Carnival Moves Spirit Down Under Year-Round

 Carnival Spirit, seen here in Vancouver, BC.

Photo © Aaron Saunders

Carnival Cruise Lines announced yesterday it plans to move the 2,124-passenger Carnival Spirit to Australia on a year-round basis beginning in the fall of 2012.  It marks the first time Carnival has homeported a ship outside North America on a year-round basis.

Built in 2001 and part of the line's popular Spirit-class of ships, Carnival Spirit has traditionally operated cruises to Alaska in the summer months and a variety of Mexican Riviera itineraries out of San Diego in the winter.  In April 2012, however, the Spirit will leave San Diego for the last time, bound for her last Alaskan season, and then on to Sydney.

While Carnival announced it remains committed to the Alaskan market for 2013, it confirmed it would not be replacing the Spirit out of San Diego, citing the poor financial performance of her current Mexican Riviera itineraries. The same argument was made by arch-rival Royal Caribbean, who will be removing Mariner of the Seas from the Mexican Rivera market beginning this Sunday.

Cruises on the West Coast have taken a major beating in recent years.  Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego have all seen significant reductions in passenger numbers and port calls thanks in part to rising gang violence on Mexico's Pacific coast and Alaska's Passenger Head Tax initiative, part of which was rescinded last year.

But by and large, the main reason for the decline of West Coast cruising is simply a shift in passenger demand.  European cruises have increased in popularity to the point where it's not just European lines that offer year-round voyages to the region; several mainstream North American lines are also getting into the act. The Australia and New Zealand markets are increasingly growing in popularity despite long transpacific flights, and Asia could very well be the next 'it' destination as more lines dip their toes in the proverbial water on the other side of the Pacific.

These voyages also typically command better revenue-per-passenger, which doesn't necessarily mean they're more expensive.  Rather, it means cruise lines can expect to recoup their costs more effectively through these voyages, either through increased onboard spending including shore excursions, reduced port taxes, increased fares, or a combination of these. 

Fans of Carnival should be excited about these new Australian voyages, which will depart from Sydney and cruise for 8 to 12 nights to the Pacific Islands, or 13 nights to New Zealand.

For now, it seems, San Diego's loss is Sydney's gain.

For more information, be sure to visit Carnival's website.