Queen Mary 2 and Azamara
Quest cancelled visits to
Japan following Friday’s
earthquake and tsunami.
CRUISE WEEKLY WAS SAILING IN THE PACIFIC
Ocean aboard P&O’s Pacific Pearl when it
was announced there had been a massive
earthquake in Japan and a tsunami was on
the way.
But passengers were assured that the
wave was “only half a metre” when it hit
Taiwan and would be barely noticeable by
the time it reached our region in seven
hours, at approximately 3am.
Other vessels in the Pacific were forced to
change routes after the closure of all
Japanese ports.
The nearest cruise ship to the quake’s
epicentre, Azamara Quest, was unaffected
while docked at Nagasaki but cancelled its
next call in Osaka.
Cunard Line announced on the weekend
that the QM2 would skip Nagasaki and
continue on to Xingang, China.
Oceania Cruises’ Nautica is scheduled to
visit Japan this week, with the cruise line
announcing a revised itinerary which will see
Nautica skip calls in Hiroshima on 18 March
and Kobe on 19 March.
Nautica will however keep her scheduled
stop at Naha on the island of Okinawa (to
the south of Japan) on 22 March.
Other cruise lines have reported that all
ships and passengers are safe.
The earthquake was one of the largest to
ever hit Japan and a tsunami warning was
extended to the Philippines, Indonesia,
Taiwan, Hawaii, the Pacific coast of Russia
and North and South America.
Japanese TV footage showed a wall of
water sweeping away cars, boats and
buildings at the ports of Sendai and Kamaishi.
Ports in Hawaii, including Maui, were also
closed temporarily.
In Honolulu, all harbours were closed and
vessels ordered to leave.
Cruise lines are currently assessing the
tourism infrastructure in Japan’s ports to
make decisions about scheduled calls for the
rest of the month.
