Princess Cruises is continuing to make itinerary adjustments to its ships in Australia, with new adjustments made to upcoming voyages on Coral Princess. Longer voyages are being split into smaller segments, and new itineraries are also announced both for Coral Princess as well as Majestic Princess.
This is in addition to the itinerary changes and cancelations announced for Majestic Princess just yesterday.
Coral Princess Voyages Split
Two upcoming longer sailings aboard the Coral-class Coral Princess are being split into multiple voyages instead of single longer itineraries. In the notification about these changes, Princess Cruises said these changes are “due to operational considerations and ongoing uncertainty regarding international cruise borders in some parts of the region.”
Now, the July 10, 2022 voyage that was to have been a 12-night “Queensland and New South Wales Coast” cruise will now become one 5-night “Sydney and Sapphire Coast Seacation” sailing and one 7-night “Queensland” cruise. Both new itineraries will be roundtrip from Brisbane.
The August 22, 2022 12-night “Queensland and the Conflict Islands” sailing is also being split, this one into three new cruises. The first is a 3-night “Sapphire Coast Seacation” followed by a 4-night “Moreton Island Seacation.” The last itinerary is a 5-night “Hunter and Sapphire Coast Seacation” option.
All three of these shorter sailings are roundtrip from Sydney.
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The two now broken voyages are the only long sailings Coral Princess had scheduled from either Brisbane or Sydney for the next few weeks. The remainder of the ship’s sailings from Brisbane are all 7-night sailings, with one 3-night repositioning cruise on August 19, 2022, as the ship moves from Brisbane to Sydney.
The ship’s sailings from Sydney have much more variety, ranging from 2-10 nights, with another 12-night sailing departing Sydney on September 22, 2022. There has been no notice yet as to whether or not that voyage may be broken into shorter itineraries.
It is possible that the September voyage, as well as a 28-night circum-Australia itinerary scheduled for October, may also be split at a later date, depending on how local and regional protocols develop in the next few weeks.
The nature of the need for these changes has not been specified, but it may relate to different regional pre-cruise COVID-19 testing requirements, which can be more restrictive for longer sailings.
It is also possible that sales may perform better for shorter sailings as the region is only just restarting cruise travel and travelers have to become accustomed to new protocols.
New Itineraries Announced
Even while cruise travelers may be disappointed about the splitting of longer voyages, Princess Cruises has also announced a range of amazing 2023 itineraries for Majestic Princess and stunning longer options for Coral Princess in 2024.
The Royal-Class Majestic Princess will offer sailings from 2-32 nights, including options departing from Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, and Auckland. Some itineraries are northern explorations while others focus on southern ports, and still others cover Queensland, or sail completely around Australia.
Of particular interest will be the Hawaii, Tahiti, and South Pacific crossing voyage in April 2023, which can be as long as 32 nights, depending on where guests choose to embark and debark the sailing.
For Coral Princess, three new “Northern Explorer” itineraries have been announced for August 2024. Guests may embark at their choice of Auckland, Sydney, or Brisbane, which will be 21, 15, or 17-night itineraries, respectively.
For both ships, details on these new itineraries will become available in mid-July, when the sailings become available for booking.
