NEWS UPDATE: All you need to know about the Australian cruise restart! Princess & P&O sail soon!

Watch my Pacific Explorer tour here: https://youtu.be/QvjEJ4uszqA 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, the news that everyone in and around the cruise industry has been longing for, finally broke. The ban of large international cruise vessels entering Australia will officially end on April 17th. The entire industry, from agents and suppliers to workers and crew and cruise lovers such as yourselves have been fighting for this day for almost 2 years and it’s finally here. This week started out on a positive, with Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan on Monday morning stating that there was no reason the cruise ban wouldn’t be overturned in April. That sentiment continued into Tuesday, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison making this statement during a live Q&A session with Paul Murray: VIDEO And then on Wednesday, the official statement came from Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt’s office which reads: “On the basis of medical advice, the Australian Government will not renew the ban on international cruise ships arriving and departing from Australian ports, when the current determination expires on April 17.” On the back of the federal cruise ban being overturned, Princess was quick to make an announcement of their own. Disappointingly, the line indicated that scheduled cruises onboard the Majestic Princess from February through May 2023 and the Royal Princess from September 2022 through May 2023 were cancelled. The official reasoning was uncertainty surrounding port access and ongoing international travel restrictions. These issues are certainly valid, however for this cruise-starved individual, the timing couldn’t have been worse. The best cruise news of the past two years was met with further cancellations and something about that just seemed wrong. Royal Princess will now home-port in San Francisco at the completion of her Alaska season. Coral Princess was originally due to arrive in Australia in October this year, but Princess have just confirmed that she will instead debut a series of new domestic cruises from Brisbane beginning in on June 16th. These new voyages will be available to book from March 24th. P&O Cruises were quick to make changes to their upcoming deployment as well. Pacific Adventure and Pacific Encounter were originally scheduled to arrive in Sydney and Brisbane in June, but these early cruises have been cancelled. Instead, Adventure will sail from Sydney in October and Encounter from Brisbane in August. To pick up the slack, Pacific Explorer will make her way to Sydney where she will be based between the end of May and into October when Adventure will take her rightful place as Sydney’s home-ported ship. P&O have also extended the expiration of their customers future cruise certificates. Any unused amount that was due to expire on March 30th can now be used until June 30th this year, applied to any P&O Australia cruise departing on or before August 31st 2023. The first scheduled cruise onboard a major cruise line sailing out of Australia is the May 31st departure onboard Pacific Explorer. Royal Caribbean wasted no time and quickly reaffirmed their commitment to the Australian market releasing this short clip highlighting their upcoming return to service this October. The Royal Caribbean 2023/2024 Australian summer season is also due to be announced next Monday, March 21st. I’ll be bringing you the highlights of that program release in a future video so make sure you subscribe to my channel and keep your eyes peeled for that. Carnival cruises last week announced a change for their voyages scheduled for this October and November. Anticipating continuing issues with access to international ports such as those in New Zealand and the South Pacific, Carnival made the decision to replace all of their international itineraries with domestic itineraries instead. This has been a big week of news updates - and though the experience of the past two years means I’m still cautious about May 31st, I can’t help but feel a sense of relief and excitement. Now that the government has committed to lifting the cruise ban, let me know in the comments when you’re planning on cruising this year. Thanks for watching!