Princess pulls Grand from Australia

[arxcards]

42 minutes ago, wintrev said:

https://artifacts.portsamerica.com//wbct/pdf/2026-la-calendar.pdf

 

Well I am beginning to wonder if Princess is going to pull Discovery altogether. The above link (hope it works) was posted on the Virgin Voyages boards. 
 

The link shows the Los Angeles port schedule for 2026 when Discovery is supposed to be here in Australia. Discovery is slotted in on Feb 19th and 23rd - so who are we going to believe?

 

That would mean dropping from 3 ships to 1 in a single season, which seems unlikely.  Anything is possible, including musical chairs. So far, Discovery in LA is just an old crumb that hasn't been swept away. It is still looking like there is more bad news to come though.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Ozwoody said:

Hmm, that seems to me, like they don't think NZ worth the effort?

Wonder if hull cleaning is getting too difficult, with no all weather location to do the cleaning, making cruises there a bit hit & miss?

It takes away a risk. If there is a chance that they could alter an itinerary away from NZ because of a dirty butt, it is made much more difficult if they are scheduled to drop-off passengers and embark new ones in Auckland.

 

The other issue with embarking passengers in Auckland is that the disembarks in Australia are much more complicated than for loop cruises.

[arxcards]

4 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Maybe they weren't selling well 

25/26 is a bit far away to tell, but it appears that there are more people who are holding-off on booking anything.

 

As for 24/25 in Brisbane, that is a little over 6 months away and Diamond isn't selling as well as they hoped. In addition, there are two other Carnival Corp ships in Brisbane that aren't filling-up either. Brand loyalty aside, they are all doing similar itineraries to generate revenue to the same shareholders.

[Ozwoody]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

It takes away a risk. If there is a chance that they could alter an itinerary away from NZ because of a dirty butt, it is made much more difficult if they are scheduled to drop-off passengers and embark new ones in Auckland.

 

The other issue with embarking passengers in Auckland is that the disembarks in Australia are much more complicated than for loop cruises.

 

I don't know, we have done the Diamond Syd-Auck twice 2010 & 2015 it was full both times, and evidently on the return trip to, as we looked at doing the reverse trip fly there and return by ship.

 

Customs did not strike me as much different.

Maybe times have changed?

 

[arxcards]

14 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

Customs did not strike me as much different.

Maybe times have changed?

 

They certainly have. We have even had our entry processed at sea between the fiords and Hobart. Back in the BC days, some judgements were made on Ruby being assessed as low risk, but now borderforce stick to the rules.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just now, arxcards said:

They certainly have. We have even had our entry processed at sea between the fiords and Hobart. Back in the BC days, some judgements were made on Ruby being assessed as low risk, but now borderforce stick to the rules.

The problem with doing passport control at sea is that two Border Force officers were committed to only that one task and therefore were out of action for several days. With more ships doing the NZ /Australia runs they needed those people available to process more than one ship in that time frame. Our last cruise with onboard processing was in 2017. In 2019 the passport processing was done in Hobart.

[maponus]

We are/were booked on the Transpacific on the Grand (Sept 2025) - the email said we will be booked on a replacement with a similar itinerary - will find out the details by the end of the month - fingers crossed they are moving ships around

[arxcards]

11 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The problem with doing passport control at sea is that two Border Force officers were committed to only that one task and therefore were out of action for several days. With more ships doing the NZ /Australia runs they needed those people available to process more than one ship in that time frame. Our last cruise with onboard processing was in 2017. In 2019 the passport processing was done in Hobart.

Yes, that has all changed since 2015, which was what I was replying to. Similarly the other way, we have also been processed at sea by NZ authorities when cruising the other direction - also 10 years ago.

 

What has become evident the past two seasons - any ship carrying passengers that embarked at a foreign port faces the full letter-of-the-law disembarkation procedure from borderforce. That is unavoidable for a ship full of passengers on a relocation, but a major inconvenience for the sake of a few hundred passengers cruising from a dual-port embarkation in Auckland.

[wintrev]

Someone just posted on the Princess boards that their cruise in March 2026 on the Sun has been cancelled due to redeployment - looks like they are moving ships all over the place - won’t be making any plans - will have to wait and see what the final shuffle looks like.

Edited May 8 by wintrev

[ceeceeDee]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

25/26 is a bit far away to tell, but it appears that there are more people who are holding-off on booking anything.

 

As for 24/25 in Brisbane, that is a little over 6 months away and Diamond isn't selling as well as they hoped. In addition, there are two other Carnival Corp ships in Brisbane that aren't filling-up either. Brand loyalty aside, they are all doing similar itineraries to generate revenue to the same shareholders.

Wonder if they will have a 'flash' sale or just a mediocre one?🙄 (that's if they have a sale at all). As we say in the theatre 'better to have slightly lower returns and get bums on seats'.

[phoenixx]

19 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

What it looks like they’ve done is removed all the embarkation in Auckland options for the NZ cruises. My Southern Australia is still intact but is useless to me without the preceding NZ cruise.  

This absolutely stinks! 🤬

My Jan and Feb 2026 bookings on Crown have been cancelled. I'm particularly upset that the 5 night Auckland to Auckland has been cancelled, it would have been my dd first cruise and no, there isn't anything else suitable!🤬

So no Auckland departures at all! 😭

Edited May 8 by phoenixx
Add date

[MicCanberra]

Yep, I hope they are providing full refunds and also some other incentives to rebook something.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, phoenixx said:

This absolutely stinks! 🤬

My Jan and Feb 2026 bookings on Crown have been cancelled. I'm particularly upset that the 5 night Auckland to Auckland has been cancelled, it would have been my dd first cruise and no, there isn't anything else suitable!🤬

So no Auckland departures at all! 😭

I agree.

If they decide to exclude Auckland departures in 2026/7 and beyond, that is one thing. To change their mind for 2025/6 is a backhand to anyone who had already booked. As far as I can tell, Crown Princess will still be calling in Auckland on the same dates, just not changing any passengers.

[mr walker]

For our Oct 16 '25 37N Grand sailing (Sth Pac, Hawaii, French Polynesia) that has been cancelled, they are offering a switch to 28N Crown sailing (Round Oz) 23 Nov '25 with $250pp OBC. Unfortunately, the 2 offerings are very different & the new date, which is after we would have returned from original itinerary, doesn't work for us ☹️ And we had $400 pp OBC on original cruise.

Looking at options but very disappointed to miss our 'dream' cruise.

[sewgood]

39 minutes ago, mr walker said:

very disappointed to miss our 'dream' cruise.

I'm disappointed for you as that was a fantastic cruise.

In no way does the round Australia cruise even come close to being the same cruise.

It makes me think twice about booking any Princess cruise too far in the future with them.

[arxcards]

55 minutes ago, mr walker said:

For our Oct 16 '25 37N Grand sailing (Sth Pac, Hawaii, French Polynesia) that has been cancelled, they are offering a switch to 28N Crown sailing (Round Oz) 23 Nov '25 with $250pp OBC. Unfortunately, the 2 offerings are very different & the new date, which is after we would have returned from original itinerary, doesn't work for us ☹️ And we had $400 pp OBC on original cruise.

Looking at options but very disappointed to miss our 'dream' cruise.

$250pp OBC - phfff.

[ceeceeDee]

10 minutes ago, sewgood said:

I'm disappointed for you as that was a fantastic cruise.

In no way does the round Australia cruise even come close to being the same cruise.

It makes me think twice about booking any Princess cruise too far in the future with them.

Yes, now I'm beginning to wonder. We were toying with the idea of a cruise to NZ return in 2026. Due to work commitments, we are 'locked in' to a time frame, so a cancelled cruise would leave us high and dry so to speak. I guess we'll keep watching the situation before making a final decision about booking with Princess or looking at other lines.

[ceeceeDee]

Just now, arxcards said:

$250pp OBC - phfff.

Yes, like 'big whoop'!😠

[Cruise Junky]

57 minutes ago, mr walker said:

For our Oct 16 '25 37N Grand sailing (Sth Pac, Hawaii, French Polynesia) that has been cancelled, they are offering a switch to 28N Crown sailing (Round Oz) 23 Nov '25 with $250pp OBC. Unfortunately, the 2 offerings are very different & the new date, which is after we would have returned from original itinerary, doesn't work for us ☹️ And we had $400 pp OBC on original cruise.

Looking at options but very disappointed to miss our 'dream' cruise.

If you’re ok with flying have a look at HAL Noordam Sydney to Seattle in a March 26 is an awesome itinerary. She also has a nice itinerary in January which I think is round trip Sydney.  

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

If you’re ok with flying have a look at HAL Noordam Sydney to Seattle in a March 26 is an awesome itinerary. She also has a nice itinerary in January which I think is round trip Sydney.  

I liked it.

[reeves35]

Australia has a number of issues that now seem to be affecting the decisions of cruise lines when they decide on seasonal deployments.  These include:

• Closure of Suez Canal due to ME tensions meaning transfers from Europe are uneconomic.
• NZ Quarantine Requirements meaning hull cleaning required but difficult to do
• SYD port access difficult during peak season particularly if ship can't go under Harbour Bridge
• MEL port charge increases plus decrepit state of Station Pier Terminal
• BNE Difficulty in filling ships meaning discounting is required
• Strong USD means there is lots of money to be made out of US ports 

 

All of these are on top of the always present issue that Australia is a long way from where ships are based during the northern summer so 2 lower yielding repositioning cruises are required to get the ships to and from Australian waters.

[Ondine]

18 hours ago, arxcards said:

 

As for 24/25 in Brisbane, that is a little over 6 months away and Diamond isn't selling as well as they hoped. In addition, there are two other Carnival Corp ships in Brisbane that aren't filling-up either. Brand loyalty aside, they are all doing similar itineraries to generate revenue to the same shareholders.

 

Well that serves them right.  Diamond's NZ cruises from Melb prior to moving to Brisbane are pretty well sold out, have been for awhile, with only Interior and Ocean view available on Oct 5th, some balcony (plus int and ov) avail on 16th Nov and Interior, ocean view and mini (no balcony) on 2nd Dec.  Prices are none too cheap either.

 

Spitting the dummy with the Vic Government and thinking they could just swan into Brisbane where there is much more competition has backfired on Princess.  I don't think the office planners in US realise how big Australia is for getting to ports, home ports are not interchangeable.  People from Melb will not just hop on a plane to get to Brisbane.

 

I see that Disney has now got provisional bookings for Dec 2026/27 listed in Vic Ports.  Not sure if I would be a Disney person but it is good to see that someone apart from P&O are interested in Melb.

 

Don't get me wrong, I feel for people who have booked on the Princess cruises which have been cancelled but think how we feel down here in poor old Melb.  And Auckland cruisers - we were refused entry to Wellington on two cruises last summer at the pilots request.  I feel there is more than dirty hulls at play there.  I feel devastated for you.  It took so long to come out of covid and I guess this is part of the price to pay when the cruise lines went elsewhere in the year we were procrastinating about opening - thank you Mr Morrison.

 

End of rant for now.

[arxcards]

Just now, Ondine said:

 

Well that serves them right.  Diamond's NZ cruises from Melb prior to moving to Brisbane are pretty well sold out, have been for awhile, with only Interior and Ocean view available on Oct 5th, some balcony (plus int and ov) avail on 16th Nov and Interior, ocean view and mini (no balcony) on 2nd Dec.  Prices are none too cheap either.

 

Spitting the dummy with the Vic Government and thinking they could just swan into Brisbane where there is much more competition has backfired on Princess.  I don't think the office planners in US realise how big Australia is for getting to ports, home ports are not interchangeable.  People from Melb will not just hop on a plane to get to Brisbane.

 

I see that Disney has now got provisional bookings for Dec 2026/27 listed in Vic Ports.  Not sure if I would be a Disney person but it is good to see that someone apart from P&O are interested in Melb.

 

Don't get me wrong, I feel for people who have booked on the Princess cruises which have been cancelled but think how we feel down here in poor old Melb.  And Auckland cruisers - we were refused entry to Wellington on two cruises last summer at the pilots request.  I feel there is more than dirty hulls at play there.  I feel devastated for you.  It took so long to come out of covid and I guess this is part of the price to pay when the cruise lines went elsewhere in the year we were procrastinating about opening - thank you Mr Morrison.

 

End of rant for now.

That isn't quite how it worked.

Princess originally planned to schedule a ship each for Brisbane & Melbourne, Crown Princess plus two summer ships in Sydney. In the end they split 24/25 season for Diamond between both home ports, and also removed a ship from Sydney. Of course Melbourne should sell out - what else do you have apart from a short season of NCL and P&O. Brisbane also has Royal, Encounter & Luminosa to compete with.

 

Yes, a dummy spit with the Vic government, but with context, the same govt that waived most of VV's port fees that was insisting on all of the Carnival Corp brands copping an increase. Some would call that standing on principle, so some of the angst could be redirected to your government & port authorities. Grand may have been sailing mostly full, but they still weren't turning a profit.  AHPPC held the cruise ban, and there was nothing our pollies could do about it.

 

In the end, 25/26 both ports miss out. Not just the cities, but we all miss out on Melbourne & Brisbane departures, so it doesn't really serve them right if we are the ones that are missing out. Despite the recent spin of Aussie cruising breaking records, things are on the slide now that covid FCCs have been used-up. Less home based ships in all of our ports over the next couple of years, but hopefully our govts will let us all have a bit more pocket money in the years that follow.

[Relaxing Robbies]

We were booked on the 37 night Hawaii loop cruise and are devastated that it has been cancelled. We already have a Freo to Sydney northern route cruise booked for next May, so we are not interested in the replacement Round Australia offering with $250 obc. After spending hours yesterday considering our options, we have opted for the Crown Princess Sydney to Singapore cruise prior to her drydock.

 

It is getting harder for us Victorians to find suitable cruises. Costs of travelling to Sydney or Brisbane to board soon add up, and make shorter cruises uneconomic. My preference would be cruises to Queensland and the South Pacific in the April to October period when it is cold in Melbourne. I am not interested in cruising to Cairns during the hot humid wet season, and worry about cyclones impacting my cruise. No wonder the cruise lines are having trouble selling their cruises from Brisbane. 

[2022cruisey]

The furphy about port increases in Melbourne is an excuse.  Yes it increased but was shown to still be less than most other ports in Australia.  I have done five cruises in 18 months leaving from Melbourne twice, Brisbane once, Sydney once and Freo once.  Melbourne terminal might not be as fancy but it was just as efficient and crew love it as they can get on and off easily.  
There is a huge cruise market in Melbourne and Carnival/Princess have stuffed up royally and misunderstood the market in Australia and NZ.

Edited May 9 by 2022cruisey
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