Are Cruise Lines Abandoning Australia? Grand Princess Cancelled, Virgin Voyages and Cunard Both Gone 

Thanks for the interest in this video! I know it's resonating with a lot of Aussies and those around the world! Quick note: I am well aware that White Bay exists as Sydney's second cruise terminal 😬However it has little (to no) use in the growth of Australia's cruise industry. As I mention in the video, cruise ships continue to grow in size and scale and they cannot sail under the Harbour Bridge to access Sydney's White Bay. A "second" useful terminal is required east of the Bridge or at least somewhere else in Sydney (Yarra Bay etc) where cruise ships of any size can access the facilities. Hope that helps! Happy cruising.

Part of the problem is the cruise lines used to send their smaller ships to Australia. Now they only have giant mega ships so they have far more cabins to sell. I liked the old Sun class ships (that included the Sun, Sea and Dawn Princess). They were not too big and not too small… sure they were missing some of the new bells and whistles but they were still good pod sized ships for the Australian market. There is a second dock in Sydney but most ships can’t get under the Harbour Bridge to use it. Brisbane has its brand new port, but is lacking basic amenities like public transport to and from the port… you must pass through an ugly industrial wasteland to get there. And the cruise itineraries are very repetitive

To be left with p&o Australia would be a sad day

Yes I agree with your assessment about Sydney capacity, some of us are a bit jaded by the itineraries offered. Pacific Islands, NZ and Aus.

European here, we loved Sydney as Start of our NZ cruise on the Majestic and are planning an AUS cruise for 2026. Yes, it is a long flight but we loved the vibe and are so so look forward to see more of your beautiful country.

Fly/cruise is at least part of the answer but if Australia wants to be part of it we need to think out of the box. Broome as a home port and cruise the Indonesia archipelago. As a winter cruise Australians would flock to it. Might even have saved an airline like Bonza. Singapore is growing it cruise home port market by the day especially with their Disney joint venture

YOU SIR ARE CORRECT! This Yank had 2 Oz cruises cancelled by Princess. Brisbane to Papua New Guinea & SYD to Aucklund in 2026. . When we fly to Oz it's a long trip from Minnesota. So we typically spend 2-3 wks in OZ. before & after the cruise like we did on the South Seas Island on the Majestic Princess in 2019. Sydney & Melbourne are terrific cities. We had planned to fly to Perth after the cruise. Carnival cancelled our cruise to PNG last year. SYD Harbor needs to get back in the game. Brisbane & Perth need to step up too.

Try getting a cruise out from Perth/Fremantle, it's very much only ships passing by on world cruises and the odd Plain and Ordinary Ship doing a few short cruises in summer.

We need a second cruise terminal in Sydney, it’s fustrating that’s it’s not already under way

I think the Carnival group is failing the Australian "brands" by sending large ships, but comprising product. I upgraded to a Byron Bay Beach Club Mini Suite, as a solo. Everything had to be requested, & advertised inclusions were reduced by 70% by time of sailing. I felt like the standard was below living conditions at home : with 2 exceptions - Grayboy stage shows, & breakfast at Angelo's. Dinner was close to Sydney standards, but the Pantry, Waterfront & Dragon Lady were waaay below what I would entertain at a nominal cost

I think the increasing costs for cruise lines is also a contributing factor.

I think Newcastle needs a cruise terminal. Approx 2hrs north of Sydney. Gateway to beautiful wine region and beaches. But Sydney also needs facilities to house a second Quantum like size ship.

I remember reading somewhere that all the options in Sydney were ruled out, and they were looking at Port kembla or Newcastle as alternatives. I can't find the article, unfortunately. But people come to see Sydney (especially international cruisers). So a new terminal in Sydney or close by needs to be made. On a side note, do you know what the biggest dimensions of a ship that can fit at the overseas passenger terminal? I can't seem to find it only that the Ovation of the seas is the biggest ship that docks there. Is it even capable of taking the likes of an oasis class ship? If not, wherever the new terminal is (if it gets built), it needs to be designed for the bigger ships in mind.

A smaller ship sailing from Brisbane might mean that it doesn't have to tender in port like Cairns? Tendering is aweful.

The truth is it is sooo expensive for Australians to cruise on lines that require American currency. Caribbean is very lucrative for the cruise lines.

Cruising out of Australia is boring anyway, itineraries are limited and you get stuck doing the same cruise time and time again.

Room in Sydney Harbour is an issue, but the real issue is that we don't have any destinations for the cruise ships to sail to. South Pacific ports closed, NZ ports full. No domestic ports that can support the larger ships - tendering off a Quantum class ship takes hours and reduces the port visit for guests to just a few hours in the middle of the day.

Australia is not a good cruise port, lately too much hassle especially its visa, you might be caught by surprised.

The future of Australian cruising - old Carnival and P&O ships to Noumea or Moreton island. What an utter disappointment after a few years where it felt like the future of cruising in Australia was so bright.

Yes we agree with your assumptions, Sydney is such a beautiful port to sail into and out of. But yes seems like we are getting somewhat abandoned

That is why now we have to travel overseas to get on to better cruise ships and great itineraries, The naval base will never let go of their position !

The prospects for Melbourne are even sadder.

The Grand Princess is an old rust bucket. No loss !

I'd prefer to cruise out of Melb or Brisbane rather than Sydney. Those terminals need to be upgraded.

I may be far from an expert on Australian cruises (having only taken one short cruise out of Sydney), I do have to say that the Australian ports are among the most stunning ports I've ever seen - I'll never forget standing on the top deck of Coral Princess watching Sydney Harbour disappearing - absolutely incredible. I'd love to see you guys getting more ships and more diverse experiences - I'd love to come over again at some point!

I completely agree with your theory . They really need to find an alternative Sydney option .

Still very sad about Virgin, I went in January So i was very lucky.

Sad that majestic princess is gone . Love that ship .

We need a second cruise port we somewhere

We have not been affected yet, but we do have a cruise booked on Discovery Princess on February 28th 2026. So far our cruise is still listed as going ahead so fingers crossed. It seems that Discovery Princess' cruises from Auckland have all been cancelled. Do you think this may be similar to the Melbourne situation and that Princess pulled out of embarking/disembarking in Auckland due to costs?

A second terminal East of the Bridge? Simple. A stroke of a pen and there could be a part of Garden Island. Political will. Where is it? A Govt.not interested in Tourism.

To be fair, most of the cruises offered from Australia have pretty ordinary itineraries. The regular reported issues onboard, fights, over consumption of alcohol, drug use, and the cruise lines failure to control the antisocial passengers may have some impact on sales.

We’ve done over 30 cruises. We’ve sailed out of Fort Lauderdale, Venice, Genoa, Copenhagen, to name a few and sadly Australia gets all the crap ships (everyone’s hand me downs) yet we are charged like we are cruising on the newest and best ships. Just got off another P&O Encounter cruise on Friday and much to my disgust they have cut back on so many things such as in the pantry there are no more cold meat cuts & a variety of cheeses for a late night snack sandwich. Either they turn off or their air conditioner doesn’t work, half the toilets are out of order and the smell of sewerage on some floors 👿🤬

Any problem as big as finding more docking space due to the cost involved plus environmental impact studies blah blah blah means this problem will continue long term. govts both state and federal will just bury there head in the sand. It’s a disgrace as you only need to see the big cruise ports which I have such as Miami and Galveston for example to see the amount of tourists which equals money and jobs that it brings into the local economy’s

Greedy cruise lines I say, want taxpayer subsidised berths. The business model for Australia has to be medium sized ships not the Monstrosities of the Seas.

Now, with P&O getting absorbed, i'm feeling less hopeful for the future.

It seems to be that the exorbitant fees and taxes to dock in Melbourne have turned away a lot of ships, along with incoming tourists, food and drink suppliers to ships also. It is a real travesty and a massive loss to Victorias economy….

Well if you tax this business to hell, guess what happens. Keep voting for labour😅

Remember the disgrace if scott Morrison and the ruby princess put me off cruises

This has been a growing problem for some years and I believe that one solution would be to convert the Garden Island Naval base into a cruise terminal, which would have the potential to accommodate as many as 4 ships at any one time. The navy should relocate to Jervis Bay, which is already a strategic naval base under the governance of the ACT. I think that in times of war, the current situation of having Navy ships based in Sydney Harbour would make Sydney a target. This change would potentially increase the availability of docking space for cruise ships from the current 2 at White Bay and 1 at Circular Quay to an additional 4 at Garden Island making a total of 7 on any given day. The conversion of Garden Island could happen reasonably quickly while retaining and repurposing the heritage buildings that are on the site.

I believe we are being abandoned. Someone definitely needs to look at a 2nd port for Sydney. I hope we are all wrong but times have changed over the years.

One reason we cruised on Celebrity Edge to Melbourne, Adelaide, KI and Hobart was because of it's relative newness as opposed to the usual offer of old tubs from the others.

I don't think you could fit anything else in on the ocean side of the coat hanger. Perhaps Port Botany should be developed for this purpose? It is still Sydney, and a lot closer to the centre than Citavechhia for example.

Australia Definitly needs another overseas cruise terminal and carnival Definitly needs to give us some new ships.

I know it won’t ever happen, But the way I look at it is the Government should move the Navy from Garden Island to Newcastle Harbour so it’s also close to the RAAF at Williamtown. Then utilise Garden Island as a 2nd international port in Sydney, Which could easily hold another 2 - 3 ships. It’s also got the ferry right there to get you straight into Circular Quay where pretty much the entirety of Sydney can be accessed from. That way with the combination of White Bay, Circular Quay, Garden Island and Athol Bay there’s potential for say 6 ships a day. Being 2 smaller at white bay, 1 at circular quay, 1 at Athol bay and 2 at Garden island. But We all know the Government’s like.

I was booked on the Grand 16/02/26. Have been told it will now be the Crown Princess, same dates and itinerary atm, but was told all information will be released by the end of the month. I picked this cruise because of the itinerary, so hopefully they don’t change it.

To everyone clamouring for the Navy to move away from GI just for cruise ships... No. A world of no for so many reasons. It would be cheaper, less controversial, and better strategically to build a terminal on Cremorne Point, Bradley's Point, or Mrs Macquarie's Chair. But the Navy stays at GI.

Lets hope so and good riddance. Its becuse we now insist on the rules: 1. No sewage discharge withing 50kms of the shore. 2. Use of low sulphur fuel in our 200km economic zone. 3. Compulsory use of shore power in port. The cruise lines didn't like it and with them blocked from the Red Sea, the trip around the Cape is a bit too rough for them now.

We need more cruises from Australia.

Happy to never go cruising again.

I’m sad about his, as I had just decided that cruising was for me. One of the big drawcards for me was being able to enjoy a trip without the expense and discomfort of a long flight at either end. But now, if I’m going to have to fly anyway I will be looking at all the other things I could be doing like small group tours or resort stays.

Our cruise for March 2026 on Grand has been cancelled (was a return from Brisbane to PNG ) - no alternative cruise on offer unfortunately. We have decided to jump on the Discovery to Fiji 13 nights but usual itinerary that we have done already. I’m happy about a newer ship for the experience but disappointed I won’t get a new itinerary. I’m from Auckland so we are even worse off than Australia as we only have P &O Explorer home porting out of Auckland during our winter and I’m very tired of the shabbiness I have experienced on the Explorer. Happy cruising everyone- have to try and enjoy what we have for as long as we can!

Pom here and just finished a cruise on Celebrity Solstice from Singapore 👍 via Bali 😨 Darwin 👍 Cairns 👍 Airlie Beach 👍 Sydney 👍We were fortunate to pass and dock facing your world famous Opera house and viewed it from our cabin. 👍. The Opera house is the picture perfect view from a cruises liner, it's the money shot. A mixed bunch of nationalities on board all enjoying the delights of Australia. Boarding in Singapore was one of the worst embarkations we've experienced and it was blamed on Australian visa stipulations ( I dont know ) lots of complaints to Celebrity who wasn't to blame. You do have strict visa custom and biosecurity regulations (and rightly so) so big Government do make it difficult for cruise lines, maybe it's easier and cheaper to visit other countries than Australia.

Crown Princess is replacing the grand Princess they’re not leaving Australia

You where right a month ago. We are being abandoned. P&O are leaving completely.

Cunard abandoned the Australian Market because of two reasons. Mostly it was the strict policing of hull cleaning in New Zealand, the QE ran foul (pun intended) twice, and so Cunard pulled out of all of the NZ cruises, secondly Melbourne increased berthing charges, so again Cunard and Princess cruises were cut from MEL itineraries, basically all the remaining cruises were Australian based, with the odd South Pacific loop. Nothing to do with SYD

Worse in NZ, Princess canceling cruises ex Auckland and rescheduling same cruise ex Sydney

You Think Sydney has problems come here to Melbourne at least your still getting cruises

While ship berths are a major consideration for the cruise ships coming to Australia particularly in Sydney. (Surely a major naval base at Jervis Bay would be a logical move for the Navy) I think the real reason for cruise lines dropping out of our market is the geography of our region. Cruise lines are moving toward having bigger and bigger ships that they want to fill with rich passengers who are content with just being on the ship and spending all their money on the ship. The ship is now the destination. In the US they can fill these massive ships all year long, take passengers to one or two nearby Caribbean islands and make a a bucketload of money. Meanwhile Australia is a long way from anywhere, most of the destinations can't handle giant ships and what's more the Australian passengers won't subsidise their crew by endlessly handing out tips. We're a minor market where the Carnival Group and Royal Caribbean don't make as much money. We already get the tired old ships from the various fleets. I suspect the situation is only going to get worse.

Royal Caribbean still about.Better ships than P&O

Sydney needs to get its act together!!! If Brisbane can do it, so can Sydney!

Even Disney was discounting cruises out of Brisbane which is unheard of.

I hope we never see another cruse liner in Australian- floating cesspits

Our beloved Bayside council is very proud that they managed to stop the project with passanger terminal in pt Botany, "it will destroy! We do not need! NIMBY!". They reported it very loud in local media.

Well said.

So, the Toads get a better ship & Sydney get stuck with another Quantum-class. RCCL you can have my Emerald, Quantum-class hold little interest for over 65 cruisers.

I sailed on one of those bargain RC cruises from Brisbane, was great. However the flights to Brisbane were very pricey and almost took out any cruise savings. I wish they had more cruises from Melbourne. Problem with Australia are the vast distances. The declining $AUD may also be a factor for international providers trying to make a profit.

Sydney definitely needs another cruise terminal or build one in NEWCASTLE like they were going to promise in 2019 I think it was.

Cruised 4 times now out of Sydney. 3 times on smaller ships (RC, Celebrity and Cunard) and once on a megaship (RC). Can't tell how much we loathed the big boat. The destinations were great, but if that had been our first cruise experience, it would have been our last. We would have done a cruise this year, but RC only sent one of their Abomination of the Seas class, and we won't be making that mistake twice.

Very costly to homeport out of Melbourne, and they not happy also the costs out of Sydney. Virgin was very unhappy with the increasing costs out of Melbourne where they were going to cruise out of. Australian politicians are not interested in the cruise industry

Aussies love to cruise but they won’t pay extra for the privilege. So when other markets are happy to spent much more per night, makes sense for capacity to be reduced to an amount where they don’t have to fire sale cabins. Virgin failed in their season because they thought word of mouth would be enough. But the time they advertised, it was too little too late.

I think part of the issue is overseas cruisers, particularly social media types, want the bragging rights of sailing into Sydney Harbour as part of the Australian experience. I wonder if even a second ‘Sydney’ terminal would solve the problem. Also the infrastructure to support another terminal would have to be spot on for both foreign and domestic customers.

I was impacted by the Grand Princess redeployment in the form of my Discovery Princess sailing being adjusted. I am in the minority here but I don't see the big issue with a ship anchored in the harbour for a turnaround day, notably Athol Bay. We are a city that uses ferries and from what I have seen they use Captain Cook and other private operators to ferry people, the money would go directly to those companies (one would think). The only real issue with that is how does the ship refuel and restock and how do passengers check in? Most of that would be using the current use of fuel barges or refuelling at another port that can support it, most ships carry enough fuel for a month so after a two-week cruise there is half a tank to get somewhere to refuel. Sydney is still a commercial port and there is plenty of space and vessels capable of loading goods and transporting them to a ship. The Garden Island debate- it is first and foremost a Navy Base and is the main one on the east coast that supports the Navy’s largest vessels and is home to the southern hemisphere's largest dry dock. The navy will not let that go in a hurry and nor should they feel compelled to just cruise guests during the summer which also is the time when navy ships return home from deployment, especially around Christmas. But at the same time, there is the eastern side of the navy base. Where the Naval Heritage Centre is, could provide limited facilities and act as a de facto cruise terminal, it can berth vessels on that side as it has the length to do so and would only be used mostly between November and March when the season heats up. As it is still closed and under the hands of the Federal government that may be a pipedream but is the most sensible option and won’t cost much. The third option is Newcastle. It did welcome Celebrity Edge this season so is plenty capable, it is easier to access compared to Brisbane due to better bus and potential ferry access as the port is right near the city, and a terminal was on the cards before it was canned before 2020 but not has been dismissed entirely. Sorry, it’s a long one.

I think that Sydney and Melbourne should both build new cruise terminals, if they (Sydney and Melbourne) build a terminal comparable to brisbane, then it might allow the possibility of oasis or icon class size vessels to come to australia (as unrealistic as that is)

I dont think that's the issue, I think the cruise line's scrapped or sold too many ships and now are having capacity constraints. A lot of the cruise lines smaller ships such as sea and sun princess fitted under the bridge so they berths in Sydney. And now we are left behind as ships get redeployed to busier markets

Princess said they were just sending our booking in December to Tasmania to January to Tasmania.

The Sydney sail away and sail in are the most spectacular of any port in the world so they need to find another terminal to cater for a variety of ships. Melbourne also needs a viable cruise terminal as Station Pier is a disgrace. Local governments however do not seem to have the foresight or inclination to do anything about this state of affairs.

Brisbane really seems to be lacking in cruises these days. A bit of a worry considering the new cruise terminal was built to expect bigger cruise ships.

Adrian, you make many valid points. Personally I think your connection of the dots is pretty much spot on. Whilst Aussies like to cruise, trying to get anywhere requires a lot of ‘fuel’ both for the ship and passengers, we are a long way from anywhere. Cruise lines are a business, they need to run at a profit to make it viable. The cost of docking anywhere in Australia is considerable as opposed to other countries ports. You only have to look to pricing circumnavigation cruises of Australia, it is port and docking fees that make it so expensive. Especially when for Americans the prices are given for the cruise with port and taxes added on, not fully included in the price as they are here..Whilst everyone wants to come to Sydney, no matter how many times one has done it, on a beautiful sunny day Sydney harbour is definitely a bucket list experience, but the docking fees, which in turn is passed onto the passengers, makes it an expensive trip. In terms of population and area, we just cannot compete with other countries that have attractions in far closer proximity than we do, plus the populations to fill the ship, which is the reason we are losing the number of ships that are home porting to Australia in the summer season. Running a ship at less than full capacity is NOT a good business proposition, the ships are getting bigger not smaller. It’s a matter of supply and demand.

Seems so. I believe Crystal have deserted us

We have just had our cruise on Diamond princess October 2025 to USA cancelled 😢 from Sydney/ Brisbane

We had a booking on Diamond Princess from Brisbane Dec 25, have been advised Diamond is to redploy to Japan. No Princess from Brisbane 25-26 season.

Three of us were booked on a 37 Day South Pacific/Hawaii cruise departing October next year. We are Elite passengers as we have sailed with Princess many times over the years including around the world cruise. However, the service and the way Princess handled situations has left a lot to be desired. Only one of us received the email advising cancellation of our next cruise and our Travel Agent followed up with us. No explanation on why the ship was being redeployed. No replacement ship just an offer of cruises cruising around Australia which we don't want. Been there done that. We could cancel and receive a full refund on the deposit however we have a lot of on board credits given to us due to problems on our last cruise in February/March last year. These would be lost as Princess NEVER refunds cash on the credits which I believe is wrong. I certainly would not recommend sailing with Princess ever again.

Very very sad indeed. Princess is the only ship that’s made for me. As it is booking a cruise even 12 to 18 months in advance is difficult as the cruises get booked out fast. If you do manage to secure a booking the prices are high , I’m sure much higher then other countries. People will be left with no alternative but to give the whole cruising princess experience a miss 😢

Hit the proverbial on the head,Adrian. Until ships can have access to berth in Sydney during the season, choice will be limited. The logical area is the navy docks. Surely for the vast $$ being outplayed on defence, this can be organised.

I don’t disagree with you one bit but I want to throw in one other thought, the region doesn’t lend itself to the larger ships in general, tendering a Quantum Class is painfully long so nothing larger can come as ports cannot handle them. There is a different strategy they could play but it would mean committing a ship year round, during our winter season imagine cruising from Cairns and/or Darwin, the places it can open up would bring life back to cruising for the Australian market in general. We are seeing less cruises make it to the South Pacific islands due to the weather so that market isn’t attracting travellers, things need to change but cruise lines need to make commitments, there is only so many times you can do NZ!

Not enough clients eh?

They need to rebuild the Brisbane cruise terminal in a new place because where it is right now is near A industrial site Which is not very pretty And make it bigger as well Like they have in New York or any of the American ports would be nice And as for Sydney it already has 2 Terminals international and White Bay Because Pacific adventure docs Because P&O doesn't pay the government enough money to get the cruise terminal So if anyone needs a second terminal it's Brisbane not Sydney

Losing the Grand Princess is not such a bad thing if they assign a more suitable smaller ship like Coral Princess instead. I have commented on Princess abandoning the Australian cruise market before and nothing has happened to change this opinion. Instead we are condemned to the to the extremely average standards that is P&O, and that was as kind as I could frame it.

It’s not just space - the market has too many berths versus demand, resulting in lower pax yields.

We got an email that we've lost our cruise out of Hobart in Jan 2026. What a disappointment.

Isn’t White Bay a second cruise terminal? Perhaps we need a third.

We definitely need a local cruise terminal here in Newcastle. We have a national soon to be international airport, we have the tourism destinations such as the Hunter Valley wine region and Port Stephens and Central Coast. Regional cruisers would find it better to travel to Newcastle than to Sydney to board a ship. But Sydney also needs to pull its proverbial finger out on this issue.

Grand Princess is being replaced with Crown Princess. I’ve had a phone call from Princess asking me if I was going to go with the replacement cruise. She confirmed the replacement ship was Crown Princess. It is still sailing from Brisbane for a 10 night itinerary to Tasmania instead of a 9 nighter. I was looking forward to getting back on the Grand - I liked the smaller size. But I’m happy enough with the Crown which I think is the same class as the Coral which has been Brisbane’s ship for the last two years. I can’t see Australia being abandoned. Surely it is too lucrative a market and there are more ports than just Sydney. The Brisbane terminal is equal with many of the others in the world despite the walk from the terminal building to the ship being a bit long. I miss sailing under the Gateway Bridge but the new terminal is sleek and modern.

The state government has the answer to the problem. Building White Bay cruise terminal was great for the smaller boutique cruise lines. What is needed is a multi vessel cruise port which may mean moving away from Sydney Harbour

So much for Sydney being an World City. It is a sad state of affairs that our only other cruise berth terminal is as the sub standard White Bay, which is a nightmare to get to and from and what facilities they have, are substandard.

for real though I have a real question - where would a new terminal go if they were to build one? Garden Island?

personally I blame your youtube channel for this result

I think the problems are very complicated and there are many issues to be looked at. Yes the experience of sailing in and out of Sydney is a great experience and not having enough space to berth ships does not help the situation other concerns a sailing destinations. As you said cruise lines promote fly and sail itineraries for overseas passengers that include many trips to New Zealand and there have been plenty of issues sailing there with bio-security concerns cruise lines need some consistency and I don't think they are getting it here and the trouble with the South Pacific it is our cyclone season. Having said that cruise lines appear to be only interested in how much they can make and are not concerned about loyalty to their regular guests. I think if your unhappy with the cruise line just don't cruise. I love cruising but it is getting to the point I will be trying something different.

Their job is to spend taxpayers money efficiently. It is not to just endlessly build infrastructure for foreign owned Cruise companies who may change their schedules without consultation. Lets not forget that the profits are being sent overseas.