Carnival Encounter Cairns Overnight Appears Set to Become Cairns and Townsville Visits
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Time to read 4 min
ID 469848757 | Cairns Waterfront © Ekays | Dreamstime.com
UPDATE: Townsville now also appears on the schedule
A further update appears to provide another piece of the puzzle.
The Port of Townsville shipping schedule is now showing Carnival Encounter arriving in Townsville on Wednesday, 30 September, the day the ship was originally scheduled to remain in Cairns as part of its overnight visit.
The Townsville schedule shows Carnival Encounter in port from approximately 6:30am until 4:00pm.
Combined with the latest Ports North schedule — which now shows Encounter visiting Cairns from 9:30am until 8:00pm on 29 September — the two port schedules indicate the planned Cairns overnight may instead become a day in Cairns followed by a day in Townsville.
Carnival has not yet confirmed this itinerary change, and at the time of publication its website continues to advertise the original overnight Cairns visit.
Voyage Ready will update this article when official advice is provided to passengers.
Passengers booked on Carnival Encounter’s upcoming Great Barrier Reef cruise may be facing another itinerary change, with the ship’s planned overnight visit to Cairns no longer appearing as an overnight stay on the latest Ports North cruise schedule.
Carnival Encounter is due to depart Brisbane on 26 September, with Carnival currently advertising an overnight visit to Cairns from 29–30 September.
However, the latest Ports North schedule now lists Carnival Encounter arriving in Cairns at 9:30am on Tuesday, 29 September and departing at 8:00pm the same day.
That would reduce the planned overnight visit to a single day in port.
Carnival still showing an overnight stay
At the time of publication, Carnival’s own website continues to advertise the cruise as including “Overnight Cairns”, with Carnival Encounter arriving at 9:30am on 29 September and departing at 6:00pm the following day.
Passengers in the sailing’s Facebook group have also indicated they have not yet received notification from Carnival advising of a change.
Ports North says its cruise ship schedules are regularly updated and show the planned movements of ships visiting Cairns and other regional ports.
Voyage Ready has not yet seen an explanation for the change to Carnival Encounter’s entry, and Carnival has not confirmed that the overnight stay has been cancelled.
26 September Carnival Encounter itinerary
Cairns channel problems continue
The schedule change comes amid ongoing issues with reduced channel depths at Cairns.
Carnival Encounter was unable to make its scheduled Cairns call earlier this month because the channel was considered too shallow for the ship to safely reach the Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal. The visit was instead replaced with a call at Townsville.
Carnival Splendor was subsequently moved from the Cairns terminal to Yorkeys Knob, where passengers were transferred ashore by tender during its 13 September visit.
At this stage, there is no confirmation that the change appearing on the Ports North schedule is related to the channel-depth issue, nor has Carnival announced whether any other changes will be made to the 26 September itinerary.
For passengers booked on the cruise, it’s therefore a case of waiting for official advice from Carnival.
Voyage Ready will update this story if further details are confirmed.
Hi, I'm Kate!
I'm the creator of Voyage Ready and a BAS Agent and bookkeeper from regional NSW who loves cruising and travelling with my family (and occasionally working from a cruise ship somewhere in the middle of the ocean). I particularly love longer cruises with plenty of sea days, exploring new places at our own pace and finding practical ways to make family travel more affordable and less complicated.
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