News Article - P&O Adds Melbourne As Homeport

[The_Big_M]

Barry, Princess has had ships based in Melbourne for the summer months, for the last couple of years. Dawn Princess & Sun Princess have cruised from Melbourne to the South Pacific Islands and New Zealand.

 

Yes, the issue they have had is the longer cruise time, which means more sea days travelling, and more cost for passengers, so they haven't been as appealing for many cruisers as to fly to Sydney (or Brisbane). As a result, they've usually had more trouble filling them so had to discount them a bit.

 

There's a certain number of passengers who'll take them, but operationally, Melbourne's not well-located for cruising to any other significant destination; it's better suited to one way transits but that also limits the market.

[bazzaw]

Yes - it looks like Dawn Princess will run half a dozen cruises to NZ from Melbourne this coming next year's summer. "Cherry picking" - but I guess the same could be called of P&O's announcement of their cruises over the summer.

 

So - it looks like there is a small amount of competition when it comes to cruising out of Melbourne. Anybody care to put up 4-500 million to base a ship permanently there?? :D

 

Barry