New Zealand’s cruise season
has experienced a rocky start
after a storm kept 712
passengers stranded overnight
on land.
THE Sea Princess spent an unscheduled
Saturday night in the South Island village of
Akaroa, with almost half of its passengers and
50 crew unable to return to the ship because
of rough conditions in the small harbour.
With concerns for safety, the Captain
ordered the cancellation of tenders taking
people back to the ship after a day on shore.
Some passengers were transferred to hotels
in Akaroa and the nearby city of Christchurch,
while others found accommodation with local
families, said mayor Bob Parker.
The wild storm also uprooted trees and
closed off road access to Milford Sound after a
landslide.
As a result of the continuing bad weather,
Sea Princess will skip its port of call at Dunedin
and bypass one of the itinerary’s highlights – a
day of scenic cruising through the fjordlands.
Instead, it is sailing safely toward Sydney
through Cook Strait, between the south and
north islands, and is due to dock at Barangaroo
on Thursday (18 October).
Sea Princess, which had been heading home
via Hawaii, Tahiti and New Zealand, was the
first international ship to arrive at Akaroa for
the 2012-13 summer cruise season.
The New Zealand season officially started last
week with the arrival of Royal Caribbean’s
Radiance of the Seas.
A record 91 cruise ships will visit the country
between now and the end of March 2013.
The weather forecast for Akaroa is sunny but
windy, with winds of up to 70 km/hr expected
to last until the weekend.
The next ship scheduled to visit the
harbourside village is the Dawn Princess on 29
October.
