Fabulous and running like a well-oiled machine. That's how the manager at Cruise Eden, Debbie Meers described the past cruise season which welcomed 40 cruises to the Sapphire Coast.
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Eden was the busiest regional port in NSW, VIC, SA and TAS this season, having welcomed 62,211 passengers to the area.
75 per cent of those came to shore, which the Australia Cruise Association and the Cruise Lines International Association estimated provided an economic value of $17 million.
There were 11 maiden calls, four unscheduled visits, 326 tours made up of 10,274 people, and 139 shuttle buses during the 2023/24 season.
"At this stage the number of bookings [next season] is 25, which will be our third largest season on record since 2005, and the year after that is somewhat bigger but the figures are changing at the moment," Ms Meers said.
"From the visitors, the tours, the welcome ambassadors, we were so practiced at it that every ship got a warm welcome, the passengers loved Eden, and we enjoyed having a number of maiden voyages including Disney and Virgin.
"It was a fabulous season."
The figures for the past cruise season on the Far South Coast arrive just as the world's biggest cruise company announced it was shutting down its Australian brand due to high operating and regulatory costs.
But Ms Meers said the folding of P&O Cruises Australia had no effect on the Port of Eden at all.
"We had no booking for the next two years from P&O, so it won't decline in number of calls, only through normal cancellations, but P&O folding has no negative impact on our Port," she said.
"We haven't got any Carnival branded ships coming in, but we've certainly got Carnival's other brands coming in such as Seabourn and Princess, and we hope Carnival branded ships like Carnival Adventure and Carnival Encounter will come in the future."