Seychelles news update – ‘Sun Princess’ calls on Victoria with 1.900 passengers on board

SUN PRINCESS CALLS ON VICTORIA HARBOUR

Princess Cruise Lines’ Sun Princess called on Victoria Harbour yesterday for a day long visit, during which many of the 1.900 passengers disembarked to stroll through the capital of the Seychelles while the ship was replenished with water, fuel and other supplies. The ‘new generation’ cruise liner towered over all the other cargo vessels in port that day and many Seychellois flocked to the harbour to get a glimpse of the huge ship while the tourists visited land marks in Victoria and the main market to shop for some indigenous souvenirs.

Sadly the Seychelles has been hit in recent years by the precautionary withdrawal of a number of cruise lines from the Indian Ocean as a result of ocean terrorists roaming the expanse of the ocean off Somalia which has prompted safety concerns by the companies and the passengers. Subsequently the classic Indian Ocean cruises covering the Seychelles, Mombasa, Zanzibar and often Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and then South Africa largely disappeared from the cruise lines’ brochures until the menace from hell has been cleared off the Indian Ocean waters, a measure long overdue by the naval coalition divided by different rules of engagement which have to be uniform and robust if not harsh to succeed.

In a soon to be published interview with the Minister for Home Affairs, Environment, Transport and Energy yesterday, the Honourable Joel Morgan, is was clearly stated that the ocean terrorists had caused a substantial impact on the Seychelles three main economic sectors of tourism, fishing and trade, and that the government of Seychelles would leave no option unexplored and would pursue a continued policy of robust responses to any intrusion into her economic exclusion zone of 200 nautical miles. At the same time the minister also assured this correspondent that the Seychelles government was continuously monitoring the sea lanes and the access to all islands of the archipelago to ensure the safety of her citizens and visitors alike and that there was absolutely no cause for concern that the Somali ocean terrorists would ever be able to make landfall as seen recently at a remote beach in Tanzania.

The Sun Princess meanwhile left after nightfall from Victoria and continued on her journey, which brought her to the Seychelles from Malaysia with final destination being the Caribbean.