I Wasn’t Invited to CLIA360

By Cruising With Honey - 10:17

I Wasn’t Invited to CLIA360: What Happened?

I’m going to share an update I genuinely never expected to be sharing after more than a decade covering and supporting the cruise industry.

I wasn’t invited to CLIA360.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve bumped into industry colleagues who have said, “I’ll see you at CLIA,” only to look surprised when I told them I wouldn’t be there.

Naturally, I started wondering what had changed.

A decade supporting the cruise industry

I’ve had a long-standing relationship with CLIA Australasia and have attended and been invited to countless CLIA events over the years.

I’ve also regularly checked in with CLIA when doing media interviews, particularly when discussing cruise industry issues, to make sure I was getting the messaging right and giving CLIA the opportunity to have its say.

I’ve spent more than a decade promoting cruising, sharing cruise news and experiences, interviewing cruise industry leaders and helping Australian cruisers make informed decisions.

I’ve always aimed to keep my coverage balanced, fair and, most importantly, useful to cruisers.

So, when this year’s CLIA360 invitation didn’t arrive, I decided that rather than speculate about why, I would simply ask.

But why wasn’t I invited to CLIA360?

I was reassured that the decision was not personal.

I was told that CLIA has to be selective about the additional industry and media invitations it can accommodate, with the aim of broadening the range of coverage and voices represented at the event.

I appreciate the explanation, but it still left me scratching my head.

After all, I’m only one person. And I don’t take up that much room.

More seriously, from a marketing perspective, it does make me wonder about the value of having established Australian cruise media and cruise content creators in the room.

Wouldn’t you want the most-read and most-followed cruise blogger, with a large and diverse Australian cruising audience, there to experience the event, hear directly from cruise industry leaders and report back to cruisers?

That’s the part I find difficult to understand.

What Australian cruisers will miss

Cruise360 Australasia is described by CLIA as the biggest and most important annual cruise industry event in the Southern Hemisphere.

It brings together cruise industry professionals including travel advisors, agency owners, cruise line representatives, ports and destinations, travel industry suppliers and other CLIA supporters for a broad look at the future of cruising.

It is also an important opportunity for the media to hear what is happening across the Australian and international cruise industry.

And this year, I won’t be there to report back to you.

I won’t be sitting in the sessions hearing directly from cruise line executives and industry leaders.

I won’t be bringing you the latest cruise industry insights.

I won’t be sharing what’s happening behind the scenes at one of the biggest cruise industry events in Australia.

And I won’t be asking the questions that I know many of you want answered.

That’s something I’ve always enjoyed doing.

Because while CLIA360 is an industry event, the information shared there ultimately matters to the people who book cruises, choose cruise lines, plan their holidays and want to know where the cruise industry is heading.

This isn’t about being entitled to an invitation

I want to make one thing very clear.

I have never believed I am entitled to an invitation to CLIA360.

Organisations have every right to decide who attends their events.

But after more than 10 years of covering cruising, and developing an audience of Australian cruisers and consistently supporting the cruise industry, I think it is fair to ask questions about how decisions around media attendance are made.

Especially when the stated objective is to broaden coverage and voices.

I’ve spent years talking to cruisers, interviewing industry leaders, attending cruise events, travelling on ships, visiting destinations and reporting on everything from cruise trends and new ships to the issues affecting Australian cruisers.

I’ve never expected special treatment, but I do believe there is value in having independent cruise media in the room.

So, what happens next?

I’ll keep doing what I’ve always done.

I’ll keep talking to the cruise industry.

I’ll keep asking questions.

I’ll keep reporting on the issues that matter to Australian cruisers.

And I’ll keep bringing you cruise news, cruise reviews, cruise trends and insights from the people shaping the industry.

I just won’t be doing it from inside CLIA360 this year.

And perhaps that’s the most disappointing part.

Because after a decade of supporting the cruise industry, I would have loved to be there.

But don’t worry, cruisers, I’ll still be watching and asking questions.

Because that’s what I do.

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Cruising in Australia

Why I'm Bored With Cruising in Australia

By Cruising With Honey - 11:42

I Love Cruising. So Why Am I Bored With Cruising in Australia?

Don’t come at me, but I have a confession to make:

I’m bored.

And disillusioned.

I love cruising. I always will, but increasingly, when I look at what’s on offer to Australian cruisers, I find myself asking:

Is this really the best we can do?

I want Australia to be a cruise destination that makes me – and the world - excited to book my next holiday. I don't always want to fly overseas to cruise. I want to cruise from Australia.

I fear I sound like a broken down record and that no-one really wants to listen. A sharp contrast to a few years when I was one of the loudest voices in Australia during the pandemic, giving hundreds of media interviews, live TV crosses, hosting protests, consulting with key industry figures to ensure I have the correct message and supporting in every possible way and giving up an exorbitant amount of my time to help cruising return.

Now, I don't even get invited to CLIA360.

Even though this blog reaches over a HALF MILLION PEOPLE.

After reading all the coverage from CLIA Global President and CEO Bud Darr speaking events last week, and Australia’s need to improve our competitiveness, I found myself thinking: we've been having this conversation for years.

At what point do we stop talking about the problem and actually start doing something about it?

The ships are looking elsewhere.

The cruise industry is global. Cruise lines have ships to deploy, shareholders to satisfy and billions of dollars of investment to protect.

So naturally, ships will go where the numbers work.

Australia is competing with Asia, Europe, the Caribbean, the Middle East and a growing list of emerging cruise destinations.

If operating here becomes too expensive, too complicated or too uncertain, cruise lines have alternatives.

And that's the part that should worry us.

Because when a ship leaves Australia, it's not simply a cruise line making a commercial decision.

It's passengers who aren't staying in our hotels.

It's tour operators who don't get those bookings.

It's restaurants, taxis, attractions, retailers, suppliers and regional communities missing out.

It's Australian farmers and producers who lose a customer.

The Australian Paddock to Port Alliance has been highlighting exactly this connection — how cruise ships purchase Australian meat, seafood, dairy, fruit, vegetables and wine, creating a supply chain that stretches well beyond the port.

Cruising is much bigger than the ship. So why are we making it harder for ships to come here?

And here's where I get frustrated

Every year we hear the same reasons:

High operating costs

Port fees

Regulatory uncertainty
Infrastructure challenges

Better commercial opportunities overseas

I understand all of that.

But as a passionate Australian cruiser, I'm starting to feel like we're stuck in an endless, exhausting loop.

We talk
We consult
We hold conferences
We release reports.
We discuss competitiveness

And meanwhile, the ships keep going somewhere else.

At some point, Australian cruisers are entitled to ask: What are we actually doing about it?

Because I don't think the answer is simply telling us to cruise more in Australia.

Give us something worth booking. This is where I think the conversation needs to change. The Australian cruiser has changed.

We're more experienced. We're more adventurous. We've sailed multiple times. We've been to the South Pacific, New Zealand and around the Australian coastline.

We've seen the same ports. We've done the same itineraries.
And we're ready for something different.

How many times can you sell the same itinerary to the same increasingly experienced cruiser?

Give us different ships, different itineraries, different combinations of ports. More overnight stays. More regional destinations.

More opportunities to experience the Australia we don't normally see.

And why shouldn't a cruiser in Melbourne, Adelaide or Perth have genuine homeport options rather than having to fly to Sydney or Brisbane?

If I'm already getting on a plane, suddenly Asia starts looking very attractive.

That's the reality cruise lines are competing with.

Australians aren't bored with cruising. We're bored with limited choice.

That's an important distinction.

When I talk to Australian cruisers, I don't hear people saying they have fallen out of love with cruising, but quite the opposite. They want to cruise more. They just don't necessarily want to cruise here when the choices are limited.

And that's a huge missed opportunity because Australia has an enormous advantage; Australians already love cruising.

We don't have to convince an entire population to discover cruise holidays. The market is here, the demand is here, the destinations are here.

So why aren't we giving those cruisers more reasons to stay?

Governments need to understand the bigger picture. Cruise isn't just tourism.

It's agriculture, hospitality, transport, retail, regional tourism, jobs, accommodation, aviation, food and beverage.

It's manufacturing and supply chains.

Every passenger stepping off a ship represents potential spending across the Australian economy.

And every ship that chooses another country represents an opportunity we have lost.

CLIA has put the economic contribution of cruising in Australia at $7.3 billion.

So perhaps it's time we stopped treating cruise ships as an occasional visitor we should be grateful for and started treating cruising as the serious economic industry it actually is.

I don't want to give up on Australian cruising. I'm frustrated because I care.

If I didn't love cruising, I wouldn't care where the ships went.
I wouldn't be writing about it.

I wouldn't be asking why Australians are increasingly looking overseas.

I wouldn't be sitting here wishing for more ships, more destinations and more interesting itineraries.

I want Australia to win.

I want to see newer ships.

I want to see cruise lines taking chances.

I want to see destinations beyond the usual suspects.

I want to see governments and ports recognising that attracting a ship is an investment in the wider economy, not simply another vessel arriving at a terminal.

And I want the industry to listen to its customers.

Because here's what I think Australian cruisers are saying:

Don't ask us why we're going overseas. Give us a reason not to.

After 60 cruises, I know what great cruising looks like.

Australia can and should do better.

I don't want to spend the next ten years having the same conversation.

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