Plan to Build 7.4-billion-baht Cruise Ship Port

[reader]

From Pattaya News

The Thai Marine Department is set to propose to the Cabinet to establish the country’s first large-scale international yacht/cruise ship port in Pattaya, worth over 7.4 billion baht.

The mega-project, which will be located near the Bali Hai pier if approved, aims to benefit from the growing popularity of yacht tourism, with over 31.5 million tourists travelling by yachts and cruise ships globally this year and is expected to reach 36 million by 2024, according to Mr. Wannachai Butthongdee, Director of Engineering Division of the Marine Department.

The construction will expectedly begin in 2026 and finish in 2029 if approved by the Cabinet.
Mr. Wannachai added that Thailand is ranked third as the most popular destination in Asia in terms of the number of visits by large luxury yachts. The new port in Pattaya will be located approximately 1 kilometer away from the coastline and will have the capacity to accommodate two luxury cruise ships simultaneously.

“Thailand has been welcoming an average of 500 luxury yacht trips per year. The majority of these yachts are can accommodate approximately 1,000 passengers,” Mr. Wannachai said. “As for large luxury cruise ships, they require temporary anchoring methods and smaller boats to transport passengers to the shore, which is not convenient for travel.”

In light of this, the Marine Department is planning to develop cruise ports in other areas as well including Koh Samui in Surat Thani province, and Krabi province.

The new port will be able to handle up to 1,500 cruise passengers per hour when it is used as a home port, or between 3,500 and 4,000 passengers per hour when it serves as a port of call, Mr. Wannachai stated.

 

[PeterRS]

Initially I was confused. Mr. Wannachai first states, "The new port in Pattaya will be located approximately 1 kilometer away from the coastline and will have the capacity to accommodate two luxury cruise ships simultaneously."

That inevitably means pasengers will have to be ferried in to the pier on shore in tenders. Cruise ships mostly have several thousand passengers. The tender process is therefore going to take a very considerable time in both directions. But he then states,

"“As for large luxury cruise ships, they require temporary anchoring methods and smaller boats to transport passengers to the shore, which is not convenient for travel.”

That being the case, what is the point of building docking facilities 1 kilometer from shore? Did I miss something?

It seems iI did for the Bangkok Post has a slightly different and perhaps more logical report. It states the shore facilities will indeed accommodate two cruise liners. But the 1 km refers to a jetty extending 90 degrees from the shore which will enable another two ships to berth alongside each other with easy coach access to the passengers.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2602183/b7-4-billion-pattaya-cruise-port-promoted

With luck, perhaps a cruise or two might be the gay cruises which you can persently obtain in the Mediterranean and out of Fort Lauderdale. These might regenerate interest in the gay bar scene.

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, PeterRS said:

 

With luck, perhaps a cruise or two might be the gay cruises which you can persently obtain in the Mediterranean and out of Fort Lauderdale. These might regenerate interest in the gay bar scene.

I doubt, by time bars open ship will sail away. But yes , bars can innovate and during days ship is in the port they can be opened during day with short time rooms nearby ready

[PeterRS]

12 hours ago, vinapu said:

I doubt, by time bars open ship will sail away. But yes , bars can innovate and during days ship is in the port they can be opened during day with short time rooms nearby ready

I think you may find that most cruise ships will spend at least one night moored by Pattaya. Friends of mine from the USA docked here about 10 years ago. Their cruise ship spent a night in port so that passengers could have two days in order to see the sights of Bangkok. With Bangkok's traffic, the usual port call from 08:00 to 18:00 will be much too short. For gay cruises, I think at least one night in port will be essential and a vital key selling point.

[vinapu]

46 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

I think you may find that most cruise ships will spend at least one night moored by Pattaya. Friends of mine from the USA docked here about 10 years ago. Their cruise ship spent a night in port so that passengers could have two days in order to see the sights of Bangkok. With Bangkok's traffic, the usual port call from 08:00 to 18:00 will be much too short. For gay cruises, I think at least one night in port will be essential and a vital key selling point.

good to know, my experience with cruises is very limited ( two)and night were always on the sea. What you say makes sense, not only passengers can explore Pattaya  reputation but also go to Bangkok indeed and even spent night there.

[gerefan]

I was in Malta recently and two cruise ships were constantly in the port.

The amount of passengers in Valetta each day was probably in the region of 5000.

It really spoilt the place. All bars, restaurants, cafes and tourist attractions full to the brim.

[PeterRS]

2 hours ago, gerefan said:

I was in Malta recently and two cruise ships were constantly in the port.

The amount of passengers in Valetta each day was probably in the region of 5000.

It really spoilt the place. All bars, restaurants, cafes and tourist attractions full to the brim.

I love Valetta and cannot imagine so many cruise passengers destroying its atmosphere. Same with Venice, although I believe the daily number is slightly less. It's one reason Venice is moving cruise liners out of the lagoon in the hope this may reduce the overall number of ships. It's also true of Barcelona where in 2019 6,566 daily visitors were from cruise ships. Cruise ships bring chaos as well as cash. 

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, PeterRS said:

I love Valetta and cannot imagine so many cruise passengers destroying its atmosphere. Same with Venice, although I believe the daily number is slightly less. It's one reason Venice is moving cruise liners out of the lagoon in the hope this may reduce the overall number of ships. It's also true of Barcelona where in 2019 6,566 daily visitors were from cruise ships. Cruise ships bring chaos as well as cash. 

yes, chaos to the city visited and cash to cruise company. 

As I said before,  my experience is very limited but I have big doubts about economic benefit of those to places visited outside of port area and immediately adjacent block. I think some places consider cruises more matter of prestige then cash source.

[Keithambrose]

On 7/3/2023 at 12:02 AM, gerefan said:

I was in Malta recently and two cruise ships were constantly in the port.

The amount of passengers in Valetta each day was probably in the region of 5000.

It really spoilt the place. All bars, restaurants, cafes and tourist attractions full to the brim.

Bermuda even worse. Small centre, completely overrun by cruise passengers. Also they put prices up. Ditto Taormina!

[hojacat]

On 7/1/2023 at 4:04 AM, PeterRS said:

With luck, perhaps a cruise or two might be the gay cruises which you can persently obtain in the Mediterranean and out of Fort Lauderdale. These might regenerate interest in the gay bar scene.

There is already an Atlantis cruise (the biggest gay cruise organizer in the world) scheduled for November. It starts in Singapore and ends in Laem Chabang. I think it will be operated by Norwegian. Surprisingly it will be a bit long, 10 days and not just 7 like most of their cruises are, especially for a region where people can't get too much time off from their work. I know the CEO of Atlantis, Rich, is a next-level rice queen. He goes to every cruise his company organizes, has usually one of the biggest suites and throws every an after-party/orgy inviting only Asian twinks, though they can invite other guys. 

They announced the Asian cruise in early March, in two weeks almost 80 percent of rooms were already booked, including the most expensive suites. By now probably is fully booked. The demand is definitely there.

I also went to a supposedly gay cruise this May from/to Laem Chabang. It was organized by a Thai group under the name XXOParty. 3 days with stops in Sihanoukville and Koh Samui. The advertisement implied that it was an exclusively-gay cruise but on the day of embarkation we realized that the gay crowd was only 300-400 and the rest, 1000+ people were straight families. Plus there were plenty of organizational and logistic issues, but those were mostly attributed to Costa cruise, which tends to be subpar compared to other lines. Overall wasn't the best event I've had experienced but I still went to an after-party, had fun with a couple of guys  in my cabin and befriended a few people. 

I don't think there will be a second edition of it though. they just can't compete with Atlantis.