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Aussie-based Carnival Spirit ranks tops in the Carnival fleet

Helen Hutcheon
Jennifer Vandekreeke with Australasian sales director Anton Loeb (left) and Justin French, Carnival Cruise Lines md international sales
The 2,680-passenger Carnival Spirit, permanently homeported in Sydney in October 2012, is rated the No. 1 ship in Carnival Cruise Lines' 24-ship fleet.

This was announced by vp Australia and New Zealand, Jennifer Vandekreeke, at the launch of the company’s 2015/16 Australian cruise programme in Sydney Monday evening. 

Vandekreeke said when Carnival Spirit arrived in Sydney it was rated about 20th. Since then, many improvements have been made.

‘Every time our guests give us feedback we listen and every time travel agents give us feedback we listen,’ she said. ‘We are constantly getting better.

‘We have only been here for 18 months and we have carried more than 160,000 Australians so far. We have another 90,000 booked for cruises going forward and we are 85% sold for 2014.’

As previously reported, there are float/fly and fly/float voyages aboard Carnival Spirit which leaves Sydney August 1, 2015, for Singapore where she will go into drydock before making the return journey on August 30. These voyages go via Brisbane which Vandekreeke said will give Queenslanders their first chance to sail with Carnival from their doorstep.

There are also opportunities to join Carnival Legend, which arrives in Sydney for a maiden season in September, when she makes her repositioning voyage to Hawaii on April 20, 2015. There is another repositioning voyage from Honolulu to Sydney on September 26, 2015, when Carnival Legend returns for her second season.

However, Vandekreeke said the majority of the 143 itineraries in 2015/16, which go on sale June 5, will be from Sydney to the South Pacific.

She said they are the company’s trademark cruises which have proved particularly popular with holidaymakers aged between 30 and 50.