Ovation of the Seas is set to arrive in New Caledonia in just 17 days, with Carnival Splendor close behind. However, SmartTraveller is still strongly advising against travel to the region.
Cruise ship traffic to the country has already began, with the arrival of a National Geographic ship, however, the small expedition ship carries just over 100 passengers, far less than the massive 4905 passengers that Ovation of the Seas can carry.
What appears to be happening now is a race against the clock. New Caledonia is promoting tourism recovery, but if large cruise ships begin to visit while travel advice remains as it is, not only could this make passengers uncomfortable but it can create serious complications with travel insurance should anything go wrong.
The Department of Foreign Affairs told Cruise Passenger that it has no update and nothing to add to its current travel warnings.
Both Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruises are still actively selling their cruises to New Caledonia, which are scheduled to arrive within three weeks, signalling confidence that conditions will be okay to visit.
Royal Caribbean has remained tight-lipped, however, Carnival has been more transparent. The cruise line sent out out an email to cruisers on the scheduled November 14 cruise, which it shared with Cruise Passenger.
“As you’re aware, New Caledonia has been through a challenging time in recent months. We are continuing to monitor the situation, and at this stage, we expect to be able to deliver your itinerary as planned.
Some public facilities have been damaged, and parts of the city are still being repaired. We strongly recommend you do not plan independent travel for your calls to Noumea, beyond the beaches and bays to the south of the city to Anse Vata. We encourage you to book one of our Shore Excursions, which have been developed to provide access to the best sites available at this time.”
New Caledonia Tourism has also been positive, saying in a statement about the return of ships: “After several months of halted cruises and disrupted international traffic, this event highlights New Caledonia’s ability to recover and offer visitors a warm, safe welcome.
“The return of cruises is a very positive sign for all those within New Caledonia’s tourism and cruise industries, representing a crucial step in reassuring our outbound markets.
“This milestone, which will be followed by further stopovers in Nouméa and Lifou this November, reflects a shared desire to boost the local economy, especially in the islands, where tourism, and cruises in particular, play an essential role in showcasing New Caledonia’s natural and cultural heritage.”
The New Caledonia, SmartTraveller page, however, is a lot less positive. The page is last updated on September 25, and is still current on October 22.
It reads: “We continue to advise reconsider your need to travel to New Caledonia due to ongoing civil unrest and travel disruptions. Political tensions and unrest may increase at short notice. There’s an increased police and security presence.
“Security incidents, including arson and carjacking continue across the country. Political demonstrations and protests may turn violent at short notice. Avoid demonstrations and public gatherings.”
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson told Cruise Passenger: “The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade keeps all Smartraveller travel advisories under close review, including regularly and carefully assessing the risks to Australians overseas to ensure that we provide accurate and up-to-date information.”
What are cruises saying?
Some Carnival cruisers are feeling apprehensive about returning, as doubt remains over the current state of the country.
Regular cruiser Catrin Elizabeth Coulon said: “The city is in a pretty bad state. I’d probably stay onboard if I was going or take an excursion to an island close by. They need tourism for their economy but I don’t think I’d personally feel comfortable going there and doing my own thing at this stage.”
Sheil ML said: “I was there just prior to the riots when there were just large noisy packs of people. That was scary so this is not scaremongering at all.”
Gee Shep said: “Seems negligent to stop there after openly admitting there are still problems.”
Jane Scurr is confused at the decision to go ahead and visit Noumea, especially with a lens looking forward to Christmas.
“So why exactly is Carnival Splendor continuing to stop there? Particularly if the Australian Government advises against it? Other options are available. When children are on board at Christmas there will be a lot of disappointment if Noumea is still programmed.”
Royal Caribbean cruisers are similarly worried, particularly those on the upcoming cruise that will visit on November 10. Especially with concerns about insurance.
Kellie Wilmhurst said: “We’ve cancelled our tour and will stay on the ship if it does dock in New Caledonia. I’m not taking the risk with our little guy.
“I’ve seen in one of the sailing groups a few people have said that their travel insurance won’t cover them with the travel warning in place. We haven’t checked our policy as we won’t be getting off the ship.”
Kathryn Guns has a similar view: “Smart traveller says no go. I’m staying on the ship or your insurance will be void.”
Sharleen Roberts says: “Be aware that just because ships are returning travel insurance could be quite costly. If there’s a do not travel or rethink your travel when you list New Caledonia it could increase your policy value.”
If cruise ships do go, what will travel look like?
Carnival’s statement to their guests was sure to highlight significant property damage, but perhaps more crucially to the cruiser, a strong suggestion to only book travel through the cruise line. If ships do visit in the coming weeks and months, it may not be a typical port experience, where cruisers can hop off the ship and walk around at their own leisure.
From the outside, it’s extremely difficult to assess the state of the island, particularly near port locations such as Noumea and Lifou. It is difficult to say at this point how much freedom passengers will have in port, and if they will feel safe to carry out their usual activities.
Will travel insurance provide cover if the travel warnings don’t change?
Many travel insurance providers have clauses that state they won’t cover travel to dangerous places, generally based on SmartTraveller warnings.
SmartTraveller says the following: “Before booking travel and purchasing travel insurance, ensure you’re aware of and comfortable with the advice level for your destination. Some policies will only allow you to cancel for safety reasons if the advice level increases after you’ve bought your policy.
“If the advice level hasn’t changed, most travel insurers won’t cover your cancellation costs if you decide not to go for safety reasons.
“If the travel advice level is raised to ‘Level 3: Reconsider your need to travel’ or ‘Level 4: Do not travel’ and you want to cancel your trip, contact your insurer. Find out if you can make a claim to cover cancellation costs or changes to your itineraries.
“Each travel insurance company will be different. Check with yours directly.”
This creates an interesting issue for cruisers who may no longer wish to cruise if their cruise is no longer visiting New Caledonia. As cruisers who purchased their cruise some time ago, before the travel warnings were given, they would be covered in this instance for cancellation.
However, cruises to New Caledonia with lines such as Royal Caribbean and Carnival are on sale within the next month, meaning that if an unaware cruiser were to purchase one of these cruises, and then decide they didn’t feel okay with the safety issues, they would not be able to claim for cancellation.
Furthermore, SmartTraveller points out that many travel insurance policies won’t offer any cover for destinations with the “reconsider your need to travel” warning. This could mean, that even if a passenger had an incident completely unrelated to the civil unrest, they would still not be covered by travel insurance.
Taking this into account, it can be suggested that it’s unlikely that cruises will visit unless the travel advice changes.
if the SmartTraveller advice stays in place, is the cruise line obliged to provide additional security if they chose to visit?