P&O Cruises Australia Set to Resume International Operations in August

(3 a.m. AEST) -- P&O Cruises Australia has confirmed that its first international cruise will depart Sydney on August 8 and call in at Auckland and Fiji on Pacific Explorer.

Under a revised itinerary, Pacific Explorer will become the first ship to visit Auckland and two ports in Fiji following the resumption of cruise operations in the region in May.

It will be the first time that P&O Cruises has visited an international port since cruise operations were suspended in March 2020. Until now, the restart of cruising in Australia has been limited to domestic itineraries.

"Our guests have been looking forward to again being able to visit magical destinations in the Pacific,” said President of P&O Cruises Australia Marguerite Fitzgerald.

“We now see the pathway back to cruising in our beautiful part of the world and I am sure our guests on this cruise will enjoy being part of cruising’s return to New Zealand and Fiji."

New Zealand green-lighted the resumption of cruises in May, with a start date of July 31 -- one of the last places in the world to restart cruising.

Under the revised itinerary, Pacific Explorer will now visit Auckland on August 12, followed by Lautoka on August 15 and Dravuni on August 16.

However, scheduled calls to Mystery Island or Noumea will not proceed and P&O Cruises looks forward to ultimately returning to Vanuatu and New Caledonia.