Planned for China, Carnival Spirit will remain in Australia

The 2,680-passenger ship returned to Sydney on Sunday after a three-night cruise to nowhere, the venue for the 2016 World’s Leading Cruise Lines Partnership Summit, which had the theme ‘Seas the opportunity.’

The president and ceo of Carnival Corp. & plc, Arnold Donald, and Carnival Australia executive chairman, Ann Sherry, welcomed the 178 participating Australian and 22 New Zealand travel agents in an introductory video.

‘Aussies and Kiwis are the shining light in the cruise industry,' Donald said, with Sherry adding ‘I can see two million (Australian) passengers just over the horizon.’

Hostess of this year’s biennial Partnership Summit, Carnival Cruise Line’s vp Australasia Jennifer Vandekreeke, told attendees Carnival Spirit, which has just celebrated the fourth anniversary of homeporting in Australia, will continue to be based in Sydney full-time in 2018.

In May it was announced that Carnival Spirit would be deployed to China for the Australian winter season in 2018 following a scheduled drydock in Singapore.

Vandekreeke said the ship’s success in the Australian market and its strong forward bookings are the reasons it will now immediately return to Australia from Singapore.

Terry Thornton, svp commercial port operations and Carnival international, said the company has had ‘phenomenal’ success Down Under.

‘Even in the off season in Australia our ship does very well,' Thornton said.

‘Over time China will be massive and our sister brands are already there,' he said. However, he added, Carnival will continue to concentrate on Australia in the immediate future.

‘We like to say we are here for the long term,’ he said.

According to Vandekreeke, Carnival Spirit is still rated No.1 ship in Carnival Cruise Line’s 25-ship fleet and she thanked the top sellers at the Summit for their outstanding support.