The MS Caledonian Sky and her 114 passengers will arrive in Eden on Friday, March 8.
The first cruise ship visit of the year is scheduled for March 8 when the MS Caledonian Sky and her 114 guests arrive in Eden.
Shopkeepers are being asked to extend their trading hours, and residents to invite a friend in from out of town to welcome the ship.
Eden is the third last port for the London based Nobel Caledonia liner on its 24 day Antipodean Cruise of New Zealand and Australia.
Remote landscapes and natural history feature on the itinerary with shore excursions often undertaken in zodiac inflatable boats.
Cruise Eden coordinator Gail Ward said the ship was an unexpected but very welcome addition to the cruise calendar.
“It’s like Orion, small and intimate and a lovely surprise for us,” she said.
She hoped retailers would extend trading hours for passengers, locals and other visitors to complement the welcome given by Cruise Eden volunteers.
“The ship is asking if the shops could stay open a bit longer, particularly the ones that are often visited by cruise ship passengers, to make them feel welcome.
Member for Bega, Andrew Constance encouraged residents to ‘invite a friend’ from out of town for the day or for dinner.
“If everyone did that there would be lots of people out and about, and that would be great for both the shops and the cruise passengers,” he said.
“Eden also has some of the most spectacular headlands on the coast and a cruise ship in the bay is a perfect accompaniment to that.”
Passengers flew from London to Hong Kong to Wellington to board the ship to spend six days in New Zealand before heading to Tasmania for five days.
Caledonia Sky stopped in Melbourne on day 19, Wilsons Promontory on day 20 and will stop at Batemans Bay before docking in Sydney for passengers to disembark and return to London.
The 90-metre ship will drop anchor in Twofold Bay at 2pm and depart for Batemans Bay at 9pm.
Passengers paid between $12,000 to $17,000 per person.
In other shipping news explosives are the target cargo for a barge due in Eden next week.
The 55-metre Tasmanian barge MV Statesman will collect around 90 tonnes of explosive materials at East Boyd Bay on Wednesday, February 13 for use in Tasmania’s mining and other heavy industries.
Also docked at East Boyd Bay at the time will be the log carrier Sea Harmony, who arrives from Burnie on Tuesday, February 12.