NEWS UPDATE: Pacific Adventure is home! Splendor is on her way & Sydney nears cruise ship capacity

Learn more or register your interest for the Group Cruise: https://www.thecruiseandtravelguy.com.au/eoi-group-cruise Join my private Facebook group for cruise deals, tips and advice - the more members we have, the better we’ll get! www.facebook.com/groups/CTGdeals Follow me on Facebook and Instagram: www.facebook.com/thecruiseandtravelguy www.instragram.com/thecruiseandtravelguy Shop tee shirts: https://thecruiseandtravelguy.myshopify.com Head to my website for great cruise and travel deals: www.thecruiseandtravelguy.com.au Carnival Splendor is officially en route to Australia. After almost 1000 days since her last Australian cruise, the 113k gross tonne ship is sailing home towards Sydney. She departed Seattle on September 6th and embarked on the 23 night transpacific voyage that will see her arrive into Sydney at the end of the month. Splendor’s first local voyage, a 4 day cruise to Queensland’s Moreton Island departs on October 1st. She will be only the 5th cruise ship to resume cruising in local waters since the ban was lifted, though she will soon be joined by around 40 more ships as Australia’s first summer cruise season in years gets under way. Majestic Princess, Celebrity Eclipse and Ovation of the Seas will all sail into Sydney before the end of October, and I, as I’m sure you are, am incredibly excited to see these ships return. P&O’s Pacific Adventure this morning sailed through Sydney’s heads and docked at the Overseas Passenger terminal. The ex Golden Princess joins the recently arrived Pacific Encounter to complete P&O’s three ship fleet. As with Pacific Encounter, Adventure is a grand class ship and in fact, the two are sisters. There are some differences however, most notably Pacific Adventure has arrived with her twin racing waterslides installed, while Encounter’s won’t be fitted until early 2023. Pacific Adventure’s smoke stack has also been reduced in height, enabling her to sail under the Sydney Harbour bridge and dock at White Bay. Sydney’s lack of cruise ship facilities was a problem that understandably fell to the wayside during the pandemic, but now that ships are returning, the issue is once again gaining traction within the industry. East of the harbour bridge, Sydney’s berthing facilities are limited to the Overseas Passenger Terminal and during our peak summer season, the berth is at such a premium that cruise lines have active bookings on the NSW Port Schedule as far forward as June 2025. The only alternative to the terminal is an anchorage at Athol Bay, which is scheduled to be used by Quantum of the Seas this November. Having disembarked Radiance of the Seas at Athol Bay in 2017, I can say that as much as the experience was a bit of fun and definitely unique, it’s not very convenient. I can’t even imagine the logistics of a cruise line having to orchestrate a turnaround day at anchor. P&O’s decision to reduce Pacific Adventure’s height means the company can be flexible with how it schedules cruises onboard the ship, avoiding the hot competition that is access to the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Port access is actually one of the main reasons that Virgin Voyages’ Resilient Lady will be based in Melbourne instead of Sydney during her debut Australian season. A brand new mega cruise ship is due to be scrapped, well, sort of. Global Dream II was under construction but only partially complete when parent company, Genting HK filed for bankruptcy early this year. Designed to carry 9500 passengers, the ship was set to be one of the largest in the world at around 208k gross tonnes. According to reports, there were no buyers for the incomplete ship and it was simply more economical to scrap what had been built. Thanks to Nathan for sharing this information with me - P&O this week announced a temporary change to its South Pacific itineraries. According to a statement provided to booked passengers, the jetty used to access the island of Mare has been damaged by recent weather events. This has made accessing the island unsafe. Affected guests will be contacted directly by P&O with details of an alternate port of call. So far, there is no estimated date for the completion of repairs to the jetty. Finally this week, as of today, masks are no longer required on Australian domestic flights or on international flights arriving into Australia. Australia’s Chief Medical Officer said that masks on aircraft were “no longer proportionate in the current context”. This news follows recent reports that government health policies related to local cruising are also under review - so we might learn about some changes to cruise health regulations before years end. Thanks for watching!