islandguy Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Seeing a big cruise ship yesterday made me think about how they handle their Samui port calls. If anybody knows about this(and I am sure there are many here) would be interested to know more about the subject. Here are some of my questions: How deep a draft do these ships need (obviously not all the same)? How far offshore of Nathon do they have to be to not get stuck? What happens if they do go aground? How do the ships' launches operate? Looks like a big door at the water level opens up and multiple launches capable of holding dozens of passengers are ferried to the pier. Lots of minivans pick up passengers at the pier, where do they go? Many other passengers walk around Nathon, seems like a big boost for the small shops there. Where do these ships come from? What port near Bangkok do they use? My impression is that cruise ships prefer to act as floating hotels, arriving into a new port early without a lot of time cruising during the day (pity, that). Are Bangkok and Singapore close enough for them to do this? What ideas are the local government entities floating to take advantage of all this money (and make more for themselves)? What kind of fees do the cruise lines pay here? Thanks for any knowledge shared and whatever else you may have to add. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoorSucker Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 http://www.cruisetimetables.com/cruises-to-ko-samui-thailand.html http://www.cleancruising.com.au/port.asp?port=THUSM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooo Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 More Here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/683687-cruise-ships-visiting-koh-samui-2014/?p=8798283&hl=%2Bcruise+%2Bships & Here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/787946-cruise-ships-visiting-koh-samui-in-2015/?p=8871078&hl=%2Bcruise+%2Bships Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandguy Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Thanks PoorSucker. The first link was pretty funny, every post except one on the comments portion was for a taxi/tour. One offered German speaking guide(s), none had any prices. Pretty smart, really. The last one showed a selfie of a young woman whose profile said she worked at KFC. Do you prefer chicken legs or breast, K. Cruise? Cruises with a port call in Vietnam or Singapore prior to Samui seem to have 36 hours between the port calls. Second link seems to show 57 port calls this year (hard to be sure without a clicker), with multiple days of 3 ships the same day and one day with 4! Also thanks to Roo, the previous threads posted answer some more of my questions. Cruising in a huge sardine can is not for me, but the load on the islands infrastructure should be lighter than other categories of tourist, especially at the airport. Still no idea about port fees, tender logistics details, or the really juicy scenario of one of these monsters stuck on a sand bar. Would they send down the aircraft carrier after a few days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samuijimmy Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 All I can add is a company from Phuket comes to act as "guides" and there is a local tie with Samui Ships and Trips, located just out of Nathon.... each time these ships come in. Day tours spread out to various parts of the island and more likely only to upmarket resorts for lunch etc... As for getting stuck in the sand bars that only happens in England .... ...(recently .... not heard if that has been resolved... it was a car cargo ship headed to Germany, if memory serves .... ) But seriously it is why they anchor so far out and bring the passengers in by small boats.... tides are high during the winter months.... during April is when the tides get much lower... No idea about Port fees, but I guess brings in money to the local economy.... .... (Phuket's too!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tropicalevo Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 The Queen Mary 2 had to change her route - the water was too shallow. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/787946-cruise-ships-visiting-koh-samui-in-2015/?hl=%2Bqueen+%2Bmary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samuijimmy Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 (edited) There has been two ships I have seen this week.... Wednesday's ship Thursday's ship! Too many people on one side... wanting to get off ! Edited February 6, 2015 by samuijimmy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beng Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) They do the classical half day around the island trip Big Buddha Viewpoint over Chaweng Grandfather rock Monkey picks coconuts Mummyfied monk Waterfall Nathon Maybe some shopping.....and back to the ship. Edited February 12, 2015 by Beng Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samuijimmy Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Yesterdays ship, The Europa... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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