Christmas caravan holiday in Tassie? You may have missed out on a ferry spot

Full booking capacity for new Spirit of Tasmania ferries not yet available, ahead of first sailings In short: With less than two months until their inaugural sailings, bookings on the new, larger Spirit of Tasmania ferries are still restricted to the capacity of the old, smaller ships. The new ferries have nearly 60 per cent more space for vehicles than their predecessors, but with full capacity not yet open, many sailings are already booked out for travellers with cars and caravans going into the peak holiday period. What's next? TT-Line has previously said full capacity will open for booking after certain milestones are achieved. Bookings for the additional capacity boasted by the two new Spirit of Tasmania ferries is not yet available, with less than two months until the vessels' inaugural sailings. Spirit of Tasmania IV and V each have an additional 1500 metres of vehicle lane space and room for an additional 400 passengers, compared to the ferries they are replacing. But, with just over seven weeks until the scheduled inaugural sailing on October 31, that additional capacity is still not available for booking. Ferry operator TT-Line has previously said it's only selling tickets on the new ferries up to the capacity of the old ships, and will open up the full capacity following further testing and commissioning of the gantry. Last December, Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the full range of accommodation options and additional vehicle space would be available for sale by May this year. TT-Line declined to respond when the ABC asked when the new ferries' full capacity would be made available. But it said the inaugural sailing date for the new ships was set for October 31. Loading...Limited car, caravan availability The ABC looked at the availability of bookings for both cars and caravans on the new ferries. For those wanting to travel with a standard-sized car from the mainland to Tasmania, there were no available bookings until November 19, as of September 9. For those also towing a large caravan, the next available sailing was more than five months away on February 21. Availability was less of an issue for passengers wanting to travel with cars and caravans from Tasmania to Geelong. Caravan spaces were available for the entirety of November and December — but about half of the January sailings were booked out. There was no availability to travel with a caravan between February 22 and April 18 next year. Customers can call the ferry operator to be added to a waitlist for booked-out sailings, but this option is not available online. During a parliamentary hearing into the Spirits replacement project last month, TT-Line chief executive Chris Carbone and chair Ken Kanofski both said the company intended to release bookings for the ships' full capacity, after certain milestones were achieved. "At the moment, we're only selling inventory to the capacity of the old ships. But we will put the balance of the inventory on sale after the wet testing," Mr Kanofski said. "Once the gantry's been successfully commissioned, we'll then put the balance of the inventory on sale with some promotional activity around that," Mr Carbone told the inquiry. Spirit of Tasmania IV visited its home port in Devonport for the first time in August for testing. Additional capacity on new ferries One of the headline features of the new vessels is their much larger capacity than their soon-to-be predecessors. Spirits IV and V both have 4,098 lane metres for vehicles, compared to 2,565 lane metres on the old vessels. They also have space for an additional 400 people, as well as new accommodation options, including pet-friendly cabins. For this reason, TT-Line has said it no longer needs to run day sailings to meet demand. "They have much more space for caravans, motorhomes and other larger vehicles," a spokesperson said. "It has always been our intention to only schedule night sailings in the first instance." TT-Line has previously run day sailings on the smaller Spirit I and II ferries during busy holiday periods, in addition to year-round night sailings. The company has previously said it will look at adding day sailings in the future, if demand exceeds the new vessels' additional capacity. Caravan park operators not too concerned Luke Emmett, who runs the Mersey Bluff Caravan Park in Devonport with his wife, said the current restrictions on bookings weren't a big issue for the business. "Locally, most people know that the boat is going to release more tickets in the next week or two … on the same sort of sail dates." Mr Emmett said. He said bookings at the park were already strong for the Christmas period and into January and February. However, he said the removal of day sailings could change how many people choose to stop over in the caravan park before or after sailings. "We're anticipating a little bit of a slowdown for our park, but wholly it's going to be great, I would've thought, for Tassie," he said. "We'll have to advertise a bit better for our little region in Devonport. Because in the past, Devonport was seen as more of a ferry stop for mainlanders." On Tasmania's east coast, Swansea Holiday Park manager Tracey Wellard was similarly unconcerned. "Our bookings are certainly tracking along as they have probably for the last 10 years," Ms Wellard said. "We generally fill up from Boxing Day till whatever Easter is, and I would suggest that we're going to do exactly the same this year, regardless of extra capacity on the Spirit." As for the non-peak periods, Tracey said it was difficult to say whether they were missing out on potential bookings. "We're still tracking along like we have every other year, with the thought that the new Spirits coming on, when and if they did, we may see an increase. "But we certainly haven't seen a decrease in bookings as yet."