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Thousands of Australians Head to Sea to Escape the Winter Blues

Thousands ofholidaymakers will set sail from Sydney today on an epic 104-night worldvoyage, reflecting Australians' growing passion for international cruiseholidays.

The travellers willescape Australia's winter by heading north on Sea Princess on a journey whichwill visit 39 destinations in 27 countries and cover more than 28,000 nauticalmiles around the globe before returning to Sydney in late August.

Despite theirinternational travels, the guests are also escaping the vagaries of Australia'sfluctuating exchange rate, with the cost of the cruise, onboard spending andshore tours in international ports charged in Australian dollars. Pricedfrom $200 a day per person, the cruise also enables travellers to see the worldwithout the expense of international airfares.

Since it pioneeredthe first roundtrip annual world voyage from Sydney in 2008, Princess Cruiseshas carried more than 30,000 Australians on 10 global odysseys. With two worldcruises operating in both 2012 and 2013, this year's world cruise is the 11ththe cruise line has undertaken from Australia.

Highlights of thecruise – which departs Sydney this afternoon at 4pm – include overnight visitsto Dubai, St Petersburg, New York and Lima as well as transits of the Suez andPanama canals, and calls to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, including theremote Easter Island.

Princess Cruises isthe only cruise line to offer a roundtrip world cruise from the southernhemisphere.

The popularity of thecruises reflects Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasiafigures that show the number of Australians cruising has grown by an average of20 per cent a year for the past decade, with more than 12,000 Australianstaking a world voyage in 2014 according to the latest data.

Close to 3200 guestswill travel on part or all of the world voyage over the next 104 nights.Almost 1300 are doing the full world cruise, including around 1100Australians.

Ensuring guests willstill have a taste of Australia while they travel the world, about 200 tonnesof food and beverage items are being loaded onto the ship in Sydney today.World cruise guests consume about 400kg of beef, 240 dozen eggs, 150kg ofshell fish, 1700kg of fresh vegetables and more than 50kg of chocolate a day.

The 77,000-tonne SeaPrincess offers a premium cruising option from a range of Australian homeports.It features a high number of staterooms with private balconies, along withmultiple dining options, including the cruise line's new Curtis Stone menuitems, and signature Princess innovations such as the popular Movies Under theStars poolside theatre and The Sanctuary, an exclusive top-deck retreat.

Next year Princesswill offer three world cruise options for Australasian travellers: a 104-nightround world cruise on Sea Princess, a 75-night Circle Pacific cruise on GoldenPrincess as well as an 84-night Circle South America cruise on Sea Princess.Fares start from $13,299* per person twin share for the 75-night CirclePacific voyage.

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