SOUTH ISLAND CRUISE LINERS

Evening Star, Issue 23128, 30 November 1938, Page 9

SOUTH ISLAND CRUISE LINERS

TWO PARAMOUNT REQUIREMENTS BERTHING FACILITIES AND SUITABLE TOURS OPINIONS OF ORIENT LINE MANAGER If the South Island could provide two paramount requirements of cruise liners, the Orient Line would boi equally as willing to send ships to southern ports as to Auckland ana Wellington, said Mr Arnold W. Johnson, general manager in Australia for the company, in an interview this morning. Firstly, there had to be a harbour which would allow ships costing over • a million pounds to berth with perfect safety. The other necessity was scenic or other attractions within reasonable distance, he explained. Cruise ship visitors, particularly, from Australia, have no desire to study cities; the principal reasons for their trips were to visit some of the famous scenic beauties of New Zealand, of which they had heard or read a great deal. Most passengers on such liners, however, did not have unlimited monetary facilities at their command. They required comparatively cheap inland travel, with the maximum of return in sight-seeing for the least expenditure. They had no desire, he said, to be disembarked at a port from which they had to travel hundreds of miles at costly rates, to indulge their penchants for beauty. The ideal in cruises of a sight-seeing or holiday nature was contained in these two features. In the North Island, the passengers, numbering about 800, were disembarked, say. at Auckland, and made their way overland to Wellington, where they were again picked up by the ship. Em route, they visited the Waitomo Caves, Rotorua, and two parties interchanged at various points so that the greatest part of the attractive country was visited by all, without congestion at any place. When questioned as to the possibility of cruise liners making visits to Milford Sound, Mr Johnson said that, here again the same requirements entered the case. It would not be to the advantage of the passengers or the company to take passengers into the sound, cruise around for a few hours, and then depart. There was always the risk to the ship to be considered, and the weather element. Could the tourists make a tour overland, seeing the , Southern Lakes and other sights en route, and be picked up by the shipat some eastern or West Coast port, the question of sending ships to the South Island would receive favourable consideration by the company. There possibly could be a trip made to Lyttelton, whence the passengers could he given a tour of the Nelson district, and the West Coast Sounds, then be picked up at Picton, or another convenient port. Accommodation was another vital factor in the running of successful cruises, which militated against - any to the South Island, he continued. Even if the trip from Milford Sound was feasible, and there .were sufficient landing facilities, 'and a means to give the tourists easy access to the Central Otago district, there would be some difficulty in providing suitable accommodation for a party of some hundred persons. Should such a trip be arranged in January, for instance, Queenstown would already, be fully boobed up by holiday-makers from , the cities.