These are examples of the types of cruises on offer in which the focus is the exploration of Australia's waterways and coastline.

Traditionally, the function of ocean liners was to transport people from one place to another. Prior to World War I shipping companies began making their ship more luxurious and adding recreational facilities like deck game, swimming pools and concert lounges, in order to gain the edge over their competition. After the war, when the ocean travel business entered a golden age, people began travelling by ship for the sheer pleasure of the experience rather than because they needed to travel the oceans. As a result, the shipping companies introduced cruising into the schedules, tentatively at first, usually for short trips out of a foreign destination that fitted between the arrival of the ship to that destination and the commencement of the voyage home.
P&O was the first to do this in Australian waters, when its new passenger ship, RMS Strathaird (above), scheduling a five-night cruise with just two ports of call - Brisbane and Norfolk Island - for the ship after completion of her maiden voyage from London to Sydney, prior to the commencement of her return journey to England. When Strathaird let go the lines on Circular Quay on 23 December, 1932, the atmosphere on the wharf was like a big carnival. Normally they were emotion-filled occasions. Family and friends might be parting for months or years on end when their loved ones left on the long sea voyage to Britain, but this occasion was different. This was no time for sadness because Strathaird would be back in just a few days. As she inched slowly away from the berth, the departure of P&O's new gleaming-white ship, RMS Strathaird, heralded the beginning of a new era, though few of the hundreds of people lining the ship's rails or waving from the shore realised the magnitude of the occasion.
The main attraction of cruising 70 years ago was the experience of being on a big ship. In those days, the only way to enjoy an experience of this kind was to travel from Australia to overseas ports, usually to England via the Suez Canal. As Australia's coastline was serviced by smaller ships, unless they had done the 'big trip overseas', many Australians had never been on an ocean liner before. P&O Cruises changed that on 23 December 1932. Strathaird's Christmas cruise was the exciting beginning of a new type of holiday experience for Australians. Incredibly, the ship was fully booked three days after the cruise was advertised. Encouraged by this eager and positive response, P&O Cruises developed a program of cruising holidays throughout the 1930s to cater to the growing cruising market in Australia.
P&O Cruises' next step was to send representatives all over the South Pacific to ascertain which island ports would be attractive for cruise passengers during the Australian winter months. This led to our ships sailing at full capacity to Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Papua, New Britain and New Caledonia. New Zealand and Tasmania were added to the list of cruise attractions for the spring and summer months. Australians warmed to these cruise holidays with the relaxing days at sea featuring deck sports, movies, 'horse racing' and ballroom dancing (discos were to come much later) and over 70 years later, our enthusiasm for cruising hasn't waned.

Circumnavigate Tasmania If you have your own seaworthy yacht or cruiser and would like to join up with others like yourself who enjoy life on the high seas, the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania has just the cruise for you. Each year they embark on a 25-day, 800 nautical mile Van Diemen's Land Circumnavigation Cruise. The number of vessels invited to join the flotilla is limited to 45 and is always over-subscribed. Participants are guided around the shores of Tasmania by locals who know the coastline well. The cruise includes beach barbecues, visits to friendly fishing ports and yacht clubs along the way, a complementary manual of cruise information, a Tasmanian National Parks pass, and 2 tickets to an end-of-cruise dinner in Hobart.