'Never dreamed this would happen!' - fungal growth leaves cruise ship stranded eight days at sea

Record ID: 1705120

  • Title: 'Never dreamed this would happen!' - fungal growth leaves cruise ship stranded eight days at sea
  • Date: 3rd January 2023
  • Summary: AT SEA (JANUARY 3, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) VIKING ORION CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER, JULIE REBY WAAS, SAYING: “I don’t fault the captain, I mean I think he was just being given information as we (were), and then he would relay it to us. However, it has been enormously disappointing, enormously disappointing. It was very hard to pull into Melbourne last night, see the beautiful city, and not be able to get off and explore it, much less not be able to see the South Island of New Zealand or Tasmania.”
  • Embargoed: 17th January 2023 08:24
  • Keywords: australia cruise ship marine growth sea travel viking orion
  • Location: AT SEA
  • City: AT SEA
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Disaster/Accidents,Sea Accidents
  • Reuters ID: LVA006005103012023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: It was meant to be the cruise ship voyage of her dreams. Since childhood, Miami-based lawyer Julie Reby Waas had always wanted to visit New Zealand and Australia.
    As the COVID-19 pandemic had dissipated, and the 15th wedding anniversary of her and her husband was approaching, they booked a cruise across the region that would coincide with the date.
    “The last cruise I had taken was in 2019… so this was going to be our bucket list cruise,” said Waas, who has already done “a lot” of cruising around the world.
    So they flew to Auckland, New Zealand, boarded the Viking Orion, and set out on their 15-day cruise. By the time they arrived in Wellington the ship’s captain announced that a “marine growth” had been found on the ship's hull during an inspection, and they would not be permitted to stop in any ports of New Zealand’s South Island. But they were still allowed to stop in Wellington for a day. The ship, which reportedly can carry up to 1,000 passengers, then proceeded directly to southern Australia’s city of Adelaide, where a local company had been hired to clean the hull. But further logistical issues and regulations delayed the process, and they weren’t permitted to dock.
    “What we thought was it was really a New Zealand issue. But apparently, it was also an Australia issue as well, because we weren’t permitted to go into Adelaide, and it had, the ship had to be cleaned outside of Australian waters,” said Waas.
    According to a statement released by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, the ship was required to “remove the biofuel and prevent potentially harmful marine organisms being transported by the vessel.”
    Since the cleaning process took longer than expected, the ship was forced to proceed forth to Melbourne, Waas said. She described the experience of being stuck at sea for eight days and forced to skip out on scheduled stops, especially Tasmania, as “enormously disappointing,” but praised the ship’s crew for their “nonstop” hard work.
    Waas spent the eight days at sea as she could—taking long walks along the ship’s corridors and decks, and visiting the gym. She and her husband “had dinner” for their anniversary meal—not on land as planned, but at sea.
    “Most of the people I think on the ship have kept their cool and have maintained a sense of humour. I think everybody is very tired of it. The ship is beautiful, but you know, there’s only so much space to explore, and so I guess (it’s) claustrophobic in some ways,” she said.
    Waas said that on Tuesday (January 3) she and the other passengers were informed by Viking that they would receive a voucher, worth the entire ticket price of this trip, that can be used for any future Viking cruises.
    Despite the stranding, she vows to return to the open seas again on another cruise ship.
    “I just never dreamed this would happen!... Yes, I will absolutely go on a cruise again, I’m not afraid to, I love cruising,” said Waas on Tuesday, who is now en route to the ship’s final destination of Sydney, where they will finally be able to disembark, a day before she and her husband fly back to Miami.
    The Viking Orion is not alone in its predicament, as another cruise ship, the Coral Princess, was forced to skip out on several ports in New Zealand due to an infestation of snails back in December.
    (Production: Joseph Campbell, Nur-Azna Sanusi)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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