First off, the rank is the 165-cabin MS Paul Gauguin which will arrive in the Solomon Islands waters on 25 January with a full complement of 330 passengers with local ports of call, including the capital, Honiara.

The visit by MS Paul Gauguin will be followed by Seabourn Cruise Line’s Seabourn Sojourn, which arrives on 24 February at Tavanipupu Island Resort in Marau Sound before heading to Honiara.

April will see three Hapag-Lloyd expedition class vessels – Ms Hanseatic Inspiration, MS Hanseatic Nature and MS Hanseatic Spirit – plying Solomon Islands waters and visiting some of the remotest villages and settlements across the 992-island archipelago.

Expedition adventure cruise Heritage Adventurer is listed to arrive in March along with Lindblad Expedition’s National Geographic Orion.

The resort made headlines several years ago when it hosted the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their South Pacific tour.
The Solomon Islands 2023 cruise season is off to a cracking start, with seven ships already confirmed over the next four months.

These include Santa Ana, Tinakula, Nendo and Tulagi.

Local tourism authorities and international cruise companies have also identified several new ‘destinations within the destination’ which can manage visits by large cruise vessels, including the critical tourism corridor of Gizo in the Western Province, the deep-water harbour of Tulagi in Central Province, and Marau Sound in eastern Guadalcanal Province.

So the time is well overdue for the Solomon Islands to share in these benefits, and to this end, Tourism Solomons, with Ministry of Culture & Tourism support and in conjunction with critical local operators, are already planning to re-establish our relationships with significant cruise line representatives in a short time.

“We know many of our neighbours benefit from international cruise traffic and the positive impact they have on the local economy, from hotels, transportation providers and food and beverage suppliers to local cultural groups and even the craftsmen making souvenirs,” she said.

Tourism Solomons Head of Sales and Marketing, Fiona Teama, said “the Solomon Islands’ geography and unique culture offered massive potential for the international cruise market, particularly the shallow draft adventure/expedition-type vessels. But now we are fully re-open to international tourism, the time is right to rekindle the relationships we made with major cruise lines in the pre-COVID environment, and we are eager to get on with things,” Ms Teama said.

Ms Teama said, “the national tourist office had held regular meetings with crucial cruise operators and cruise associations in Australia before the pandemic. The destination, she said, is very well prepared for the international cruising market, boasting a multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art cruise terminal in Honiara.”

If we were to attract just a tiny percentage of this key visitor arrival source, the benefits for our tourism industry would be exponential.”

“We know that more than 1 million Australians and New Zealanders enjoy cruises predominantly in South Pacific waters every year. Still, all plans to further develop the sector were put on hold when the destination closed its borders for more than 800 days.“

Written by: Jill Walsh

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