APT Touring launches luxury tours aboard MS Caledonian Sky, as operators wait for December decisions

Cruise ships will once again grace South Australia’s waters, with an international operator offering luxury tours stopping at popular locations.

Cruise ships are set to return to South Australian waters, with international shipping outfit APT offering luxury eight-day tours.

The company released its tour schedule last month which extends to South Australia.

The MS Caledonian Sky, a small luxury ship catering for just 99 guests, to comply with Covid-19 restrictions, will visit five locations around the state, including Kangaroo Island and Coffin Bay.

The MS Caledonian Sky.

Eager travellers are already booking for the 2022/23 season, and discounted tickets are available for the 2021/22 season, starting from $8095.

The cruise industry was locked down in March last year, when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Since then, confusion has reigned around the resumption of the $6bn-a-year industry.

Swagabout Tours owner Peter Crettenden, who depends on the cruise industry for his livelihood, says these small local tours are still not enough to warrant his return to work as a step-on tour guide in Port Lincoln.

SA tourist company operator Peter Crettenden of Swagabout Tours.

“From what I understand it’s all pretty well organised internally,” Mr Crettenden said.

“They’ve got these little rubber ducky things where they offload people on and just run them in to a good landing site.”

Mr Crettenden said it was a shame the industry wasn’t back to business-as-usual, despite Europe and the US operating strategically in-line with Covid-19 restrictions.

“Hopefully if these are successful, running these little cruise bubbles out of cities like Adelaide and Perth, the government can see they are operating safely and have all the protocols in place for Covid. It may lead them to see cruising can be done safely,” he said.

Mr Crettenden relies on large international ships, from companies such as P&O, which previously ran cruises with patron capacities in the thousands.

P&O confirmed last month it would only accept passengers who were fully vaccinated, in the lead-up to the pending resumption of cruise liners in Australia.

“We want to make cruising as safe as it can be,” P&O Cruises president Sture Myrmell said.

“And there is a clear community sentiment that vaccinations should be a requirement.”

“It’s happening overseas and when cruising resumes here in Australia, P&O Cruises has listened to the community and will make vaccinations a requirement of sailing.”

Last month Victor Harbor also announced its push for a marine infrastructure development in hopes of attracting cruises and squashing the region’s boat access crisis in popular seasons, with the potential to bring $118m to the state.

Smaller cruises, such as the APT’s MS Caledonian Sky, are operating in Western Australia, however few operators are being granted exemptions to operate.

Other smaller operators continue to wait for answers, expected from the federal government on December 17.