New South Wales Police have ordered P&O’s Pacific Explorer to leave White Bay Cruise Terminal, her homeport, in an extraordinary move.
The order elicited an immediate and strong response from Sture Myrmell, the President of Carnival Australia which operates P&O Cruises.
But the line agreed it would obey the order and Pacific Explorer was preparing to sail at time of writing.
“It was unprecedented for the cruise line to be treated in this way given its Australian origins,” said Mr Myrmell. “This is a particular sad and disappointing day and a terrible blow to the vital part of the tourism industry.”
This latest edict comes as six cruise ships off the coast of NSW have been ordered to leave Australian waters amid the coronavirus pandemic, with NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller accusing them of lingering and delaying departure.
Mr Myrmell said P&O has been cruising from Australia for 88 years. The line supports thousands of jobs and the economic life of the State and regional communities.
“P&O ships have been the backbone of cruising in Australia taking half a million Aussies on cruise holidays each year. There is no illness on Pacific Explorer, no passenger or crew member has been tested positive for COVID-19.
“Yet today, the NSW Police has instructed Pacific Explorer to leave Sydney Harbour, the ship’s homeport.
“It is unprecedented for Australia’s home grown cruise line to be ordered to leave Australia. P&O is the only cruise line in the world to have its head office in Australia.”
He said it is “bitterly disappointing that short-term measures have put an industry, jobs and people at risk.
“There is still time to change this approach. Compassion and clear thinking beyond the crisis, has never been needed more,” he added.
The Explorer has recently returned from a refit costing millions and was ready to start new sailings. Her expulsion and departure from her home port will be a bitter blow.
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How unjust. P&O have done the right thing by canceling their cruise schedule early and there was no evidence of any sickness on the ship. P&O provide many Australians with jobs and are a major part of the tourism industry in this country. They contribute to the economy and bring many tourists to townships along the coastline. Not a fair way to treat a company that has been here for decades.
Why ? Pacific Explorer told to leave her home port because of a knee jerk reaction that has people shooting from the hip. This ship and crew are clean, no virus detected. Granted the police and others are out to protect the community but to move this ship on from its home port is an insult the P&O and its assiciation with Australia.
How dare our government, and the government of n, s, w, treat a cruise ship, the pacific explorer, in the way, with no respect with what so ever, the ship has been part of our life and history for years they have done nothing wrong there is no virus on board the ship Sydney has been home to her for years now you just kick her out with no were to go to defend for herself, when we have so many agarent. people who travel overseas and get themselves into trouble and they think it is the right of the government to bring them home for free and put them up in 5star hotel, when they should have come home a long time ago, not pick on a poor cruise ship, pick on the dum people who are not doing the right things, bring pacific explorer to Brisbane were she will be safe or out in the water of malooloolaba good luck to all the crew of the pacific explorer and the other cruise ships our thoughts are with you smooth sailing, from someone who loves to cruise the seas
When I initially applied for Australian Residency I accepted that I would observe and uphold Australian values.
The Australian values being demonstrated in this episode are not ones that I wish to uphold.
I hope the situation will not arise where the Authorities are casting round for additional hospital or accommodation facilities having forcibly expelled these ships.
If you want to call Australia home register the ships in Australia not a foreign country.
What has happenned to the Internation Laws of the Sea any ship in distress must be given help by the nearest country? Australia governments /authorities are going to have their arses sued off them ,big companies like Gordon and Slater and there are internationial giant legal companies joining the queque and I hope they win ,remember most of these marxist “laws” were not passed by the necessary Parliaments and may be found to be illegal,what then ? No politician or public servant has had a pay cut or be laid off. Someone tell me what authority has the police got to order ships out of Australia ( need the quote from Act /section)
I agree wth the majority. The Police Commissioner has handed down an order that is completely out of context with the situation. I don’t know at this stage who gave the directive to him other than the Government but come on please show some common sense and compassion and revoke this order immediately, It’s not warranted under the circumstances that have been given.
We got on carnival splendor on 1st march.off on 10th march.in sydney.when boarding all we had to fill paper to say we didn’t have a temperature. No body checked.when we disembarked back in sydney we were told to disembark at 7am ,get your bags on the way out as quick as you can so the ship could load next cruis at 1pm .
For that Carnival Australia captain to not to fully disclose the sickness on board he should walk the plank or face Australian courts.. It is NOT the crews fault. Our NSW outbreak of Covid19 is twice as bad as it should have been. When/if cruising gets allowed in Australia again the departure tax should go to $1000 and this applies to airline departure passengers. Business people flying overseas on second trip in a year get departure tax rebated by tax office. As a person over 70 I suspect I will have to remain in isolation till the vaccine comes in 18 months in part thanks to an irresponsible cruise ship captain of Carnival Cruises.
It is a decision gone rong, lentingthe pacific explorer, leave Sydney, when they is no virus on the ship, has the big police boss who thinks he is running n, s, w looked into it properly instead of listening to what other people have told him, I think he likes to gbe top dog, the people they should be picking on is the ones who bought the virus on the ships the first place and spread it, don’t blame the cruise companies they have doing their best to help and the crew, and all I hear is the passangers complain because they have to spend 14 days in a hotel room or at home, well sorry, so do I because my mum is old and sick and I am an age care nurse and I am not going to bring it home to her, happy to have the cruise ships in Brisbane, so stop your winging and think of the crew on the ship the our States in wa, n, s, w what to kick out will we see the again, love my cruise
This is the saddest article l have read
What as idiot the police commissioner is think of all the billions of
Dollars the P@O fleet have brought to NS W in the good days l myself travelling from WA to get an a cruise always stay in Sydney
For Four days spend up on hotels restaurants
Who knows when this is over we may not get Pacific Explorer back.
If l was the CEO Of P@O l would say stuff you Sydney we will home port in Melbourne or Perth the ALtania Ship is still in Fremantle 40 passengers in our hospitals
For Christ’s sake Pacific Explorer wasnt doing any harm in her regular berth
If I would know when these ships departed, my opinion would be firmer. It easy to guess, that it happened sometimes at the beginning of March. That time the world knew about the danger of COVID-19 already. Our friends were considerate enough to cancel their trip. It was negligence from the cruising company as well, to start trips in between these circumstances. Do not think that it is unfair to put the health and life in danger millions of people just because of someone’s stupidity, recklessness, and carelessness? Everybody has to face the consequence of its acts.
This is so sad treating P & O like this. The crew on board deserve to be treated compassionately. Come on Australia this is not good enough.
Well here we go again our flag ship of cruises told to way anchor and get out of our Port. Why ??? While she was berthed at White Bay there were Jobs being filled there and also P&O pay Berthing Taxes whilst she is along side but what I would like to know who gave permission for the Police to tell them to get out of the Port.
We have a Harbour Master that has the power to say yes or no he is in charge of port operations I thought not a police officer that would not know one end to the other !
Now why was the Ruby Princess allowed to come into Sydney Harbour at 2am in the morning all other Ships cannot get a Pilot until 6 am this never been done before where were the Police then to stop passengers getting off it was done all so quick makes you wonder now everyone is passing the buck and they have the hide to run the Explorer out of town anyway that’s my thoughts !!
Also in Sydney are the Sun and Sea Princess ships both home ported in Australia where the crew pays taxes to the Australian government. The Pacific dawn, and the Pacific Aria are all home ported in Australia are these ships also banned from Sydney. I think that the Police Minister should get his facts straight before going public about his biased statements. Yes there was a major problem with the disembarkation of passengers from the Ruby Princess and all parties are blaming everybody else and trying to make cruising the go to for all problems with the virus. Where was this police commissioner at that time not seen as it would not be a vote catcher but sending a ship on its way is. Not sure about that.
The cruise industry has injected billions of dollars in the Australian economy.Many of the ships are home based in Australia bearing the name of P&O and have been the epitomy of cruising for the last 80 years.Most elderly Australians have always been sailing on those ships the only way they can enjoy a hard earned relaxing holiday .The Australian government has acted inhumane to take unprecedented measures by expelling those ships to unknown destinations instead of letting them dry dock till this pandemic is over.I feel ashamed as an Australian my country has not given more sympathetic help to all cruise passenges and crew none of their fault ended up in our shores asking for our help.
This ship is doing no harm docked at White Bay, no passengers aboard, what is the harm
Come on Australia and the rest of the world were is your humanity if any cruise ships needs our help we should be there helping them we send money for humanitarian aid all the time these people did not ask for this situation
I believe that that if pacific Explorer home base is here test them all and if clear let them off .
It’s the other ships in Australian waters that are deliberately telling lies force them out of our waters send them back to their country of origin, if they refuse fine the the company 5 miilon dollars a day and if they refuse to pay and we end up taking the infected crew and passengers of the ship tow the infected empty ship out to sea and sink it make a new artifical reef out of it.
Whilst not knowing the full facts of the situation , I agree that it appears to be a severe ( and possibly mortal ) blow to P&O . I hope the NSW Police decision can be justified by good clear facts and thinking on the subject .. if not , well only the Lawyers will win .
“Knee-jerk” reactions from our politicians and those in authority feed community hysteria. Seems this ship and her crew poses no current covid-19 risk yet with this move being an over- reaction to mishandling of Ruby Princess disembarkation and media demonising of the cruise industry in general.
Wow, what is going on, not many good Samaritans around, this virus is bringing out the bad side of a lot of people, so so sad is it all about money.
It shows the idiocy of this Commissioner that he makes statements that are contradictory and plain wrong. The simplistic statement to “go home” when it is already there shows a shocking lack of awareness that he needs for his role, and an inability to properly handle what he is responsible for – the welfare of people.
Sending away people from their home like this is a disgusting abuse of power. He is incapable of doing his job properly.
Where has our humanity gone Australia…We are talking about human beings here. They deserve compassion not scorn. Just as all the passengers around the world who have been caught up away from home in this Pandemic the crew will be afraid and unsure about how and when they can return home . Please don’t focus on the shipping companies instead of the human face of this emergency . If these were your family members how would you feel then.
I call on anyone ( and there are millions of us ) who has ever cruised and been served by the magnificent crew to lobby the Australian Federal Government to find a way to care for the human beings aboard these ships .
Just because someone is the Police Commissioner and has a position of power, does not make him an economic expert, a legal expert etc. The decision has not been put to the people. However, we can have our say after the fact. The economic fallout, ie depression recession that follows the pandemic is going to be long-lasting. If there are no cases on board, why risk an Australian company by sending it off into riskier territories or other countries which are less likely to accept them. Might is not always right. Just like the cover-up of NSW health allowing the disembarking of the Ruby Princess without testing or supervision, now there is an overcompensating???Where was the Police Commissioner before they disembarked????
What harm was she doing? No one was getting on or off. They were supporting our economy. We were keeping her safe, she was keeping us safe….very angry about this..
I would love to know what assistance P & O have offered to New South Wales by way of assistance at this time re: COVID-19? Put simply, if the cruise ship is taking up space and any resources that are needed and currently does not have any passengers, why would it still be berthed at this time?
Please refer to, https://www.carnival.com.au/, accessed online 3rd April, 2020 – Cancelled Cruise Update.
I thi k it’s disgusting that people(crew or otherwise) are still being brought ashore off cruise ships and more specifically the Ruby Princess. If the borders are closed that should apply to EVERYONE . There are icu’s and hospital units and staff onboard so there should be NO NEED to bring sick prod onshore. That puts other Australians potentially at risk. And that is grossly unfair to EVERYONE
The ship is registered in the UK, it is NOT Australian
therefore when the flag of convenience is inconvenient for the operators -too bad.
I have zero sympathy for them. Sail back to London: where the registration is paid, where taxes etc go. If she were registered here then this would be another matter entirely.
I cannot believe this. P & O reacted early to this pandemic by cancelling cruises early. The Singapore to Sydney Cruise, after refurbishment, caused upset to a lot but has shown how thoughtful P & O are. They have not had passengers on the Explorer. It seems really stupid to make it sail from it’s home port.
Pacific Explorer ordered out of Sydney, so where are they expected to go, what happened to helping the less fortunate. I think everyone should voice their concerns to that Police Minister who thinks he is a cop and shoots machine guns in a country that bans that type activity. His office no. 96863110 Apparently it’s about ships not paying taxes but they did bring millions of dollars to the country and the ministers are quick to forget that. The crew on board the Pacific Explorer don’t have the virus and they don’t have a say so we should speak for them. The crew were not the ones who started this Corona Virus. Show your concerns. have a voice for the crew of those ships. The crew have looked after us so we could enjoy our holidays on board so why don’t we help the crews.