CRUISE NEWS
Line up for Australia’s next cruise season
P&O Cruises plans to start cruising from Australian ports in January 2022. Below: Ponant’s Le Lapérouse will be visiting Hobart in late 2022. Bottom: Sapphire Princess will drop by Kangaroo Island on its Southern Australia Explorer cruise.
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ike Rip Van Winkle awakening from his 20-year slumber, or in this case a two-year pandemic hiatus, local cruisers are desperate to hit the high seas again. Local cruise lines APT and Coral Expeditions have been blessed to be able to sail Down Under over the past 12 months, with voyages around Western Australia’s Kimberley and Broome regions and Tropical North Queensland. But with the international border restrictions set to relax, cruisers can expect to see luxury and contemporary vessels grace our waters again. French luxury line Ponant will restart its Kimberley cruises aboard the 92-cabin Le Lapérouse and 92-cabin Le Soléal, offering a number of departures from Broome to Darwin in 2022. There’s a popular 11-day, all-inclusive itinerary that offers shore excursions to King George River, the spectacular Twin Falls and ancient Indigenous rock art. For the sailors, the line has put together a food, wine and yacht-race cruise in Tasmania with an 11-day Hobart to Hobart Christmas cruise aboard Le Lapérouse from December 23, 2022. During the cruise, food and wine will be at the centre of shore excursions to awardwinning wineries, meet-and-greet events with producers, and wildlife tours to see penguins and dolphins. Australian-flagged Coral Expeditions, which carries a maximum of 100 passengers per ship across its fleet, will kick off 2022 with sailings to Tasmania on board the 72-passenger Coral Discoverer from January 27. 26
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The three-month season will visit the Apple Isle’s pristine World Heritage wilderness and discover native wildlife, rugged mountains and crescent-shaped beaches carved by the elements. A highlight of the expedition will be exploring the wilderness areas of Port Davey and Bathurst Harbour. Coral Expeditions also offers adventure cruises to the outer Great Barrier Reef, the Kimberley, South Australia, Cape York, Arnhem Land and Torres Strait, the west coast of Australia and circumnavigation series. By the end of 2022, big-ship lovers can expect to see some of their favourite vessels return. Celebrity Cruises, for instance, will start its sailings in Australia with an 11-night cruise in November 2022 on board the Celebrity Eclipse. Departing from Sydney, the voyage visits some of Queensland’s most picturesque places to encounter the Great Barrier Reef, including Port Douglas, Cairns and Airlie Beach.
Eclipse then has a solid season sailing on voyages between Australia and New Zealand, cruising the Milford, Doubtful and Dusky sounds as well as visiting Napier, Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland. Royal Caribbean’s massive season is due to start in October 2022, with short sampler cruises sailing from Sydney to places such as Newcastle and Eden. There are voyages on Quantum of the Seas departing from Brisbane and sailing down the east coast to the former whaling town of Eden and back. P&O Cruises is hopeful to start cruising in January 2022, with voyages planned to Tangalooma, the Whitsundays and even to the Sapphire Coast Food Festival. This will be the first time Australians get the chance to sail on the new Pacific Adventure, which is packed with new dining venues and public spaces. In December 2022, P&O is set to host a very special Pride Cruise departing from Melbourne, celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community. There will be special events, seminars and parties on the sailing. Princess’s bumper season starts in November with Grand Princess, Sapphire Princess, Majestic Princess and Royal Princess heading Down Under. Princess ships will cruise around the country and to New Zealand, with a Southern Australia Explorer cruise departing from Melbourne. On this lovely cruise, Sapphire Princess will visit Adelaide, Kangaroo Island and Port Lincoln in South Australia before stopping in on Phillip Island in Victoria on the way back to Melbourne.
