Virgin Voyages’ luxury cruise liner, the Resilient Lady, arrived in Western Australia today on its maiden voyage to the state.
The ship docked in Fremantle early this morning with more than 2,000 passengers and crew onboard, one of the port city’s biggest cruise ship calls of the season.
Arrivals were greeted with much fanfare at the Fremantle Passenger Terminal, with a musical welcome by WA Brass and the City of Fremantle’s volunteer ‘meet and greet team’ on hand to advise passengers of the best activities and excursions to make the most of their day.
Guests were also offered a complimentary shuttle service to Fremantle’s Walyalup Koort for a Welcome to Country, smoking ceremony and dance performance by a local Noongar dance group.
To mark the occasion of the ship’s maiden voyage to the State, a ceremonial plaque exchange took place between the ship’s captain and Western Australian Government representatives.
Fremantle is the only WA stop on the Resilient Lady’s current itinerary, with the ship and its passengers spending the day exploring the port city’s hospitality businesses and tourism attractions, before it continues its voyage to Europe via Mauritius, then around the coast of Africa.
The Resilient Lady’s visit is one of 140 cruise ship visits to WA’s nine active port destinations this cruise season, which includes visits from some of the world’s most prestigious cruise lines, providing a significant economic boost for local businesses and the State’s tourism sector.
Fremantle Port will welcome the highest volume of cruise line passengers in the state this year, with nearly 30 cruise visits bringing more than 36,000 passengers and 17,000 crew to the port city.
Other big cruise ships making their maiden voyages to WA in 2024 include Princess Cruises’ Island Princess – with 2,200 passengers; Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas – with more than 2500 passengers; and Ambassador Cruise Lines’ Ambience – with 1,400 passengers – which will make stops in Albany, Fremantle and Geraldton.
In 2022-23 the cruise tourism sector generated $333 million and more than 1,000 jobs for the WA economy, showing strong growth on the sector’s 2019 pre-pandemic contribution of $262 million and more than 930 jobs for West Australians.
The Cook Government continues to prioritise growth of the sector, with the recent launch of Tourism WA’s Western Australian Cruise Tourism Strategic Plan 2023-2033, which outlines plans to further build on the sector’s success.
“On behalf of the WA Government, I’m delighted to welcome the Resilient Lady and its thousands of passengers to WA, to spend the day in our vibrant port city of Fremantle.
“Cruise tourism is incredibly important to the WA economy, injecting hundreds-of-millions of dollars into our state through visitor spend in local businesses, bars and restaurants, and creating hundreds of jobs for Western Australians.
“I hope all guests of the Resilient Lady have a wonderful stay while visiting Western Australia and make plans to return to visit us again in future,” Tourism Minister Rita Saffioti, said.
