Port Visits Canceled Following Japan’s Mega-Quake
The same day that Cunard Line and Azamara Club Cruises announced they have canceled calls in Japan, a 60-year-old man clinging to his floating roof was miraculously rescued some 10 miles out to sea.
Following the devastating earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan, it is hard to grasp the level of destruction and loss. The maritime sector was severely disrupted — thousands of vessels were damaged or lost and large ships were left high and dry at their docks or stranded inland.
With ports, rail, power and other infrastructure damaged and an unknown nuclear reactor situation developing, it was no surprise that Cunard’s QUEEN MARY 2, carrying almost 3,000 passengers on her round-the-world voyage, canceled a call at Nagasaki. Instead, the ship will head directly to China, calling at Tianjin the closest port for Beijing, arriving Monday.
AZAMARA QUEST, which departed from Nagasaki ahead of the feared tsunami was forced to cancel its planned visit to Osaka on Sunday.
Some other cruise ships had their schedules slightly disrupted as a result of the tsunamis in Hawaii, Mexico and California but there were no reports of damage or injury. Norwegian Cruise Line’s PRIDE OF AMERICA departed Kauai, Hawaii, to avert the tsunami’s landfall and CRYSTAL SERENITY left Bali for open ocean and headed for Singapore.
The port of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico was closed on Friday as the western seaboard prepared for the tsunami, which forced DISNEY WONDER to remain at sea.
Two of many aid organizations accepting contributions:
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What a horrible thing to happen, I know Japan will come back stronger from this but right now they’re in a tough position. Hopes and prayers are with them. Thanks for the link guys, Doctors Without Borders are heaven sent.
So the QM2 is sailing direct to Beijing, China, well that would be a sight to see considering Beijing is 120 km from the sea!
QM2 called at Tianjin which is the closest port to Beijing, I wish cruise companys would actually use the port of call more, there are so many instances of this, another one that annoys me is Granada in Spain when it should be Malaga, as Granada is quite a distance away.
And of course I could not comment without stating that even my home port of Southampton is sometimes stated as a London departure in some itinerarys Princess being a main culprit of this!
Thanks Sean, I remember being similarly horrified when my former home port of Southampton renamed London for the convenience of an itinerary. Yet, I did it to Tianjin. I have corrected the above, quite right to point out my error.