In what is believed to be a first for the cruise industry, the Pacific Dawn will be loaded with close to 30-tonnes of vital supplies in Brisbane before setting sail for Port Vila on Saturday.
As the first superliner to visit the port since the category five cyclone hit, the 2000 passengers on board Pacific Dawn will not be allowed to disembark when they arrive on Wednesday.
P & O Cruises’ spokesman David Jones said Port Vila had been a scheduled stop but they would only stay for long enough to offload supplies including tarpaulins and tents, bottled water, tinned food and three industrial sized mulchers.
“Vanuatu is very important to us. We’ve been having our ships and passengers welcomed there for 40-years,” Mr Jones said.
“Cruising is the mainstay of the local tourism industry, and we thought it was important to pull out all stops.”
He said passengers had reacted very positively to the announcement their seven-night cruise would carry much-needed aid to the region.
“They feel quite honoured to be part of the humanitarian mission and we feel quite inspired by our own passengers,” said Mr Jones.
As well as the shipping container full of supplies, passengers had been asked to bring specific things such as non-perishable foods, personal hygiene items and insect repellent.
They will also be invited to a fundraising concert staged by the ship’s crew and entertainment staff called “Unite for Vanuatu”.
The Dawn’s sister ship Pacific Pearl will leave Sydney on Monday for Vila also with humanitarian aid onboard and Carnival Spirit leaves Sydney on March 30 for Santo with more aid. Mr Jones said this would “keep happening for the foreseeable future while Vanuatu rebuilds”.
P & O’s parent company Carnival Australia and the Carnival Corporation have donated a combined $300,000 to the Save the Children fund for relief efforts in Vanuatu.
Mr Jones said $150,000 had come from Carnival Australia, and the corporation’s chairman Mickey Harison had matched that some from his own family trust.
“It will be one of those cruises that all the crew and passengers will remember being a part of,” he said.
“As far as I know, it’s never happened in our industry but we’ve even got people telling us they wish they were on the ship.”
Source: news.com.au
