Viking Orion arrived in Sydney today after being forced to change itineraries after New Zealand authorities claim to have found “biofouling” on its hull.
The vessel is not alone. Regent Seven Seas Explorer and Coral Princess also had to have hull work carried out, thanks to the tough laws in New Zealand waters.
Various objects and sea life can get stuck to a ship’s hull, and it’s by no means unusual. New Zealand is, however, particularly strict and this round of ship stoppages has surprised many.
The Coral Princess had to clean its hull just before Christmas, and Viking Orion, which was in the middle of a cruise in New Zealand when it diverted from Wellington on Boxing Day for hull cleaning in Australia.
Viking issued a statement saying: “The Viking Orion arrived in Melbourne, Australia on January 2 (local time) and was admitted to port. The ship has now returned to her planned itinerary and is currently sailing toward Sydney, where she is expected to arrive on January 4 (local time).
“Following the exterior cleaning of a limited amount of standard marine growth (commonly known as marine biofouling or algae) from the ship’s hull—a routine cleaning procedure for nautical vessels—the ship unfortunately missed several ports on this itinerary. As compensation for the impact to their voyage, Viking has provided all guests on board with a voucher valued at 100% of what they paid to Viking that can be used for any future voyage.”
Regent Seven Seas also issued a statement: Seven Seas Explorer is currently sailing a 14-night cruise which guests embarked on December 29, 2022, and are scheduled to disembark in Auckland, New Zealand on January 12, 2023. Due to local regulations to enter New Zealand navigational waters, a cleaning operation of Seven Seas Explorer’s hull is required. The cleaning must be carried out by a company recognised by New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries, none of which have been available at ports the ship has recently visited or will visit before its scheduled entry to New Zealand waters.”
The statement said Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ technical teams arranged for the cleaning operation to be carried out off the coast of Adelaide, and the ship sailed to South Australia.
“All guests on board have been offered compensation, and a number of guests chose to disembark in Adelaide to make their onward travels. We understand and apologise for the inconvenience, frustration, and disappointment this disruption has caused to our valued guests, and we appreciate their continued understanding.
Associate Professor Sophie Leterme told AAP Organic build-up on ship hulls including bacteria, plankton, sea grasses, mussels and barnacles can enable “stowaway” species to reach Australia.
“If they make it to our reefs, they might decimate the environment and cause some serious issues,” she said.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises is also believed to have offered passengers a compensation package.
Regent Seven Seas Explorer cruise from Auckland to Sydney, January 12-January 26 2023, also ran afoul of the biofoul mess. As a dissatified customer, it is obvious that Regent knew the preceeding cruise had run into multiple days of hull-cleaning time and trouble and that there was a distinct possibility that the trouble was not definitively addressed on a ship the size of the Explorer during the previous days. My husband, best friends and I traveled nearly 10,000 miles to board a cruise that then floated maddeningly offshore from New Zealand for several days and was then denied entry into the fiords, even after “cleaning”. Along with the three fiord locations, we missed highlights/ports which Regent had showcased in their descriptions of our cruise. No Napier, Bay of Islands, Burnie Tasmania or Geelong. We had no desire to call on, nor was there anything planned to see in Timaru, to which we tendered and which was substituted at the last moment. We also missed one day in Melbourne, undoubtedly due to some of this, where we had independently purchased (and subsequently forfeited) Australian Open tix. Hundreds of passengers, through a petition, asked for Regent to compensate them for something which was not their fault and of which the cruise line was aware. So far, we have been offered a small amount for what was to be an unforgettable cruise of a lifetime but instead turned into something unforgettable for a wholly different reason.
We are on Oceania Regatta just happened to us n yesterday and today we missed 2 ports for same reason. No compensation offered what do ever.
We were also on Carnival cruise Nov/Dec that missed Wellington. The port was closed by port authorities due high wind( not unusual for Wellington!). We still made other scheduled ports, including Fiordland, so dirty hull wasn’t an issue on this cruise.
Was on carnival cruise in Nov/Dec 22. That went to new Zealand couldn’t dock at Wellington and nothing but endless drama. I understand all countries wanting to protect their waters and marine life,why is new Zealand the only country stopping cruise ships from entering their waters if it’s such a problem. Why is Australia allowing them to dock.
That great we were on the coral princess stuck at sea for 5 day’s they gave us 100 dollars on board credit and 1100 dollar in futer credit so we booked another cruise but but the price of the next cruise had increased 10 fold so they didn t miss out shame on you princess