Cairns cruise ship visit by P & O’s Pacific Explorer creates city buzz
An intinerary change to the first cruise ship to dock at Cairns in two years forced tourists to cram in as much as possible during their visit. HOW THEY SPENT THE DAY
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A DECISION impacting the visitation time for travellers on-board the first international cruise ship to dock in Cairns in two years will hurt local operators despite the tourists’ excitement for Cairns.
P & O Cruises’ vessel Pacific Explorer docked in at the Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal on Saturday morning, with over 2000 visitors disembarking and sprawling throughout the region.
However, for local operators and venues, the long-awaited spending of cruise ship visitors was significantly reduced after passengers were told their stay in Cairns would be shortened from two days to just one, with the 261m ship departing about 6pm Saturday.
A spokesman for P & O’s parent company Carnival Australia said its guests were notified about three weeks ago that the itinerary would change from 10 nights to eight.
“We are only in the early days of the restart of cruising and from an operational perspective wanted to ease pressure on our on-board team as they continue to reintroduce P & O Cruises’ customary exceptional service after an absence of more than two years. We would love to have spent the extra time in Cairns but we also knew the crew would appreciate a bit of breathing space between cruises during this intense period of restart,” the spokesman said.
Despite the scheduling change, the mammoth ship’s arrival had an undeniable allure along the wharf with locals out in strong numbers photographing and admiring the Pacific Explorer.
Greeting passengers as they arrived was Tourism Tropical North Queensland industry relations manager Georgie Sadler who said there was “undeniable buzz” as about 2800 visitors stepped into Cairns and its offerings.
“A lot of the Cairns operators have been struggling and they do rely on these international markets,” she said.
“Definitely people seem to want to go do Skyrail, go to the markets, and go to the casino and quite a few people (went) out onto the Reef.”
Ms Sadler who was with volunteers handing out brochures, maps and providing basic information to guests said the advocacy body would use Saturday’s event to make note of how the city could improve its welcome of cruise ships later in the year.
“This is a bit of trial run, so we’ll see how this goes and we might introduce maybe more ticketing facilities (at the wharf).”
Family friends from New South Wales’ Central Coast Dianne Mulpeto Dent and Peter Dent with John and Kerrie Dent departed Sydney on June 14 and the attraction of Cairns played a major part in drawing them to this cruise.
But they wished they could have stayed longer.
“We were drawn to the Great Barrier Reef, and we would’ve liked to really explore this city,” Peter Dent said.
“It was supposed to be two days, but then they changed it so we had to cancel and shorten our tours here.”
Despite their frustration with the scheduling, Kerrie Dent said she couldn’t fault the P & O Cruise ship, it’s hospitality, facilities or staff.
“It’s been a lovely experience so far,” she said.
Sydney’s Kriho family were also on board, and also drawn to the Reef, but said they wouldn’t have time to get out on the water, and instead opted for a road trip.
“We also really wanted to see Kuranda,” disability support worker Martin Kriho said.
Melbourne couple Chris Guselev and Kymberley Coleiro said they had long been planning a visit to Cairns and were originally thinking about flying up.
“It was a last-minute decision, so that’s why we went with the cruise because we didn’t have to think about food or accommodation,” Ms Coleiro said.
Despite the late changes Alison Stibbard Young in New South Wales said she was glad she crammed a lot in one day.
“We went to Green Island and that was beautiful. We got to check out the turtles, stingrays, it was gorgeous. The weather has been great for us,” she said.
“We didn’t see as much as we wanted but it was a good taste of Cairns and we will be back.”
Ms Stibbard said the short day trip already had her making new plans.
“We are talking about driving up her and doing a car trip so we can check out the place at our own pace,” she said.
“We would love to see more next time.”
Beth Russell from Sydney said she couldn’t believe how beautiful Cairns was. She came here with no plans but was impressed with how helpful people were.
“We went to the information place in town, they helped us book a tour we could do in the time we had,” she said.
“We ended up going to Green Island and seeing the turtles.”
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