Spirit of Tasmania moves to Geelong !

[NSWP]

Hi all, just watching the news, the Spirit of Tasmania is relocating from Station Pier, Melbourne to Geelong.  She was berthed at Geelong this morning, no doubt both ships have/will move there on the Tasman run to and from Devonport.

 

Could free up the pier for another cruise ship berth?

Edited October 22, 2022 by NSWP

[beatleman]

2 hours ago, NSWP said:

Hi all, just watching the news, the Spirit of Tasmania is relocating from Station Pier, Melbourne to Geelong.  She was berthed at Geelong this morning, no doubt both ships have/will move there on the Tasman run to and from Devonport.

 

Could free up the pier for another cruise ship berth?

The mob in power made it an easy decision to build a Terminal at Geelong, raising the fees to much. Yes Les it could be a top Cruise Terminal if money was spent to bring it into the 21st century. However this mob only pay lip service to cruising.😠

[GUT2407]

Yep, known about it for a while, I just hope Geelong has the infrastructure to handle it, my take is, less hassle than going through Melbourne, but less accommodation options pre crossing.. I do wish they’d go back to sailing out of Sydney.

[icat2000]

Hope so. Slim pickings cruising out of Melbourne. When does it move?

[NSWP]

21 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

Hope so. Slim pickings cruising out of Melbourne. When does it move?

Well it was berthed at Geelong this morning, amongst much fanfare, Ch7 reporters the whole business.

The Deputy Mayor of Geelong was portside, saying the Spirit of Tasmania was the best ship in Australia, something like that. I thought that banner was currently for Coral Princess, LOL.

[mr walker]

34 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

Yep, known about it for a while, I just hope Geelong has the infrastructure to handle it, my take is, less hassle than going through Melbourne, but less accommodation options pre crossing.. I do wish they’d go back to sailing out of Sydney.

My first 'cruise' was when I was as a youngster with our family on the Empress of Australia from Sydney - we took the car & caravan. My next cruise was in 2011 & was a REAL cruise 🙂 

[Relaxing Robbies]

26 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

Hope so. Slim pickings cruising out of Melbourne. When does it move?

Today.

[cruiser3775]

They have built a fancy new terminal at Geelong, which will be an improvement on Station Pier's antiquated facilities and the traffic jams on embarkation.  But it is a 75km trip from Melbourne. Geelong is a big city with enough accommodation options for now, and a great waterfront precinct. I'm sure moving the SOT will attract more accommodation options to the town.

[Essence08]

SOT is actually berthing at North Shore, not in the main waterfront precinct of Geelong, and not as pretty a location. However, The new facilities and infrastructure are amazing, including the option of long term parking (great for a weekend trip to Tassie and something that wasn't possible at Station Pier) The 3 level ramp system will allow for super quick loading and unloading of cars and trucks, and the location supports more cargo moving between the states. It will be a great tourist asset for Geelong and the Bellarine.