THE sun popped out as hundreds of guests arrived onshore at Rhyll on Phillip Island after the second cruise ship of the summer motored into Western Port on Wednesday, December 7.
The cruise ship, which boasts 229 luxury cabins, a mere minnow compared to one of the world’s biggest cruise ships, the Wonder of the Seas with 2867 cabins, arrived at 5.30am on Wednesday morning, weighed anchor and had guests onshore by shortly after 9am.
They took the opportunity to visit all parts of the Island, including the Koala Conservation Reserve and the Nobbies, stopping for a coffee or lunch in town and meeting their shuttle outside Gulliver’s Café.
And they'll just have time to see the world famous penguin parade which will come in at dusk, around 8.45pm before departure.
This week Phillip Island Nature Parks was named Silver Winner in the awards’ Ecotourism Category at the prestigious Victorian Tourism Awards.
“It’s been lovely to come ashore on Phillip Island,” said one of the travellers.
“We’ve been made very welcome,” they said.
The Odyssey has anchored between Silverleaves and Rhyll where locals and visitors alike have walked out or driven out to take a look.
The 650-foot vessel is also visible east from the main beach at Cowes.
It departs for Hobart at 11.30pm on Wednesday night.
The Seabourn Odyssey was built by the Italian company T.Mariotti located in Genoa, Italy and named in Venice.
On that occasion, the guests on board for the maiden voyage were all honoured as the ship's godparents, and a plaque with their names was permanently mounted on a wall inside the ship.
Seabourn Odyssey was designed by the same architectural team, Petr Yran and Bjorn Storbraaten, who designed the original Seabourn ships.
Other cruise ship arrival dates at Phillip Island include:
- January 3, 2023 at 8.10am
- February 4, 2023 at 9.11am
- March 9, 2023 at 9.17am
- December 10, 2023.
