Princess Cruises Announces Major Expansion in Western Australia

Date: 22 Nov 2007

Princess Cruises today announced a major expansion of its Australian operations, which will see its superliner Sun Princess based in Perth for a record five months, injecting more than $7 million into the local economy.

In the biggest ever investment by an international cruise line in Australia, Princess Cruises said it would double its full time Australian presence by basing two premium superliners - the 77,000-tonne Sun Princess and twin sister Dawn Princess – in Australia year-round.

Announcing the move onboard Sun Princess during its inaugural visit to Fremantle today, Ann Sherry, CEO of Carnival Australia which operates Princess Cruises in Australia, said that the company’s expansion would enable Sun Princess to return to Fremantle for a record five-month season of round-trip cruises to Asia from April to August, 2009.

This represents the longest cruise season ever conducted by a superliner from the Western Australian capital.

Ms Sherry said the decision to expand Princess Cruises’ Australian operations followed continued strong growth in the market in recent years, with Western Australia playing a key role in that growth.

“The demand for Sun Princess’ 2008 inaugural season of cruises from Fremantle has been nothing short of fantastic, which is why we’ve decided to deploy the ship in Western Australia for an even longer season in 2009,” Ms Sherry said.

“This, our second announcement in just six months, dramatically expands cruising options for Western Australians and cements Fremantle as a major cruising home port.”

Ms Sherry estimated Sun Princess’ 2009 season would generate more than $7 million for the WA economy, across a range of areas including ship supplies, port fees and spending by almost 16,000 Western Australian, interstate and international passengers travelling to Fremantle to board the ship.

Carrying 1950 passengers, Sun Princess is presently sailing around Australia as part of her inaugural season of cruises from Sydney, and will reposition to Fremantle in April next year.

Her sister ship, Dawn Princess, will be based full time in Sydney from November 2008.

The two premium ships will visit more destinations than any other cruise line in the country, including the first opportunity to sail aboard a full world cruise from Australia in more than 30 years.

Sun Princess and Dawn Princess each offer 975 staterooms - almost half with private balconies - as well as eight restaurants and cafes, seven lounges, four pools and five whirlpool spas.

Both ships offer a premium cruise product tailored for Australians and feature Australian currency onboard as well as itineraries tailored for the Australian market.

Itineraries for Sun Princess’ 2009 season will go on sale from January.