Angry passengers have been taking to social media to voice their displeasure after a Viking Ocean Cruises ship was stranded off Australia due to hull fouling.
Stops were missed as the shipowner sent in divers to clean marine growth from the 930-passenger Viking Orion (built 2018).
The ship was denied permission to dock in Christchurch and Dunedin in New Zealand, and Adelaide and Hobart in Australia, the BBC reported.
The Australian fisheries department said management of bio-fouling was common practice for all international vessels.
"Professional divers were engaged directly by the vessel line/agent to clean the hull while at anchor outside Australian waters," it added.
Passenger Kenn Heydrick said guests had not been able to leave the ship since 26 December.
"The intensity of frustration and anger is growing among passengers," he added.
“The majority of passengers are trying to make the best of things and enjoy extended time at sea. But it is the excursions at four ports that we were looking forward to, and now are greatly missed,” Heydrick said.
The vessel had been due to arrive in Melbourne on 2 January.
Passengers said they were told they will only be allowed off briefly so as to be checked by immigration. The next chance to disembark will be on 4 January in Sydney.
The vessel was underway on Tuesday en route to the city.
Limited amount of growth
Viking said in a statement that a “limited amount of standard marine growth” was being cleared from the ship’s hull and said that this had caused the vessel to “miss several stops on this itinerary”.
“Viking is working directly with guests on compensation for the impact to their voyage,” the company added.
The vessel’s master told passengers in a letter on Friday that “the current cruise falls short of your expectations”.
Another cruise ship travelling off New Zealand suffered a similar problem after the discovery of an infestation of non-native snails.
Princess Cruises’ 2,000-pax Coral Princess (built 2002) was cleaned on 23 December.
