I feel like a broken record.
Every year, I hear the same tired lines from the cruise industry: higher operating costs, regulatory uncertainty, expensive port fees and stronger financial opportunities overseas.
And if you think I’m being sensationalist, CLIA Australasia put some hard numbers behind those warnings at Cruise360 recently.
CLIA says cruise tourism is worth more than $7 billion a year to Australia, but that figure has fallen by more than $1 billion as fewer ships call at Australian ports. The organisation says the decline is putting some of the 22,000 Australian jobs that rely on international cruise tourism at risk.
Meanwhile, a large proportion of the Australian cruisers I’ve spoken to say they are going overseas to cruise.
That’s a massive loss for our country. Imagine the Aussie families that 22,000 lost jobs would affect.
And while international cruise ships have started to arrive for the Australian Wave Season, their impact will be short lived. They’ll spend a few months here, then sail off again to foreign waters.
The industry cheers and lavish events are held to showcase the ships, but this is not enough.
Australia has some of the most passionate cruise fans in the world, so why is our cruise industry going backwards?
In recent years we’ve seen ships from cruise lines including Virgin Voyages and Cunard leave our shores, shorter seasons and fewer deployment announcements, while other regions continue to expand.
So, what’s the solution?
Is it governments and ports that need to do more to attract and retain cruise ships? Or is this simply the reality of a global industry that follows profitability?
After a decade of devoting my time to cruising and advocating for the industry, I’m frustrated. But, my voice alone does not count, so I asked Australian cruisers what they think needs to change. One message came through loud and clear:
Give us more choice
One cruiser summed it up perfectly:
“We cruise the world, it’s nothing to do with port fees, we just love to see the world by cruise.”
They don’t want Australians to stop cruising locally. They want Australia to offer a product compelling enough to keep them here.
“We need more newer ships here, more cruise destinations as we’ve done them over and over…we just need more options.”
And that word – options – came up again and again.
Another cruiser told me they travel overseas at least twice a year because they want “a different itinerary and a different ship.”
They want to cruise from Sydney or Brisbane without constantly seeing the same destinations.
“We need to be able to cruise Sydney or Brisbane and not do Noumea and Mystery Island. Give me different locations, not the same rinse and repeat.”
Joel Katz, Managing Director, CLIA Australasia, addresses Cruise360
We can’t keep selling the same cruise
Cruisers are becoming more experienced. They have cruised the South Pacific, New Zealand and the Australian coastline multiple times.
A Melbourne cruiser compared today’s options with a Princess cruise they took in 2009, which visited five different South Pacific ports.
“You can’t do anything much like that now. We definitely need a few different itineraries.”
Another cruiser questioned why there are so few opportunities from Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, particularly when travellers are prepared to fly overseas rather than fly domestically to Sydney.
And that is the uncomfortable truth.
If I have to fly from Melbourne to Sydney to board a cruise, why wouldn’t I consider flying to Asia instead?
Stop saying the problem is just due to high port fees
Of course, port costs matter and Aussie cruisers are aware of the issue. One commenter simply said: “Port fees are crazy! That’s why the industry is pulling off from Australia.”
CLIA is also calling for more competitive and stable policy settings, arguing that rising costs and regulatory uncertainty are making Australia less competitive as a cruise destination.
But infrastructure matters too.
One Melbourne cruiser described Station Pier as “not fit for purpose” and contrasted it with Sydney’s cruise terminals, describing Sydney as “fast, clean and efficient” and “the benchmark.”
If Australia wants to compete for cruise ships, the passenger experience needs to begin long before they step onboard.
Cruise terminals need to be accessible, efficient and designed around the needs of modern cruise ships and their passengers.
And perhaps this is where governments, ports and the cruise industry need to look beyond simply asking how many ships we can attract.
We need to ask what kind of cruise experience are we creating?
The reality is that Australian cruisers aren’t sitting at home waiting for ships to return. They’re booking flights and travelling to Asia, Europe and elsewhere to find newer ships, different itineraries and new destinations.
But there is another side to the story
The cruise industry isn’t standing still. CLIA reported that its membership has now reached almost 7,000 travel advisors across Australia and New Zealand, a record high. Cruise360 Australasia itself attracted 880 delegates to Sydney this year.
So the appetite for cruising is certainly there.
The question is whether Australia is doing enough to capture it.
So, can we fix Australian cruising?
I’m naturally an optimistic person, so I do think we can.
But it requires everyone to stop looking at cruising as simply another ship arriving at a port.
If we want more ships, we need to make Australia commercially attractive.
That means:
- Competitive port and berthing costs
- Investment in modern cruise infrastructure
- More viable homeports around Australia
- New and more diverse itineraries
- Access to destinations beyond the same handful of ports
- Newer ships and a broader range of cruise products
- Better cooperation between governments, ports, unions and cruise lines
- A long-term national approach to cruise tourism rather than fragmented decision-making
And perhaps most importantly, we need to listen to the people who actually buy cruises.
Because the message from Australian cruisers isn’t that they don’t want to cruise, but that they want to cruise more.
They just want more ships, more destinations, better itineraries and more reasons to choose Australia.
CLIA says Australia needs to “get back on course”.
Perhaps the best place to start is by asking the people who are already on board what would make them stay.
Because we still love cruising.
Just give us a reason to stay home.
