Pacific Jewel is at Norfolk Island today....New Years Eve!!!!

YAY....Looks like the seas have been kind to Pacific Jewel and she is standing off Norfolk Island. From the AIS Live traffic feed you can see the tenders or local boats taking everyone ashore. Both passengers and locals will be pleased. I bet they get a warm welcome.

I know it’s a tough job to predict if you’ll land or not.

But I wish more ships visited Norfolk.

I know it’s a tough job to predict if you’ll land or not.

 

 

 

But I wish more ships visited Norfolk.

Agreed[emoji106]

Good to see they made it

Crystal Serenity will be visiting Norfolk in mid February as part of the first leg, Los Angeles to Sydney, of the 2018 World Cruise - it’s Crystals first visit to Norfolk. I’m looking forward to our visit - if we are able to get on

I’ve been talking some of the locals about a particular tour when we visit and one of them has told me that the success rate of cruise ships being able to tender passengers ashore is not high. He has suggested we talk closer to the time to gauge expected sea conditions

It is most definitely a tender port and all goods, including cruise ship passengers, are tendered ashore as this photo one of my friends who visited the island, by plane, took recently confirms

Good to see they made it

It is most definitely a tender port and all goods, including cruise ship passengers, are tendered ashore as this photo one of my friends who visited the island, by plane, took recently confirms

I know it’s a tough job to predict if you’ll land or not.

 

But I wish more ships visited Norfolk.

Later next year, Maasdam has an itinerary which includes Norfolk Island.

The following cruise the itinerary includes the Chatham Islands and Kaikoura.

Later next year, Maasdam has an itinerary which includes Norfolk Island.

The following cruise the itinerary includes the Chatham Islands and Kaikoura.

Have you got a link to that voyage? - you certainly don't see many visiting the Chathams

I was lucky enough to visit the Chathams in the mid 80's - fascinating place - you haven't lived til you've had a feed of Weka (the huge crayfish made up for that though)....but boy was the fishing great!

I have seen photos of that crane on the wharf in a storm It was completely swamped with waves crashing over the top of it.:eek:

To help put that in perspective here’s a shot of the crane showing it’s height

Norfolk is sitting out there with little protection from the sea so I guess when the weather hits they get it full force

Good to see they got a landing. I spent 8 days there in 2015 and would happily return - gorgeous place. Wouldn't risk it as part of a cruise tho.

Have you got a link to that voyage? - you certainly don't see many visiting the Chathams

Heres one that goes to Waitangi, Chatham Islands.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/details?webItineraryIdForAudit=P8H29B&fromSearchVacation=true&guestsCount=2&voyageCode=M866A&selectedMeta=Ocean-view&shipId=MA

Very open sea on that cruise.

Heres one that goes to Waitangi, Chatham Islands.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/details?webItineraryIdForAudit=P8H29B&fromSearchVacation=true&guestsCount=2&voyageCode=M866A&selectedMeta=Ocean-view&shipId=MA

 

Very open sea on that cruise.

Thanks - that is sure some interesting diversion - I'm surprised it only takes 1 sea day each way to get there and back

It's a long way to go for a somewhat risky tender port - from what I recall there is a bit more shelter in the harbour there than on Norfolk. Shame they can't make it a two day stop to take advantage of all that the islands have to offer

Very tempting itinerary but ironically I've already got an Auckland to Perth booked for Feb 2019 so probably hard to swing it with she who must be obeyed

Cheers, glad they made it there, so many don't.

Cheers, glad they made it there, so many don't.

That’s the problem of course.

When we were last there, many items were in short supply in the shop as they had a major delay in their most recent deliveries due to rough seas.

That’s the problem of course.

 

When we were last there, many items were in short supply in the shop as they had a major delay in their most recent deliveries due to rough seas.

That is one reason crime is so low there as well, they have to steal on an outgoing tide.;p

I always wanted to go to Norfolk Island but now it is part of the ACT, I feel it is not so special and can wait.

Good to see the Jewel made it to Norfolk. We have been to Norfolk each of the last 3 years, and will be there again in May. They are building a new pier which at Cascade, which it is hoped will allow more surety about ships docking than the existing pier at Kingston.

It is truly a wonderful place & like many places a port day on a cruise does not do it justice. Even though is has reverted to Australian 'control', after 150 years or so of independence, it is still Norfolk. We have many friends there, and look forward to seeing them again.

Good to see the Jewel made it to Norfolk. We have been to Norfolk each of the last 3 years, and will be there again in May. They are building a new pier which at Cascade, which it is hoped will allow more surety about ships docking than the existing pier at Kingston.

 

 

 

It is truly a wonderful place & like many places a port day on a cruise does not do it justice. Even though is has reverted to Australian 'control', after 150 years or so of independence, it is still Norfolk. We have many friends there, and look forward to seeing them again.

It is a truly special place! A hidden gem!

Hopefully they offer more cruises there once the new wharf is built and they weather doesn't affect it too much.

Heres one that goes to Waitangi, Chatham Islands.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/details?webItineraryIdForAudit=P8H29B&fromSearchVacation=true&guestsCount=2&voyageCode=M866A&selectedMeta=Ocean-view&shipId=MA

 

Very open sea on that cruise.

Thank you for posting the link.

At first HAL was showing Waitangi Bay of Islands on the map, am pleased to see that it's been corrected!!

Found this page which lists the cruise ship visits to Norfolk Island.

Looks like Pacific Explorer is the only local one going.

CRUISE SHIPS SCHEDULE FOR 2017 & 2018 & 2020

DATE CRUISE SHIP

3 Dec 17 Regatta

31 Dec 17 Pacific Jewel

2 Jan 18 Seabourn Encore

14 Feb 18 Crystal Serenity

14 Feb 18 Caledonian Sky

26 Feb 18 Artania

21 Oct 18 Pacific Explorer

28 Nov 18 Seven Seas Mariner

29 Nov 18 Maasdam

19 Dec 18 Star Legend

21 Feb 19 Caledonian Sky

16 Mar 20 Seven Seas Navigator

21 Mar 20 Bremen

http://www.norfolkonlinenews.com/cruise-ship-schedule

Found this page which lists the cruise ship visits to Norfolk Island.

 

14 Feb 18 Crystal Serenity

14 Feb 18 Caledonian Sky

Thanks

Crikey, how lucky am I? - getting to experience rush hour on the island with two cruise ships in town. No wonder many of the local operators wont take bookings as the Cruise Ships have booked them out already. Although the Caledonian Sky is only 4,200 GT with 114 guests - Crystal Serenity will have close to 1000 passengers @ 68,870 GT

I know one chap on our cruise has hooked up with a local operator to arrange a private tour - it's not cheap but a better price than the ships excursion. Only risk I see with that option is that if we can't land he may do his dough

I don't know why cruise ships even bother calling there. I have been there and the port is totally unsuitable for cruise ship visits. Despite how beautiful and scenic the place is you really need a weekend there and the island lacks the infrastructure to transport all of the cruise passenger guests by bus. Even for the small amount that do get off they will not see much of the place anyway. There are many beautiful places there to visit and they are off the beaten track and require time to get there. The island is certainly not small enough to walk around even from where they dock.

It is sad to say but with the time it takes to tender ashore and return to the ship those guests are not going to see anything interesting at all and all it will do is tarnish the islands good reputation as a beautiful, scenic and worthy place to visit.

Found this page which lists the cruise ship visits to Norfolk Island.

Looks like Pacific Explorer is the only local one going.

 

CRUISE SHIPS SCHEDULE FOR 2017 & 2018 & 2020

DATE CRUISE SHIP

3 Dec 17 Regatta

31 Dec 17 Pacific Jewel

2 Jan 18 Seabourn Encore

14 Feb 18 Crystal Serenity

14 Feb 18 Caledonian Sky

26 Feb 18 Artania

21 Oct 18 Pacific Explorer

28 Nov 18 Seven Seas Mariner

29 Nov 18 Maasdam

19 Dec 18 Star Legend

21 Feb 19 Caledonian Sky

16 Mar 20 Seven Seas Navigator

21 Mar 20 Bremen

http://www.norfolkonlinenews.com/cruise-ship-schedule

Cheers David.

I don't know why cruise ships even bother calling there.....

It is sad to say but with the time it takes to tender ashore and return to the ship those guests are not going to see anything interesting at all and all it will do is tarnish the islands good reputation as a beautiful, scenic and worthy place to visit.

For some, visits to locations like this are of interest even if it is a brief visit - this is part of Crystals World Cruise and it's a maiden visit to the island and I note they are not planning a visit as part of the 2019 WC. In 2016 when we crossed the Pacific on Crystal Serenity we stopped at Fanning Island in the middle of the Pacific - now that is an isolated spot with only a handful of ships including supply ships visiting each year

From what I've seen of the tours offered and what our friends experienced during their 2 week stay guests will get the chance to see some of the history and geography of the island - as we all know if you want an in-depth visit to a place then generally cruising is not the way to achieve it. It usually only gives you a taste of a place and if you want more you plan a longer visit as a follow up

I don't know why cruise ships even bother calling there. I have been there and the port is totally unsuitable for cruise ship visits. Despite how beautiful and scenic the place is you really need a weekend there and the island lacks the infrastructure to transport all of the cruise passenger guests by bus. Even for the small amount that do get off they will not see much of the place anyway. There are many beautiful places there to visit and they are off the beaten track and require time to get there. The island is certainly not small enough to walk around even from where they dock.

 

It is sad to say but with the time it takes to tender ashore and return to the ship those guests are not going to see anything interesting at all and all it will do is tarnish the islands good reputation as a beautiful, scenic and worthy place to visit.

Using that logic, the ship's would only have one local port in Australia,NZ or the south Pacific and that would be Newcastle.;p