Millions of tourist dollars lost as Australia’s biggest cruise companies are forced to bypass Sydney

Royal Caribbean Cruises will no longer be docking its 15-deck ‘mini-city’ Voyager of the Seas here - which will see us lose around $32m in passenger spend - due to the lack of space.

• Eight reasons we’ll miss Voyager of the Seas

AUSTRALIA’S biggest cruise companies have made the extraordinary move to pull some of their biggest ships out of Sydney because of an ­“extremely frustrating” lack of prime dock space.

In a major blow to the country’s fastest-growing tourism sector that will have major economic ramifications for NSW, cruise companies are bypassing our city in favour of Melbourne and Brisbane, New Zealand and even further afield in Asia ­because Sydney Harbour’s Overseas Passenger Terminal is at capacity.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the country’s second biggest cruise company Royal Caribbean Cruises will no longer send its 15-deck Voyager of the Seas ‘mini-city’ to Australia because of the issue. Instead the major cruiseliner will remain in Singapore and China for a year-round season.

Cruise-goers love gliding into Sydney Harbour. But a lack of space means we are regularly missing out.

It’s the first time in 10 years a major cruise operator has cut a service.

Managing director Adam Armstrong also said its 12-deck ship Radiance of the Seas will also no longer stop in Sydney, bypassing the Harbour City for Melbourne and New Zealand. “We’ve been talking about one day Sydney will be full. That day has come,” he said.

“Sydney will lose 65,000 guests a year from Voyager of the Seas and around $32 million in passenger spend.”

The loss of Voyager of The Seas, pictured here, will cost around $32m in passenger spend.

Mr Armstrong said China and Singapore will benefit from having the Voyager in their markets rather than in Australia. “It’s extremely frustrating. There is no berthing solution in Sydney. In the interim, Singapore, Hong Kong and China have all built world-class terminals,” he said.

“Brisbane will have a solution ­before Sydney does.”

Cruising is Australia’s fastest growth tourism industry, worth $5 billion to the NSW economy and supporting 20,000 jobs. In 2015-16, there were 325 cruise ships visiting NSW.

Australia’s biggest cruise company, Carnival Australia, which represents seven cruise brands in the market, ­including P & O Cruises and Princess Cruises, is also struggling to berth in Sydney, with some ships moving to Brisbane and Melbourne. Carnival Legend will have 10 voyages from Melbourne in 2018 that could have been in Sydney.

Carnival Australia will base Queen Elizabeth in Australia for a record two months between February and April 2019 — it’s the longest time any of its current fleet of Queens have been in Australia. But, while the company’s preference was to set sail from Sydney, there were no berths available and, so for the first time, three of its cruises will be from Melbourne.

Pacific Pearl arrives to a beautiful sunset on the Harbour. Picture: John Grainger

Carnival Australia executive chairman Ann Sherry said the city desperately needs new berthing capacity on the eastern side of the Harbour Bridge. “We are finding ourselves ­increasingly basing ships in other ­cities,” she said. “I will keep encouraging discussion at both a state and federal level. This is the last big piece of the tourism puzzle now we have agreement on the second airport and have rebuilt the convention and exhibition centre in Sydney.”

Ms Sherry said the best solution to the cruise-ship crisis was sharing ­access to Garden Island with the Royal Australian Navy. “We are nearing crunch point where we need to find a way to unblock the stalemate in Sydney Harbour and find a way of sharing the Garden Island ­facility between Navy and cruising for the benefit of Sydney,” she said.

Mr Armstrong said Royal Caribbean had helped fund cruise terminals in Miami, Fort Lauderdale in Barcelona, Hong Kong and Singapore — and was willing to throw potentially tens of millions of dollars to build a new cruise terminal in Botany Bay.”

THE OPTIONS

GARDEN ISLAND

Pros: In a key location and cruise companies want access to it.

Cons: Choked by the Navy. Defence can’t give cruise ships enough notice of availability.

Can only take three ships a year but with $213m renovations starting, that will have to be cut back

Garden Island: Key location but limited capacity.

PORT BOTANY

Pros: Good location, large capacity to host cruise ships.

Cons: Ugly port, grotty location, near Sydney’s dirtiest beach and airport’s main runway.

Port Botany: Ugly but convenient

CIRCULAR QUAY

Pros: Can host world’s largest cruise ships.

Cons: Very congested, cruise companies taking business to Melbourne.

Circular Quay: Has the capacity for large ships but congested.

WHITE BAY

Pros: Sydney city location, two berths for visiting ships.

Cons: Most ships can’t get under the Harbour Bridge to get access to the terminal

White Bay: Harbour Bridge the obstacle