- Cyclone Alfred continues to cause havoc despite being downgraded as it smashed Brisbane overnight
- P&O’s final cruise on board Pacific Encounter has been cancelled
- Cruises still affected, with P&O Encounter still at sea until Tuesday
Brisbane Port reopened tonight and Carnival Luminosa was the first of the ships hit by Tropical Cyclone Alfred to reach land, according to a statement from the cruise line.
The vessel arrived in Brisbane at 5 p.m. after an extra three days at sea, and was due to make a swift turnaround, collecting passengers for her next journey at 8 p.m. She was due to sail to Airlie Beach on a four day itinerary.
According to the Port of Brisbane Cruise Schedule Quantum of the Seas, Pacific Encounter and Scenic Eclipse 2 were expected at port and are remaining at sea. Passengers are continuing their cruises with special deals or without costs after being told their cruise has been extended.
The very final sailing of Pacific Encounter with a special farewell cocktail party onboard has been lost.
Pacific Adventure will be sailing from Sydney on Monday – but her itinerary has been changed. She will visit Eden instead of Moreton Island.
“Sadly, because of the current uncertainty, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Pacific Encounter voyage that was due to depart today, Saturday 8 March.”
Passengers on Pacific Encounter have been offered a refund. However, at the least, those sailing on what is now the final voyage for the ship under P&O will get a few extra days, with the ship set to dock in Brisbane on Tuesday.
The next few days are expected to see some chaos continue – Brisbane airport reopened but with a backlog.
Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas is the next vessel expected to dock in Brisbane on Monday.
Cruise lines continue to win praise for working with guests to make the passage easier.
Jordana Mitchell reported from Quantum of the Seas on Facebook: “Had the best time on the Ovation of the Seas as we went to New Caledonia and Lifou. Although we were stuck in the waters of the cyclone and had 2 port days cancelled, we still had the best time and made some amazing friends!
“I had the opportunity to sing in front of up to 2000 people and definitely made time for the gym, shopping, activities, relaxing and and spending time with friends!”
Cruisers on Quantum have also reported “sitting happily with an aperol spritz in hand” as they enjoyed their extended cruise, free of charge and even with some extra compensation and promos.
Refunds or future cruise credits have been offered for both of these cruises.
Cruisers on Luminosa have also expressed their gratitude.
“We are currently on the Luminosa and hats off to the captain and all the crew for a very memorable cruise out to the south pacific and continuing to provide amazing service through this extended stay onboard. Absolutely 1st class and we wouldn’t cruise with any other cruise line.
“I sympathise for all who have been affected by the cancellations.”
However, the understandably difficult situation has left some unhappy. Cruisers that are awaiting news on their cruise, while also trying to balance that with whether to jump on a plane or organise other travel arrangement, have been disappointed to see decisions left so last-minute.
Many are calling for refunds for those who were unable to fly in for their cruise.
Suzanne Baade-Whitaker said: “Can’t get on the cruise leaving from Brisbane as our flights were cancelled and you still can’t tell us if we will be leaving tomorrow or not. If I have lost money due to this mess that is due to the cyclone and poor communication, I will never book another cruise on carnival.”
Liane Tadnam said: “It would be great if there was more info for people who were flying in for the cruise…we’ve had endless flight cancellations and there’s no way we can make our sailing now even if it does leave tomorrow afternoon.”
Adrian McHarg said: “This is quite a poor response from Carnival Cruise Line Australia you should be cancelling and offering a full refund for any passengers who were unable to fly into meet the cruise departure for this weekend.
“We are booked for 9 March but can’t get there. I’m sure it’s going to be impossible for passengers to even get into Brisbane even if the airport resumes operation. It’s a matter of finding a flight etc which is not possible.
“The other fact is that there may be people living in northern nsw and they are on stay at home orders and not to travel on roads, so I think your messaging should be considerate of all the different scenarios, not to mention the BOM is still saying that there is expected strong winds and rainfall. Why would you even think about setting sail in those conditions?”
It is believed many passengers will have claims against travel insurance for what has occured.
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I was on the Luminosa and I gotta tell you that the communication from the captain was atrocious. He did a Q&A session on the Wednesday which was good but after that the communication went downhill. The captain was frustrated that the port checks were not done on the Saturday, however despite this he still made no effort to communicate the estimated departure time on the Sunday. When he finally did make an announcements at 1 pm it was too late for many people to make alternative arrangements. On top of that the disembarkation process was chaotic and we were left out in the pouring rain for over an hour waiting for taxis. Out of the five ports we were due to visit we only actually visited two of them and one of those was only for half a day. We all took out insurance however despite insurance most people have got excesses and therefore we are all out of pocket. $52 compensation which was given is a mega Sum for all the anngst that people endured. The communication from carnival has been absolutely atrocious and they need to make a serious effort to improve the communication. I doubt that I will ever travel on a cruise again after this awful experience.
Extremely disappointed with the total lack of communication from Carnival. I phoned several times but was constantly told they were monitoring the situation and would provide updates via email ( which never came). The only way I found out the ship was docking was by trawling through google sites. We were flying from Perth and had arranged to stay in Brisbane the night before the cruise to ensure we didn’t miss it but all that changed when the airline cancelled our flight. The only alternative they could offer us was a flight going via Adelaide which would have got us there the day after the ship departed. This was going to be our first cruise to see if we would like it before booking a longer cruise. Unfortunately as my adult children clubbed together to pay for it got my 60th no insurance was purchased so everything including the extras I paid for ( internet package and shore excursion) are lost. I am devastated. My experience with carnival has been extremely poor and has completely tainted my view of cruises.
I monitored the situation for our flight, cruise & accommodation as I had to juggle a disabled husband and three adult working daughters who have limited time to take a holiday. I saw that the airport had been closed and knew straight away that our Saturday flight would be cancelled. We chose to arrive a day early as the departure time was scheduled to be 2:30pm. The hotel rooms were booked and the hotel staff were very helpful and moved the time to Monday night as we were given a rescheduled first flight into Brisbane. Today we were denied a refund – money lost. We thought we still had a chance of getting on the ship. In anticipation or should I say hoped, the Carnival Luminosa would leave on that day due to all the disruption rather than on Sunday. The only family member from the five of us who managed to get on the ship was one who lives in Brisbane. She is very upset being on the ship on her own as this was to be a special family holiday. I was was able to cancel the Monday flights and received a full refund. Thank you to the airlines as they were so efficient in handling everything.
I rang Carnival several times and was advised that they did not have any more information than I had. I especially questioned the reasoning behind how a cruise ship could somehow leave on the scheduled day despite arriving back in the late afternoon amid a still strong storm and to leave at 10:00pm that night without regard for all those passengers who would have usually flown in from interstate but were stuck at home due to cancelled flights and no way to get back there in time. Brisbane airport eventually opened on Sunday but we were not offered a flight and who would as the weather was still so dangerous. How could you leave all the advice to the point that we had to get on the phone straight after the last announcement to try and cancel our flights? Such poor communication.
I have been so stressed since Thursday as it is a lot of money to lose but on the other hand, I hope that everyone will get through this awful weather.
After not being able to make our way to the port because of roads being flooded and being advised not to venture out, we miss our cruise, the to top it off I had $112.00 taken out of my visa account from Carnival cruise, not sure why!
Has anyone else had this happen ?
Hi we were on the Carnival luminosa during the cyclone Alfred. The captain did everything to look after his passenger’s. Though the problem we had was trying to change are flights. The phone service on the ship. Was not up to scratch. And could not get through. Lost our flights. We give free wi fi. We had to book another flight at our cost. Which was wrong. On Sunday the 9th the ship was coming into port at 5.00pm. And we all left the ship. It was manic and panic. Lots of people struggling to go home or to the airport. Waited four hours in the pouring rain. The cruise terminal had not much shelter. Had to stay in a motel for a night. I think carnival should give us credit to a lot of passengers.
Very disappointed at lack of communication from carnival cruises. We were told late afternoon that the ship would be coming into port and doing a quick turn around and that our new time to board would be 10pm. There was no way for us to get there as roads were flooded and closed. Our safety was our first concern. We tried contacting the cruise company, but they were not taking calls. I feel this cruise should have been canceled, they were certainly not considering the safety of there passengers trying to get there.
I rang for an update, told they would be in touch by 1pm. At 2pm I rang again was on hold for an hour and lost the will to live so hung up. This was going to be my first cruise and with the cyclone, we couldn’t even find a way to cancel it’s very disappointing. Like many others we were unable to get to the ship due to flooding, also who is going to drive through a storm, flooding, wind and ongoing torrential downpours in the dark to board??? We put our safety first and stayed home as we hoped many others did!!
Waiting, waiting, waiting for updates to see what’s happening on March 9 cruise. Really badly managed by Carnival. We should have had many updates not left in the dark. Stressed enough with what is happening to our homes, suburbs, flooding, no power, internet etc and no idea what’s going on. No excuse from Carnival- lots of people flooded in, can’t make flights etc. Give us the option to cancel or I can see a class action looming if through no fault of our own we can’t make departure.
Due to no fault of our own, we weren’t able to board Pacific Encounter on March 4th . We have been told that we will not be offered a refund. As the weather is out of our control I feel that everyone who missed the cruise for whatever reason should be entitled to a full or part refund. Come on P & O. Fairs fair.