Carnival cruise ships come to Norfolk Island

We Welcome back P & O Cruises to Norfolk Island after -- years.

This fantastic community had been planning this arrival for months and months and the whole town came alive with excitement on Friday the 26th of March.

Volunteers have been briefed, We listened to all the updates on the local radio, market stalls have been set up through the town after months of making local handicrafts and new products to sell to our new visitors, now we just had to wait for the ship's arrival.

We woke up to this magnificent view in our backyard down at Cascade.

Welcome P & O's Pacific Sun, we are glad that you made it our way safe and sound.

P & O Cruises have a long tradition with Norfolk Island as it was their first destination chosen to cruise to on December 23 1932.

The new 23,000-ton mail steamer, Strathaird became the first P & O liner to undertake a cruise.

The 5 day cruise from Brisbane & Sydney to Norfolk Island carried 1,100 people and "offered such niceties as ballroom dancing, live theatre and elegant dining"

To see old video footage of the Strathaird on Norfolk Island visit the norfolk Island living library website
here 

The P & O website tells you that on Norfolk Island you can "Step ashore in the footsteps of Captain Cook and discover an unspoilt landscape fringed by sapphire seas. Stroll amongst the soaring pinetrees, or take a guided tour of this former convict settlement. Norfolk Island is a historic destination for P & O cruises as this was our first cruise port over 75 years ago."

Of course anyone who has been here to Norfolk Island knows that there is so much more to do and see around the island than can be put on a glossy brochure, Norfolk Island's best features are spread largely by word of mouth because you can never advertise 'a feeling'. The fresh air and cleanliness of our landscape and waters, the friendliness of our locals, the amazing local produce and the way the community works together to offer some amazing free events throughout the year such as our community arts wearable art parade and art in the park, we also have summerfest at Emily bay, jazz in the pines and opera in the ruins just to name a few.

But back to the cruise ships and the many many passengers that waited to reach us, we welcome you with open arms to this fantastic community. We hope you had a lovely day with us, whether it was the whole day or for a few hours, we hope you come and visit us again soon.

To the community, Thankyou for all the sprucing up that you have done around town, for the festive feeling and for the positiveness that is being bounced around Norfolk Island, You should all be very proud, all of these things make this a wonderful place to choose for your holidays and to live.

The Markets at the Sports and Workers club were fantastic as were all the stalls throughout town.

I hope the visitors and locals enjoyed it as much as I did.

And after a long day, the sun began to set, the visitors made their way onboard and with the majestic Pacific Sun lit up like fairy land, we said bon voyage until the next time.