Princess Cruises has unveiled its 2023-2024 cruises and cruisetours season departing from Australia and New Zealand, which includes the longest ever world cruise from Australia.
Four MedallionClass ships – Majestic Princess, Royal Princess, Grand Princess and Coral Princess – will sail to 117 destinations in 43 countries across Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific, South-east Asia, Europe and South America.
The 2023/24 season will include more than 100 departures onboard the Royal Princess and Majestic Princess. Both ships will be based in Sydney. The Grand Princess will cruise from Melbourne and Coral Princess will sail from Brisbane and Fremantle.
The four ships will offer 40 Australian cruises and more than 30 New Zealand cruises, plus eight Asian itineraries and ten Trans-Pacific sailings.
Highlight of the season is the Coral Princess’ 2024 world cruise, visiting 32 countries in 110 days. The cruise departs on April 30, 2024 from Sydney and May 2, 2024 from Brisbane. The itinerary includes overnight stays in St Petersburg (Russia), Lima (Peru), and New York.
Along with the world cruise, Coral Princess will also sail on Australia’s circumnavigation itineraries.
Other highlights include departures from six Australia and New Zealand homeports including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth (Fremantle), Adelaide, and Auckland.
Extended More Ashore stays in a variety of destinations include overnights in Tahiti (Papeete) and Cairns, as well as late-night stays in Auckland, Hong Kong, Honolulu, San Francisco, Tahiti (Papeete), and Vancouver.
Guests can also enjoy access to more than 14 UNESCO World Heritage Sites including The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia (from Port Douglas), the Greater Blue Mountains (from Sydney), and The Tasmanian Wilderness (from Burnie).
Two cruisetours are also available, including the Australian Outback where guests have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Aboriginal culture and visit two UNESCO World Heritage Sites – the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru National Park’s iconic Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock).
The other cruisetour, Ultimate Australia, guides guests through the highlights of Sydney, Uluru/Ayers Rock in the heart of the Outback, Darwin, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.
Travel booking platform Klook has formed a joint venture with ZA Tech Global, the technology venture founded by ZA International, that will accelerate the availability and accessibility of travel-related insurance to consumers across the globe.
The agreement will synergise Klook’s global presence and hyper-localised go-to-market strategy, alongside ZA Tech’s experience in insurance innovation and technological know-how.
With this joint venture, insurers will be able to partner with Klook to feature their insurance products on the platform. The agreement will see Klook work closely with insurers to design products that address the pain points of consumers in this new normal.
Klook will partner with insurers AXA and Chubb to kickstart travel-related insurance products on its platform by the end of this year, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region.
ZA Tech will export its proprietary solution Fusion to Klook’s platform to create a seamless digital experience for travellers and the ecosystem partners; while Klook will leverage ZA Tech’s customer insights to various markets to strengthen product innovation, customer engagement and increase insurance penetration.
“The pandemic has changed the way we travel, with customers demanding increased assurance when they travel once cross-border travel resumes,” said C.S. Soong, vice president, corporate development at Klook.
“We are excited about this milestone partnership with ZA Tech, as this is the first time any travel player will be rolling out a full suite of travel-related insurance on a multi-market level. With this, we can further simplify customers’ travel journey, enabling them to discover, book and purchase all they need during their travels from travel-related insurance to experiences.”
Young Yang, general manager of ZA Tech Southeast Asia, added: “Travel is a journey to explore and we want to make customers’ every step count with insurance protection. To that end, we are inspired to embed insurance in customers’ travel experience with ZA Tech’s insurtech innovation and enable the broader community to get insured.”