The arrival of the Crown Princess at Outer Harbour (Adelaide) marked the opening of the 2025–2026 cruise season for South Australia, ushering in a programme that will include 56 cruise ships and more than 80,000 passengers.
Operated by Princess Cruises, the Crown Princess arrived from Western Australia with over 3,000 guests onboard as part of a 28-day circumnavigation of the Australian coastline, which began in Sydney.
Company figures indicate that the line expects to contribute about A$15 million in economic benefit to the state economy this season through crew and guest spend, provisioning, and tourism operations.
Within the season’s deployment, Princess Cruises will make ten port calls in South Australia across 4 of its vessels: Crown Princess, Coral Princess, Grand Princess, and Discovery Princess. The newest and largest of the four, Discovery Princess, is scheduled for a maiden call to Port Lincoln.
New entries to South Australia’s cruise roster include luxury vessels such as Silversea Cruises’ Silver Moon and Silver Dawn, which will make their first visits to Adelaide, Kangaroo Island and Port Lincoln, with multiple overnight stays in Adelaide.
The schedule also includes 8 maiden calls each to Adelaide and Kangaroo Island, and two to Port Lincoln in the season to May 2026.
Regional expansion is also notable: Robe in the Limestone Coast will receive cruise ship visits for the first time since 2015, beginning with the arrival of Silver Nova and Seabourn Sojourn in the south-east of the state.
The largest vessel scheduled for the state this season is Discovery Princess (capacity over 3,600 passengers and approximately 1,600 crew), followed by Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Edge (capacity around 3,500 passengers and 1,377 crew).
The state government, through the South Australian Tourism Commission and in partnership with cruise lines and local operators, has developed more than 15 new shore-tour experiences across regions such as the Limestone Coast, Fleurieu Peninsula, Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley and Adelaide city.