Fiji Picks Up Preferred Cruise Destination Title
Fiji is becoming a preferred destination of international cruise vessels that in the last six months two cruise vessels have made their inaugural voyages here.
Majestic Princess made her inaugural trip to Fiji in September last year and this Friday MSC Magnifica sails into the Fiji waters for the first time.
While Majestic Princess is part of the London based Princess Cruises. MSC Magnifica comes under the Mediterranean Shipping Company.
The Suva King’s Wharf will be a hive of activity with the calling of MSC Magnifica on her inaugural voyage to Fiji – she will be in Suva on Friday and on Saturday at Lautoka. Local cruise liner agent, Kenua Fiji Manager Leone Naivalu said the liner’s choice to be coming to Fiji was testament to how Fiji has become a preferred destination for cruise visitors.
“This cruise has a total of 2282 tourists and 954 crew members on board; taking advantage of what Fiji will offer over two days,” Mr Naivalu said.
“We see an increasing number of cruise tourists every year and this directly contributes to the increase in tourist arrivals annually and a vital contribution to our economic growth,” he said.
“As per the norm of vessel’s making their inaugural visit, we will be making plaque exchanges with various authorities involved in the tours of our visitors.”
The vessel’s last international port of call prior to Fiji is Nukualofa, Tonga and after calling into Suva and Lautoka ports she heads to the Bay of Islands, New Zealand.
Mr Kenua said the tour is a bit different from the five cruise liners that had berthed into the country earlier this year because it has the biggest number of French tourists on board.
“Out of the 2282 tourists coming into the country this Friday, 679 are from France,” he said.
“The past five cruise liners under our watch that had called into the country always had a greater number of Australian visitors but that has changed this time.”
According to Mr Naivalu there are a number of activities planned over the two days for our visitors.
“As usual we have organised tours with our ground tour operators Air Terminal Services Pacific for those who plan to take up these tours.
“We also have overnight plans for those that would like to spend a night out.”
