Newcastle Opens Record Cruise Season With Crown Princess and 18 Ships
If you're sailing into Newcastle between October and April, you'll be part of a record 18-ship season, so expect the port to be busier than usual. Five of those calls are maiden arrivals, so check whether your itinerary is one of them. On arrival, look for the 30 new volunteers, updated signage and new tourist maps put in place to help passengers explore the city and surrounding region. Confirm your ship's call date with your cruise line.
My read is that Newcastle is getting a payoff from steady groundwork rather than a one-off spike. McKenna himself says schedules fluctuate year to year, yet he also cites roughly 13 percent average annual growth over the past decade, and that is the number I would trust more than any single season's tally. The winners are local operators and the region: cruise is estimated to add around $20 million a year, and a record 18 ships from October to April, with the Crown Princess first in, puts more than 30,000 cruise tourists in front of them. The MoU, which ties the port authority, Destination Sydney Surrounds North, the tourism group and seven councils together, is the quiet strategic piece. The volunteers, signage and maps funded through the Community Grants Program show where the money is going. I see no obvious losers, though crowding on port days is the cost of success. In the traveler's shoes, I would check which of the five maiden calls my sailing is and plan my shore time early.