Discovery Princess is coming to Australia in 2025/2026!!

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Travel agents are currently jumping up and down on Facebook on this announcement.... I am currently trying to find a Press Release from Princess Cruises....

Here is what a agent has said:

 

Princess has confirmed the deployment of Discovery Princess to Australia for the 25/26 wave season.

Discovery is the last of the Royal Class ships and debuted in March 2022. She will be the newest Princess ship to seasonally homeport in Australia.

Being a Royal class ship she shares many of the same features as Royal and majestic Princess who are homeporting in Australia this summer.

Bookings are expected to open on Nov 15 2023.

 

More soon!

[arxcards]

5 minutes ago, Kiwi_cruiser said:

Travel agents are currently jumping up and down on Facebook on this announcement.... I am currently trying to find a Press Release from Princess Cruises....

Here is what a agent has said:

 

Princess has confirmed the deployment of Discovery Princess to Australia for the 25/26 wave season.

Discovery is the last of the Royal Class ships and debuted in March 2022. She will be the newest Princess ship to seasonally homeport in Australia.

Being a Royal class ship she shares many of the same features as Royal and majestic Princess who are homeporting in Australia this summer.

Bookings are expected to open on Nov 15 2023.

 

More soon!

Yeah, yeah, it was announced by John Padgett on Royal Princess this morning.

 

It was mentioned here months ago, as she has been listed in port bookings around the country for at least that long.

 

Forgive my lack of excitement - they are replacing a Royal Class ship with a Royal class ship. Amazing, lets spin it for all it is worth. I do believe it has the 360 dining experience, so that at least adds something new apart from the name of the ship.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Meh!

[Kiwi_cruiser]

From Cruise Weekly: https://cruiseweekly.com.au/news/cw-breaking-news-discovery-princess-heading-to-australia-in-2025-26/76249
 

Discovery Princess heading to Australia in 2025/26

Princess Cruises President John Padgett confirms line’s flagship to sail locally.

Princess Cruises will deploy Discovery Princess out of Sydney in the 2025/26 season, with the cruise line’s chief John Padgett revealing the move this morning during an event on board Royal Princess, which arrived today.

 

“Australia is very important to Princess, so Australia is getting the best of Princess,” he said.

Princess Senior VP Stuart Allison told Cruise Weekly Discovery Princess would sail alongside Crown Princess locally, while the full deployment details for this season’s ships including Majestic Princess and Royal Princess will be finalised shortly.

 

Royal Princess‘ arrival this morning marks the start of the line’s biggest ever Australian summer season, with four ships including two Royal-class vessels homeported in Sydney for the first time.

 

[arxcards]

7 minutes ago, Kiwi_cruiser said:

From Cruise Weekly: https://cruiseweekly.com.au/news/cw-breaking-news-discovery-princess-heading-to-australia-in-2025-26/76249
 

Discovery Princess heading to Australia in 2025/26

Princess Cruises President John Padgett confirms line’s flagship to sail locally.

Princess Cruises will deploy Discovery Princess out of Sydney in the 2025/26 season, with the cruise line’s chief John Padgett revealing the move this morning during an event on board Royal Princess, which arrived today.

 

“Australia is very important to Princess, so Australia is getting the best of Princess,” he said.

Princess Senior VP Stuart Allison told Cruise Weekly Discovery Princess would sail alongside Crown Princess locally, while the full deployment details for this season’s ships including Majestic Princess and Royal Princess will be finalised shortly.

 

Royal Princess‘ arrival this morning marks the start of the line’s biggest ever Australian summer season, with four ships including two Royal-class vessels homeported in Sydney for the first time.

 

Majestic will indeed be finalised. Discovery is taking her place.

[Wanderers2]

I just checked the NSW Port Authority website & it shows the Discovery Princess first arriving in Sydney, November 29th 2025.

 

Not sure if that is the final listing.

[SinbadThePorter]

25 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Majestic will indeed be finalised. Discovery is taking her place.

 

If I disliked Majestic, what are the odds of my liking Discovery?

[Wanderers2]

Just now, SinbadThePorter said:

 

If I disliked Majestic, what are the odds of my liking Discovery?

Have you been on any of the other Royal Class ships as the Majestic is different from those to some extent.

[SinbadThePorter]

23 minutes ago, Wanderers2 said:

Have you been on any of the other Royal Class ships as the Majestic is different from those to some extent.

 

No only Majestic. Which put me off the Royal class. I hesitate to describe Majestic as a cruise ship since to me they seem to have deliberately designed her to make the sea an afterthought. She floats, but has almost no nautical spirit.

[Wanderers2]

2 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

No only Majestic. Which put me off the Royal class. I hesitate to describe Majestic as a cruise ship since to me they seem to have deliberately designed her to make the sea an afterthought. She floats, but has almost no nautical spirit.

Looking inward not out to sea. Yes I agree

[colourbird]

For quite some time Darwin port has been showing Discovery's first visit on Friday 28 November 2025 and Sydney port is showing her first visit on Saturday 29 November 2025. Either one of them is wrong or she's a very fast ship!

[Wanderers2]

1 minute ago, colourbird said:

For quite some time Darwin port has been showing Discovery's first visit on Friday 28 November 2025 and Sydney port is showing her first visit on Saturday 29 November 2025. Either one of them is wrong or she's a very fast ship!

She is cruising Alaska before she comes to Australia so not sure about Darwin, unless she comes to Asia first

[colourbird]

3 minutes ago, Wanderers2 said:

She is cruising Alaska before she comes to Australia so not sure about Darwin, unless she comes to Asia first

 

I've been trying to work out which way she's coming as I might book that cruise (depending on where the cruise starts). A search of other possible ports hasn't helped as they aren't showing anything that far ahead. Asia may be better for us as I might not be able to get enough time off work for a longer cruise.

 

 

[Wanderers2]

2 minutes ago, colourbird said:

 

I've been trying to work out which way she's coming as I might book that cruise (depending on where the cruise starts). A search of other possible ports hasn't helped as they aren't showing anything that far ahead. Asia may be better for us as I might not be able to get enough time off work for a longer cruise.

 

 

The Royal (arrived this morning) & Majestic (arrives in Sydney Nov 4) have both been sailing Alaska & have come across via LA, Honolulu, NZ then to Sydney (I may have missed a couple of stops but that is the basic route) Discovery might be something similar 

[timtam2]

1 hour ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

If I disliked Majestic, what are the odds of my liking Discovery?

I also really disliked Majestic and will never go on it again. I've just disembarked Royal this morning after 4 days from Auckland....and I liked it!. It had a different feel to it- the crew were very friendly (unlike Majestic) everything looked brighter somehow. One example - the International Cafe on Majestic was rather dire - display cabinets were sparesly filled with unappetising looking food. On Royal, the cabinets were always full with a wide range of yummy sandwiches and snacks.

   I still intensely dislike that Princess Live room - a terrible venue for trivia!

    I'll give Discovery a go.

[SinbadThePorter]

10 minutes ago, timtam2 said:

I still intensely dislike that Princess Live room - a terrible venue for trivia!

 

Yes, it has all the atmosphere of a school lecture hall. 😵‍💫

 

For trivia, give me Club Fusion every time.

[Astro Flyer]

30 minutes ago, timtam2 said:

   I still intensely dislike that Princess Live room - a terrible venue for trivia!

Beginning with Sky & also on Discovery the Princess Live venue has been changed from a TV studio to a lounge similar to Explorers on earlier classes of Princess ships.

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Astro Flyer

[colourbird]

11 minutes ago, timtam2 said:

I also really disliked Majestic and will never go on it again. I've just disembarked Royal this morning after 4 days from Auckland....and I liked it!. It had a different feel to it- the crew were very friendly (unlike Majestic) everything looked brighter somehow. One example - the International Cafe on Majestic was rather dire - display cabinets were sparesly filled with unappetising looking food. On Royal, the cabinets were always full with a wide range of yummy sandwiches and snacks.

   I still intensely dislike that Princess Live room - a terrible venue for trivia!

    I'll give Discovery a go.

 

That's interesting as we had a great time on Majestic. What you described is the opposite of our experience and sums up what it was like on Sapphire before we cruised on Majestic. We were worried about the quality of food and what the service would be like on Majestic after sailing on Sapphire, but were pleasantly surprised by how good it was. 

 

It must be the crew at the time that makes a difference.

[Astro Flyer]

From the Princess press release & additional info in the attached PDF.

 

Royal Princess’ arrival in Sydney today marks the end of its inaugural 27-night transpacific crossing from Vancouver, Canada. The ship will sail from Sydney this evening on it first Australian voyage - a 10-night roundtrip cruise to Queensland, making maiden calls to Brisbane, Cairns, the Whitsundays and Port Douglas.
 

 

Royal Princess in Australia.pdf

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

From the Princess press release & additional info in the attached PDF.

 

Royal Princess’ arrival in Sydney today marks the end of its inaugural 27-night transpacific crossing from Vancouver, Canada. The ship will sail from Sydney this evening on it first Australian voyage - a 10-night roundtrip cruise to Queensland, making maiden calls to Brisbane, Cairns, the Whitsundays and Port Douglas.
 

 

Royal Princess in Australia.pdfUnavailable

Only the poster can see the attachments they post. Shows as "unavailable" to everyone else.

[colourbird]

2 hours ago, Wanderers2 said:

The Royal (arrived this morning) & Majestic (arrives in Sydney Nov 4) have both been sailing Alaska & have come across via LA, Honolulu, NZ then to Sydney (I may have missed a couple of stops but that is the basic route) Discovery might be something similar 

 

If that's the case, i'll have to leave it for the following year when I can retire and have the time for a longer journey. Not sure which ship it will be then.

[arxcards]

4 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

If I disliked Majestic, what are the odds of my liking Discovery?

I am not a betting man, but you could probably write your own ticket. 🤣

 

Majestic is OK, if not a bit big. It helps not to have a forward cabin, as the ship seems huge to navigate from there. We will end up doing something on Royal and something on Discovery, and 360 sounds like a dining experience worth doing. 

 

I just can't stand the PR spin of putting a cookie cutter ship in to replace a cookie cutter ship. Yes, Majestic can feel different to Royal, or Discovery, or Regal or Enchanted; but that is more about the staff and the style, not the ship and the substance.

 

But, club class dining, crown grill, premier drinks at Good Spirits and a comfy cabin await us on Majestic in 12 days. There are bits of the ship we aren't fans of, but we won't be spending any time there.

[colourbird]

3 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I am not a betting man, but you could probably write your own ticket. 🤣

 

Majestic is OK, if not a bit big. It helps not to have a forward cabin, as the ship seems huge to navigate from there. We will end up doing something on Royal and something on Discovery, and 360 sounds like a dining experience worth doing. 

 

I just can't stand the PR spin of putting a cookie cutter ship in to replace a cookie cutter ship. Yes, Majestic can feel different to Royal, or Discovery, or Regal or Enchanted; but that is more about the staff and the style, not the ship and the substance.

 

But, club class dining, crown grill, premier drinks at Good Spirits and a comfy cabin await us on Majestic in 12 days. There are bits of the ship we aren't fans of, but we won't be spending any time there.

 

When we were on Majestic, she was still done up as a Chinese ship and had the name 盛世公主号 on one side. The Specialty Chinese eateries weren't very popular on our cruise, and it appears they have been replaced with western ones.

 

I see you are thinking of doing Diamond Princess on 10 February 2025. I wasn't planning to do a cruise in the first half of 2025, but my friend convinced my wife and I to book a cabin on her, so we are travelling from Brisbane to Sydney. Might see you onboard!

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, colourbird said:

 

When we were on Majestic, she was still done up as a Chinese ship and had the name 盛世公主号 on one side. The Specialty Chinese eateries weren't very popular on our cruise, and it appears they have been replaced with western ones.

 

I see you are thinking of doing Diamond Princess on 10 February 2025. I wasn't planning to do a cruise in the first half of 2025, but my friend convinced my wife and I to book a cabin on her, so we are travelling from Brisbane to Sydney. Might see you onboard!

I hope we can be aboard and look forward to the opportunity. Apart from planning that hybrid  b2b 11 nighter in 2025 on Diamond, we might also be adding a 3nighter on Luminosa and a night in Brisbane as a prelude. We are looking to book the Diamond cruise with FCD's while aboard our upcoming Majestic cruise. I will get to have my big 6 - 0 aboard.

 

Yes, Majestic was the Asian ship very much built for the Chinese market. Maybe that is why it is feels a bit sterile even with a lot of the Chinese features removed. Harmony is still a specialty restaurant that rarely books out. The Vista Lounge is the Vista Gaming Lounge, and the big bottle of Asian champagne is still present near the International Cafe.

 

We had the opposite on Diamond, which while fading in the distance, is still likely our best cruise to date. This Auckland to Sydney cruise was way back in 2009/10, well before she became the Japanese ship. I expect there will be more of an Asian flavour compared to the earlier cruise - 15 years apart, where does the time go. As Asia gets back to normal, it is looking like Diamond's season might be a one-off. It is looking like Grand will back again to replace her in 25/26

[Kiwi_cruiser]

6 minutes ago, arxcards said:

As Asia gets back to normal, it is looking like Diamond's season might be a one-off. It is looking like Grand will back again to replace her in 25/26

 

I think it will be the crown replacing the Grand.