Antarctic luxury cruise passengers 'go on hunger strike' after engine failure leaves ship stranded near Argentina
29 November 2024, 08:42
Tourists aboard a luxury Antarctic cruise liner have gone on hunger strike after their voyage was cut short due to engine failure, with the company refusing to reimburse them in full.
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Travellers aboard Swan Hellenic’s SH Diana were expecting the "holiday of a lifetime" when they ventured to the Antarctic as part of the 20-night cruise.
However, a problem with one of the electric motors aboard the one-year-old vessel left the ship unable to follow its intended route, with their visit to South Georgia cut short and the Antarctica leg aborted entirely.
It's left the 170 passengers aboard the vessel - including ten Brits, up in arms after they forked out between £7,000-£10,000 for the once-in-a-lifetime voyage.
Departing Cape Town on November 13, the engine issue saw engineers board the ship to join the 127 crew in an attempt to fix the issue, with its route instead shifted to Ushuaia, Argentina.
Following the unexpected issue, Swan Hellenic is said to have offered those on ship either a 50 per cent refund or a 65 per cent “future cruise credit” to be used within a two year window.
However, a number of passengers are said to be unhappy with the offer, with a group of Russian passengers aboard now going on hunger strike and crafting large signs demanding full refunds.
Currently travelling at around 6 knots (11km/h) towards the tip of Argentina, the vessel is scheduled to arrive at the port on Saturday.
It had been due to visit a host of locations including Elephant Island, Heroina Island, and Deception Island as part of the Antarctica leg, with visits now aborted.
The vessel will be based in Argentina until March 2025 while the issues aboard are fixed.
One passenger aboard the ship told The Times: “They made the right call not to go to Antarctica for safety reasons, but it is being handled very badly by Swan Hellenic.
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“To go to Antarctica is a trip of a lifetime and this specific sailing made it achievable for many on board to do so as it’s a repositioning sailing that had attractive deals.”
“Many of the passengers are very angry and it was getting nasty yesterday,” the source added.
“The company needs to make a better offer to quell the continuing rising anger.”
Luxury firm Swan Hellenic specialises in cruises to hard-to-reach and once-in-a-lifetime destinations.
According to the company, the "boutique 5-star ships" are "built in the world-famous Helsinki shipyard in Finland, our ships combine cutting-edge polar ice-class technology with intimate, sophisticated interiors" for an "unforgettable” experience.
According to The Times, passengers addressed letters to the firm, with one group of holidaymakers writing: “Understandably, we are unhappy and disappointed that this journey has [been] cut short under these circumstances.
“For a majority of us, this is our first time visiting Antarctica, and potentially the last opportunity for many. Some guests are elderly, disabled, and have struggled already to get to this point, only for the trip to be cut short.
"For many of us, visiting Antarctica is a life-long bucket list that we want to achieve before death or disability.”
Andrea Zito, the company’s chief executive, has since said that the offer is “significantly higher than the legal requirement of approximately 30 per cent.”
He told The Times: “Many of the obviously very disappointed passengers accepted [our] offer and some have already rebooked.
"As expected, not all of the guests were immediately satisfied with this compensation and have tried to build up pressure through discussions on board and by making demands on the captain and senior staff in order to obtain an even higher compensation for themselves.
“The initial unease has largely subsided. A select few chose to stage a hunger strike in their protest which is of rather counterproductive. We are working towards a swift end to this action.”
He added: “Swan Hellenic would like to reiterate that we deeply regret that we had to change the itinerary due to the technical problems with the propeller drive and we understand the disappointment of our guests who were looking forward to a taste of Antarctic experience.
