Luxury cruise has been celebrated as a powerhouse of the reenergised travel industry, with Australia’s cruise community turning out in force for the Signature Luxury Travel & Style Luxury Cruise Awards 2024.

Opening the event, Signature Media’s CEO and Group Editor Cathy Wagstaff applauded the industry for its focus on innovation, sustainability and protecting the oceans as it continues to grow.

“With a much smaller population than China, the UK and the US, Australia is now the sixth largest market in the world for luxury travellers with cruise leading the way,” she said. “31.5 million passengers globally are expected to cruise this year and there is huge growth predicted for new-to cruise.”

Virtuoso was the major sponsor of the event, with the luxury travel network’s General Manager AU/NZ Greg Treasure taking to the stage to reflect on the key role cruise had played in the overall picture for the luxury network since the pre-pandemic days of 2019. In that time Virtuoso has seen growth of 216% across all segments.

“That compares to an industry average of about 126%,” Treasure revealed. “There’s absolutely no question that luxury cruise is at the heart of that growth and has become such a an integral part of the health and wellbeing of the whole luxury travel ecosystem.

“And it is no surprise when you continue to look at the elevation and quality with ocean cruising, the ever-increasing popularity of river cruising, and the opening up of new frontiers with expedition ships.”

The awards ceremony, held at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art and MC’d by TV and radio personality Andrew Daddo, saw close to 100 representatives from the cruise industry gather to celebrate the sector’s achievements over the last year.

CLIA Australasia Managing Director Joel Katz presented the keynote speech highlighting the “evolution of luxury cruising” (see more in tomorrow’s LATTE) while LATTE Managing Editor Guy Dundas acknowledged the major strides made in the crucial area of sustainability.

It is the sixth iteration of the annual Luxury Cruise Awards, with judging carried out by a panel of 20 leading luxury cruise experts and travel advisors.

The lunchtime event honoured winners across 13 key categories, with second and third runner-ups also recognised.

The most anticipated cruise ships of 2025 were also pondered by the panel of esteemed luxury cruise experts who highlighted Four Seasons Yachts’ Four Seasons 1, Crystal’s yet-to-be-named new ocean ships and Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Prestige as ones to watch.

The full list of 2024 winners were:

Ocean Ships – More than 750 passengers

1. Oceania Cruises
2. Viking Ocean Cruises
3. Explora Journeys

Finalists: Celebrity Cruises, Cunard Line, Virgin Voyages

Ocean Ships – 251-749 passengers

1. Regent Seven Seas Cruises
2. Silversea Cruises
3. Crystal

Finalists: Azamara, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Ponant, Seabourn

Ocean Ships – Boutique 50-250 passengers

1. Silversea
2. Ponant
3. Celebrity Cruises

Finalists: Aqua Expeditions, Lindblad Expeditions

Ocean Ships – Yachts 50-300 passengers

1. Scenic
2. Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection
3. Silversea

Finalists: Emerald Cruises, SeaDream Yacht Club

Ocean Ships – Tall ships

1. Ponant
2. Windstar Cruises
3. Sea Cloud Cruises

Finalists: Star Clippers

Ocean Ships – Multigenerational

1. Celebrity Cruises
2. Norwegian Cruise Line
3. Royal Caribbean International

Finalists: Disney Cruise Line, MSC Cruises

River Cruises – Europe

1. Uniworld Boutique River Cruises
2. Tauck
3. Scenic

Finalists: AmaWaterways, Avalon Waterways, Les Bateaux Belmond, Emerald Cruises, Viking Cruises

River Cruises – Rest of the world

1. Uniworld Boutique River Cruises
2. Aqua Expeditions
3. Scenic

Finalists: Delfin Amazon Cruises, Sanctuary Retreats, The Strand Cruise

Expedition Ships – Luxury

1. Silversea Expeditions
2. Seabourn
3. Scenic

Finalists: Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Ponant, Quark Expeditions, True North Adventure Cruises, Viking Expeditions

Expedition Ships – Four-star ship, five-star experience

1. Quark Expeditions
2. Aurora Expeditions
3. Lindblad Expeditions

Finalists: Aranui Cruises, Coral Expeditions, Hurtigruten Expeditions, UnCruise Adventures

Ship-in-a-ship

1. Celebrity Cruises
2. Norwegian Cruise Line
3. MSC Cruises

Finalist: Royal Caribbean Cruises

Luxury Operator

1. Abercrombie & Kent
2. Tauck Small Ship Cruises
3. Captain’s Choice

Finalist: Latitude 33 Luxury Tours

Sustainability

Joint Award recognitions to – Hurtigruten Norway/HX Hurtigruten Expeditions, Ponant and MSC Group