Clean Cruising is the cruise-only specialist agency we’d use if we wanted to book an ocean or river cruise from an Australian port without sorting through a general travel-agent’s mixed bag.

About Clean Cruising

Clean Cruising is an Australian-owned cruise specialist agency, headquartered in Queensland and active in the cruise booking market since the late 1990s. Unlike general travel agencies that handle cruise as a sideline, Clean Cruising deals only in cruise — which means deeper product knowledge across the major ocean cruise lines (Princess, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival, Celebrity, Cunard, Holland America), the premium and luxury operators (Silversea, Seabourn, Regent Seven Seas, Crystal, Oceania, Azamara), expedition cruise (Aurora, Heritage, Hurtigruten) and river cruise (Viking, Avalon, Uniworld, AmaWaterways, APT, Scenic).

The agency’s strength is Australia-departing cruises — voyages out of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Fremantle and Darwin — because they have direct relationships with the lines for these sailings. They also handle international fly-cruise packages and can build multi-segment itineraries (cruise plus pre- or post-stay).

What to expect

What you get with Clean Cruising rather than booking direct: cruise-line loyalty status matching, group-rate access on selected sailings, advance access to repositioning cruise specials, and consolidated insurance and visa support. They publish a regular cruise specials list which is genuinely useful for spotting last-minute fare drops on Brisbane-departing voyages.

The agency handles bookings, deposits and final payments through cruise-line direct-billing systems — so you’re paying the line, not paying the agency to forward your money. Cabin selection, dining preferences, shore excursion bookings and special requests are all handled before departure. If something goes wrong onboard (cancellation, schedule changes, port substitutions) Clean Cruising acts as your point of contact with the line.

Getting there & practical info

Clean Cruising operates primarily by phone and online — there’s no walk-in showroom — so you don’t need to travel to use them. Their consultants are based in southeast Queensland and most calls are returned within a couple of hours during business days.

For Brisbane-departing cruises (the Brisbane International Cruise Terminal at the Port of Brisbane has been operating since 2020), Clean Cruising handles transfers, parking advice, and pre-cruise accommodation if needed. Most major lines now have at least seasonal Brisbane departures, especially over the October-to-April Australian cruise season.

Quick tips from our team

  • Sign up to their email list 2–3 months before you want to book
  • Ask about onboard credit and pre-paid gratuities at quote stage
  • Wave Season (January–February) is when the best 12-month-ahead deals appear
  • Repositioning cruises in April-May and Sept-Oct are deeply discounted
  • Brisbane departures save you the flight to Sydney — factor that into the comparison

When to visit

Best time to book through any cruise specialist is around the “Wave Season” — January and February — when cruise lines release their best loyalty deals and onboard credit incentives for the upcoming twelve months. Wave Season pricing is genuinely cheaper than booking later for the same sailing.

Brisbane-departing cruises run primarily October through April. If you’re flexible, ask about repositioning cruises in shoulder season (April–May or September–October) — these are voyages where a ship is being moved between regions and the fares are heavily discounted.

Why our team rates Clean Cruising

If you’ve cruised before and know what you want, booking direct with the line works fine. If you’re newer to cruising or building a complex itinerary (multi-segment, fly-cruise, river cruise with extension) a specialist saves real time and often money. Clean Cruising is one of the few Australian cruise-only agencies of any scale and they handle the Brisbane departures particularly well.

Don’t use them if you want a generalist travel agency that also handles your flights, hotels and tours — they only do cruise.