Fremantle (Perth, Western Australia)

Fremantle port serves as cruise port to Perth - Western Australia's capital city. The city is called "Freo" (by Western Australians) and "Walyallup" (by the indigenous people living between Geraldton and Esperance). Passenger ferries offer regularly scheduled service between the port and Rottnest Island (at ~ 14 mi / 22 km off of the coast) and also on Swan River to Perth City.

Perth is the 4th most populous Australian city - after Sydney (New South Wales), Melbourne (Victoria) and Brisbane (Queensland) - and followed by Adelaide (South Australia). Trends show that the Australian cruising market is growing at a rapid pace. It has some of the industry's highest penetration rates nationally. The Australian cruise ports' strongest competition today comes from Singapore and Hong Kong (China).

"Project Orient Limited” (POL) plans to build two ocean cruise liners for a regular passenger shipping service between Europe/UK and Australia (Southampton - Sydney NSW). The scheduled itinerary will be 26 days in one direction (Southampton to Sydney, and the reverse Sydney to Southampton). The included ports of call are Fremantle (at the 20-day mark), also Dubai, Mumbai (India) and Singapore. Each of the new ships will be 200,000 GT tons and with capacity 1600 pax. The expected cruise pricing starts from around GBP 2900 per person (one-way).

Fremantle cruise port

Port Fremantle is located at the Swan River's mouth. It is a major part of the Perth City metro area. The cruise ship terminal is located at just 20-min driving distance from Perth City.

The seaport is open the whole year round, but its busiest season is from November to March. The port is a popular stop on around the world voyages. It is also a departure port for port destinations in Asia, UK, South Africa and around Australia. Among the cruise companies visiting Fremantle are Celebrity, Cunard, Holland America, P&O Australia, Princess, Royal Caribbean, also Azamara, Crystal, CMV (Cruise and Maritime) and the Australian line Captain Cook Cruises.

For 2014-2015 season, P&O Australia (a Carnival Corporation subsidiary) based in Fremantle Pacific Jewel (1900 pax). This made it the first cruise line to Margaret River wine region (located approx 170 mi / 275 km south of Perth). In November 2015, at the seaport debuted the newly acquired ship Pacific Eden (1500 pax, fka MS Statendam).

Princess Cruises in 2015-2016 for the first time ever started year-round Fremantle homeport operations (roundtrip departures). It doubled company’s Western Australia capacity to over 45,000 (passengers carried between Apr 2015 - Mar 2016). Port Fremantle also enjoyed its first full season with the liner Sun Princess leaving on 11 itineraries (between Oct 2015 - Mar 2016). Among those was the 46-day India and South Africa cruise from Australia (priced from AUD 8840 per person). By the same program, Queensland (Eastern Australia) received its ever-biggest cruise liner presence with 9 months roundtrips from Port Brisbane. The program had scheduled more than 80 departures out of Australian ports (Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Fremantle) and also from Auckland NZ.

In June 2015 was announced the Western Australia State Government's budget plan to privatize the Fremantle port. The City Council's report said the Perth's cruise ship business of over 100,000 passengers a year is "at a very high risk of being lost in the move to a private port operation". Among the reasons is that current cruise line terminal fees charged by Fremantle Ports are much less than for commercial shipping lines. The privatization is expected to bring between AUD 1,5 and 2 billion, and was part of a plan to ­reduce seaport's debt.

During season 2015-2016, the port handled a total of 58 cruise ships carrying around 152,000 passengers and crew. Cruising industry generates over AUD 275 million for the WA's economy. During the repositioning from Asia to Australia (Singapore to Sydney) in Dec 2016, the Royal Caribbean ship Ovation of the Seas (5000 pax) was scheduled to visit Fremantle as its first ever port of call in Australia.

In May 2017, Western Australia's cruising industry started a decline due to inadequate seaport infrastructure that caused Carnival Corporation to stop homeporting vessels in Fremantle. Following Carnival's decision, by season 2018-2019, WA lost dozens of voyages - season 2016-2017 (60 cruises), season 2017-2018 (43), season 2018-2019 (17). WA economy's loss was estimated at AUD 130 million. Among Carnival's issues were ship access to Broome channel (resulting in limited ashore time), Geraldton (lack of shore tension units), Exmouth (reliable berthing, lack of floating dock).

By year 2020, Western Australia's cruise industry is expected to increase revenues from AUD 118 million (season 2012-2013) to AUD 274,4 million. That means a market growth rate of 5% annually.

In January 2019 was completed the USD 3,25 million refurbishment of Fremantle Passenger Terminal. The renovated cruise terminal features a redesigned lobby, steel-glass canopy, decorative glass paneling (dividing the escalators and within Customs Hall), modern furniture (in the transit area), repainted facade, new signage boards, new digital banners (at building's entrance).

Cruise itineraries to and from Fremantle-Perth

Follows a list of destinations visited by cruise ships leaving out of Fremantle-Perth:

• World Cruises – from Fremantle are offered around the world voyages by bigger luxury lines (mainly by Cunard, P&O, Princess, CMV-Cruise Maritime). Full-length itineraries (eastbound or westbound) can be up to 110+ days round-trips and usually start from the UK (out of Southampton). On those, Australia is only a mid-itinerary destination offering one-way departures from Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide or Fremantle (Perth) back to Southampton (disembarkation port). The length of such segment itineraries is up to 2 months (UK disembarkation). Smaller segments offer up to 40+ days long westbound itineraries to ports in Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai) or South Africa (on Around Africa return routes to Europe). Longer segments may end in some of the biggest Mediterranean ports (Piraeus-Athens, Venice, Civitavecchia-Rome, Barcelona). Excluding the South Africa route, all westbound routes to Europe include Suez Canal transition.
• "Circle Australia" and "Around Australia" (full circumnavigation of the continent) itineraries leaving from Fremantle are rarely round-trip. They usually end in Brisbane or Sydney and include stops at some of the continent's largest ports - Geraldton, Broome, Darwin, Yorky's, and often New Guinea (Alotau). The Around Australia round-trip is 1 month long.
• Round-trip Australia to Indonesia cruises out of Fremantle (12-15-days itineraries) visit Komodo Island, Makassar (Ujung Pandang), Semarang, Lombok Island, Probolinggo, Bali Island.
• Round-trip Australia to Asia cruises out of Fremantle (close to a month-long itineraries) visit ports in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia.
• Cruise to Nowhere Fremantle deals are on 3-day round-trip itineraries without any ports of call along the route. Generally, these are themed cruises with popular themes like "food and wine", comedy, sports, wellness, music, "Australia Day", etc. There are onboard pre-scheduled theme events and activities like parties, concerts, meetings, presentations, tastings, etc.
• Short-break ("Mini Cruises") visit Esperance (4-day eastbound itinerary) and to Busselton/Margaret River (3-day, or 4-day with Albany).
• West Australia (Kimberley Coast) cruises leaving round-trip from Fremantle visit the ports of Geraldton, Broome and Exmouth (8-9-day itinerary route).

Australia's ship relocation voyages (RepositionCruises.com) are considered most of the one-way itineraries between Australia and Asia (mainly to Singapore and Hong Kong), the USA (Hawaii-Alaska-California) and also when ships change their Australian homeports. The latter include short one-way cruises between Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Fremantle. Fremantle to Sydney and Fremantle to Melbourne cruises are 7-9-day (relocation) south coastal itineraries with no other ports of call. Rarely are available for booking short cruises from Fremantle to Auckland New Zealand (4-days repositioning) without ports of call along the eastbound route.

Australia to New Zealand cruises out of Fremantle are 17-days one-way (relocation) itineraries with Auckland NZ being the turnaround port and disembarkation in Sydney or Brisbane.

Captain Cook Cruises from Fremantle to Perth offer a range of river cruising itineraries in the upper Swan River Valley. The valley is a major wine-producing region.

Fremantle cruise terminal

Fremantle tours, shore excursions, hotels

City Tours and Shore Excursions

• Fremantle Prison: the premier attraction for tourists. Its story starts in 1852 with the Convict Establishment construction and ends in 1991 with its closure.
• Round House: the State’s old building offers amazin panoramic view. You can also take part in the time-gun firing every day.
• Whalers Tunnel: it is beneath the Round House and its length is 57 meters. It was cut just for 5 months in the period 1837-1838. Whaler’s tunnel connects the Bathers Bay Whaling Station and High Street.
• Western Australian Museum Shipwreck Galleries: the museum houses wreck and artefacts of centuries. The oldest are from 1629 of Batavia.
• Western Australian Maritime Museum: unique exhibitions of small crafts to commercial luggers. You can see the HMAS Ovens, submarine class Royal Australian Navy Oberon. Also the museum houses Australia 11, yacht that has won the America’s Cup.
• Western Australia Army Museum: located in Burt Street in the Fremantle Artillery Barracks. Discover the history of the Western Australia’s Army with military exhibitions in five galleries.
• Monument Hill: site listed as a heritage. It is part of the Central War memorial. It commemorates the Australian men in women lost in the WWI. It dates from 1928.
• Fisherman’s Wharf: try the fish& chips on Mews Road. It is on the waterfront, the park from Marine Terrace is beyond.