Princess Cruises will return to homeporting a ship in Melbourne for the 2028–2029 season, with Crown Princess scheduled to operate from Victoria's capital city.
The announcement coincided with the vessel’s arrival in Melbourne during a 28-day circumnavigation voyage.
Although the number of sailings and full itinerary details have not yet been released, Princess Cruises estimates that the ship’s homeporting season could generate up to AUD 40 million for Victoria’s economy. The company is expected to announce its complete 2028-2029 deployment programme, including details of Crown Princess’s sailings, on October 28th.
The return follows calls from Melbourne-based cruisers for Princess Cruises to re-establish a local homeport presence. Matthew Rutherford, the company’s vice president for Asia Pacific, acknowledged that Victorian guests had expressed a preference for beginning their holidays closer to home and had missed having a Princess ship based in Melbourne.
The arrival of Crown Princess also marks the beginning of the summer season in Victoria. The company expects visiting passengers to explore regional attractions, including Queen Victoria Market, the Puffing Billy railway and the Royal Botanic Gardens, supporting tourism operators and businesses across the region.
Rutherford also highlighted the role of cooperation with the Victorian state government in facilitating the upcoming season. He noted that Melbourne had remained an important market for Princess Cruises throughout the company’s 50 years of serving Australian holidaymakers.
Princess is also expected to maintain a presence in Sydney NSW during the 2028–2029 season, with provisional schedules listing visits by Grand Princess, Emerald Princess and Royal Princess. While these schedules remain subject to change, the planned deployments could indicate a broader expansion of the company’s Australian operations.
The return of a Melbourne-homeported cruise ship represents a renewed commitment to Victoria's market, with the full scale of the programme to become clearer when the 2028–2029 itineraries are released.