Celebrity Solstice Opens Eden Cruise Season With 3,000 Passengers

Celebrity Solstice delivered close to 3,000 passengers to Eden on its maiden call to the Sapphire Coast port, opening a 2026/27 cruise season that runs until April and includes 25 scheduled ship visits.

The 315-metre vessel is the first of those 25 calls. The scale matters for sellers of regional shore product: in 2024/25, cruise calls generated an estimated $14.3 million for the local economy, and 52,660 passengers passed through the port. More than 85 per cent of them stepped ashore to explore Eden and the surrounding Sapphire Coast.

That conversion rate — passengers leaving the ship and spending — is the number tour operators, cafes and retailers in the town plan around.

How big is Eden's cruise business?

Cruising in Eden began in 2005 with a single ship call. Twenty-one years later, the port claims the title of busiest regional cruise port across NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, according to Bega Valley Shire Mayor Russell Fitzpatrick.

Port Authority of NSW CEO John McKenna said Eden's trajectory shows the long-term value cruise can deliver to regional port communities.

"Cruising in Eden started 21 years ago with one ship; now it brings tens of thousands of visitors to Eden to experience the local attractions, tours, cafés, businesses and natural beauty of the Sapphire Coast," McKenna said.

He added that Port Authority's role extends beyond piloting ships safely into port, with supporting trade and tourism growth across NSW — including regional port communities — a key focus. The authority works with Cruise Eden, Bega Valley Shire Council and the local community to grow the Far South Coast as a cruise destination.

Who captures the spend?

Cruise Eden manager Debbie Meers said the benefits flow well beyond the wharf and named the specific local beneficiaries:

• 18 market stallholders at the Eden Welcome Centre
• 10 stalls in the main street run by the Men's Shed
• Local cafes, shops and tour operators

Volunteers underpin the operation. This season Eden fields 43 volunteer Welcome Ambassadors and shuttle guides — 16 of them local students — plus 21 dedicated guides and shuttle coordinators.

"Cruise benefits so many parts of our community," Meers said, crediting the volunteer network as central to more than two decades of cruise success.

Mayor Fitzpatrick framed the port's standing as the product of sustained coordination among volunteers, businesses, tourism operators, council, Port Authority, the NSW Government and industry partners.

What sustains the growth?

Port Authority of NSW, Bega Valley Shire Council and Eden Tourism operate under an ongoing Memorandum of Understanding aimed at growing cruise visitation and improving the visitor experience on the Sapphire Coast.

Fitzpatrick also pointed to the repeat-visit potential: each call exposes thousands of passengers to the region, with the aim that they — and their friends and family — return to explore more of the Sapphire Coast on land-based trips.

With 25 calls locked in through April, Eden enters the season positioned to build on the $14.3 million measured in 2024/25, provided the 85 per cent ashore conversion holds.