New Luxury Liner service between Southampton and Sydney!

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With Reuben Goossens

Cruise’n’Travel Journalist, Cruise Reviewer,

Maritime Historian, Author and Lecturer

The Renaissance of the Passenger Liner!

Sailing from Britain to Australia and back to Britain

The initial design concept is seen as a significant milestone for Project Orient, the company behind the proposed Southampton to Sydney service. The liners are expected to be 70,000 GRT and accommodate 1,600 passengers with a crew of 800.

A profile of the two proposed new liners

Although these days the vast majority of British visitors to Australia arrive by air, although these are a small number of ships that make just one around the world voyage per year that visits Australia and these are extremely popular! Investors are working on and hope to reignite demand for a less hurried means of travel between Britain and Australia while capturing a share of the lucrative business-class “kangaroo route” and one-way fares are expected to commence from around £2,500. “We are targeting two per cent of that market at little more than the cost of a one-way business-class airfare," said operations director Nigel Lingard.

Architects have been busy with interior designs and above we see a design for the main Restaurant

And below the Lobby and the Front Desk

Sailing via two or three primary routes, 1. East; via South Africa or the Suez Canal or 2. West; via the Panama Canal, depending on the time of year. the voyage to Australia’s west coast is expected to take 25 days, plus an additional three to Sydney if sailing via the Suez and first Australian port being Fremantle.

Denise Von Wald of Tourism Australia said cruising to Australia offers a “rare and epic adventure” and an opportunity to retrace historic footsteps. “It’s a chance to relive the romance, relaxation, comfort and style of the great ocean liners that traditionally sailed (this service). We know that cruising is a booming sector internationally and that the UK is one of the top international cruise markets for Australia."

A little history: P&O Orient Lines who formed after a merger between P&O and Orient Line after WW2, and they operated an excellent fleet of ships between Britain and Australia that offered a “ten-pound-pom assisted passage” scheme that encouraged British migrants to head for and settle in Australia throughout the 1960s through to 1974. The two companies’ flagships SS Canberra and the SS Oriana were their largest and fastest ships built for this service; at full speed they were able to reduce the voyage time to just three weeks.

Operating a monthly service on the first week of each month and stopping only to pick up and drop off passengers, allowing for a day in port, the new voyage does not set out to emulate the full cruising experience. “It’s a journey, not a cruise. It will offer an alternative for those who want to visit Australia but who for whatever reason can’t or prefer not to fly there.”

Passengers will also be able to book sectors of the voyage, an important part of the plan, particularly in key cities like Cape Town or Singapore, combinable with air travel.

However, it is important to note, that many of the on-board trappings will be familiar to regular cruisers lovers, with great emphasis placed on enrichment, the on-board learning and activities programmes that keep cruise-goers busy on sea days. Along with a gym and spa an extensive library and an e-library, accessible via the ship’s Wi-Fi there will be multiple restaurants and extensive shopping and entertainment.

The project is the brainchild of former P&O employee Larry Sylvestre and is being spearheaded by CEO and entrepreneur Asif Mashhadi along with several former British cruise-industry heavyweights at the helm. It is hoped that: “STX could be cutting steel during 2014 for an early 2016 start-up.”

For further information visit: www.sailtoaustralia.com and please complete the online survey!

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