Growing Role For Holiday

Cruise Ships In South Seas Tourist Trade

By a Staff Writer

The Pacific Islands are becoming more and more important to world shipping lines as passengers demand something “off the beaten track”, both for holiday cruises and for Europe-to-Australia voyages.

And the new South Seas tour pattern is paying dividends in hard cash to the shipowners and the Islanders.

1 STANDS and Islands ports that the shipping lines scorned a decade ago now receive regular calls from ships of the P and O-Orient, Matson, Ellinis, Cogedar and Sitmar Lines.

Vavau, Bora Bora, Niuafoou (Tin Can Island), Savusavu, Lautoka and Honiara, virtually ignored until three or four years ago, now see frequent cruise ships.

Two other ports, Pago Pago and Rarotonga, which were once the preserve of the Matson liners, now see the ships of other companies, too.

Pago Pago was visited by the Arcadia (P and O-Orient) in Septem ber on a northbound voyage and the Oronsay, of the same company, will call there in September, 1965.

Non-Matson liners which have called at Rarotonga recently include the Flavia (Cogedar) and Bergens fjord (Swedish-American).

Next October, the 45,000 ton P and O-Orient liner Canberra will call there on a voyage from Sydney to the west coast of the US and return.

First Visit This will be the first Pacific Islands port, apart from Honolulu, to be visited by this ship.

The Pacific cruises give a tremen dous boost to the economy of many of the islands.

They also provide cargo and mail services supplementary to regular ser vices, which may not run very often.

For example, Savusavu or Vavau merchants save double - handling charges when a liner calls because cargo arriving on the liner does not have to be handled at Suva or Nukualofa.

Only a few of the Pacific Islands have harbours and wharves capable of handling the big liners.

At Savusavu, Vavau, Rarotonga, Niuafoou and Honiara, cruise pas

sengers either have to go ashore in the liners’ boats or they have to con tent themselves with what they can see from the liners’ decks.

Most visits to Rarotonga, Niuafoou and Vavau are merely off shore, and are included to give the passengers a glimpse of something additional.

The development of post-war holi day cruises in the South Pacific began in 1954 when the Orient Line diverted some of its ships from the traditional Suez route to Britain and sent them to North America.

The enterprise paid off, and now the P and O-Orient Line has a re markable network of sailings, not only criss-crossing the Pacific in all directions, and linking Australia with the American west coast, Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand and the Far East, but also reaching into Pacific Islands groups on two to three-week holiday cruises.

Converted The P and O-Orient liner Hima laya has been converted to one-class because young people, the biggest group of passengers, want the “run of the ship”. Other liners of the company may be converted to one class, too.

The Matson Line, when it resumed Pacific cruises late in 1956 with the Mariposa and the Monterey, also helped to stimulate the demand for holiday travel in the Pacific.

These liners, each with a maximum capacity of about 350 passengers, are patronised largely by wealthy, retired Americans. They are not strictly holiday cruise ships as they run on regular round-the-Pacific schedules.

Matson has kept its liners pretty well filled by varying itineraries and providing special courses for the passengers.

Courses are given in floral arrange

ment, photography, golf, bridge, navi gation, seamanship and art.

The atendances at some of these lectures have amazed Matson officials.

Sometimes there have been as many as 150 “students”—slightly less than half the passenger complement.

Matson has little doubt that induce ments are all money spinners.

Added Ports The early Matson cruises took in Wellington and Melbourne, and when Wellington was eliminated Auckland was visited on both the inward and outward voyages.

Now Auckland is visited on the outward journey only and Noumea replaces it on the northbound voyage.

In recent years, calls at Bora Bora, Rarotonga and Niuafoou have been added to the Matson cruises.

In recent months increasing num bers of Australians have been joining the Matson liners mainly to visit Noumea and Suva. From there, they fly back to Australia.

The number of passengers for Suva, for example, to September was about equal to the number who travelled by Matson to that port in 1962 and 1963 combined.

Matson and other lines have found that duty-free shopping lures the tourists to Suva, while French cook ing is the attraction in Noumea.

The success of P and O-Orient and Matson has induced other shipping lines to send ships on Pacific holi day cruises.

Besides the Italian lines, Cogedar and Sitmar, which have operated profitable cruises into the Pacific, the China Steam Navigation Co. runs cruises to the islands near Australia at every opportunity, with the Kuala Lumpur and the Toyo Yusan Co. has regular holiday cruises for New Zealanders and Australians in the Oriental Queen.

There is rarely a ship that is not booked to capacity and with a wait list.

15-Day Cruise

As most of the Italian liners are heavily committed for some months ahead for their normal schedules, very few are likely to appear in the Pacific on holiday cruises in the next year.

The Sitmar Line plans a 15-day cruise from Sydney and Brisbane in January, and also expect to operate an Easter cruise from Sydney.

The China Steam Navigation Co. sent the Kuala Lumpur to the Pacific in August-September for a short cruise, and will send another one in November-December.

Early in September there were

heavy bookings for the next cruise.

The Kuala Lumpur carries 200 first class passengers and the cost of a cruise ranges from £322 down to £2OO.

The Pacific ports of call are gener ally Auckland, Nukualofa, Haapai, Vavau, Apia and Suva—three Tongan ports against one for Fiji.

"Oriental Queen"

The Oriental Queen, formerly the Australian coastal passenger ship, Kanimbla, is now playing an impor tant role in the tourist industry of Fiji and New Caledonia.

The Oriental Queen is also in the trans-Tasman trade, with her cross ings between Auckland or Wellington and Sydney timed to link in with a Pacific cruise.

A spokesman for F. H. Stephens Pty. Ltd., Australian agents for the Oriental Queen, said there was an emphasis on Noumea and Suva for Pacific cruises.

The demand for the Pacific cruises was mainly from middle-aged Aus tralians and young to middle-aged New Zealanders.

400 Passengers

A one-class ship, the Oriental Queen carries up to 400 passengers.

Suva and Noumea see most of the Oriental Queen, but she has also been to Nukualofa, Vavau, Apia, Pago Pago, Papeete, Bora Bora and Raro tonga.

Future possibilities include Lau

toka, Savusavu, Honiara and the New Hebrides.

The Oriental Queen will make a voyage to Japan in May, 1965, and on the voyage will call at Rabaul and Guam.

She carries a cosmopolitan crew of Japanese, Chinese and Australians.

The Cogedar Line ships, Flavia the Aurelia, travelling to Australia from Bremerhaven and England, via Panama, will make eight scheduled

calls at Papeete between now and the end of 1965.

The Royal Interocean Line’s Tjilu wah, 8,600 tons, which operates be tween Melbourne and the Far East, will call at Port Moresby on its north bound voyage in November.

Royal Interocean may operate a similar holiday call at Port Moresby in November, 1965, when the Tjiwangi, sister ship of the Tjiluwah, sails for the Far East.