German cruise ships visit Nuku'alofa [1]
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - 21:43. Updated on Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - 17:04.
MS Europa in Nuku'alofa, Tonga. 29 January 2013.
Two cruise ships from Germany visited Nuku'alofa on January 28-29. MS Columbus II was the first to visit the capital for the New Year on Monday January 28, while MS Europa stopped over today.
MS Europa arrived at Vuna Wharf early this morning with 412 passengers and around 200 crew. Passengers strolled around the Central Business District before the ship departed this afternoon for Fiji.
The MS Columbus II is understood to have arrived early in Tonga on Sunday, January 27 but did not dock at Vuna Wharf until yesterday, due to the Sunday law. The cruise ship came in with over 600 passengers and around 500 crew, departed Tonga yesterday.
Three more cruise ships are expected to visit Nuku'alofa in February. A total of 17 cruise ships are expected to visit Tonga in 2013.
The new Vuna Wharf was opened in December last year aimed to boost the economy by attracting more cruise ships to Tonga.