With P&O Australia operating scrap metal like Pacific Sun and the not so far behind Pacific Dawn, Jewel and Pearl, I can see P&O losing much of its business to Royal Caribbean.

Royal Carribeans branch Celebrity has already got me booked for 2013.

There has been many news articles in Australia with a growing dissatisfaction towards P&O Australia and the Carnival group due to continual breakdowns of Pacific Sun and little to no compensation for effected passengers.

They are sending three of their best to the region, which certainly indicates a high level of confidence in the market.

CELEBRITY SOLSTICE
RADIANCE OF THE SEAS - fresh from a major revitalization that has added many Oasis Class venues
VOYAGER OF THE SEAS

Honestly these are three of my all time favorite modern ships, and I would thrilled to sail on any of them again. I'm sad to see them depart the North American market, but happy that Australians and those living in Asia can experience these wonderful ships.

Personally I don't think Carnival Corp has anything that can compare, and these ships will add a fresh perspective to the cruising population of Australia and Asia.

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Originally posted by Fairsky:

However, if priced competitively, RCI could be a major threat to CCL's efforts Down Under.

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Good points Fairsky, although I think no matter how you look at it Royal Caribbean/Celebrity will eat into Carnival Corp's market share in the region. Remember that Carnival has dominated the market with multiple brands in Australia and more ships are coming. P&O Australia, Carnival, HAL, Princess, etc. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity will be competing for market share against several of these brands. I'm just hoping that Australia has the population to sustain all these ships and brands. Seems like a lot to me for a country with a lower population than California.

I think all the major cruise lines are looking at markets where they feel they can obtain the highest yields. This was Europe for a while but the cruise lines are realizing that Europe is not sustaining the yields they had hoped for. There is deep discounting going on just like in the Caribbean. I guess that is what happens when you saturate the market.

Princess eventually woke up to these issues and changed their practice in Australia. It will be interesting to see how the newbies like Carnival and RCI handle them. I assume Carnival will be fine because by the time Spirit arrives, I'm tipping P&O Australia will be no longer and Carnival Australia will be the mainstream brand.

Brad

[ 06-08-2011: Message edited by: reeves35 ]

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Originally posted by Fairsky:
Agreed, Ernie. But the unknown issue is pricing. Will the offerings from RCI and Celebrity be premium priced? Are they going for the upper end of the Aussie cruise market? Or will they compete in price with the fares offered by P&O's ships in that market? There may be enough room for everyone if they span the market segments.

However, if priced competitively, RCI could be a major threat to CCL's efforts Down Under.

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in terms of pricing I find the Solstice seasons to be extremly competitive far cheaper than princess , though princess religiously reduce there fares which would then make them inline with celebrity.

The compulsary tipping did not turn me off Celebrity as it was payable up front so I need not worry about it at all now. That should please many Australians who do not tip.

I totally agree that these ships are much better than anything Carnival has to offer. When you look at the crap Carnival gave us like scrap metal heaps named Pacific Star, Pacific Sun (Jubilee and that other crap one that was recyled from Carnival and Costa).

It looks like its war between Royal Caribbean and Carnival in Australia/Asia.

Royal Caribbean will be deploying the best their fleet has to offer as well as that latest Celebrity ship.

Carnival will be sending the Spirit, we have the Sun class which is nothing compared to the above. Azura is coming in 2013 and that is crap compared to the Royal Caribbean giants much bigger and fairer in passenger space and not to mention facilities.

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Originally posted by Sutho:

Royal Caribbean will be deploying the best their fleet has to offer as well as that latest Celebrity ship.

Carnival will be sending the Spirit,

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Not quite the best Royal Caribbean has to offer but excellent ships. The Oasis Class would be considered the best, followed by the Freedom Class as these are the newest and most amenity filled. What you are getting is a just revitalized RADIANCE OF THE SEAS which is an amazing ship by any standard. Even though VOYAGER is the oldest of the Voyager Class she is my favorite. Another excellent ship. Of course SOLSTICE is in a class of her own and overall is probably the best ship that will be sailing in Australia, although I have to say it would be difficult me me to choose out of the three. I have sailed on each of these ships and they are all personal favorites for a variety of reasons.

Not to be left out, don't discount CARNIVAL SPIRIT which I feel is the best ship in the entire Carnival fleet. I really love the Spirit Class and especially the SPIRIT.

All in all truly great new options for Australia. Enjoy!

Previously he was the Managing Director for P & O Australia !

It is just suprising news to see the competition line up. It looks like an all out declaration of war against Carnival that Royal Caribbean is sending these ships.

I wonder what Carnival might do to respond now and in particular P&O Australia.

I noticed in the local paper yeterday that several cases have been taken to a claims tribunal against P&O Australia and Pacific Sun as P&O kept operating the ship as it had continual breakdowns.

P&O Australia is not in good favour at the moment by the looks of local press releases.

They have recently built a casino in Perth and I believe there is some State Government law preventing gaming from occuring (even at sea) in some radius from the state.

Not that many people cared but I was on Arcadia in 2009 and the ships Casino and gambling services had to be shut down at least 4 days before we got to Fremantle and had to remain closed until we got to Adelaide.

Anyone with better knowledge on the subject might be able to help as I know very little about it.

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They have recently built a casino in Perth

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WA is problematic because it is hard to get to foreign ports on a return cruise in less than 12 days and this would be sailing all the way to Bali and basically sailing back. It would be 10 sea days on a 12 day cruise.

Coastal cruises are an issue because the cruiselines would be unable to sell duty free unless they can find an island like Willis Island off the coast that they can cruise by to make it an international cruise.