‘Emotional day’: First cruise ship in two years sails into Sydney

Cruising has made a triumphant return to the Harbour city as P&O’s Pacific Explorer kickstarts the $5bn industry, but Adelaide won’t have long to wait.

THE first cruise ship in more than two years has arrived in Australia, sailing into Sydney Harbour on Monday morning to restart an industry worth more than $5bn to the economy.

It came as South Australians eagerly await the scheduled return of P&O’s flagship, the Pacific Explorer, to Adelaide docks in October.

Pacific Explorer sailed through Sydney Heads after 9am with a three-tug escort and the hopes of 18,000 people whose jobs rely on the industry riding with her. “This is the culmination of two years of hope and optimism and a lot of hard work,” Carnival Australia and P&O Cruises Australia chief executive Marguerite Fitzgerald said.

Three tugs sprayed plumes of water into the air as the liner, which had been docked in Cyprus, returned to Australia to be reprovisioned and for the 600 crew members to spend six weeks training before her first four-night cruise to Brisbane.

The South Australian government says cruise ships will return to ports in Adelaide, Kangaroo Island and Port Lincoln from October, but the option for earlier arrivals may be explored. “We’ve been...working with industry and SA Health to recover this valuale sector,” tourism minister Zoe Bettison said.

So far only NSW, Victoria and Queensland have approved cruising, with WA due to lift a ban later this year.

The NSW Transport Minister was on board a boat of dignitaries who travelled out to see the P&O liner come through the heads at 9.30am.

“It is a very, very special day because psychologically we are seeing what living with Covid looks like,” he said.