With 10 months to go before the arrival of the first cruise ship in Port Kembla the company behind the visit is already confident enough to look at scheduling more visits.
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But no one behind Wollongong’s bid to welcome regular calls by cruise-liners is taking that for granted.
Destination Wollongong is doing everything it can to make the first visit such a success it creates a new industry. And the opportunity for Wollongong to establish itself as a cruise destination could generate millions of visitor dollars.
Mark Sleigh’s team are leaving nothing to chance. They know a successful visit by Radiance of the Seas in October, 2016 will secure more visits from Royal Caribbean. So they are eager to know everything about such ships and what cruise ship companies want.
Their mission is to give the 2400 passengers everything they expect so the feedback from the first visit is so positive that Port Kembla may even be in demand as a starting and finishing point for cruises. If that happens the city’s hotels and restaurants will get additional trade. It will be the realisation of a three year dream for Councilor Leigh Colacino who has worked with Mr Sleigh and Royal Caribbean’s Gavin Smith.
Mr Smith invited Destination Wollongong to inspect the ship on Friday and spoke of how confident the company was about Wollongong becoming a regular port of call.
“Port Kembla has such a wonderful coastal orientation. Wollongong has got such great tourism infrastructure. The port in relation to the downtown is very close. We think we can present the region in a very positive light over a 12 hour stay. We are really excited about bringing the ship.”
Mr Smith said the community response was so amazing he wished Radiance was coming sooner. With such fantastic support Royal Caribbean is confident about the success of the first visit. The city is already showing it can deliver.
“We are currently looking at our Summer 17/18 dates and we are investigating how many additional calls we can go for. The cruise..is already proving so popular..we are really positive about scheduling additional calls. The great thing about the cruise industry if someone like Royal Caribbean does something, the others follow. We are really hoping to pioneer the port.”
Newcastle is being used as an overflow to Sydney “and we are really looking for Wollongong to play that role as well. There is a great opportunity for many more calls”.
Ship captain Goran Peterson knows people are planning to line the foreshore.
He said the 293 metre long, 32.3 metre wide ship would take around 45 minutes to come into port once the pilot came on board.
