The finalists for the 23rd Cruise Industry Awards for Australasia are out and the competition has proved fierce, as the Cruise Lines International Association says this year’s awards has attracted more contenders than ever before.
CLIA executive director Australasia and Asia Joel Katz says it’s clear the judges have a very high stan¬dard of finalists to consider this year. “At a time when the cruise industry is enjoying record levels of demand globally, it’s clear our Australasian travel agent community is among the most dedicated and professional in the world, and this is reflected in the calibre of this year’s nominations.”
. . . Sector Growth
There are 83 finalists in total, includ¬ing a number of Kiwi agencies in the running for the Oscars of the Australasian cruise sector.
House of Travel’s head of cruise Jeff Leckey says it’s super exciting to see some new names from across the Kiwi trade in the mix for this year’s award finalists.
HoT is well-represented with ‘a real range of people from in-store spe¬cialists to on-line and home-based, Wanderlust and Cruise Deals, and a couple of nods to our marketing team’. “It’s an indication of what an amazing cruise year we had in 2025,” says Leckey. The results, he adds, ‘shows that the [Kiwi] trade has really got behind the cruise sector’.
“From the New Zealand perspective there’s not a huge homeport season, so the focus is on fly cruise…and there’s a lot more variety of product and agents need to know a lot more brands and a lot more ships—so tak¬ing on the CLIA training, learning and growing is key.”
. . . Kiwi Finalists
Nominated for New Zealand Cruise Agency of the Year are: Pukekohe Travel, House of Travel Botany Junction, the Private Travel Company, North Shore Business Travel, Bon Voyage Cruises and Travel, and House of Travel Hornby.
The Cruise Broker of the Year final¬ists for New Zealand are: Trish Seeher from TS Travel Ltd, Mondo Travel’s Robert Schroder, Sarah Rodgers from Envoyage, NZTB’s Jenny Jia, Kristy Cockerill from KC Travel and Kim Mildon from Wanderlust Travel Experts.
The Kiwi finalists for Cruise Consultant of the Year are: Shelley Williams from Cruisedeals.co.nz, Helloworld Westgate’s Lesley Johns, Lorraine van Veen from House of Travel Botany, Pukekohe Travel’s Lisa Wharfe, Craig Martin from Streeter & Turner Travel Associates and YOU Travel Bethlehem’s Lydia Haydon.
. . . Rising Stars
Also notable are the finalists for the Rising Star New Zealand category who are Flynn Cox from Travel Associates Howick, Flight Centre Silverdale’s Diana Lintag, Sian Loh from YOU Travel Bethlehem, Flight Centre Botany Town’s Kurt Johnston and Shannara Robinson, Best Travel.
Honourable mentions also go to My Cruises, House of Travel and House of Travel Invercargill, who are all finalists for Cruise Month Promotion of the Year Australasia, as well as House of Travel Papamoa Group, a finalist for Small Network Promotion of the Year Australasia. Kiwi finalists for Large Network Promotion of the Year Australasia include House of Travel, Travel Associates and Flight Centre. Imagine Cruising, My Cruises and Cruise Deals NZ have also been named as finalists for Agency/ Agent Cruise Promotion of the Year – Australasia.
The 23rd CLIA Cruise Industry Awards for Australasia will be held in Sydney on 07 Mar. See the full list of finalists HERE.