Goodbye - Gold Coast cruise terminal

A win for Brisbane. I understand the Luggage Point terminal will be ready sometime in 2019.

Will Portside be phased out?

Will Portside be phased out?

Given the value of the land, I wouldn't be surprised.

I wouldn't rule out a Gold Coast cruise terminal yet...our Mayor Tom Tate is very pro active .....he recently went to the council elections with cruise ship terminal on one of his main projects to do.

He won by a landslide.:)

Will Portside be phased out?

I could see Brisbane making use of 2 terminals, just like Sydney currently does.

Big ships downriver, smaller ships upriver.

Just hope that they don't repeat the White Bay transport shemozzle.

The Gold Coast Casino/Terminal was never a goer. Latest variation was to put it offshore!

I wouldn't rule out a Gold Coast cruise terminal yet...our Mayor Tom Tate is very pro active .....he recently went to the council elections with cruise ship terminal on one of his main projects to do.

 

He won by a landslide.:)

He wont have much to play with after paying for the Commonwealth Games..:rolleyes:

I could see Brisbane making use of 2 terminals, just like Sydney currently does.

 

Big ships downriver, smaller ships upriver.

 

Just hope that they don't repeat the White Bay transport shemozzle.

 

The Gold Coast Casino/Terminal was never a goer. Latest variation was to put it offshore!

I've only embarked once at Portside; not a wonderful experience but then again I think that some of the security equipment had broken down.

Unlike what I have seen elsewhere, the passengers who were returning to the ship after their port day were lumped in with the new embarking ones. They couldn't just walk back on but had to wait for a group of them to go through.

I'll admit up front that I'm more Gold Coast than Brisbane local, but I honestly believe GC is the better option. It has local support and a far better first impression on arrival. Travel time into Brisbane for those who want to visit would not be much longer either.

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Where is the new proposed terminal to be sited? Regardless it is going to a huge cost just to dredge waterways let alone actually build a terminal.

Where is the new proposed terminal to be sited? Regardless it is going to a huge cost just to dredge waterways let alone actually build a terminal.

I believe that Luggage Point is directly across the river from Fisherman's Island.

It would be great if they could extend the Airport railway line (or the Pinkenbar railway line) and have a station in the cruise terminal. I don't see that happening but we can dream...

Oh, and this article from back in May 2016 has some photos of the site.

I've only embarked once at Portside; not a wonderful experience but then again I think that some of the security equipment had broken down.

Unlike what I have seen elsewhere, the passengers who were returning to the ship after their port day were lumped in with the new embarking ones. They couldn't just walk back on but had to wait for a group of them to go through.

I'm at Portside at the moment, on Sun Princess. Since we came here direct from Vanuatu all passengers had to go through the immigration check. It was handled very efficiently. Some passengers are disembarking here and new ones are embarking. I'll let you know how the reboarding goes later.

I'll admit up front that I'm more Gold Coast than Brisbane local, but I honestly believe GC is the better option. It has local support and a far better first impression on arrival. Travel time into Brisbane for those who want to visit would not be much longer either.

 

 

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I'm with you on this one. Gold Coast is a tourist destination - Brisbane isn't.

I'm with you on this one. Gold Coast is a tourist destination - Brisbane isn't.

I note from shorex listings on our QM2 cruise in March, there is a ship's tour from Port of Brisvegas down to the Goldie. The Brits would like that, Currumbin Sanctuary etc.

For sure a cruise terminal at the GC would be good.

I could see Brisbane making use of 2 terminals, just like Sydney currently does.

 

Big ships downriver, smaller ships upriver.

 

Just hope that they don't repeat the White Bay transport shemozzle.

 

The Gold Coast Casino/Terminal was never a goer. Latest variation was to put it offshore!

I agree, Good news for Brissie and Portside will supplement the new terminal by catering for the smaller ships and also when there may be double or triple bookings.:D

I'm with you on this one. Gold Coast is a tourist destination - Brisbane isn't.

It's a tourist destination because of its beaches.

The beaches exist because millions of tones of sand migrate up along the coast from NSW.

That same sand would have to be dredged out the way constantly to let ships in to the Gold Coast. Large ships would be out of the question because of the depth and width of the Southport Seaway. Widening the Seaway would be an engineering and ecological nightmare.

This is why they were talking about building it offshore. Which is not a good idea on a stretch of the Pacific liable to big storms and cyclones (the GC is overdue).

The whole thing is a white shoe fantasy.

The issue I think Gold Coast has is that Brissie will still be a more suitable destination and will not be disposed of, despite GC being more interesting for tourists. The cost of setting up a dock and terminal would also be so much more expensive.

I'm at Portside at the moment, on Sun Princess. Since we came here direct from Vanuatu all passengers had to go through the immigration check. It was handled very efficiently. Some passengers are disembarking here and new ones are embarking. I'll let you know how the reboarding goes later.

That would be great to hear. When I boarded Sun Princess, it had come from up the coast so no immigration for the passengers already on board.

One of the annoying things was that people received their boarding numbers but then seem to have gone off (and by the looks of it to collect things at the shops outside) and when they returned it was past the number. Those in charge of boarding would let them in ahead of those of us who had been waiting - our number should have been in the next group at one stage but then groups of those who missed their number and several lots of returning excursions meant that we just sat on, not very well organised really. I think if it had happened once it would have been fine but it happened several times, in fact we were waiting for well over 45 minutes. As I said it also appeared that one of the security scanners was out as well which didn't help.

I must admit I have had worse embarkations though.

I believe that Luggage Point is directly across the river from Fisherman's Island.

 

It would be great if they could extend the Airport railway line (or the Pinkenbar railway line) and have a station in the cruise terminal. I don't see that happening but we can dream...

Luggage Point is across the Brisbane River from Fisherman's Island where larger cruise ships currently dock. It is the site of the Brisbane sewerage treatment works.

The rail line to Redcliffe has just been opened, 130 years after it was first proposed by the then Queensland Government and re-promised by just about every government since. How long do you think it will be before a new cruise terminal is built?

My vote is to build it on the Gold Coast where there is more to see for day visitors.

The berth at Luggage Point already exists. It is the disused deep water crude oil terminal jetty that ceased to be required when the BP refinery on the north side was closed down. Some changes will be required to handle large cruise ships at the jetty but there is no problem with depth alongside or the turning basin. Apart from that a terminal will be needed & an upgrade to the road system. The cost will be a fraction of what it would be at the Gold Coast. It is also very close to the airport & a direct road along the north side of the river into Brisbane.

The berth at Luggage Point already exists. It is the disused deep water crude oil terminal jetty that ceased to be required when the BP refinery on the north side was closed down. Some changes will be required to handle large cruise ships at the jetty but there is no problem with depth alongside or the turning basin. Apart from that a terminal will be needed & an upgrade to the road system. The cost will be a fraction of what it would be at the Gold Coast. It is also very close to the airport & a direct road along the north side of the river into Brisbane.

Win win for Brisbane, and tourists alike.

Plus if its Brisbane it splits the goldie and sunshine coast.3 tour areas.1 bris,2 sunshine,3 goldie.:)

Job done,stamped, NEXT.

That would be great to hear. When I boarded Sun Princess, it had come from up the coast so no immigration for the passengers already on board.

Boarded it on Tue there, and it went pretty smoothly. Security held things up by going slow unnecessarily, and the outside 'border guard' also insisted on sending people the long way needlessly as they usually do, but they were only minor delays and was still on in about 20 minutes.

Boarded it on Tue there, and it went pretty smoothly. Security held things up by going slow unnecessarily, and the outside 'border guard' also insisted on sending people the long way needlessly as they usually do, but they were only minor delays and was still on in about 20 minutes.

Good to hear you were not too delayed. I have often wondered if the border guards do it so they feel in charge or if there is another reason, like perhaps seeing how people react (get sweaty, nervous or agitated) and have a longer view of potential issues, etc.

Good to hear you were not too delayed. I have often wondered if the border guards do it so they feel in charge or if there is another reason, like perhaps seeing how people react (get sweaty, nervous or agitated) and have a longer view of potential issues, etc.

I know that if I get sent the long way, I get sweaty, nervous and agitated.

It's all just security theatre.

A bit of background on Luggage Point:

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/will-cruises-hit-luggage-point-blockage-20160301-gn7urt.html

While a Gold Coast terminal would be nice, the geography and the geology of the GC is against it.