The Seabourn Odyssey, the First Cruise Ship, 2022

The Seabourn Odyssey visited Norfolk Island last weekend on Sunday 13 November 2022, but due to sea conditions the passengers were unable to disembark. The ship anchored at Cascade Bay and visitors and locals lined the shore watching the lovely ship in the sunshine on a lovely fine day.

The passengers onboard the Seabourn Odyssey departed Tahiti on the 27 October 2022 on a 22-day voyage and their journey will end in Sydney on 2 December. The Seabourn Odyssey is a Mega Yacht and is 198 metres long and is one of six Seabourn Cruise Line Ltd cruise ships.

Thank you to the local tour operators and retailers who prepared for the days event with an estimated 460 passengers on board and many would have been looking forward to their Norfolk Island visit.

The cruise passenger transfer vessels, which are parked in the car-park area by the old whaling boiler were purchased for transferring cruise ship passengers off their ships onto the Piers at Norfolk Island. The three vessels have been named by the school children with Norfolk Island names, Nuffka (Kingfisher), Hihi (periwinkle) and Wana (sea urchin). These three large vessels were delivered at Cascade Pier on a barge from Australia on 27 July 2019, and since then they have been used three times to transfer passengers from cruise ships to the shore on the Norfolk Island stopover on their Pacific Cruises and adventures. Since the beginning of 2020 the passenger transfer vessels seem obsolete with no cruise ships with the impact of the Covid-19 corona virus pandemic, which closed our borders on 16 March 2020.

• The first cruise ship passengers to use the new passenger transfer tenders was on 20 October 2019, the P&O Pacific Explore cruise ship, able to carry up to 2000 passengers, disembarked at Cascade Pier.

• On the 9 January 2020, the first cruise ship for the year, Seabourn Encore, arrived at Cascade Bay, Norfolk Island. This was the second cruise ship to use the three new passenger tender vessels, and the first cruise ship for 2020.

• The third cruise ship was the M/S Maasdam anchored at Kingston on the 23 January 2020 and the 626 including a few of the crew came ashore at the Kingston Pier on the new passenger tender vessels. From my records this was the last cruise ship to successfully disembark at Norfolk Island.

• The cruise ship Caledonian Sky which carries about 114 passengers, was due to visit on 14 February 2020. I am unsure if passengers visited, but from memory I do not think this visit went ahead. This was a month before the Corona-virus Covid-19 border closures.

From my records the last passengers to disembark off a cruise ship was on the 23 January 2020, when the M/S Maasdam anchored at Kingston. The boarders are now open, and travellers have returned to Norfolk Island and the next cruise ship is due at the end of November, weather dependant, it will be interesting of the passengers come ashore on Tuesday 29^th November 2022.

The company Seabourn has a fleet of seven cruise ship listed on their booking page on the web and the Seabourn Encore built in 2016 has visited before. The Odyssey was built in 2009, has the capacity to carry 450 passengers and has a crew of 330. https://deluxe.cruiselines.com/cruise_ships.cfm

Here is some extra information from Deluxe Cruise lines about the Seabourn Odyssey.

https://deluxe.cruiselines.com/cruise_ship/Seabourn_Odyssey.cfm

Seabourn Odyssey

Three times larger than its predecessors yet accommodating only twice the number of guests, the Seabourn Odyssey offers one of the highest space-to-passenger ratios at sea without sacrificing any of the personal luxuries and service passengers have come to expect from Seabourn. Almost 90% of accommodations feature private verandas, and all staterooms boast granite bathrooms with a separate tub and shower, twin sinks and a glass vanity. Treat yourself to exquisite dining in one of four venues: The Restaurant with traditional dining, The Patio with a luncheon buffet, The Grill by Thomas Keller with updated versions of iconic dishes and The Colonnade with casual bites for breakfast and lunch and regionally themed dinners nightly. Treat your body well with a workout at the fitness centre, featuring high performance Techno-gym equipment and classes. The full-service spa offers rejuvenating therapy treatments using a combination of gels and heating stones. For those wanting a day of lazy relaxation, the card room offers activities like bridge. The Club is the onboard lounge area which is open in the afternoon for tea and transforms into a dance club for the evening. Enjoy panoramic views at the Observation Bar or an evening cocktail under the stars at the Sky Bar.

The next scheduled cruise ship for Norfolk Island is the Le Soleal expected to arrive on Tuesday 29 November with approximately 260 passengers on their 11-day voyage. This next cruise is in collaboration with National Geographic expeditions starting in Noumea and finishing in New Zealand on 2 December 2022. I have read that Massimo Bassano a National Geographic photographer and Fabio Amador a National Geographic expert are both guest speakers on the Le Soleal.

Thank you to everyone who prepared for the Seabourn Odyssey and we wish the cruise ship and the passengers safe travel as they explore the Pacific Islands

Betty Matthews

November 2022