Passengers on a Brisbane-bound cruise ship have been forced to spend days longer at sea as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred throws holiday plans into chaos.
Those aboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas were slated to succeed in Australian shores on Friday, after per week of cruising through the balmy South Pacific.
They as an alternative found themselves back at Noumea in Latest Caledonia, lots of of kilometres from their destination.
One Australian passenger traveling along with her family told NewsWire they’d enjoyed days of calm seas and blue skies through the primary days of their holiday, though rumors that the looming then-Cyclone Alfred would extend their journey swirled throughout the trip.
The primary sign it could not all be smooth sailing got here days before they were attributable to return to Brisbane.
“On Tuesday, the captain made an announcement saying we were going to attempt to go over Noumea to avoid what we could of the cyclone, but told everyone to arrange for it to be really rough,” she said.
“Staff were tying all of the deckchairs down and shutting the pools.
“On Wednesday around lunchtime, the captain made one other announcement saying they’d decided to increase the cruise because the Port of Brisbane was closed and — just frankly — there was no way of getting through the seas, let alone (docking) at Brisbane.”
In a notice to passengers from Royal Caribbean, the cruise line said they and their chief meteorologist had been monitoring then-Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s progress because it slowly moved towards the coast.
“As a consequence of the event of the storm and the closure of the Port of Brisbane, we have now decided to stay at sea and safely away from the storm until it moves ashore by week’s end,” the notice read.
“We are going to return to Brisbane on Monday, March 10, as an alternative of Friday. Moreover, we are going to now revisit Noumea on Friday before making our return to our home port.
“We’re terribly sorry for the last-minute change brought on by the weather — your safety is our top priority.
“Please know, being on-board is one in all the safest places because our ship can quickly move out of the best way of any inclement weather.”
A schedule given to guests showed the ship was scheduled to cruise all of Saturday and Sunday before reaching Brisbane at about 6.30am on Monday.
Passengers were advised the cruise company would cover $200 USD for domestic flight changes and $400 USD for international flight changes.
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred was previously expected to keep up a category 2 intensity when it crossed the coast, with some speculation in the course of the week that it could strengthen further.
It as an alternative weakened to a category 1 and nevertheless to a tropical low because it approached the mainland on Saturday morning.
News of the system forcing Quantum’s delay drew a mixed response from those on-board, with some embracing the additional days at sea and others suddenly scrambling to book latest flights or accommodation.
It also brought anxiety about how passengers’ homes in Alfred’s path would fare, particularly for the Gold Coast woman and her family.
“It’s a little bit scary knowing how badly (the Gold Coast) was hit in the course of the Christmas Day storm in 2023,” the passenger said.
“Thankfully my partner is home and is in a position to keep a lookout on it, however it remains to be super-unsettling knowing we will’t get back and kinda (sic) still not knowing if we are going to get back on Monday.
“My parents’ home is in Elanora (on the southern Gold Coast) – luckily on a hill – however it’s alleged to be one in all the toughest areas hit (and) it does flood fairly often there.”
The Glitter Strip has indeed emerged as one in all the areas most affected by Alfred, with widespread power outages and damage to homes, trees and beaches.
Brisbane up to now seems to have been spared the brunt of the system’s force, though the Port of Brisbane confirmed on Saturday afternoon that restrictions remained in place.
“While safety stays paramount, all possible efforts are going towards getting the port back up and running when it’s appropriate to accomplish that.”
Royal confirmed guests would spend three extra days at sea within the South Pacific before returning to Brisbane and that they’d been notified of the changes directly, in an announcement provided to Travel Market Report.
Passengers were offered an hour of complimentary web access per stateroom to help with making latest travel arrangements.
Alfred has caused disruption for travellers on each the seas and within the skies, with lots of of flights axed as Brisbane and Gold Coast Airports closed through the peak of the storm’s danger.
Crews are working to have operations at each airports resume on Sunday.
Passengers on a Brisbane-bound cruise ship have been forced to spend days longer at sea as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred throws holiday plans into chaos.
Those aboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas were slated to succeed in Australian shores on Friday, after per week of cruising through the balmy South Pacific.
They as an alternative found themselves back at Noumea in Latest Caledonia, lots of of kilometres from their destination.
One Australian passenger traveling along with her family told NewsWire they’d enjoyed days of calm seas and blue skies through the primary days of their holiday, though rumors that the looming then-Cyclone Alfred would extend their journey swirled throughout the trip.
The primary sign it could not all be smooth sailing got here days before they were attributable to return to Brisbane.
“On Tuesday, the captain made an announcement saying we were going to attempt to go over Noumea to avoid what we could of the cyclone, but told everyone to arrange for it to be really rough,” she said.
“Staff were tying all of the deckchairs down and shutting the pools.
“On Wednesday around lunchtime, the captain made one other announcement saying they’d decided to increase the cruise because the Port of Brisbane was closed and — just frankly — there was no way of getting through the seas, let alone (docking) at Brisbane.”
In a notice to passengers from Royal Caribbean, the cruise line said they and their chief meteorologist had been monitoring then-Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s progress because it slowly moved towards the coast.
“As a consequence of the event of the storm and the closure of the Port of Brisbane, we have now decided to stay at sea and safely away from the storm until it moves ashore by week’s end,” the notice read.
“We are going to return to Brisbane on Monday, March 10, as an alternative of Friday. Moreover, we are going to now revisit Noumea on Friday before making our return to our home port.
“We’re terribly sorry for the last-minute change brought on by the weather — your safety is our top priority.
“Please know, being on-board is one in all the safest places because our ship can quickly move out of the best way of any inclement weather.”
A schedule given to guests showed the ship was scheduled to cruise all of Saturday and Sunday before reaching Brisbane at about 6.30am on Monday.
Passengers were advised the cruise company would cover $200 USD for domestic flight changes and $400 USD for international flight changes.
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred was previously expected to keep up a category 2 intensity when it crossed the coast, with some speculation in the course of the week that it could strengthen further.
It as an alternative weakened to a category 1 and nevertheless to a tropical low because it approached the mainland on Saturday morning.
News of the system forcing Quantum’s delay drew a mixed response from those on-board, with some embracing the additional days at sea and others suddenly scrambling to book latest flights or accommodation.
It also brought anxiety about how passengers’ homes in Alfred’s path would fare, particularly for the Gold Coast woman and her family.
“It’s a little bit scary knowing how badly (the Gold Coast) was hit in the course of the Christmas Day storm in 2023,” the passenger said.
“Thankfully my partner is home and is in a position to keep a lookout on it, however it remains to be super-unsettling knowing we will’t get back and kinda (sic) still not knowing if we are going to get back on Monday.
“My parents’ home is in Elanora (on the southern Gold Coast) – luckily on a hill – however it’s alleged to be one in all the toughest areas hit (and) it does flood fairly often there.”
The Glitter Strip has indeed emerged as one in all the areas most affected by Alfred, with widespread power outages and damage to homes, trees and beaches.
Brisbane up to now seems to have been spared the brunt of the system’s force, though the Port of Brisbane confirmed on Saturday afternoon that restrictions remained in place.
“While safety stays paramount, all possible efforts are going towards getting the port back up and running when it’s appropriate to accomplish that.”
Royal confirmed guests would spend three extra days at sea within the South Pacific before returning to Brisbane and that they’d been notified of the changes directly, in an announcement provided to Travel Market Report.
Passengers were offered an hour of complimentary web access per stateroom to help with making latest travel arrangements.
Alfred has caused disruption for travellers on each the seas and within the skies, with lots of of flights axed as Brisbane and Gold Coast Airports closed through the peak of the storm’s danger.
Crews are working to have operations at each airports resume on Sunday.
