Cyclone Impact

[_lefty26_]

What was the impact to current cruises in New Zealand due to the recent cyclone

[lissie]

Its not made the news - but it would be smart to assume that Napier  and Bay of Islands will be off the itinerary for some time (particularly Napier) 

[MamaFej]

5 minutes ago, lissie said:

Its not made the news - but it would be smart to assume that Napier  and Bay of Islands will be off the itinerary for some time (particularly Napier) 

Thank you for this. 

 

We are supposed to be in Napier on 22 March. I think I'll go check the cancelation policy for the rafting tour company Hubby booked with. 

[lissie]

26 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

Thank you for this. 

 

We are supposed to be in Napier on 22 March. I think I'll go check the cancelation policy for the rafting tour company Hubby booked with. 

By then I would have thought Napier would be open again - its unclear how much damage there is downtown - the pictures we're seeing of surrounding areas.  

 

I would think rafting is far more problematic and they will probably be cancelling that . Don't bother trying to contact them for at least a week - power and interne and phones are all  out and only slowly being returned, and of course some people have lost everything. 

 

Here's some pics FYI Hastings is a nearby city - normally 20 min drive from Napier. 'Devastation' as pictures, video emerge from Hawke's Bay | Te Ao Māori News (teaomaori.news)

Edited February 15, 2023 by lissie

[MamaFej]

1 minute ago, lissie said:

By then I would have thought Napier would be open again - its unclear how much damage there is downtown - the pictures we're seeing of surrounding areas.  

 

I would think rafting is far more problematic and they will probably be cancelling that . Don't both trying to contact them for at least a week - power and internet is out and only slowly being returned, and of course some people have lost everything. 

 

Here's some picks FYI Hastings is a nearby city - normally 20 min drive from Napier. 'Devastation' as pictures, video emerge from Hawke's Bay | Te Ao Māori News (teaomaori.news)

Thanks so much. Those images are positively heartbreaking.

 

I did check, and we can cancel for a full refund any time up to 24 hours in advance. I'm sure we will have far more information well before that, including if the port call will be canceled. 

[Ozwoody]

54 minutes ago, lissie said:

By then I would have thought Napier would be open again - its unclear how much damage there is downtown - the pictures we're seeing of surrounding areas.  

 

I would think rafting is far more problematic and they will probably be cancelling that . Don't bother trying to contact them for at least a week - power and interne and phones are all  out and only slowly being returned, and of course some people have lost everything. 

 

Here's some pics FYI Hastings is a nearby city - normally 20 min drive from Napier. 'Devastation' as pictures, video emerge from Hawke's Bay | Te Ao Māori News (teaomaori.news)

Hell, I use to travel over those roads when I lived in NZ, I could never have imagined that sort of devastation happening. There's not going to be a quick fix, unfortunately for the areas affected, will be many many months before some semblance to normal is restored.

Our heart goes out the the NZ people who are enduring this disaster.

[Pushka]

There has been major disruptions to Viking Orion in Auckland with passengers coming from the US being turned around mid flight. Some made it through as they'd arrived before the cyclone. Some are not able to get to NZ at all, others are flying into Wellington but losing a lot of ports so they are cancelling. It's a major topic on Viking F pages. Viking are telling people simply to claim on Insurance as flights are out of their control. I'd say the ship will sail only half full. It's been a wicked season for Orion in NZ, they did the cruise to nowhere in January because of the hull issue. 
 

An awful year all around for NZ. The flood damage looks dreadful. Still, much of the lower lakes in SA are still flooded due to rains coming down the River Murray. Not a cruise destination though.  

Edited February 15, 2023 by Pushka

[lissie]

37 minutes ago, Pushka said:

There has been major disruptions to Viking Orion in Auckland with passengers coming from the US being turned around mid flight. Some made it through as they'd arrived before the cyclone. Some are not able to get to NZ at all, others are flying into Wellington but losing a lot of ports so they are cancelling. It's a major topic on Viking F pages. Viking are telling people simply to claim on Insurance as flights are out of their control. I'd say the ship will sail only half full. It's been a wicked season for Orion in NZ, they did the cruise to nowhere in January because of the hull issue. 
 

An awful year all around for NZ. The flood damage looks dreadful. Still, much of the lower lakes in SA are still flooded due to rains coming down the River Murray. Not a cruise destination though.  

 

Zero sympathy for the cruise line re the hull cleaning - that's been a requirement since 2019. 

 

Ironically, we've had the best summer in Wellington for many, many years, warm weather and a bit of rain to keep things green. Normally our summer only starts in early Feb - while we had fantastic weather in Dec/Jan and now its a bit wet but supposed to improve next week 

 

If they are due to go to Napier in the next few days I don't think that will happen. 

[Pushka]

It's the passengers who suffered for the hull issue so I have every sympathy for them. The cruise industry halted for almost 3 years from early 2020 in NZ and Australia. So likely issues for starting up again. 

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for the news on Napier, the photos are probably just showing a little of how bad things are.

[bazzaw]

10 hours ago, Pushka said:

There has been major disruptions to Viking Orion in Auckland with passengers coming from the US being turned around mid flight. Some made it through as they'd arrived before the cyclone. Some are not able to get to NZ at all, others are flying into Wellington but losing a lot of ports so they are cancelling. It's a major topic on Viking F pages. Viking are telling people simply to claim on Insurance as flights are out of their control. I'd say the ship will sail only half full. It's been a wicked season for Orion in NZ, they did the cruise to nowhere in January because of the hull issue. 
 

An awful year all around for NZ. The flood damage looks dreadful. Still, much of the lower lakes in SA are still flooded due to rains coming down the River Murray. Not a cruise destination though.  

Cunard QE was supposed to start an NZ cruise yesterday - but is instead heading for Cairns - was in Eden today. I have heard conflicting reports that it is weather caused or an ongoing dirty hull situation as in the January NZ cruise

[Pushka]

1 hour ago, bazzaw said:

Cunard QE was supposed to start an NZ cruise yesterday - but is instead heading for Cairns - was in Eden today. I have heard conflicting reports that it is weather caused or an ongoing dirty hull situation as in the January NZ cruise

I guess both are in play. 

[LittleFish1976]

3 hours ago, bazzaw said:

Cunard QE was supposed to start an NZ cruise yesterday - but is instead heading for Cairns - was in Eden today. I have heard conflicting reports that it is weather caused or an ongoing dirty hull situation as in the January NZ cruise

 

I'm on the Queen Elizabeth at the moment. I had to call the UK call centre to organise my booking on the morning of the 13th Feb which was the day before sailing (it departed Melbourne on Tuesday 14th Feb). The assistant I was talking to was just having a quick look while she was talking to me at the bulletin they'd been given by management to explain the change in schedule for the QE. She didn't read it out to me but from the odd word and her reaction I believe the decision not to go to NZ was due in large part to the 'catastrophic' cyclone (catastrophic being one of the words she did read out).

 

I was actually in NZ for a wedding last weekend, staying in the lower part of the Northland area. Looking at the weather satellite images we had decided that we would leave asap after the wedding and not wait for our Monday afternoon flight. I heard many people from amongst the wedding guests asking locals from amongst the wedding guests whether the cyclone was going to be a big deal. Most of the locals were scoffing at the danger warnings and saying it was all an 'overreaction to the underreaction towards the recent flooding'. I'm not sure why they were so dismissive. The ground was already sodden from the previous rain event; many roads were still either covered in landslip material or had fallen away underneath or had massive potholes. We drove the 2 hours directly from the wedding to the airport and waited a few hours for an early morning flight. Not sleeping that night was a price I was prepared to pay to get out of Auckland before the worst of it started.

 

Eden was lovely today.

 

 

[lissie]

8 hours ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

I'm on the Queen Elizabeth at the moment. I had to call the UK call centre to organise my booking on the morning of the 13th Feb which was the day before sailing (it departed Melbourne on Tuesday 14th Feb). The assistant I was talking to was just having a quick look while she was talking to me at the bulletin they'd been given by management to explain the change in schedule for the QE. She didn't read it out to me but from the odd word and her reaction I believe the decision not to go to NZ was due in large part to the 'catastrophic' cyclone (catastrophic being one of the words she did read out).

 

I was actually in NZ for a wedding last weekend, staying in the lower part of the Northland area. Looking at the weather satellite images we had decided that we would leave asap after the wedding and not wait for our Monday afternoon flight. I heard many people from amongst the wedding guests asking locals from amongst the wedding guests whether the cyclone was going to be a big deal. Most of the locals were scoffing at the danger warnings and saying it was all an 'overreaction to the underreaction towards the recent flooding'. I'm not sure why they were so dismissive. The ground was already sodden from the previous rain event; many roads were still either covered in landslip material or had fallen away underneath or had massive potholes. We drove the 2 hours directly from the wedding to the airport and waited a few hours for an early morning flight. Not sleeping that night was a price I was prepared to pay to get out of Auckland before the worst of it started.

 

Eden was lovely today.

 

 

We are always dismissive of warnings here. The Metservice has got history on over forecasting events - and the whole country has become really risk adverse - I was the same I'd have not hesitated on travelling those days if I'd been scheduled to.  

 

Frankly it wasn't that much rain - it's the stuff that Singapore gets regularly. The issue was our 3rd world infrastructure - the Napier-Gisborne road (and services like water, power, telecoms)  are basically 50 years old. That together with lots of forestry debris=destruction and deaths. 

 

Hopefully now we will actually have an infrastructure plan that involves more than cycleways. 

 

Cunard really needs to sort out their communications - they seem terrified of communicating anything -and don't realise that the less  news they provide the more damaging specuation results. 

 

I still don't understand why you weren't immediately offered the alternative cruise (or part thereof) -rather than just being cancelled 

[Jean C]

Northland was pretty bad, though no where near as bad as the East Coast. I've been without phone signal and internet for days (semi rural), it only came back today. Service is very patchy here, some lost connectivity others were okay. So much for "for information and to keep up to date, go to www. etc". Once roads were passable I went into town for mobile data.

[LittleFish1976]

5 hours ago, lissie said:

We are always dismissive of warnings here. The Metservice has got history on over forecasting events - and the whole country has become really risk adverse - I was the same I'd have not hesitated on travelling those days if I'd been scheduled to.  

 

Frankly it wasn't that much rain - it's the stuff that Singapore gets regularly. The issue was our 3rd world infrastructure - the Napier-Gisborne road (and services like water, power, telecoms)  are basically 50 years old. That together with lots of forestry debris=destruction and deaths. 

 

Hopefully now we will actually have an infrastructure plan that involves more than cycleways. 

 

Cunard really needs to sort out their communications - they seem terrified of communicating anything -and don't realise that the less  news they provide the more damaging specuation results. 

 

I still don't understand why you weren't immediately offered the alternative cruise (or part thereof) -rather than just being cancelled 

 

That's interesting, disturbing and sad that you say you NZ-ers are dismissive of warnings. I actually found the MetService website very conservative in its assessment of the situation. The winds where I was were gale-force beginning on the Friday early evening so we were being made aware of the severity of the weather while we were literally standing in it.

 

The infrastructure in Singapore is probably designed to cope with massive tropical downpours whereas in AKL it was the volume that fell per hour that was the killer in the month-ago deluge. My daughter was shopping in town and within minutes was up to her knees in water!

 

Cunard's communications for Australia/NZ are appalling. The call centre is useless. I'm a very understanding person but there's no other way of putting it. They don't have the information or the authority to do anything other than what you and I can do on the Cunard website. Lack of efficiency really riles me as does poor customer service. They will lose custom in the region (and beyond) because of this. I may just keep booking through the UK - it didn't seem to be a problem that I'm OOA.

 

I've just learnt that some passengers on the shorter leg - Melb -Akl - were in fact offered the option of doing the longer cruise (at no extra charge?). I was just told I no longer had a holiday! Crazy! We'll be at sea on the date that the previous shorter leg would finish but it is in their financial interest to ask people if they wanted to have the longer cruise (means they didn't have to give a refund and passengers would be on board buying drinks etc). I've been given a web of stuff-ups which I'm still trying to untangle. Fortunately I think I've found a member of staff on board the ship who will look into it all for me so I can make sure I won't be paying for this cruise twice. 😂

[LittleFish1976]

4 hours ago, Jean C said:

Northland was pretty bad, though no where near as bad as the East Coast. I've been without phone signal and internet for days (semi rural), it only came back today. Service is very patchy here, some lost connectivity others were okay. So much for "for information and to keep up to date, go to www. etc". Once roads were passable I went into town for mobile data.

 

We were on the coast - it must have got really awful after we left. Terrible to be without power and internet and therefore without information. I wonder if NZ will have to look at the way it allows for development. Lack of vegetation and buffer zones might be adding to the landslips above and below the roads. I'm glad Australia has commited some resources to helping. It's going to be a huge job getting all those roads and houses up again. Was gutted to hear of the death of that emergency services fellow in the house at Murawai.

 

 

[cruiser3775]

The cyclone damage news from NZ is awful.  I hope they get as much help as possible from other countries, and good to see Australia is contributing.  I'm on a NZ cruise in three weeks and expecting to hear that the itinerary has changed. Definitely looks like Napier will be cancelled, with so much damage.

www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/cyclone-gabrielle-hawkes-bay-napier-residents-queue-for-hours-to-fill-up-cars-and-gas-bottless/OZIIRQBNPFGNTJBAMFHURVL77U/

 

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by cruiser3775

[Fieldofdreams]

5 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

The cyclone damage news from NZ is awful.  I hope they get as much help as possible from other countries, and good to see Australia is contributing.  I'm on a NZ cruise in three weeks and expecting to hear that the itinerary has changed. Definitely looks like Napier will be cancelled, with so much damage.

www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/cyclone-gabrielle-hawkes-bay-napier-residents-queue-for-hours-to-fill-up-cars-and-gas-bottless/OZIIRQBNPFGNTJBAMFHURVL77U/

 

Hello - Aside from the possibility of Napier being cancelled, which I agree with, are you hearing of any other ports in North NZ possibly being cancelled. We fly out in 12 hours to catch our cruise in  few days.

 

[Fieldofdreams]

Just now, Fieldofdreams said:

Also, hope that all is well with you. Heart goes out to all those that might be affected.

 

[LittleFish1976]

33 minutes ago, Fieldofdreams said:

 

Which cruise line will you be sailing on? As you would know, many of the lines have had issues with not being able to enter NZ ports or areas (such as the Fiordland NP) due to the biohazard from hull contamination.

 

I shouldn't think Auckland as a port would be affected but then I don't know if there are supply issues or port damage. I know the island ferries are still running from the Port of Auckland. Wellington has just had an earthquake in the last couple of days but it sounds like there's not been much if any damage from it. The flooding is still continuing in some areas.

[cruiser3775]

5 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

Which cruise line will you be sailing on?

Holland America "Noordam".   It sees like most of the port stops will be open to cruise ships, except probably Napier.  I didn't have any shore excursions booked there.

[boeckli]

1 hour ago, cruiser3775 said:

Holland America "Noordam".   It sees like most of the port stops will be open to cruise ships, except probably Napier.  I didn't have any shore excursions booked there.

 

I'm on the Noordam cruise before yours,  departing Auckland on Feb 25th. So far no word from the cruise line about any changes.  The current sailing was due in Napier on Feb 21st but at present is no longer listed on the port's schedule for that date. First cruise arrival listed currently is Noordam on Feb 27th.

[lissie]

1 hour ago, boeckli said:

 

I'm on the Noordam cruise before yours,  departing Auckland on Feb 25th. So far no word from the cruise line about any changes.  The current sailing was due in Napier on Feb 21st but at present is no longer listed on the port's schedule for that date. First cruise arrival listed currently is Noordam on Feb 27th.

They are using the Napier port as a temporary morgue among other things -I don't think they will be allowing cruise  ships in! 

[lissie]

3 hours ago, LittleFish1976 said:

Which cruise line will you be sailing on? As you would know, many of the lines have had issues with not being able to enter NZ ports or areas (such as the Fiordland NP) due to the biohazard from hull contamination.

 

I shouldn't think Auckland as a port would be affected but then I don't know if there are supply issues or port damage. I know the island ferries are still running from the Port of Auckland. Wellington has just had an earthquake in the last couple of days but it sounds like there's not been much if any damage from it. The flooding is still continuing in some areas.

There is zero damage of any kind in Wellington - I balance a tower of spare toilet roll at the top of my bathroom cabinet  - its kinda of a test to see how much the house moves in a shake - didn't fall. 

 

I've heard nothing about damage in downtown Auckland including the port - the damage is out west - you wouldn't notice it unless you deliberately went there (which you shouldn't) 

 

There were mobs of cruise passengers in Wellington today -2 ships were in town. 

Edited February 17, 2023 by lissie