Carnival Australia cruise ships return to Western Australia after a commitment by McGowan Government to fix Broome Port's issues. Dredging at the port will be carried out in 2018, enabling cruise vessels all-tide access.
In 2016, Carnival Australia told previous Liberal National Government it would no longer homeberth P&O or Princess cruise ships in Western Australia in case problems at some of the regional ports were not fixed. However, despite these warnings nothing was done, which in April 2017 forced Carnival Australia to pull its P&O ships from Western Australia for upcoming seasons.
The state was facing a loss of about A$135 million (US$105 million) in cruise-related annual spending, along with 400 jobs, due to the withdrawal. The number of cruise ship calls was set to drop from 60 during 2016-2017 to just 17 by 2018-2019.
On the back of Broome commitment and work carried out to install Geraldton Port's shore tension units, Carnival Australia says Princess Cruises would homeport its liner, Sun Princess, in Fremantle late 2018.
Carnival also has further 19 transit visits to Western Australia next year across both its Cunard and Princess brands.
Sun Princess has capacity for over 2,000 passengers, and it's understood Carnival Australia considers further commitments to Western Australia for 2019-2020.