Brisbane’s plans for a new cruise terminal have already received strong endorsement, with Carnival Cruise Line saying it will deploy a ship to the Queensland capital year-round once suitable terminal facilities become available.
In Sydney for Cruise360, the line’s US-based senior vice president of commercial port operations and international Terry Thornton confirmed Carnival would “definitely have a ship in Brisbane”.
“We would love to go to Brisbane because that would be a whole new source of customers,” Thornton said.
Brisbane’s closer proximity to destinations in northern Queensland and the Pacific islands would allow new itinerary possibilities, including seven-day cruises with fixed weekend departures.
He said this would take place as part of a “managed growth” vision for Australia that aimed to avoid sudden capacity increases.
“Right now we have one ship in Sydney year round and one ship that comes to Sydney on a seasonal basis, so the next logical step would be for us to have two year-round ships, hopefully one in Sydney and one in Brisbane,” Thornton explained.
