I wonder how Bali is doing with their tourism because it seems that they do not only have waves, but also massive cruise ship traffic coming in… and when I say massive, I mean there is a whole lot of them.
Four massive cruise liners made their way to Beno Port in Denpasar from April 6-10, 2025. That is five days straight uninterrupted. These aren’t just any cruise ships of the sea, we have real giants here as well like the MV Viking Orion, or MS Paul Gauguin or the MV Norwegian Sun and Seven Seas Mariner which just seemed to ‘casually’ pull up like it’s no big deal.
Giant cruise ships like those listed above brought in hundreds to even thousands of passengers and honestly speaking, it turned Benoa Port into this buzzing international welcome hub and for a port which was mostly known for cargo, this isn’t too bad now is it.What This Development Means For Benoa Port In Bali
Did you know that this “back-to-back cruise ship arrivals” phenomenon is unique? That’s what the port manager termed an achievement. Reason being four ships docked during the very busy Eid Return Travel Peak period from the 11th to 13th of April while an additional three were also programmed to arrive immediately after – that is a total of seven cruise ships, cumulatively!
It is indeed unusual to observe such a high level of activityWith so much holiday traffic at the locals and with the peak. The local holiday peak adds a layer of complexity. If you ask us, this is quite an impressive winning combination of itinerary planning and local logistics.
The Ships Were Colossal
Selling Norwegians on bird-watching cruises during winter might sound insane, but let’s take a moment and go over the figures (the largest of them being ship size).
- MV Viking Orion (Norway): 228 meters long, 47,881 gross tons, brought in 1,430 passengers.
- MS Paul Gauguin (France): 163 meters long, 19,170 gross tons, with 430 guests and 218 crew members tagging along.
- MV Norwegian Sun: 258 meters LOA, arrived on April 8 with 1,768 passengers.
- Seven Seas Mariner: 216 meters LOA, landed the day after with 915 tourists.
All those numbers culminated to – are you ready for this – close to 7,000 people in a single day would debark at the terminals in Benoa. Now that is what you call a tourism wave.
Nostalgia Rush merged with Local Wardrobes on Eid Break
If only the predicaments above were the only ones during the calm post-Ramadan rush, which is exactly when nationals located on the island for the holidays board the Eid express towards the island. Now that, depending on however angled your glass is, is best case scenario or complete chaos of grand proportions.
Benoa Port managed incredible results, though. They even went as far as installing a new X-ray machine in the domestic terminal to ease congestion and improve security measures.
A Global Gateway? Beyond Logistics
Local government is ecstatic; Benoa is emerging as more than just a mere cargo port. Not only is Benoa bringing in more cruise ships, it is also becoming a global landmark for tourists.
Tours are a main driver of ships entering the ports to clear customs and fill up supplies before departure.
I think it is appropriate to note that Benoa is becoming an international landmark at a foreign scale.