Why luxury cruises are ditching Australia

Virgin Voyages says Red Sea tensions are to blame for the cancellation of Resilient Lady's 2024-25  Australian season.

First, Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth pulled out of homeporting in Australia in 2025-26 in favour of sailing year-round in the Caribbean and Alaska, and now another major cruise line is set to chart a different course away from our shores – and even sooner.

I should have seen it as a sign as I scrolled the Virgin Voyages website looking to book a cruise for the next Australian season. I’d just stepped off a Resilient Lady sailing from Sydney to Burnie and back and loved it so much I wanted to check the prices for a girls’ getaway next summer. More like a luxury design resort than a cruise ship, this is the sort of sailing that first-time cruiser friends (who are ever-so-slightly sceptical) are likely to embrace. This would be the ship that convinces them that cruising is the way to travel. But there was no option to book any Australian sailings. Then came the news a few days later. Virgin Voyages, the same line that made such a splash debuting here just months ago – remember Richard Branson on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge? – wouldn’t be returning to our shores next season.

Citing potential conflict escalations in the Red Sea over the next 12 months, Virgin Voyages has cancelled its 2024-25 season plans for Resilient Lady in Australian and New Zealand waters.

“Virgin Voyages was embraced by the Australia and New Zealand markets with a warm welcome and celebrated an extremely successful inaugural season – the love was mutual,” the press release stated. “To say that we are disappointed to have come to this tough conclusion is an understatement.”

Resilient Lady will instead spend the 2024-25 season sailing the Caribbean. Momentum is high but it looks like we’ll have to take the long haul to experience Virgin Voyages for the time being; there are ships based out of Athens and Barcelona. The cruise line said it was working through options to return to our region “once regional repositioning opportunities become more tenable”, which is to say coming back to Australia the long way via Africa rather than through the Red Sea would take too long, so it would not be as profitable for the cruise line.

I’d just stepped off a Resilient Lady sailing from Sydney to Burnie and back and loved it so much I wanted to check the prices for a girls’ getaway next summer. Picture: Chris Putnam (Getty Images).

Given the situation, perhaps we’ll see other lines opt for the Caribbean instead of Australian waters come October and November? They can avoid the Red Sea, they don’t have to travel as far and there’s certainly a big market for cruising in those turquoise waters.

According to Cruise Lines International Association, while some cruise lines are altering itineraries to avoid the Red Sea, it is likely the vast majority of sailings in Australia and New Zealand will be unaffected. “Each cruise line will conduct its own assessments based on their particular schedules and circumstances,” CLIA says.

But local cruise-lovers needn’t worry. We are fortunate in this region to have a diverse fleet, including year-round locally based ships, as well as vessels repositioning from Asia, Africa, the US and Alaska.

Originally published as Why luxury cruises are ditching Australia