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Carnival makes a splash in 2010
SYDNEY – Cruising continues to buck the travel trend in Australia with another bumper wave season on the way.
The nation’s largest cruise operator, Carnival Australia, says 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 to include the maiden Fremantle and Adelaide visits of Cunard’s 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 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,†she said.
In all, the fleet will visit 24 Australian ports, including four new ports for the season – Christmas, Norfolk and Phillip Islands and Newcastle.
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.
Princess Cruises’ Sun Princess will sail from Sydney and Dawn Princess will be based in Melbourne for the summer.
Darwin will enjoy five visits by three ships operated by Carnival Australia including the ultra-luxury Seabourn Odyssey making her maiden visit to Australia.
Tomorrow CruiseMole talks to Carnival Australia senior vice president Jenny Lourey
Ian Jarrett
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