Australia’s second largest cruise company Royal Caribbean Cruises has made a bold move to stop sending its epic Voyager of the Seas to Australia for the simple reason that Sydney have run out of space to accommodate another ship.
Royal Caribbean are not the only cruise operator looking at bypassing Sydney in favour of overseas ports, and Melbourne and Brisbane – which are starting to gain more cruise recognition rather than Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal.
And according to News Corp, Royal Caribbean’s decision marks the first time in 10 years a major cruise operator has cut a service in Australia.
Managing Director Adam Armstrong also announced its 12-deck ship Radiance of the Seas is also bypassing Sydney in favour of Melbourne and New Zealand.
“Sydney will lose 65,000 guests a year from Voyager of the Seas and around $32 million in passenger spend.” “It’s extremely frustrating. There is no berthing solution in Sydney,” Armstrong added.
“In the interim, Singapore, Hong Kong and China have all built world-class terminals. Brisbane will have a solution before Sydney does.”
And while Radiance of the Seas isn’t bypassing Sydney altogether in the 2018/19 season, due to port restraints, she will offer one cruise from Melbourne and three from Auckland.
Carnival Australia has also voiced there concern with Sydney’s lack of docking space, with Carnival Legend now offering 10 voyages from Melbourne in 2018.
Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth will be based in Australia for a record two months between February and April 2019, but while the company did have a partiality for Sydney, it was not the most practical choice given there were few available berths in Sydney, so now for the first time, three of its cruises will leave from Melbourne.
“The NSW market is our biggest market, and we would like more space in Sydney, ultimately there’s real problems in Sydney, for example we don’t fit under the bridge. But there’s no easy answer to the problem. We’re one of many ships with the same problem.” said Cunard’s Vice President of International Development, David Rousham.
Carnival Australia’s Executive Chairman Ann Sherry also told News Corp, “We are finding ourselves increasingly basing ships in other cities.
“We are nearing crunch point where we need to find a way to unblock the stalemate in Sydney Harbour and find a way of sharing the Garden Island facility between Navy and cruising for the benefit of Sydney.”
Australia’s newest, largest and most modern cruise ship, Ovation of the Seas, will return for her third and longest season yet based down under.
“This deployment change (for Voyager of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas) makes possible the early return of Ovation of the Seas to her summer home in Sydney, where she will operate her longest ever Australia season,” said Armstrong.
The 2018/19 season will kick off with the arrival of Radiance of the Seas to Sydney on 6 October 2018. Explorer of the Seas will return down under on 27 October 2022 and Ovation of the Seas on 2 November 2018.
Collectively, the three ships will offer 61 sailings, ranging from 3-nights to 23-nights, sailing to nine different countries including Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, French Polynesia, Malaysia, New Caledonia, Singapore, the USA and Vanuatu.
“We expect that local demand for Royal Caribbean’s innovative and ground breaking ships will see a fourth Royal Caribbean ship return to Australian shores in 2019/20. Our determination to remain the number one cruise line in this region is undiminished,” Armstrong concluded.
