| Guest |  Sun Princess year-round from Australia
On 23 May 2007 12:08:35 -0700, Paradise <irieblue@airmail.net> wrote:
>I did not get a press release from Princess and I am not a TA :)
>
>However, starting in 2008, the Sun Princess will be sailing year round
>from Australia. Yippee
If you did get the press releases, you could have read this one from
P&O Australia on 7th May. Nothing here that backs up your statement
:-)
The Global Cruise Boom
Date: 07 May 2007
Cruising is booming around the world. In fact it’s the fastest growing
segment of the travel industry – and Australia is riding the crest of
the wave.
The global cruise industry has a value of A$40 billion, with cruise
lines in the world’s largest market, North America, accommodating a
record 12.1 million passengers globally in 2006 – an 8.4 per cent
increase of almost a million passengers over 2005, according to the
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
Passenger numbers worldwide are expected to grow to 20 million by 2012
as ships increase in size up to 220,000 tons or almost five times the
size of the legendary Titanic.
CLIA attributes increased interest in cruising to a range of factors
including innovative facilities and amenities, upgraded cuisine,
increased value-for-money, a rise in the number of home ports for
liners and the “sheer excitement” of a cruise over a land-based
vacation.
Meanwhile, the International Cruise Council Australasia’s annual
research into Australian cruising habits shows strong year-on-year
growth for the industry since the statistics were first compiled in
2002.
The Cruise Council reported a record 221,033 Australians took a cruise
holiday in 2006 – an 18 per cent increase on the 186,666 passengers
who travelled in 2005.
The latest economic impact study of the Australian cruise shipping
industry, released in September 2006, found that the local industry is
worth $439 million to the Australian economy – a 92 per cent increase
over the previous figure in 2005. The Australian Economics Consulting
(AEC Group) study, commissioned by Cruise Down Under and the Federal
Government, found that the number of cruise ship visits to Australian
ports jumped 27.7 per cent from 325 in 2004-05 to 415 in 2005-06, with
visits expected to climb another 14 per cent to 474 in 2006-07.
Comparing figures for 2004-05 and 2005-06, the study also found:
- The number of Australian ports welcoming cruise ships rose
from 15 in 2004-05 to 20 in 2005-06
- An increase in visiting cruise ships in this period from 23 to 28
- An increase in total cruise ship capacity on these ships from 21,503
to 25,830
- Expenditure by passengers and crew more than doubled from $86.5
million to $185.6 million
- Total passenger days at ports rose 40.5 per cent to 396,779
More than 270 cruise ships representing 115 lines now ply oceans
around the world, visiting around 2000 destinations and able to
accommodate a total of 360,000 passengers. Seatrade reports that an
additional 35 cruise ships – most of them superliners – accommodating
93,000 passengers and collectively worth US$20 billion, will be built
by 2011 to meet growing demand. Twelve of the upcoming 35 ships will
be launched in 2007, adding 22,000 beds to worldwide capacity. The 35
new ships will represent an increase in berths of 30 per cent over
capacity in 2006. By 2015, the world’s cruise ships will be able to
accommodate a total of 588,000 passengers.
The hit TV series ‘The Love Boat’, filmed on Princess Cruises’ liners,
is credited with sparking the cruise boom in the 1970s. And another
cruise boom followed the blockbuster film ‘Titanic’, with audiences
captivated by the romance of cruising.
In Australia, P&O Cruises is tripling its business through the
addition of extra tonnage to meet burgeoning demand for cruise
holidays. In 2003, P&O Cruises Australia carried 50,000 passengers a
year on one ship to around 20 destinations while in 2008, after 75
years of operation, the company will be carrying more than 150,000
passengers on three ships to 60 ports.
P&O Cruises’ 47,000-ton Pacific Sun is currently based year-round in
Sydney while the 35,000-ton Pacific Star sails year-round from
Brisbane and Auckland. A major increase in local cruising capacity is
planned for 2007, with the arrival of the 70,000-ton superliner
Pacific Dawn in November. Presently sailing with Princess Cruises’
fleet as Regal Princess, the ship will be the largest liner ever to be
based permanently in Australia.
In addition, Princess Cruises will debut its huge 77,000-ton premium
ship, Sun Princess, in Sydney from November 2007 to April 2008,
succeeding the popular but smaller 30,200-ton Pacific Princess. Rising
demand for premium cruising from Australia is also behind Princess
Cruises’ decision to base both Sun Princess and twin sister Dawn
Princess in Australia in the summer of 2008/09, with Dawn to offer a
season sailing from Melbourne for the first time.
Meanwhile one of the world’s biggest liners, the US-based, 116,000-ton
Sapphire Princess will return to Australia for another bumper summer
season in 2007-08, offering a series of cruises between Sydney and
Auckland.
P&O Cruises World Voyages will send two of its superliners – Aurora
and Oriana – to Australia in February 2008 as part of annual world
voyages each summer, while Seabourn regularly deploys its ultra-luxury
‘yachts’ on cruises to Australia.
Underlining the growth of cruising in Australia was the arrival in
Sydney on February 20 this year of the biggest liner ever to sail to
our shores, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2. The giant 151,400-ton liner was
joined in Sydney Harbour by her famous ‘little’ sister, QE2, on the
same day.
Australia’s popularity on the world cruise circuit has been further
highlighted by the inclusion of four Australian ports on the first
world cruise of Cunard’s newest liner, Queen Victoria. Scheduled for
launch in December 2007, Queen Victoria will visit Port Douglas,
Brisbane and Melbourne and meet her legendary sister QE2 in Sydney in
February 2008.
Carnival Australia is part of Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s
largest cruise vacation company, and represents P&O Cruises Australia,
Princess Cruises, Cunard, Seabourn, Costa and P&O Cruises World
Voyages.
|
