Fremantle cruise arrivals continue to fall

Twenty-nine cruise ships are scheduled to berth in Fremantle in the 2019-20 season, continuing a downward trend in the number of cruise ship arrivals.

Fremantle received 35 cruise ships in the 2018-19 season, according to Fremantle Ports' 2019 annual report, a decrease from 43 arrivals in the 2017-18 season.

That reduction could be attributed to a decrease in home-based cruise visits, which refer to visits with complete passenger exchanges involving mostly local people.

Those visits have fluctuated dramatically in the past 10 years, from a low of five arrivals in the 2012-13 season to a high of 45 in the 2016-17 season.

While the port received 19 home-based arrivals in both the 2017-18 and 2018-19 season, just 15 are scheduled for the 2019-20 season.

Among home-basing cruises to return to Fremantle this season include Pacific Eden, which will be renamed Vasco de Gama to reflect a change in cruise line from P&O Maritime Services to Cruise and Maritime.

Fremantle’s cruise season will begin this Sunday, when the Sea Princess brings 1,678 passengers to the port as part of its circumnavigation of Australia.