Many ships sailing in our region are scrambling to decide their next steps as Australia and New Zealand close their ports to international cruise ships.
The Celebrity Solstice which was on a 10-night New Zealand cruise was able to complete her itinerary as scheduled, according to the line. She was able to call at Dunedin on March 15 and cruise the New Zealand Fjords the day after as per her itinerary.
The ship is however skipping her Eden port call to return to Sydney one day earlier than scheduled, on March 19.
Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas also cut short her 11-night ‘South Pacific and New Zealand’ cruise, returning to Sydney this afternoon instead of her scheduled return on March 23.
The ship had to miss New Zealand ports like Bay of Islands and Auckland at the start of the itinerary. With the shortened sailing, passengers on board would have remained on board the entire sailing.
The Voyager and Spectrum are all returning to Sydney on their scheduled dates.
The Voyager of the Seas which is on a South Pacific cruise has been at sea for many days after a number of South Pacific ports turned away the ship. The ship arrived in Sydney this morning as per schedule.
The line’s third and final complimentary First Responders ‘Thank You’ cruise for Australian volunteers on Spectrum of the Seas has returned to Sydney yesterday March 17 as scheduled.
There are also a number of Princess Cruises ships like the Sun, Ruby, Sea, Golden and Pacific Princess cruising in our region affected by the latest regulations. We are awaiting updates from the line regarding future arrangements.
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I WAS A PASSENGER ON CELEBRITY SOLCTICE AND CONTRACTED COVID 19 2 DAYS AFTER RETURNING HOME ON THE 20TH MARCH BACK TO AUSTRALIA I WAS ALSO TOLD BY NSW HEALTH THERE WAS AROUND 12 CASES CONFIRMED, FROM SOLCTICE AS WELL ,PRETTY SURE CELEBRITY WOULD HAVE KNOWN THERE WERE SICK PEOPLE ON BOARD, I ASKED A FEW TIMES IF ANYONE WAS SICK ONBOARD ON WAY BACK TO SYDNEY AND PRETTY WELL GOT THE RUN AROUND.
We were on the Solstice, when arriving in Dunedin it was recommended that the the New Zealanders get off at this port as the ship would not be allowed back into a New Zealand port. Since we were doing the back to back NZ-AUS-NZ our fight arrangements were with New Zealand air out of Auckland. With things changing almost hourly we decided to get off in Dunedin and fly back to Auckland. We also were able to get our fight arrangements changed although we ended up with a downgraded seat and flew home to Canada. Now trying to see how Celebrity is going to handle our cancelled Australia cruise as well as any compensation for the 5 days missed on the New Zealand part. Very interesting about the comment about the passengers being isolated after they left Dunedin. Does anyone else have more information about that? Are the people that stayed on board being isolated for the next 9 days on the Solstice in Australia?
We sre in the same position as Sue and Clare. Have contacted the travel agent and the reply is the celebrity Soltice has to cancel for us to get our flight and accomodation money back.
I’m pissed off the same. Not cancelling cruise umtil last minute. And won’t be booking anything like this again.
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We are in complete agreement with Sue, re an cruise meant to depart from New York also April 19th. Despite a travel ban from Australia and the worldwide worsening covod19 situation, the cruise line and their agent insists the cruise will go ahead. This puts the onus on passengers to cancel and accept a cruise credit at a later date, thereby avoiding having to refund passengers. Disgraceful.
I have a friend on the CMV Vasco da Gama which was originally sailing to London but is returning to WA after being stuck off the coast of Phuket
Due into Freo on the 25 March.
We are supposed to cruise on 17 th from New York . Cruise still hasn’t been cancelled and they say we will be going unless we take there deal of postponing it till next year. The cruise cafe have organised this whole trip and yet they are saying it’s up to the cruise line. Feeling very pissed off.
This information regarding the Celebrity Solstice is not correct according to the Phone call I just made with Celebrity. The ship is due to return to Sydney 20/03/2020 @ 0630 as planned. There are no cases of Covid -19 on board. All passengers are to complete the balance of self-quarantine of 9 days as this started on the 15th when they left Dunedin.
Why hasn’t Royal Caribbean stopped cruises leaving 18th April when there are no cruise ships allowed to dock ..hello
I’m a passenger on the Pacific Princess. We have no COVID symptoms on board and have been at sea for 15 days now trying to reach an open port. We are now approved to dock at Fremantle on Mar 21. Most passengers are American or Canadian and most will be flying home from Perth. Others who cannot fly will stay on the ship as it returns to Los Angeles.