When Radiance of the Seas docks in Port Kembla at 7.45am on October 30 there will be 10 members of one family watching what unfolds at Berth 105 with great interest. And they will have a perfect vantage point as passengers on the first cruise.
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The King family run Premier Motor Service. When the business tendered to provide buses for pre-booked tours and a shuttle service for Royal Caribbean’s maiden voyage to Wollongong they also decided why not treat themselves to a holiday. It will be a reward for three decades work growing their business in NSW and Queensland.
When John and Sue King and Bill Stephens acquired Nowra Coaches in 1987 it had nine coaches and 12 employees. Premier now has a fleet of 550 coaches and 700 employees.
“That is a tribute to our good young management team. 90 per cent of our managers are women,” Mr King said. The senior management team in Nowra includes two of his daughters Simone King and Jess Davis. As they learned more about Royal Caribbean making Port Kembla its 501st port of call in the world they both had an idea. “We decided to buy tickets on the cruise for mum and dad’s birthday. We then shouted Pa to go. Then we thought this is an opportunity to all go on the first cruise ship and experience it from the other side. One of our long term drivers who has been here 25 years is now coming with us as well.”
Mrs Davis’s husband Daniel and three children are going along with Simone’s partner Mark Burton who is the Premier’s workshop manager. It will be reward for the way they have all rallied and worked together to help the business steadily grow. The Kings acquired John J Hill’s and Rutty’s in 2001. Premier now operates in NSW and Queensland.
Mrs Davis said Premier was working Royal Caribbean and Intercruise more like a partner than as a client. “There will be 15 shuttle buses running every 3.5 minutes in both directions. They will just do a constant circuit between 8am and 4pm”.
Mr King said there is at least one bus booked for each of the six pre-booked tours. They will be lined up ready for passengers to board as soon as Radiance arrives. He said Royal Caribbean and NSW Ports had been wonderful to work with. All drivers have been inducted and given security clearance. There are 15 buses ferrying passengers to and from Lang Park and at least six doing the pre-booked tours.
Premier also operates the Gong Shuttle with eight buses carrying up to 18,000 passengers a day. It is seeking approval to include Lang Park on a modified shorter second circuit that takes in the CBD on October 30. There would be four buses on that route linking into the longer Gong Shuttle circuit.
Premier does cruise ship work in a number of locations and Mr King said from his experience when Wollongong becomes a turnaround port that will generate even more bus tour bookings.
“Typically they will all get off the ship between 8am and 10am and get back on around 1pm or 2pm. This is going to be different to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne where passengers can just go for a walk for an hour and come back again,” he said.
Premier Bus Service is keen to keep working with all relevant parties to convince the industry to bring more cruise ships to Wollongong. Mr King said there was a great team of experienced people in Wollongong that made it possible to provide any service necessary. And he is confident Wollongong will show the world what a great cruise ship destination it is.