P&O Cruises has scheduled 157 sailings bound for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific ports over the 2024-25 cruise season.
The cruise company claims the program is its biggest and “most ambitious” season of sailings on record.
P&O launched its 2024-45 program on 3 May. It includes 46 destinations across Australia, NZ and the South Pacific.
The company expects its ships Pacific Encounter, Pacific Adventure and Pacific Explorer to carry a combined total of 520,000 passengers over the season.
It also launched “mini seasons” for Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
“P&O’s flagship Pacific Explorer will home-port in key Australian cities as it journeys around the country,” the company said in a statement.
“The impressive schedule includes 14 round-trip cruises from Melbourne, eight cruises from Adelaide and five cruises from Fremantle.
“West Australian cruisers in particular can look forward to the new one-way Asia Explorer cruises to and from Singapore that call into Phuket, Langkawi, Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang) and Lombok in March 2025.”
P&O said Pacific Explorer will also frequent New Zealand ports.
“Kiwis will enjoy a choice of twelve roundtrip cruises from Auckland between April to July 2025,” it said.
“An exciting program addition is the inaugural 14-night Queensland Explorer Voyager itinerary in June 2025.”
The new program is the latest announcement confirming the cruise industry’s revival in Australia after a hiatus during the pandemic.
Last week, Port Authority of New South Wales estimated the number of cruise visits over the offseason would double since the same period last year.
The port authority noted more cruise ships are now calling Australia’s regional ports.
