Carnival Cruise Line to Scale Back in Australia Starting in 2028
Carnival Cruise Line’s country manager in Australia, Peter Litytle, surprised the industry by announcing the line plans to further cut back its presence in Australia, which it blamed in part on the uncertain government support and regulatory environment. The line will move one of its mega cruise ships from year-round to a seasonal deployment, saying there were stronger opportunities in North America during the northern hemisphere summer.
The cruise line’s parent company has struggled with the Australian market despite now being the only year-round operation and having a heritage that incorporates two of Australia’s historic brands: P&O Cruises and Sitmar. A year ago, the corporation consolidated the P&O brand into Carnival Australia, citing the high operating costs and lower returns in the market. As part of the move, the brand’s oldest cruise ship, Pacific Explorer (77,400 gross tons, built in 1998), was sold and now operates in Southeast Asia.
The trade group Cruise Lines International Australia pointed out that Carnival’s cuts are also part of a larger trend in the Australian market. Cunard, Disney Cruise Line, and Virgin Voyages each withdrew their seasonal deployments in Australia, while Royal Caribbean International and Princess Cruises reduced their operations in the Australian market.
Under the new plan, the Carnival Adventure will depart for North America in April 2028 and operate seasonally from Australia during the southern hemisphere summer. The 108,865 gross ton cruise ship, which has a capacity of approximately 3,500 passengers, arrived in the Australian market for P&O in 2022 as part of the service resumption after the pandemic, along with a sister ship. She was built in 2001 as the Golden Princess for Princess Cruises and was transferred to Australia after several previous efforts to enhance the market. As Pacific Adventure, and now as Carnival Adventure sails year-round from Sydney, with Carnival currently offering cruises between two and 12 days.
Along with her sister ship, Carnival Encounter sailing from Brisbane, the two ships were sailing year-round from Australia, along with the Carnival Splendor (113,300 gross tons). A fourth ship, Carnival Luminosa (92,600 gross tons), already operates seasonally, split between Australia and North America. In 2025, Carnival Cruise Line said it expected to sail with more than 500,000 passengers from its Australia homeports.
Announcing the planned change, Little said the line has about 400 cruises scheduled for the next two years and expects to carry about 1.2 million passengers. The company has continued to invest in the ships, refurbishing them to the Carnival style in February-March 2025. It recently introduced its signature steakhouse, Fahrenheit-555, to both ships as well as its Japanese-inspired Bonsai Sushi Express. The Carnival Encounter spent the past few weeks getting a makeover in a dry dock in Singapore.
“While Carnival remains the only cruise line with a year-round commitment to this region, it has had to make this deployment decision given more favorable market conditions elsewhere and the uncertain regulatory environment in Australia and New Zealand,” said Little. He said that Carnival was “seeing strong momentum and local government support in other major travel and tourism markets globally.”
Little said Carnival would continue to champion for a “more competitive and certain operating environment.” For now, he said the company was adjusting its deployment to “better capture greater opportunities elsewhere.”
The Australian magazine Cruise Passenger highlights that the season shift for the Carnival Adventure means a further 70,000 bed reduction for the Australian industry. It said that it would hit the small ports and travel professionals the hardest.
that matters most
Get the latest maritime news delivered to your inbox daily.
CLIA says it continues to advocate for more support from the Australian federal and state governments, citing regulatory uncertainty. One example of the regulatory environment that drew attention was the tough new biofouling regulations introduced in 2022-2023, which meant the ships had to increase hull cleaning, and some ships were barred from environmentally sensitive areas.
The Australian Maritime Union also recently began targeting Carnival Cruise Line with allegations of poor working conditions and low wages. Carnival dismissed it as a recruitment campaign, but the union was successful in getting the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) to inspect one of the cruise ships. Carnival reported that no violations were turned up, and the cruise ship continues to sail.