Three juvenile mussels and a piece of coral – that’s the reason New Zealand authorities banned P&O’s Pacific Adventure from entering its territorial waters and ruined hundreds of holidays, it can be revealed.
While some have blamed the line for failing to take precautions after warnings and the lessons from last year’s sailing season, P&O did clean the hull of the Pacific Adventure on the itinerary before it headed for New Zealand.
But the four objects were still on the hull, and plans for a further dive to remove them had to be called off due to bad weather.
P&O is believed to have sent the NZ authorities pictures and asked for passage, promising they would be removed as soon as possible. However, their request was turned down and the 13-night “Kiwi Adventure” cruise was diverted to Hobart, causing “uproar” aboard the vessel.
Bad news for NZ cruises
P&O Australia, in a commendable move after an outcry from those on board, agreed to abandon future cruise credits and pay 50% compensation and $300 on board credit as. The future cruise credits offer was rejected by passengers, many of whom said they did not want to sail the line again.
The news of the incident does not bode well for the season. It had been hoped, after last season’s disasters, that lines would be better prepared and that the NZ authorities would recognise this and be more accommodating.
The results of the Pacific Adventure case were a tragedy for some passengers. The ship was forced to abandon its New Zealand itinerary and head for Hobart instead.
The fresh revelations do, however, show that P&O tried to comply with the strict environmental laws, and that bad weather and bad luck meant their plans ran aground.
Among those affected were Janine Sherriff and Kyle Risk, who had planned a dream wedding at Hobbiton, New Zealand.
Ms Sherriff said the idea to get married came about as they looked at the itinerary after receiving tickets from parents. “Kyle is a massive Lord of the Rings fan and when we found we were going there, we jokingly mentioned they do a wedding package,” she told the ABC.
“His face just absolutely lit up like it was the greatest thing ever discovered.”
Risk told the ABC: “First off, I was furious. I saw Janine’s face when we got the news. I was ready to explode. I got a selfie from our family and friends at the site in Hobbiton we should have been on about 20 minutes before we had to turn around.”
“Now we have to figure out what to do about our wedding, we have all this money down the drain,” added Ms Sherriff.
P&O paid for the couple’s flights back to Sydney with their parents.
David Curtis was supposed to be seeing friends in New Zealand from Pacific Adventure for his 60th birthday.
“This is horrendous, I have missed out on seeing friends based in New Zealand. They were not able to come to Australia for my birthday celebrations and I said that is OK – I am coming to see you.”
He maintained: “We got an email last Thursday [from P&O] that said the itinerary was being changed and that only two of the destinations would be missed – Auckland and Bay of Islands.”
What went wrong and what have we learned
Captains around the world are very aware of the problems in New Zealand. Some told us of just how hard it was to work within the rules, especially since they knew the Kiwi authorities were unrelenting.
They also understood their lines had taken extra precautions this year to ensure their hulls were cleared before they set off on their journeys.
P&O Australia maintained in an initial statement that guests were told before embarkation there could be significant itinerary changes.
“Due to New Zealand’s strict biosecurity requirements, the ship left Sydney on Monday for hull cleaning off the Bay of Plenty, however, the weather did not allow this to happen, so we apologise that the itinerary had to be amended.”
One guest has told Cruise Passenger’s Facebook page that cleaning began on the itinerary before New Zealand. It is understood experts told P&O the removal of three juvenile mussels and a single hydroid commonly known as lace coral would allow them to pass into NZ waters.
We now assume that this communication was while the line hoped the New Zealand authorities would relent on their hard line.
Our verdict
P&O deserves credit for listening to their passengers who said a future cruise credit was no compensation for a ruined holiday if they didn’t intend to sail again.
“P&O Cruises Australia can advise a change to the compensation for guests on board Pacific Adventure, after the ship was unable to visit New Zealand,” they told us on Sunday.
“We have listened to the feedback from our guests and understand not all of them wish to cruise with us again. The 50% Future Cruise Credit already offered will be converted to a refund.
“The $300 per person onboard credit remains. Again, we apologise for the change in itinerary, and thank our guests for their patience and understanding.”
And they also deserve credit for trying to stay within the rules. Those pesky mollusks, however, know no boundaries.
It looks like the NZ authorities, well within their rights to protect their seas but who some feel are a little overzealous, don’t intend to ease up this year.
New Zealand has said it is expecting 360,000 passengers and 149,000 crew this season. That’s a lot of holiday dreams and millions of dollars of business.
We have been warned. You’ll be sailing at your own risk.
My brothers and I were on this ill-fated trip.
Yes, we received notice from P&O 3 days prior to departure, that there was a biosecurity issue and as a result we would miss the first 2 ports. We were compensateted with $300 per head and a 25% future cruise credit. When we arrived at the terminal, we were again given the option to cancel or rebook another cruise, but the general feeling amongst the staff was that things would go there way and the rest of the cruise would be able to be completed. So we boarded, along with over 2500 others.
Once we arrived in the appropriate area of international waters off the Bay of Plenty in NZ, we all watched keenly as the NZ biosecurity team arrived to do the assessment. It was indicated that it could take the night to do, but that was quite normal. On awaking next morning, the biosecurity ship was gone and we all waited with bated breath to get the good news that we would soon be off to complete the other 5 ports in NZ.
Saldy, this was not the case and one thing that really angered many of the passengers was that not only were they not going where they had planned to go, but that our international cruise was then turned into a domestic ccruise. Why did we have to go all the way down to Tasmania? Why couldn’t they have made some alternative arrangements for Fiji, Vanuatu, Norfolk Island or such? The cruise from Melbourne to Hobart, Port Arthur & Eden is far less costly than 13 days to NZ from Sydney. Plus in our case, we all have knee or hip issues, All our onshore plans had been made around these issues and now we were to go to two hilly towns and a historic area that is in a bowl. We were now seriously compromised.
My anger is fully with the cruise company Carnival Cruiseline who own P&O as well as Princess Crusies. NZ has had these biosecurity rules in place for 5 years now. Why are cruiselines, intending to travel into NZ waters not scrubbed thoroughly prior to commening their visit to those waters? They know when they are travelling there and know what is expected of them. This hasn’t happened just once or to just one cruiseline. Port Phillip Bay in Victoria has been damaged due to poor biosecurity in earlier times, so I have no issue with the Nz Government not wanting the same to happen to them. There needs to be better planning and somewhere the ships can go that provides guaranteed cleaning conditions prior to entering the NZ cruise season.
I would really like to give a shout out to all the crew onboard, who not only had to deal with the rath of many angry people, but also were, themselves in a sense trapped onboard too. These men and women work 12 hour shifts every day and look forward to a little downtime evry 3-4 days while we are onshore. Instead, they too were pushed beyond what is normal and I never saw one of them grizzle or frown. Thank you to you all.
Since P&O knew what issues they had days prior to sailing, they should be prepared to provide a 100% cash back refund. Not only because they stuffed up our entire trip, but also because their facilities were the only ones we had access to and they gained alot of money from all the extra drinks, games and gambling that were the only way to occupy ourselves.
After my cruise was destroyed, second honeymoon after 25 years back in 2021 and the poor response and poor communication with p&o and a registered letter I was still ignored by p&o, still to this day they still have not responded to us. P&O word is not what they state and to this day I have never been back on P&O and never will. I have just booked a third cruise with princess cruises, I will never recommend P&O cruises
What a Crock, Not Commendable at all, they were well aware of the NZ requirements, this happened in February to the Pacific Explorer, and it was not unforeseen.
P&O Set sail with 2500 passengers gambling on the weather in the Bay of Plenty, they then kidnapped us and took us to Hobart against our will, knowing that there was nothing for us to do but drink, the pools were empty and netted off as the seas were too rough.
The Tiber fittings in our cabin creaked in the high swells and made it impossible to sleep.
All on the most expensive bar on the planet.
Two cocktails and a bottle of wine is about $100, and we were captive with no other choice.
We missed 10 ports.
They should have given 11% refund, every one spent more on board than the refund, and this was the plan.
The Internet was crap and $300 for 14days.
They said it supported Netflix, but every TV on board has it’s HDMI port disabled, to keep you at the pubs.
This was the worst vacation of my life, and I was on a dive trip in PNG and the plane crashed into a swamp, and I had to wade out covered in leeches and that trip was better.
P&O are criminal.
I find it extremely frustrating and disappointing that these large businesses get away with such fraud. They take customers money but know there’s a problem otherwise would have would have not scheduled a clean in New Zealand. New Zealand have all the rights to decline them because a huge business like P&O know the rules buy still take a chance. It’s not fair to the customers what they did is fraud and should be taken to court for fraud. Customers would not have taken the cruise if they knew they would not be sailing to New Zealand so they should be offered a full refund due to P&O committing fraud.
P&O said it was unforeseen, but it happened in February . The chose to sail with the fate of 2500 holidays based on a requirement of good weather in 4 days across the Tasman.
P&O new The NZ requirements, and they new of the problems in the 2 cruises previous.
This is the worst holiday in my 60 years, and I was in a Plane crash in PNG on a dive trip and had to wade out of a swamp covered in leeches.
P&O has to give full refunds, they have been held captive for 13 nights robbing customers with the most expensive drinks and internet with nothing to do but drink. Most people I have met are paying $100 in booze for 2 cocktails and a bottle of wine with dinner.
P&O really need a class action Suit
This is not the first time this has happened to P,& O. My friend had the same experience earlier in the year and missed a couple of ports due to the same issues.
P&O should have been more organised with cleaning their hulls, they knew the drill.
Maybe everybody should stay away from NZ. They need to be taught a lesson in decency.
No P&O deserves no credit for its actions because they know of Quarantine rules and they also know how a few organisms can cause catastrophic damage to the eco system. No credit is due for blatant disregard of regulations. To try to down play the result shows contempt for the passengers.