Rhapsody of the Seas’s departure from
Sydney last week wrapped up a recordbreaking
2012-13 “wave season”.
The Royal Caribbean liner won’t be back in
local waters until 5 October, but that’s earlier
than its usual summer return.
Last year, Rhapsody kicked off Australia’s
summer schedule on 14 Oct and in 2011 it
arrived 27 Oct.
For the next five months, the only options
for ocean cruising in Australia are P&O’s three
ships, Princess Cruises’ Dawn Princess and
Carnival Cruise Lines’ Carnival Spirit.
Up north, Kimberley river cruises will soon
get underway, from May to September on
various yachts and small ships.
Captain Cook Cruises is also operating three,
four and seven night Murray River cruises in
NSW/Victoria aboard the PS Murray Princess.
The next big event down south is the 20 May
departure of Princess Cruises’ Sea Princess,
which embarks on a 104-day world voyage,
round-trip from Sydney’s White Bay terminal.
On 2 September, Sea Princess then departs
on another Sydney round-trip cruise via Tonga,
Western Samoa, Hawaii, Tahiti, American
Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia.
On the west coast, the upcoming 2013-14
summer season will see the home-porting
of Cruise & Maritime Voyages’ Astor from
December, with the ship soon to operate a
relocation voyage from its home port in Rome
to Fremantle ahead of its local debut.
