Carnival Australia has announced changes to its fleet profile citing demand in the market.
Princess Cruises’ Australian-based Dawn Princess will move to the P&O Cruises Australia fleet in May 2017. At 77,000 tons, the 2,000-guest Dawn Princess will be the largest ship in the fleet.
This comes after Holland America Line will transfer to ships to P&O Australia later this year, making it a five ship fleet to close out 2015.
Meanwhile the Golden Princess will remain in Australian waters throughout 2017, alongside Sun Princess and Sea Princess.
Carnival Australia CEO Ann Sherry said the move reflected increased demand for cruise holidays in local waters and continued investment in the P&O Cruises brand.
“Australia is the world’s fastest growing cruise market, so as the biggest cruise operator Down Under we’re delighted to be expanding our local presence even further,” Sherry said.
“These fleet changes will help us further increase the range of exciting cruise options on offer to Australians and continue to meet local demand for holidays at sea.”
P&O Cruises Senior Vice President Sture Myrmell said Dawn Princess would be transformed and renamed before her transfer to the P&O Cruises’ fleet.
“This ship is a great addition to P&O Cruises’ fleet, with her larger size opening up opportunities for new onboard product and experiences,” Myrmell said.
Princess Cruises Vice President Australia & New Zealand Stuart Allison said the cruise line was pleased to be able to offer its local guests more itineraries on its 2600-guest Golden Princess, with the ship based in Australia throughout 2017.
“One of Golden Princess’ key sailings for the year will be a 75-night Circle Pacific itinerary taking holidaymakers on a roundtrip cruise from Australia to Asia, Alaska and America,” Allison said.
“This will be the first time we’ve offered a world cruise from Australia on a Grand-class Princess ship so we think it will be a winner.”
More details of P&O Cruises’ 2017 itineraries and the ship transfer will be announced at a later date.
