- Christmas cruises will be affected as several cruise lines adjust their itineraries following the Vanuatu earthquake in Port Vila.
- The massive earthquake affected around 80,000, almost 25% of the population of Vanuatu.
- Some cruise lines will pivot to Mystery Island visits, while others will add an extra day at sea.
Since a tragic earthquake struck Vanuatu, emergency measures have been taken, and many Australian cruisers have received communication from their cruise lines. P&O Australia has already confirmed that Port Vila port calls for cruises scheduled to visit Port Vila on December 21 and December 22 will now be sea days.
This confirms that the next two ships scheduled to visit Port Vila won’t be arriving, but many other ships were set to visit over Christmas and up until the New Year. Carnival Luminosa is scheduled to visit on December 23rd, Quantum of the Seas on the 24th, Queen Elizbaeth on the 28th, and Silver Nova on the 30th.
Carnival Cruises has communicated to guests that it will divert its cruise to Mystery Island instead and Cunard will instead be doing an extra day at sea. Royal Caribbean is yet to confirm its plan, but it will likely take an extra sea day or divert to Mystery Island, as the port does not have another scheduled visit that day. Quantum of the Seas is already set to visit Mystery Island on the 25th, however, the cruise line has been known to add two consecutive days at a different port in situations like these.
P&O Cruises wrote in a statement on their Facebook page: “Hi everyone. We are monitoring the situation in Vanuatu and working closely with local authorities to understand the impact of the recent earthquake near Port Vila. Our current two Christmas cruises Pacific Encounter and Pacific Adventure, were due to call at Port Vila on Saturday 21 December (Pacific Encounter), and Sunday 22 December (Pacific Adventure), and instead the ships will spend these days at sea.
“Guests have been updated onboard. For other upcoming Pacific Island itineraries, including the New Year cruises on Pacific Adventure and Pacific Encounter, we will provide an update to guests once we better understand the situation in Port Vila.”
After a second earthquake hit Vanuatu on the 18th, Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas diverted away from Port Vila, however, the cruise line is yet to confirm what will happen with its scheduled sailing on the 24.
Moving forward, there are another 11 scheduled ship visits to Port Vila throughout January, with official word yet to arrive as cruise lines assess the relief efforts and state of emergency.
It was reported that 14 people tragically died and up to 200 were injured as a result of the earthquake.
