With the next cargo ship visit to Palmerston two months away, a passing cruise ship will be dropping off medical supplies to the island on its way to Tonga.

A box of medical supplies and a satellite phone were loaded onto the MS Europa when it stopped in Rarotonga on Thursday, while its 274 passengers explored the island during the second-to-last cruise ship visit to the Cook Islands this year.

Cruise Cook Islands managing director Stuart Henry said the shipment was bound for Palmerston.

“We got in touch with Palmerston to say we would be waving to them on our way to Tonga. A request came in to drop off some items, because they won’t see a boat until February.

“These captains are pleased to help out.”

Henry said another cruise ship had given medical aid to Palmerston earlier this year, when a baby on the island with a broken arm was brought into the boat’s hospital.

“They fixed the baby up. These are some of the good things these cruise ships can do.”

Winds of about 21 knots prevented MS Europa’s passengers from going ashore at Avatiu Port at 8am on Thursday – so, after crew who needed to catch a flight disembarked, the 199-metre-long boat sailed to Arorangi to make a “beached landing” at 11am, Henry said.

“We had to postpone the majority of our tours because they were booked for 8am or 9am, but we had bus shuttles into town and they (passengers) were able to enjoy the island,” he said.

“It was a beautiful day.”

The boat left the island about 5pm.

Henry said because of strong winds, cruise ships had a 65 to 70 per cent success rate of disembarking in Rarotonga – compared to 95 per cent at the more sheltered Arutanga Port in Aitutaki.

The cruise ship – mostly made up of German passengers – had visited Aitutaki on Wednesday, having sailed from Bora Bora in French Polynesia.

The boat, operated by German company Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, was launched in 1999 and weighs 28,890 tons.

One more cruise ship is scheduled to visit the Cook Islands before the end of the year, with the AIDSol and its more than 1400 passengers arriving in Rarotonga on December 17.