Seafarer Explorer Posted January 7, 2018 #1 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Out of Brisbane years ago P&O had a full day stop for Noumea and you could really explore the areas history, museums and cultural centre. Now its a 3pm docking. I find the more you visit an area you seem to explore further afield and need more time. Could someone please enlighten me on cruise ship/region protocols as to why cruise companies every few years cant swap docking time slots (I understand they plan itineraries and book dockings years ahead) Does a ship have to dock at a main wharf/town at least once on a voyage? Or is it just uneconomical/time poor for cruise companies to tender boat only. This is a question especially for shorter 7-9 nighters as we have started cruising out of Sydney instead of Brisbane just to get better itineraries. PS This is NOT a whinge just a query. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamloops50 Posted January 7, 2018 #2 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Port times are controlled by the port authorities not the cruise line. Cruise lines reserve port space two years in advance. Port Authorities can still make changes at the last minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinbadThePorter Posted January 8, 2018 #3 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Out of Brisbane years ago P&O had a full day stop for Noumea and you could really explore the areas history, museums and cultural centre. Now its a 3pm docking. I find the more you visit an area you seem to explore further afield and need more time. Could someone please enlighten me on cruise ship/region protocols as to why cruise companies every few years cant swap docking time slots (I understand they plan itineraries and book dockings years ahead) Does a ship have to dock at a main wharf/town at least once on a voyage? Or is it just uneconomical/time poor for cruise companies to tender boat only. This is a question especially for shorter 7-9 nighters as we have started cruising out of Sydney instead of Brisbane just to get better itineraries. PS This is NOT a whinge just a query. The distance from Brisbane to Noumea is roughly 1500km. The time between departure and arrival is 49 hours. That's an average speed of 30.6km/hr. According to Wikipedia the cruising speed of Pacific Dawn is 37km/hr. If Pacific Dawn traveled constantly at its cruising speed, it would reach Noumea at around 6:30am, instead of 3pm. Why it doesn't, I don't know. Maybe it's a matter of fuel consumption. The cruise companies hate tendering because most passengers hate tendering. Since there is a shortage of docks suitable for cruise ships in the South Pacific, the existing ones like Noumea get overused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetp12 Posted January 9, 2018 #4 Share Posted January 9, 2018 This has always intrigued me as well and I don't get why they dock at ports on a Sunday or Public Holiday and have beach days either side. Last time we were in Suva it was a PH and everything was shut - same for Noumea. But I do think the timing is out of the cruise lines control - it screws up there ability to sell shore excursions for a start. It seems that is is cruise dependant as our next cruise is showing an 9am arrival. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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