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P&O Cruises Australia's double celebration
November 8, 2005

Carnival Australia president Gavin Smith hosted a media lunch on board Pacific Princess in Sydney today to celebrate the 30,200gt ship's successful circumnavigation of Australia and the commencement of her fourth annual South Pacific cruise season.

Pacific Princess arrived this morning on the final Eden/Sydney leg of her historic 30-day voyage which was under charter to Cruiseco, a consortium of leading Australian cruise specialists.

Smith, md of P&O Cruises Australia, said plans to follow the route of explorer Matthew Flinders have been on the drawing board for many years and Pacific Princess will make two more circumnavigations of the Continent in November 2006 and April 2007.

Adelaide-born Captain Michael Fatchen, the ship's master, said passengers had clearly enjoyed the experience of visiting many parts of Australia for the first time and that whale-watching in Eden yesterday had been a highlight for everyone, including the crew.

Fatchen described the Sapphire Coast of New South Wales as 'probably Australia's best kept secret,' but it won't be for long. Eden, which was visited by the former Europa in 1999 and Oceanic Odyssey shortly afterwards, is set to welcome another five cruise ships in the current 2005/06 wave season. They are Artemis (December 22), Oceanic Princess (December 27), Orion (January 8 and March 3), Silver Shadow (January 19 and 28) and Europa (February 27).

Eden's cruise boom follows the construction of a A$35m (US$26.5m) wharf by the Department of Defence that was opened in 2003 for RAN ships. It also operates as a commercial wharf and cruise berths can be guaranteed in advance with the harbour master.

Seatrade Insider

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tazza wrote:
I think it's great for domestic tourism to have circum navigation cruises...

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It is a real wonder why no one else is doing it, P&O Australia do have an advantage though, they are based here and can do as many as they like depending on the seasons. Trying to fit in a circumnavigation cruise inside a world cruise is probably a no-no and unless a cruise line is willing to spend 30-odd days around Australia and then go off somewhere else (maybe New Zealand or South East Asia) to finish of their season I think it would be best to be based down under all-year round.

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tazza wrote:
...I would sure love to go on one, especially after the description of NSW's coastline. Would be great to open up a market based on only this. Considering that you would even ecounter different climates during the cruise, it would be a great expedition.

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I do like the way you put it tazza, ‘it would be a great expedition’. I think there are two really distinct markets in Australia, and they are covered by: the mass-market based P&O Australia ships and the expedition/adventure type ships of several of the small cruise ship companies. There are also other segments as: world cruises and seasonal visits, like: the mega-Princess ships and now HAL, but they are not based here all-year round.

I think to cover Australia properly the expedition ships would do a better job. There are too many good destinations in Australia that cannot be accessed by the deeper draught ships. Orion Expeditions and Coral Princess Cruises are probably the two best exponents of this, and I think it could be the future of cruising in Australasia with ships based in Australia and New Zealand.

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Originally posted by tazza:
Very true, the smaller ships definitely have access to a wider variety of ports, and with the recently publicised "pirate attack" (even though it's fairly rare and probably not at all a problem in the waters where say Pacific Sun/Sky/Star venture) and constant worries such as terrorism, why not explore what our country has to offer? I'm sure it offers people a greater sense of security as well as fun. Just my .02 cents!

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...Adelaide-born Captain Michael Fatchen, the ship's master...

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His father Max Fatchen is an Adelaide journalist and writer who worked for the now defunct Adelaide News where Rupert Murdoch started his empire and The Advertiser where he had a column in the Saturday supplement just a short time ago. His passion is writing children's stories. Good to see a native in the cruise business, and at the top, at the helm of a cruise ship.

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Originally posted by reeves35:
He has a remarkably dry sense of humour who has been with P&O for most of his adult life.

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