Key Aspects:
- Carnival Cruise Line announced on Thursday, October 15, 2026 that Carnival Luminosa and Carnival Adventure will be removed from the Australian market.
- The ships’ final departures from Australia will be in March 2028. Until that time, they will continue their already released itinerary schedules.
- Two other ships homeported in Australia, Carnival Splendor and Carnival Encounter, will remain Down Under, sailing from Sydney and Brisbane, respectively.
Australia is a highly desirable cruise destination for many eager travelers, but cruises Down Under are going to get a bit harder to come by after March 2028, when Carnival Cruise Line plans to remove two of its four vessels from the Australian market.
The cruise line announced on Thursday, October 15, 2026 that both Carnival Luminosa and Carnival Adventure will no longer be sailing from Australia after their final planned departures in March 2028.
Carnival Luminosa has sailed from Brisbane since 2022, first year-round and then seasonally since 2025. Right now, the ship’s final published sailing is her March 5, 2028 departure from Brisbane, a 4-night round-trip itinerary to Airlie Beach. Carnival Cruise Line has confirmed, however, that the ship’s last departure from Australia will leave Sydney on March 15, 2028, but the complete itinerary has not been announced.
Carnival Adventure, previously part of P&O Cruises Australia as Pacific Adventure until the ship was transferred to Carnival Cruise Line in March 2025, will depart Sydney for the final time on March 20, 2028.
As with Carnival Luminosa, that final itinerary for Carnival Adventure has not yet been released. The last published sailing for the ship departs from Adelaide on March 10, 2028 and is a 4-night roundtrip voyage to Kangaroo Island.
Both ships will likely feature one-way Carnival Journeys voyages as they reposition to as-yet-unannounced new homeports.
The decision to remove two ships from the Australian market is a result of several factors, including government regulations about cruise ship operations, global competition in different markets, and overall itinerary planning and investment.
Carnival Cruise Line noted that Australia’s federal government recently extended the industry’s ability to sail between Australian ports through the end of 2028, but is continuing to develop a long-term cruise licensing arrangement.
“The extension is a welcome but interim step while the long-term operating framework for the Australian cruise sector is developed over the next two years,” said Peter Little, Carnival Cruise Line Country Manager.
“As the only cruise line with ships dedicated year-round to Australia, Carnival has greater exposure to changes in local market and operating conditions than cruise lines with a seasonal or more limited presence. We will continue to work constructively with the Federal Government as it develops the future arrangements for cruise ships operating in the Australian market.”
In the meantime, both Carnival Splendor and Carnival Encounter will remain homeported in Australia. At the moment, the ships are based from Sydney and Brisbane, respectively. There are no plans to remove those ships from the market, and their 2028-2029 itineraries will be released in the coming weeks.
Final Australia Sailings of Carnival Luminosa and Carnival Adventure
For the next 18 months, guests still have the opportunity to take advantage of the itineraries planned for both Carnival Luminosa and Carnival Adventure.
“Carnival Luminosa and Carnival Adventure have both played an important role in our Australian story, and many guests have enjoyed sailing on them to destinations across the South Pacific, including Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea. There is still plenty of time to experience everything these ships have to offer,” Little said.
The 2,260-guest Carnival Luminosa is currently on her way to Singapore with a one-way 14-night sailing from Tokyo that departed on Friday, October 9, part of her repositioning after finishing her summer season in North America.
Once in Singapore, the ship will undergo a dry dock refreshment from October 23 through November 29, before departing Singapore on November 30 to return to her Brisbane homeport.
Carnival Luminosa will remain in Australia with itineraries from 2-14 nights, before she leaves on April 6, 2027 for her summer season offering Mexican and Alaska itineraries from San Francisco. In November 2027, the ship returns to Brisbane to complete her service in Australia.
The larger 2,636-guest Carnival Adventure is scheduled for various Australia and New Zealand departure ports through March 2028, including Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, and Adelaide, with itineraries from 2-14 nights. The ship is also scheduled for a dry dock refreshment in Singapore in February 2027.
