All 12 call ports · arrival, wharf & departure for the next scheduled ships · updated daily
Expedition line Swan Hellenic has opened its first Southern Hemisphere office, in Sydney's Rose Bay, timed to the Cruise360 conference and aimed at its growing Australasian market. The line has scheduled a 32-night voyage aboard Minerva departing Ushuaia in February 2027 that calls at Dunedin and Auckland alongside South Pacific and Asian ports. Chief commercial officer Mario Bounas said the market's growth had prompted the move, while ruling out immediate cruises in Australian domestic waters.
The Cruise Lines International Association's Cruise360 Australasia conference has opened in Sydney with a record turnout of close to 1,000 delegates, even as the region keeps shedding cruise deployments. CLIA Australasia executive director Joel Katz said New Zealand's government was hearing the industry's concerns, while noting that both Australia and New Zealand have lost ships to other parts of the world. Organisers still pointed to global growth, with worldwide passenger numbers tracking toward around 42 million by the end of the decade.
Marking the season opening, Princess Cruises said it will roughly double its New Zealand port calls from the 2028/29 season, calling at nine ports: Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Lyttelton, Dunedin, Picton, Napier and Timaru, plus Fiordland scenic cruising. The line says the additional calls would generate more than NZ$100 million in economic value and make it the country's largest cruise operator.
The 2026/27 cruise season began on 29 August as Crown Princess docked in Auckland's Waitematā Harbour, with the Government forecasting close to 200,000 cruise passengers through to the end of June. Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston pointed to renewed operator confidence and closer government-industry coordination, while Auckland's destination agency expects the sector to add more than NZ$200 million to the regional economy this season.