Pacific Explorer and Coral Princess bring cruise season to end, add to busy Albany long weekend

Two of the last cruises of the season bookended a big long weekend in Albany bringing nearly 4000 passengers to the port.

The Pacific Explorer visited on Thursday followed by the Coral Princess on Tuesday, with each ship having the capacity to carry about 2000 passengers.

The visits bring an end to Albany’s cruise season, the first since WA started to reopen its doors to the industry in April 2022 in a staged manner.

COVID brought the industry to a standstill in March 2020 shortly after the last liner made a stopover in Albany.

There had been 12 planned visits to the port between late October and April 11, with all but two arriving as scheduled.

The season got off to a bumpy start when the Coral Princess and the Noordam had to cancel plans to dock because of unfavourable weather forecasts in October and December respectively.

Six smaller vessels with capacities of less than 1000 reached the port before the MS Queen Elizabeth arrived on March 4 to break Albany’s nearly three year drought without a visit from a large cruise ship.