Sydney Harbour Vivid Sydney Cruises

Vivid Sydney is the biggest festival of Light, Music, Ideas and Food in the Southern Hemisphere. Vivid Sydney 2025 will unite the most creative artists, musicians, innovators and culinary maestros, to bring the theme ‘DREAM’ to life. And here’s the big news! With the popular drone show cancelled, we’ve teamed up with local cruise operators and Australian Commercial Marine Group to light up Sydney Harbour with a dazzling fireworks show! So, are you ready to experience all the festival excitement on one of our Vivid Sydney cruises?

Fireworks Show Dates:
May → 25 (Sun), 28 (Wed), 29 (Thu)
June → 1 (Sun), 4 (Wed), 5 (Thu), 11 (Wed), 12 (Thu)

Australian Cruise Group is also part of the 2025 Vivid Sydney Local Business Program. Our flagship vessels will light up in unison with the city skyline, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, creating a vibrant coordinated display across sea, land and sky.

There’s no better vantage point than one of our Vivid Sydney harbour cruises to take in the dazzling views of the festival icons – the ‘Lighting of the Sails’ of the Opera House and the larger-than-life projections on the Harbour Bridge pylons.  You’ll also cruise past the 3D installations and light displays that grace the harbourfront at Circular Quay, The Rocks and Barangaroo. Treat yourself to a magical evening on a Vivid Lights cruise complemented with delicious food and refreshments (on select cruise packages).

For more than three decades, we’ve been the benchmark for harbour cruising. We offer a wide range of Vivid Sydney cruises curated to suit your budget and schedule. Vivid Sydney Dinner cruises for the complete dining experience, the Showboat experience with a live cabaret show and spectator cruises with both early and late departures, we have it all! Just pick what you like and book today!

Here are some of Vivid Lights highlights you’ll pass by on a Vivid Sydney Cruise:


Lighting of the Sails: Kiss of Light
‘Kiss of Light’ lights up the Opera House sails with legendary artist David McDiarmid’s innovative 80s and 90s motifs, turning his Bedsheet Paintings, Disco Kwilts, Kiss of Light and Rainbow Aphorisms into a dazzling masterpiece.

Vivid Light On Sydney Harbour
Sydney Harbour lights up as ferries and boats adorned in LED rope lights move in harmony with the shoreline’s vibrant light displays, creating a dreamlike display that spans the land, sea & sky!

Sweet Dreams
The legendary pylons of Sydney Harbour Bridge transform into larger-than-life candy machines that journey into our sweetest childhood dreams, where gumballs, pop-corns, biscuits & cupcakes tumble down together.

Our Connected City
From Luna Park & Barangaroo Towers to the Harbour Bridge, Sydney Harbour and the CBD transform into a dazzling panorama of light. Over 150 searchlights sweep across the sky tracing dynamic patterns, in what will be a celebration of unity. 

Trispheric Garden
A surreal garden of light and sound, where six geometric obelisks rise by the Sea Wall in Barangaroo. With shifting forms, reflective surfaces and dynamic visuals, this audio-visual playground distorts perception, mirroring the fluid nature of dreams.

Cygnus
Twelve life-like animatronic swans glide across Nawi Cove, weaving geometric patterns in a mesmerising dance. Pulsing with light, their colours shift to a splendid soundtrack, blurring the line between artificial and organic in a dreamlike display.

House of Romance
Two decades of visionary fashion explode onto Customs House in an extravagant display of digital artistry, bold colour and playful style.