Queenslanders clamour for cruise comeback

After a two-year pandemic-induced absence, Queenslanders are celebrating a major milestone for the cruise ship industry.

Hundreds of Queenslanders have packed their bags for this week’s historic cruise ship comeback.

P&O’s Pacific Explorer will leave Sydney on Tuesday bound for Brisbane’s sparkling new international cruise terminal, a $177 million facility which has yet to welcome a single ship since its completion in 2020.

The ship will dock in Brisbane on Thursday, with hundreds of Queenslanders among the passengers on-board the first cruise in Australia since the coronavirus pandemic brought the industry to its knees more than two years ago.

Crowds gather ahead of the first Australian cruise in more than two years as P&O’s Pacific Explorer prepares to set sail for Queensland.

Cruising with Honey host Honida Beram said 210 travellers would be joining her on the voyage.

“Everyone wants to be a part of something really special,” she said.

“As soon as the date was announced (of cruising being allowed to resume) people started getting really excited.”

Sunshine Coast sisters Hollie Mazzorana and Hannah Hosking jumped at the chance to be part of the landmark voyage, booking their passage as soon as the dates were announced.

It will be Mrs Mazzorana’s eighth cruise, and she has already booked a ninth journey scheduled to travel up the Queensland coast in August.

Sisters Hannah Hosking and Hollie May are packed and ready to go for the first Aussie cruise in more than two years. Picture: Lachie Millard

She said she fell in love with cruising after taking a voyage for her honeymoon.

“I was hooked from the minute we set sail,” she said.

“So we booked this trip as soon as we could. It’s going to be buzzing.

“We wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

After the lengthy hiatus, cruising is heading back to Queensland in a big way, with 150 visits to Sunshine State ports scheduled over the coming months for an industry that was worth more than $1 billion a year to the state’s economy before the pandemic.