The return of cruising in Queensland Asutralia continued on Tuesday, June 7, with the arrival of Princess Cruises’ ship Coral Princess into Brisbane QLD to commence her inaugural season.
The liner's arrival marks the first-ever ship to be homeported at the new state-of-the-art BICT-Brisbane International Cruise Terminal and the first of Princess Cruises’ MedallionClass ships to be Australia-homeported.
Building on P&O Australia’s Pacific Explorer’s first voyage from Sydney last week, Coral Princess is scheduled to depart on her first passenger cruise on June 16, 2022.
According to Princess Cruises’ Senior Vice President Asia Pacific, UK and Europe, Stuart Allison, the ship’s homeport season in Brisbane was set to inject an estimated US$60 million to the Queensland economy in crew and passenger spending, port charges, and ship supplies.
“Queensland will feature front and centre in a new winter program of sailings from Australia, which demonstrates Princess Cruises’ commitment to cruising Down Under and to the local travel agent community. Our focus on Brisbane also reflects the demand for cruise holidays among Queenslanders, as well as the growing interest in domestic cruising.”
The 2000-passenger ship will offer 11 voyages departing Brisbane ranging from 3-12 nights between June-August before returning for another 10 voyages this summer from November. The MedallionClass cruise ship will make a total of 48 calls to the State’s ports in 2022, including her first visits to Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays, Port Douglas, and Cairns.
Highlights of Coral Princess’ winter program include:
- 6 short getaway cruises from Brisbane & Sydney
- Five 7-day Queensland roundtrip voyages from Brisbane, visiting Cairns, Port Douglas, and Airlie Beach
- A new 7-day New South Wales Coast roundtrip cruise from Brisbane, featuring a maiden call to Eden (Sapphire Coast), Sydney, and Newcastle
- A new 12-day Queensland and New South Wales roundtrip cruise from Brisbane
- A new 12-day Queensland and the Conflict Islands roundtrip cruise from Brisbane/Sydney crossing the Coral Sea to visit the Conflict Islands in PNG-Papua New Guinea.