Figures released by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) last week show cruising has surpassed pre-COVID rates: in calendar year 2023, 1.25 million Australians completed an ocean cruise, just above the 1.24 million who sailed in 2019.
While some of those trips were likely to be credits from pandemic-cancelled cruises rather than fresh bookings, there’s plenty of interest.
That includes in the luxury end of the market, where expedition ships, discovery and super yachts carry 300 passengers or fewer.
“The arrival of Scenic Eclipse II is another sign of the global growth in luxury cruising, including in Australia,” said Joel Katz, CLIA’s regional managing director,
CLIA claims the luxury cruise market has expanded about 30 per cent every five years since 2010, based on the number of ships.
In 2022, there were 70 ships in the luxury segment, more than a quarter of the overall cruise fleet. By 2028, the total is likely to be nudging 100 when new ship builds are taken into account.
Scenic’s senior captain Erwan le Rouzic (left), VP Oceans Hotel Operations Tom Goetter, and Jason Flesher, director of Discovery Operations arrive in Sydney standing by one of two helicopters aboard Scenic Eclipse Il. Peter Rae
Overall cruise capacity is tipped to increase by 16 per cent by 2028 with construction underway on 34 ships.
Australians prefer to stick close to their own shore with more than eight in 10 choosing to cruise around this continent and/or New Zealand and the South Pacific last year.
And it is increasingly an all-ages holiday choice with the average age of Australian cruisers falling to 48 last year, down from 50 in 2019. Almost one third were under 40.
Scenic Tours was founded in 1986 by Newcastle born-and-raised Glen Moroney who dropped out of accountancy to pursue an entrepreneurial life in travel.
The cruise business began in 2008 and has mostly focused on river cruises in Europe and Asia, but is now broadening further afield.
On Monday, Moroney will be on board Scenic Eclipse II as it sails into Newcastle.
The discovery yacht will then sail the Kimberley season from May .
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