P&O cuts cruises from Newcastle

[am1984]

The following has been reported on The Herald's website

 

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/news/general/po-cuts-cruises-from-newcastle/1862634.aspx

 

EXORBITANT costs associated with temporary customs and terminal facilities has forced P&O Cruises to cut luxury liner Pacific Sun's 2011 Newcastle season from six cruises to four.

 

Cruise ship industry head, Carnival Australia, said costs associated with the temporary facility and other one-off expenses amounted to "hundreds of thousands of dollars", which were not being met by passenger demand.

 

Newcastle is scheduled to be used as Pacific Sun's home port for five cruises this year and four in 2011.

 

The company said it would review its 2012 contract.

 

Carnival Australia and P&O Cruises said a permanent customs facility and cruise ship terminal was the preferred option, but they were "well aware" of the costs before entering into the deal.

 

"The operational costs amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars, but we understood that and went into this with our eyes wide open," Sandy Olsen from Carnival Australia said.

"We have offset the costs by trying to funnel the cruises into short periods between September and October, but the costs have not been met by passenger demand.

 

"It would work better if we were able to space the cruises out over the year, and obviously we would prefer to have a permanent facility.

"This would also encourage visiting ships, not home-porting ones, to make Newcastle a stop on their cruise because there is so much to see and do in Newcastle."

 

Minister for the Hunter Jodi McKay was amazed when learning of P&O's decision to cut the number of 2011 cruises.

 

"I was surprised when I heard that announcement," Ms McKay said.

"We were happy to work through the operational issues with them [Carnival Australia] and that has been the case all along. "We are working on catalyst projects in the HDC [Hunter Development Corporation] report and we are examining all three sites at the moment for the best possible option for a permanent terminal. " The three sites under review are Newcastle City Council's Queens Wharf and two state government sites, at Dyke Point and the old Pilot Station.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

My first reaction to the story is that it sounds like a repeat of Brisbane, where Carnival Australia threatened to withdraw calls from visiting ships if something was not done with Fishermans Island. Brisbane went ahead and built a new terminal facility very quickly, but it will sit idle for most of the year.

Wonder if Carnival Australia are now waving the big stick at Newcastle?

[Rasa Sayang]

luxury liner Pacific Sun

 

Now theres an oxymoron if ever I saw one. :D:D:p:p

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Cruise ship industry head, Carnival Australia, said costs associated with the temporary facility and other one-off expenses amounted to "hundreds of thousands of dollars", which were not being met by passenger demand.

 

 

Are Carnival Australia putting any money into building facilities, or do they want the tax payers to fund it all.?

 

Its a bit confusing as they talk of large one off costs, but surely they realise that once the facilities are there they will be able to be used for years to come.

 

[rugbypopsie]

So short sighted..."build it and they will come". The lack of decent facilities should be a national embarrassment.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

sighted..."build it and they will come".

 

Exactly . That is so right......

Sydney is getting very expensive for Carnival, so they should bite the bullet and build their own facility in Newcastle.

Star Cruises built their own in Malaysia and Thailand and not only can they go ahead and cruise there with confidence , they can pick up landing fees from other lines that call there as well.

 

In Fort Lauderdale also , I believe , the cruise lines have their own purpose built terminals.

 

[am1984]

It appears that P&O will relocate the final 2 cruises from the 2011 Newcastle season to now depart from Sydney.

 

Sydney Ports have the Pacific Sun arriving & leaving Sydney on dates close to or the same as the canceled Newcastle cruises.

 

P&O & some online T/A's have already removed the canceled Newcastle cruises from their websites.

[johndon]

Adelaide has a purpose built passenger terminal at Outer Harbour which is a white elephant as cruise ships only call in for a day on about 10 occasions a year.

We in South Australia would love to embark and disembark in Adelaide to save the airfare to and from Melbourne and Sydney. We have the facility already built and to say "build it and they will come" hasnt happened here.

One would think that the present passenger volumes from South Australia would exceed the demand of Newcastle and with a commitment from the cruise companies to embark and disembark in Adelaide that demand would certainly increase.

It would be interesting to know if the South Australian Government and the cruise lines

have been talking to each other. To have a large purpose built facility sitting at Outer Harbour virtually idle seems ludicrous to me.

We can live in hope for common sense to prevail but we are dealing with Governments and Cruise lines and reading some of the posts on C C I wont hold my breath.

 

Johndon

[Lizard©]

Adelaide has a purpose built passenger terminal at Outer Harbour which is a white elephant as cruise ships only call in for a day on about 10 occasions a year.

We in South Australia would love to embark and disembark in Adelaide to save the airfare to and from Melbourne and Sydney. We have the facility already built and to say "build it and they will come" hasnt happened here.

One would think that the present passenger volumes from South Australia would exceed the demand of Newcastle and with a commitment from the cruise companies to embark and disembark in Adelaide that demand would certainly increase.

It would be interesting to know if the South Australian Government and the cruise lines

have been talking to each other. To have a large purpose built facility sitting at Outer Harbour virtually idle seems ludicrous to me.

We can live in hope for common sense to prevail but we are dealing with Governments and Cruise lines and reading some of the posts on C C I wont hold my breath.

 

Johndon

 

 

Yes, well, it would be nice to leave from home base but as you say dealing with Governments and Cruise lines.............definately not going to hold my breath :o

[The_Big_M]

We have the facility already built and to say "build it and they will come" hasnt happened here.

 

Exactly. Lots of white elephants have been built over the years thanks to overly optimistic assumptions, typically based on vested interests.

 

I'm not surprised at the statement there that passenger demand has been insufficient. When there is so much choice from Sydney, and a much larger population and better transport connections, the bulk of travellers will continue to use that port instead of Newcastle. Newcastle is a nice place to visit, but it's better thought of as a stopover, and maybe secondary port in peak seasons, but its viability is questionable while Sydney operates.