Category Archives: cruise ship

Cruise Ship Viking Sky – Mayday and Abandon Ship

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The Cruise ship Viking Sky lost power and declared a mayday on Saturday off Norway. The ship was able to Anchor, and eventually restored some power and made it safely to port Sunday. 400 of 1300 people on board were evacuated by Helicopter. This was a significant near miss.

Viking Sky entered service in 2017, and has called on Halifax. the ship carries 930 Passengers, and 560 crew.

cruiselawnews.com reports 18 incidents of ships loosing power in 2016. Cruise Junkie tracks Cruse ship incidents of all types.

Below are some tweets which captured the situation.

Port Releases its 2019 Cruise Schedule.

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The 2019 cruise season in Halifax will start on April 8 with the arrival of Marina, an Oceania Cruises vessel. The season will run until the first week of November, making it one of the longest seasons for the Port of Halifax with the highest number of expected cruise guests. From April 8 to November 6, the Port of Halifax is expecting 192 vessel calls carrying approximately 320,000 cruise guests. Highlights Include:

  • 9 scheduled inaugural calls in 2019, starting with the arrival of Zaandam, a Holland America Line vessel, on April 29. the ship will be assuming the regular stop previously provided by Maasdam.
  • Other Inaugural Calls include: Scenic Eclipse on Sept 5, Mein Schiff 1 on Sept 16th,, Albatros on Sept 17, Ocean Atlantic on Sept 19, Sapphire Princess on Oct.1, Riviera on Oct 3, and both MSC Meraviglia and Viking Sun on Oct 5th
  • On July 26, Cunards two Queens to come to Halifax, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary 2
  • Four visit from Queen Mary 2 on July 2, July 26, September 13 and October 16
  • One visit from Disney Magic on September 23
  • October 2, 2019 is expected to be the busiest passenger day with over 10,000 cruise guests on five vessels

Busiest Cruise Ship Day of the Year.

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(Above) 5 Ships are packed in at the terminals, bringing over 11000 passengers to port today.

(Above) Norwegian Dawn at pier 20 taking bunkers from Algoma Dartmouth. (below) Royal Caribbeans Anthem of the Seas at Pier 22.

AidaDiva (Left) Norwegian Jade(right) Not shown is Seabourn Quest at Pier 24.

Saturday Cruisers

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Saturday brought 3 cruise ships into port. Disney Magic (above) occupied pier 20. (Below) Pearl Mist sits at Pier 23. She was built by Halifax shipyards, then endured several years of litigation, before finally being accepted by her owner. she now makes a few stops in Halifax every year. Behind her at pier 22 is the royal carribein Adventure of the Seas.

A Weekend of Bad Cruise News

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3 Cruise ship stories happened over the weekend.

1. Norwegian Dawn (above), scheduled for 3 days in Bermuda from Boston, was re-directed North due to hurricane Florence. Passengers spent Sunday in Halifax, then headed for Sydney, with a final stop in Saint John.

2. A passenger went overboard on off AidaLuna off Newfoundland. Daniel Küblböck is reported to be a 33 year old winner of a German singing contest tv show. Nearby vessel Holland America’s Zuiderdam is assisting in the search, along with Coast Guard and Airforce  resources.

JRCC reported that after an exhaustive air and marine search for Daniel Küblböck, a 33 year-old male who had reported to have gone overboard off the cruise ship AidaLuna, approximately 110 NM north of St. John’s, NL. has concluded. The SAR case will be handed to Newfoundland RCMP as a missing person case. Water temperatures are around 13 degrees.

Both AidaLuna and the Zuiderdam  are in Halifax Sept 11.

3. The cruise ship Star Pride, who stopped in Halifax on Sept 5th, lost power off Cape Cod, and needed to be towed into port. She is Due back in Halifax on the 13th.

UPDATE:  – It just got worse
#4. the TSB Announced it was investigating an incident during a lifeboat exercise yesterday, involving the crew of the Cruise Ship Amadea while secured at the Port of Québec, Quebec

The Amadea calls in Halifax from time to time.

Akademik Ioffe Runs Aground in the Arctic.

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The Russian icebreaker Akademik Ioffe, operated for One Ocean Expeditions, ran aground in the Arctic on August 24. the ship left Kugaaruk, Nunavut, on Thursday the 23rd, before grounding in the Gulf of Boothia in the early afternoon Friday.

AIS tracks show the path of the Ship

JRCC dispatched Aircraft from Trenton and Winnipeg, but they arrived on scene 7 hours later. Coast Guard Icebreakers Amundsen and Pierre Raddison also responded, however the closest vessel was the Akademik Sergey Vavilov, also operating for One Ocean Expeditions. Passengers were evacuated by the The Passengers were taken back to Kugaaruk, then flown to Edmonton. Arriving on the 27th.

the Akademik Ioffe was refloated the day after she ran aground. Catherine Lawton, One Ocean Expeditions’s general manager told that CBC that “The hull damage was limited and contained to closed, empty tanks, which are secure from the rest of the ship,” Lawton said. “Those are actively being managed.”  Being managed is a subtle way of saying they are pumping water, meaning the hull is breached. 6 days after the grounding, the ship remains anchored away from the grounding site. The ships owners – the Russian Academy of Science, have yet to file a salvage plan, causing the Coast Guard and Transport Canada to take control of the ship August 28th in order to complete all required inspections and develop a plan to get the ship to its next destination safely

One Ocean has canceled the next 2 tours for the ship, and now that the passengers have returned home, refered all enquireies to the ships owners.

Among the people on board the ship when it grounded was researcher Dr. Donglai Gong who tweeted photos about the experience

Yale also produced this Article about the Experience. In 2010, the Clipper Adventurer also ran aground on a Discovered, but uncharted shoal. the TSB released a report into that incident.

Updates to this story will be posted Here

UPDATE 08/31:

Still no news. and inquiry to the Coast guard referred me to Transport Canada – who have not yet responded. A source told me he heard the vessel was surveyed yesterday by divers.

the ice situation looks interesting.

Note the Location of Nanisivik , in the top left corner of the Ice Chart below. Nanisivik is the site of the slowly under development permanent Arctic naval Base – and a perfect location to base an arctic response capability.

for the ship to leave the area, she will likely have to pass through the Fury and Hecla Straight, which is fully iced over. Additionally, the Louis St. Laurent, is headed to Bellot Straight to free the Claude Desgagnes

Update Sept 4
CBC Interviewed Ed Struzik – at 8 minutes its a good listen.

I also Have this Piece in the Chronicle Herald about the grounding and its response.

Update Sept 5

The TSB tweeted this photo (above), which seems to show the ship floating at anchor at close to a regular waterline. I hear the damage is relatively minor – there are  no big holes.

Update Sept 6

It looks like the Pierre Radisson was re-assigned. Her last position was in the Lancaster sound earlier today. There is now no government presence on site, unless TC has someone Aboard the ship.

Update Sept 7
CBC is reporting that the RCAF response cost $513,000

UPDATE Sept 12.

It looks like the Ioffe has sailed, and appears to be Unaccompanied. AIS Data is showing that she has moved from her anchored position earlier today.

Update Sept 13:
Word is repairs are complete. she sailed for Kugaaruk, where she will meet an inspector – Presumably TC is Flying someone in. Once Cleared, she will head to Montreal.

Update Sept 17:
TC has cleared the Ioffe to sail, and she will be escorted through the Ice by CCGS Henry Larsen, bound for Les Mechins PQ, where Verreault Navigation has a large dry dock.