Carnival Cruise Line to base a ship in Brisbane, Australia for first time
Cruise giant Carnival soon will have a ship based in Brisbane, Australia — a first for the line.
The Miami-based cruise company this week announced its 2,124-passenger Carnival Spirit would operate out of the city year-round starting in 2020. The ship currently is based in Sydney, Australia.
Carnival said Spirit would offer voyages out of Brisbane to the South Pacific with stops in Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It'll also offer short trips to the North Queensland region of Australia.
The sailings primarily will be aimed at the Australia market and not sold at Carnival's U.S. website.
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The deployment comes amidst a Carnival expansion in Australia. The line currently has two ships based at least part of the year in Australia — Spirit and Carnival Legend. They'll be joined in late 2019 by a third vessel, Carnival Splendor.
While Carnival is primarily focused on the American market with the bulk of its fleet sailing to The Bahamas, Caribbean and Mexico out of U.S. ports, it has been building an Australian-focused business since 2012.
The details of Spirit's itineraries out of Brisbane will be announced later this month with bookings for Australians opening in early July.
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