Carnival Cruise Lines has underlined the growth potential of the local market as it unveiled plans for its second vessel, Carnival Legend, to be based in Australian waters from September 2014.
CCL director Jennifer Vandekreeke insisted the decision to bring Legend to Australia, made only seven months after Spirit's debut, had been thought through "very carefully" and insisted a recent spate of unfortunate events for the cruise line, both in the US and Australia, have had no impact on the popularity of the brand in the local market.
Strong booking figures support the claims, with Spirit now 90% booked for the 2013/14 season.
Vandekreeke is confident the demand justifies the doubling of capacity with the arrival of Legend, with large portions of the Australian market still untapped.
She referred to research which shows that 60% of Australians in its target demographic would like to take a cruise, but also that only 30% have done so.
"That's a third of our target market that is looking to go on a cruise," she told Travel Today. "But doing something new is always scary."
As a result, the 2014/15 program will see Spirit sail four three-night cruises from Sydney, to ease cruise newcomers into the experience, with Vandekreeke proclaiming word of mouth as Carnival's greatest marketing tool.
"Our sales really took off when people came on board, had the experience and then went home and told people about it," she said.
Meanwhile, Legend will sail a program of eight to 12 day Pacific Island cruises from Sydney, reflecting demand from the market, Vandekreeke revealed.
Sales for Spirit's program for the new season opened yesterday, with Legend to follow at the end of June.
While the newcomer's hardware features have yet to be decided, Vandekreeke confirmed it will offer the same expanded activity program, Australian beverages and coffee that are see on Spirit.
Other features will be decided by July, she revealed.
"We're going to be really thoughtful about this," she said. "We want to make sure that we get Carnival Legend exactly right for this market."
