Cruise ships cancel Japan ports

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With all ports in the country closed as a result of Friday’s earthquake and the devastating tsunami, two cruise ships have been forced to cancel planned calls at Japanese ports.
Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, carrying almost 3,000 passengers on a round-the-world voyage, left Tokyo on Thursday and was due to be in Nagasaki today. It will instead head direct to Beijing in China where it will arrive on Monday.
Separate arrangements will have to be made for a small group of passengers who were on an overland shore excursion to Osaka when the earthquake struck, and who were expecting to rejoin the ship in Nagasaki. The ship should reach Shanghai on Wednesday and Hong Kong by Friday.
Azamara Quest, whose departure from Nagasaki ahead of the feared tsunami was dramatically described in a dispatch from on-the-spot reporter Arnie Weissmann, has cancelled its visit to Osaka planned for Sunday.
A company statement said: “The entire country of Japan is still assessing the extent of the damage. While initial reports suggest that Kyoto (Osaka) did not sustain major damage, we feel that the recent events and continuing aftershocks have the potential to seriously disrupt Azamara Quest’s experience and our operations in port.”
The ship is due to reach Gyeongju in South Korea on Tuesday.
Some cruise ships in Hawaii, Mexico and California had their schedules slightly disrupted as a result of the tsunami, but there have been no reports of damage or injury.
NCL’s Pride of America left Kauai, Hawaii, to ride out the tsunami’s landfall, and Crystal Serenity left Bali on Friday heading for Singapore
The Mexican port of Cabo San Lucas was closed on Friday as the western seaboard prepared for the tsunami, forcing Disney Wonder remain at sea.
A spokeswoman for the Cruise Lines International Association explained that “a ship at sea is one of the safest places to be. It is when a tsunami approaches the coast that it causes damages as the wave builds in height and causes widespread flooding.”

By | 2011-03-12T16:45:45+00:00 12 March 2011|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|9 Comments

About the Author:

John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.

9 Comments

  1. David Wayne 12 March 2011 at 5:56 pm - Reply

    Do you have any information on Regent Seven Seas Mariner?
    Can you post the ships that are ok?
    Thank you

  2. Michael Ryan 12 March 2011 at 7:05 pm - Reply

    @David Wayne…
    ALL ships are ok. Regent Seven Seas Mariner is about a thousand miles up the Amazon river, in the middle of South America.

  3. John Honeywell 13 March 2011 at 2:33 pm - Reply

    David: As an earlier comment pointed out, Seven Seas Mariner is in the Amazon and therefore about as far from any risk of tsunami as it is possible to be. No international cruise ships have suffered damage as a result of the earthquake or the tsunami. The worst that has happened is disruption to schedules

  4. Kevin Griffin 14 March 2011 at 6:44 pm - Reply

    One cruise line has been forgotten. Compagnie du Ponant’s Le Diamant is scheduled to sail from Singapore on Wednesday 23rd March for Tokyo, the first of two cruises, the other to be in reverse. We hear today that with so much going on in Japan these two cruises may be cancelled, although we don’t know yet what might replace them.

  5. Hussain Ajuadh 15 March 2011 at 12:39 am - Reply

    Is there any ship of seven seas mariner in japan ????

  6. John Honeywell 15 March 2011 at 10:09 am - Reply

    Seven Seas Mariner us currently in the Caribbean, following a voyage up the Amazon. Seven Seas Voyager is today in Taipei and within the next three weeks will be visiting ports in Korea, China and Vietnam, but has no scheduled calls at Japanese ports

  7. Denise 20 March 2011 at 9:40 pm - Reply

    Have you heard whether or not Royal Carribean’s Legend of the seas , due to sail from Yokahama on 24/06/11 , has changed it’s schedule?
    Many thanks.

  8. Denise 20 March 2011 at 9:42 pm - Reply

    Have you heard whether or not Royal Carribean’s Legend of the seas , due to sail from Yokahama on 24/06/11 , has changed it’s schedule?
    Many thanks.

  9. Anthony Bevan 20 March 2011 at 9:44 pm - Reply

    Have you heard whether or not Royal Carribean’s Legend of the seas , due to sail from Yokahama on 24/06/11 , has changed it’s schedule?
    Many thanks.

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