| L’Austral rerouted

PONANT’S L’Austral checked into drydock in Manila on 16 Mar for a “refurbishment” following two incidents earlier this year.

In Jan L’Austral struck a floating object in the Sub-Arctic Islands and in Feb the ship came into contact with “an underwater object” while entering Milford Sound (CW 14 Feb).

The vessel was originally planned to call in at Kota Kinabalu, but made the swap for Manila to comply with the instructions of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to avoid the Sea of Sulu, and in particular the area of Sandakan.

This change was communicated in writing to all pax approx one month before embarkation.