Oasis-class ships are coming this way

[woodscruise]

THE arrival of ever-larger cruise ships into Australasian waters is inevitable, with Royal Caribbean well advanced in planning for deployment of its Oasis-class vessels in Australia and NZ.
According to RCCL’s Associate  Vice President of Marine & Safety, Captain Nik Antalis “it’s only a matter of time,” as he urged delegates at the Australian Cruise Association conference
to take action to prepare for the arrival of the mega-vessels.
Oasis-class vessels are currently the largest cruise ships in operation, 360m in length with 5,400 lower berths. But a number of other cruise lines, including MSC and Dream
Cruises, also have their own behemoths of the sea coming. Antalis noted that the only Australian port which will be able to handle the large vessels is the new Brisbane International Cruise
Terminal , in contrast to a host of ports in New Zealand which were already heeding calls from the cruise sector to improve their infrastructure.
Antalis also contrasted the Australian paucity of Oasis capable ports with the attitude in Asia, where there will next year be a total of 40 destinations able to handle the world’s largest
cruise ships - an increase of 35 in just the last five years. He said ports that would be suitable in Australasia with relatively little investment would include Hobart, Darwin and Fremantle, but Sydney and Auckland remain problematic.

 

Cruise Weekly 06Sep 2019
 

[MicCanberra]

Interesting, cheers for the article.

[lyndarra]

Methinks we would soon have extra large ports to handle them if there was enough room on board for a load of coal or iron ore on their return to northern climes.

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, lyndarra said:

Methinks we would soon have extra large ports to handle them if there was enough room on board for a load of coal or iron ore on their return to northern climes.

Yep, infrastructure is all dependent on private investing and what mileage the Government can get out of it now and not in the next or future election cycles.

[The_Big_M]

"a matter of time" isn't the same as "they're on their way"

 

Plus it makes sense for them to talk them up as part of their ongoing campaign to get extra infrastructure - whether it's true or not. If they say "they're not on the radar" then that's hardly a persuasive argument for new infrastructure. But there's no commitment behind it - if there's no business case when the infra is built they still won't come. 

 

So really just idle posturing to try to get a business outcome than anything substantive.

[MicCanberra]

The Solstice has had no issues with it's lawn.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Oriana had real trees growing in tubs around the pool and lido decks when she was new. They even had a full time gardener on board and had no trouble with bio security when they called in to Au/NZ . They would have been well and truly spayed for any pests .... however the shrubs were replaced as they could not stand up to the constant salt spray.

[Chiliburn]

Yeh

Im no expert but short grass and extensive gardens would be different.

lots of places for bugs to hide

[MicCanberra]

5 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

Oriana had real trees growing in tubs around the pool and lido decks when she was new. They even had a full time gardener on board and had no trouble with bio security when they called in to Au/NZ . They would have been well and truly spayed for any pests .... however the shrubs were replaced as they could not stand up to the constant salt spray.

 

5 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Yeh

Im no expert but short grass and extensive gardens would be different.

lots of places for bugs to hide

 I am sure both of you are right, but I am sure they have the necessary checks and precautions to ensure that it is not an issue once they dock.

[Chiliburn]

18 minutes ago, Docker123 said:

 

Drop bear breeding sanctuary.

 

 

Perhaps the question we should ask: is bigger always better?

Well ,there’s a lot people who are negative about mega ships.

For me they have good points and a lot of bad (mainly the crowds of people )

But there’s lots of entertainment,eating establishments and variety.

You do lose that personal feeling and are just one in the crowds.

 

The bottom line is you don’t have to go 

[MicCanberra]

I have found the most crowding is when getting on and off the ship when visiting ports. This is not necessarily the case when embarking or debarking at the home port, and definitely not so much while on the ship, although this can vary due to itinerary, timing and demographic or if there is a very popular activity being held on board. Of course that can happen on a ship of any size.

 

[lyndarra]

7 hours ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

Oriana had real trees growing in tubs around the pool and lido decks when she was new. They even had a full time gardener on board and had no trouble with bio security when they called in to Au/NZ . They would have been well and truly spayed for any pests .... however the shrubs were replaced as they could not stand up to the constant salt spray.

They haven't heard about bitou bush eh? Thrives in salt air.

[gbenjo]

I sure  Royal would be more than happy if the biggest obstacle to bringing an Oasis class ship to Australia were a few plants and trees .

[Chiliburn]

26 minutes ago, gbenjo said:

I sure  Royal would be more than happy if the biggest obstacle to bringing an Oasis class ship to Australia were a few plants and trees .

Just one problem I can think of graham but could be easily fixed in a dry dock with artificial plants.

 There’s a couple more with tender capacity and ports.

 Such as the security at circular quay.LOL

 

But it’s only a matter of time, Seems to be more and more Americans desire the destination 

Edited September 7, 2019 by Chiliburn

[MicCanberra]

The USD to AUD makes it very enticing apart from what we have to offer anyway.