NEWS UPDATE: Carnival stop-sale for Brisbane, P&O cancels NZ, Wonder of the Seas debuts in USA

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.comn/thecruiseandtravelguy www.instragram.com/thecruiseandtravelguy Head to my website for great cruise and travel deals: www.thecruiseandtravelguy.com.au This week, CLIA Managing Director Joel Katz provided an update to CLIA members on the state of cruise related government discussions. Joel indicated that there are clear signs of progress as cruise lines have been busy engaging in government discussions to finalise detailed resumption plans. In his statement, he said that NSW State Premier Dominic Perrottet has taken the lead role in pushing for a local cruising restart - “Though we still have more work to do, there is now a clear political will to achieve results and we are hopeful the most recent extension of Australia’s cruise ban will be the last.” That’s promising to focus on over the next couple of months. P&O Cruises announced this week that they had no choice but to take the unpleasant step of cancelling their entire 2022 New Zealand home-port cruise season. The affected cruises were supposed to depart from Auckland between July and November this year, but in light of ongoing uncertainty and basically no engagement with the New Zealand government, the line had to make the decision to let go of the scheduled season. P&O intend to return to Auckland as a home part in June 2023. Affected guests will be contacted individually to discuss the options open to them. In a show of faith, P&O have extended the use by date for Future Cruise Credits issued to New Zealand residents, even those for previously cancelled cruises. Credits can now be used on any voyage departing by 30 November 2023 as long as it’s booked by 30 November this year. Carnival Australia got tongues wagging again this week, as we were given the best indication yet that they will be pulling Spirit from its home in Brisbane permanently. All bookings from Brisbane onboard the Spirit have been temporarily paused while Carnival finalises the details surrounding the ship’s replacement. An announcement to trade members read: “We look forward to announcing our dedicated Brisbane ship, which will be home ported at the brand-new state of the art Brisbane terminal. So hang tight Brisbane, Carnival will be sailing into your sunny shores soon, bigger and better than ever!” I suspect we’ll know very soon just which ship will be calling the river city home. The world’s biggest cruise ship arrived in her home port of Fort Lauderdale this week. Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas is the latest in a line up of ships that first started with the Oasis of the Seas all the way back in 2009. Wonder of the Seas measures in at 362.1m and her gross tonnage is truly mind-boggling at a whopping 236k tonnes. She has a total capacity of both crew and guests of… wait for it, 9288. With 20 restaurants, 8 neighbourhoods to explore and attractions ranging from rock climbing walls to flying foxes and everything in between, there’s no doubt she will remain the pinnacle of fun cruising for the foreseeable future. Thanks for watching, and see you soon!