Why do you think cruising isn’t as successful in Australia as it should be?

[reeves35]

48 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Was that in our winter?

P&O are actually running a very short season from Cairns right now on Dora.  I believe it is only 2 cruises heading towards PNG basically.  After that, there is a repositioning cruise from Cairns to Auckland towards the end of June.  I think there is another short season scheduled again in 2024.

[reeves35]

Travel to Cairns to join a cruise can realistically only be by plane.  Even from Brisbane, it is nearly 2 days on a train each way and, if you want a sleeper, you'd basically be paying more for the 2 day train trip than a 10 day cruise assuming it was a P&O ship or similar.  Darwin is further and even more expensive; Ghan daily fares are about the same you would pay on a Regent or Seabourn cruise per day.  

 

There is also the issue of time.  Unless you have a lot of spare time, very few will want to use 4 days of their holidays sitting on a return train trip when you could do the same return trip in 4 hours on a 737.

 

It is important to remember that a P&O cruise requires around 2000 passengers.  There are not enough trains to transport those sort of volumes whereas it is very possible using existing domestic flights.  Of course, you already have the independent option for those that choose to not fly but the numbers are always going to be very small.

 

 

[reeves35]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

P&O has tried basing a ship in Cairns, but they ended up having to heavily discount the fares. Maybe people were reluctant to book because of the cost and bother of flying to Cairns.

Yes the cost of getting to Cairns can be prohibitive.  I'm flying to Cairns to join the repositioning cruise to Auckland next month.  Initially, I thought the airfares to Cairns and from Auckland were going to be more than the cruise fare but P&O, obviously struggling to fill the ship, gave us a credit of $400 per person for Qantas flights booked with them.

[cruiser3775]

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Did the train company organise these stopovers or did you?

I booked it as a whole trip with Sealink, who own ferries to the Qld islands (and lots of other places).  They organised transport from the train to the ferry docks and back, plus the accommodation. This was just before the pandemic, and I don't know if they still do this.

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, cruiser3775 said:

I booked it as a whole trip with Sealink, who own ferries to the Qld islands (and lots of other places).  They organised transport from the train to the ferry docks and back, plus the accommodation. This was just before the pandemic, and I don't know if they still do this.

Thank you.  That is just what I like to do, as I love islands. 

[cruiser3775]

Can't find the Sealink trip I did anywhere, but this is another company that does Queensland rail packages:

https://www.discoveraustralia.com.au/holiday-packages/train/queensland.html

 

It would be difficult to do the Fraser Island part yourself, as the railway station is not close to the port and not served by public transport, or even taxis.  But you can easily do the Townsville and Magnetic Island stopover independently. Taxi to the port, ferry, accommodation, and you can get around Magnetic Island by public bus, or hire a car.

Edited May 30, 2023 by cruiser3775

[lyndarra]

Has no one considered a ship or more based in Darwin from where they could do year round B2Bs catering for the northern hemisphere cruisers? A benefit for us would be if packages could be offered  with discounted return flights from/to capital cities as is done with Oz half circumnavigations. There are plenty of ports in SE Asia and beyond.

I reckon it would have merit.

[MMDown Under]

9 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

Has no one considered a ship or more based in Darwin from where they could do year round B2Bs catering for the northern hemisphere cruisers? A benefit for us would be if packages could be offered  with discounted return flights from/to capital cities as is done with Oz half circumnavigations. There are plenty of ports in SE Asia and beyond.

I reckon it would have merit.

Oh yes. That has been suggested as two one way cruises with Darwin hub.  Ponant is having a ship in region plus another small adventure ship from NZ.

[reeves35]

2 hours ago, lyndarra said:

Has no one considered a ship or more based in Darwin from where they could do year round B2Bs catering for the northern hemisphere cruisers? A benefit for us would be if packages could be offered  with discounted return flights from/to capital cities as is done with Oz half circumnavigations. There are plenty of ports in SE Asia and beyond.

I reckon it would have merit.

Darwin has virtually no international flights except very limited flights from Singapore.  It is much easier for cruise-lines to stage their SE Asian cruises from Singapore which is a massive aviation hub as well as having a well developed cruise terminal capable of accepting and turning around ships of any size.

[icat2000]

That why PO Australia or cruiselines should do package deals that includes flights.

[MMDown Under]

11 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

That why PO Australia or cruiselines should do package deals that includes flights.

They already offer packages to GBR and Ayres Rock as an addition to overseas cruisers on cruises to Australia.  So have ability to offer flights to Australians.  Recently Qantas flights were offered to passengers from Cairns to NZ.

[reeves35]

45 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

That why PO Australia or cruiselines should do package deals that includes flights.

P&O etc already offer flight packages but typically only on scheduled services and they aren't in a situation where a whole complement of 2000 passengers are transported in a day or 2.

 

The logistics of charter flights are quite difficult and expensive unless you are in a location where lots of cruise ships are turning around.  It works in Europe where a charter flight to a cruise port such as Malaga, Barcelonaa etc will have a daily ship turnaround so there are always people disembarking and embarking.  That is the Marella/TUi model though it also used by lots of other cruise lines during the summer season in Europe. 

 

It doesn't work so well in a place like Darwin where there would only be a single ship turning around once a week at best.  This would mean lots of inbound or outbound charter flights would be arriving or returning empty and that cost has to be built into the ticket of the paying passengers.