singapore/Hong Kong itineraries for me.

Does that mean Spectrum is being moved out of Asia? Or will Asia have Ovation and Spectrum

[CruisingOz]

1 hour ago, Jamesszy94 said:

Our Ovation out of Singapore bookings for January 2026 have not changed. Called the call centre and they say there will be no changes. 
I guess we wait for offical email

 

[Jamesszy94]

44 minutes ago, CruisingOz said:

 

It's showing Singapore/Asia for 2026 for Ovation, 2025 is still mostly Sydney. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

2 hours ago, CruisingOz said:

 

Good to hear from you !  It's been a while.  All is well down-under, hopefully ?!

[CruisingOz]

Yes, we are well. Been busy traveling. Recently returned from the US where we jumped on several cruises out of Florida, as well visiting the happiest place in Orlando (most expensive, lol)

[Vanessa77]

On 7/17/2024 at 12:21 PM, Chili said:

It’s got a booking for a transpacific in Tahiti  April 2025 .

I wonder if it will go straight through to L.A .?

What’s the likelihood do we think of them cancelling the Syd > Singapore trip? I’ve booked on this cruise! 

[Chili]

2 hours ago, Vanessa77 said:

What’s the likelihood do we think of them cancelling the Syd > Singapore trip? I’ve booked on this cruise! 

No ,from what I can figure out it will go through Asia.

 Ovation has about 7 weeks ,from what I understand,from leaving Sydney to arriving in Los Angeles .

A transpacific like that will sell in a flash.

[Chili]

 

[Jamesszy94]

Looks like ports around the world are starting to say  to Mega ships.

[smokeybandit]

On 7/25/2024 at 3:46 PM, Jamesszy94 said:

Looks like ports around the world are starting to say  to Mega ships.

Meanwhile

The New South Wales (NSW) Government in Australia has granted planning approval for modifications to the existing Eden Breakwater Wharf Extension. These modifications will allow larger cruise ships and more frequent visits to Eden Cruise Wharf along the continent’s Sapphire Coast.

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/australian-government-approves-ports-expansion-for-larger-cruise-ships/140398