It’s hard to believe Royal Caribbean has only had ships based in Australia for 10 years but this summer the cruise line is celebrating 10 year downunder.
Royal Caribbean International’s (RCI) first Australian-based ship was the Rhapsody of the Seas which arrived in Sydney in October 2007 bringing competition for Carnival Australia. Within 3 years the line notched up a major milestone – in December 2010 welcoming the 100,000th passenger to travel on one of the line’s Australian based ships.
The fleet expanded in the years that followed. Radiance of the Seas arrived in 2011 and in 2012 Voyager of the Seas became the first ‘mega ship’ to be based in Australia. As demand for cruising in Australia boomed the 347m long Ovation of the Seas heralded the arrival of ‘supercruising’ in 2016.
RCI started with just 1 ship based here in Sydney but this year will have a fleet of 6 operating in Australian and New Zealand waters.
More than one million passengers have sailed on a Royal Caribbean cruise in Australia or New Zealand in the past 10 years. According to RCI along the way those passengers have consumed a whopping 26,662,480,000 meals and polished off 460,000 bottles of champagne.
To celebrate Royal Caribbean’s 10th birthday in Australia I have compiled an album below of 10 of my best shots of the fleet in Sydney. I hope you enjoy and long may the royal visitors keep calling! #10YearsofRoyal
- One of my favourite photos of all time on the harbour. The setting sun casts a golden glow over Voyager of the Seas. Photo. by: Jonathon Hall
SydneyShipSpotter 