In a move to put the cruise industry firmly on the political agenda, Cruise Lines International Association Australasia appointed a director of government affairs.

Carnival Luminosa sailed from Seattle Friday on a 31-day repositioning voyage to Brisbane for her second cruise season there which runs from October 15 until April 2024.

Seabourn Pursuit will make the company’s first expeditions in the South Pacific between March and October next year.

‘Australia will welcome 70 cruise ships over the 2023-24 season, which is well above the 60 or so scheduled to visit in 2019-20,’ Cruise Lines International Association MD Australasia Joel Katz told delegates at Cruise360 in Brisbane on Thursday.

Almost 650 members of the Australasia cruise community converged in Brisbane on Thursday for the first Cruise Lines International Association Australasia Cruise360 to be held outside of Sydney since the inaugural event in 2014.

Princess Cruises’ local partnerships programme is funding Dunedin-based Natures Wonders, an organisation helping to safeguard New Zealand’s iconic wildlife.

Helloworld Travel, which bought Cruiseco, the leading consortium of Australia’s cruise specialists in 2020, launched a Platinum Cruise Club with founding members Phil Hoffmann Travel, Hunter Travel Group and Clean Cruising.

Australian Pacific Touring (APT) fired back at allegations it owes A$2m in unpaid crew wages.

Beth Stolyar joined the Sydney commercial team of Swan Hellenic as sales director, Australia and New Zealand.

The Australian coordinator of the International Transport Workers Federation, Ian Bray, claims Australian Pacific Touring (APT) owes A$2m in unpaid crew wages.