December 16, 2025 — 1:45pm
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What’s going on in Western Australia? The 2023-24 season was buoyant, with 290 port visits made by cruise ships. But the latest 2024-25 season has seen port visits plummet like a popped balloon to just 140.
As for this 2025-26 season, predictions are that port visits will be down to 90. Ouch. Set that figure against destinations such as Queensland, which have seen an increase in cruise ship visits, and it looks even more disappointing.
What’s more, the decline bucks the trend because the numbers of Australians keen on cruising continues to grow.
The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) says the number of Australian passengers worldwide increased almost six per cent to 1.32 million in 2024, with a 14 per cent increase in those cruising close to home in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.
So why are fewer of us cruising in Western Australia? Not because we don’t want to, but because ship capacity just isn’t there.
Little of the downturn can be blamed on Western Australia, where land-based tourism has been booming, driven by better flight connectivity to Asia, successful domestic marketing campaigns, and government investment in the tourism sector.
The overall picture is that big cruise ships from the likes of Carnival and Royal Caribbean have been reducing regional port visits Australia-wide in favour of more homeporting in Brisbane and Sydney. Princess Cruises has reduced its ship numbers and range of cruises in Western Australia.
Other companies have been sailing away altogether, citing onerous regulations, steep port fees, high operating costs, and cruise infrastructure slow to keep up with demand. Surging passenger numbers in the Caribbean have made it a more profitable option for cruise lines.
Ship capacity in Australia will decline by an astonishing third over the next couple of years, so wherever you sail domestically, be prepared for fare increases.
Another headwind for Western Australia came from newly implemented customs regulations, which decreed that cruise ships arriving in Australia from overseas had to stop in Fremantle for customs clearance.
The result has seen a huge decrease in ships docking in Geraldton, where customs requirements were once often carried out, and a bottleneck in Fremantle, although port upgrades are planned. It’s unlikely a single large cruise ship will visit Geraldton in 2026.
Things are quite different when it comes to small expedition ships which operate mostly in the Kimberley. Some also offer itineraries along Western Australia’s Coral Coast, best known for its superb reefs, whale sharks and outback rock formations.
In 2024 several new international cruise lines – most notably Seabourn – launched Kimberley itineraries in addition to those already operated by expedition companies such as Silversea and Ponant. Australian company Travelmarvel also entered the fray.
Australian companies APT, Coral Expeditions and Scenic also sail expedition voyages in the Kimberley, where passengers can see wonders including canyons and waterfalls, Indigenous art sites and (in places such as the Lacepede Islands) abundant bird life.
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