Cyclone Gabrielle: Cancelled Cook Strait ferries means some passengers stranded for weeks

Passengers on the Cook Strait ferries may be stranded for several weeks after their sailings were cancelled due to risky weather conditions from Cyclone Gabrielle.

Desperate customers have had to fork out hundreds of dollars for flights or face up to a month’s wait time to rebook, due to full bookings on both Interislander and Bluebridge ferries.

One of those left scrambling for alternate arrangements was University of Canterbury student Brooke Leyland, who was originally due to sail across today with a car full of her belongings.

Due to mechanical issues, their sailing was changed to 2am tomorrow, but as Leyland and her friends travelled down to Wellington today they received a message from Interislander noting the sailings have been cancelled from 2am tomorrow due to the cyclone.

“Our onshore staff and the masters from each of the ferries have reviewed the latest forecast on the progress and possible impact of Cyclone Gabrielle,” the message said.

“There are concerns about high winds tonight and large swells on the Cook Strait from tomorrow. The safety of our customers and staff is our main priority and we have made the difficult decision to cancel all sailings from 2am Tuesday morning through until 2am Wednesday morning.”

Interislander was refunding all bookings and hoped to resume sailings on Wednesday.

But those who went to rebook their trips soon found both ferries were heavily booked for some time. Leyland, who needed to travel with her car, could not find a booking available until March 10.

When the Herald checked Interislander’s booking slots for passengers with cars, there was no availability for at least one month.

Thankfully for Leyland, she visited the terminal this afternoon and was able to be squeezed onto a 2am sailing on Thursday morning - though there will be others who remain stuck.

“I have many, many friends on these sailings and they’re all in the same situation,” said Leyland.

“We’re all students with not enough money to cover accommodation for a month’s worth of time,” she said.

“I’ve had friends having to book $400 flights... so they’ve spent hundreds of dollars trying desperately to get to school.”

They had received “no help at all” and it was costing them money they simply didn’t have.

“I have quite a few friends starting their first year of uni so if they don’t get some sort of flight they’ll be missing their orientation and the first couple of weeks of uni.”

They had not been offered any financial assistance or compensation for unexpected costs, as one might expect to receive from an airline if their flight was cancelled.

“They’re not going to lose any customers because they’re the only companies that we can use,” she said.

“There’s a lot of people who don’t have another option and it’s just quite sad.”

She wanted to see more offers of assistance when sailings were cancelled, and a shorter wait time for the call centre, which was experiencing wait times of two hours today.

Interislander executive general manager Walter Rushbrook told the Herald it was peak season and they were operating at full capacity.

“We are already working hard to accommodate passengers impacted by Kaitaki [ferry, which declared a mayday when its engines shut down on January 28], including by putting on extra sailings,” he said in a statement.

“Kaitaki is currently taking freight only, and the independent audit of the ship is not scheduled to take place until the end of this week, with the timing for its final completion yet to be confirmed. The ship will not take passengers until the audit is complete.

“In the meantime, we are also seeking to accommodate people impacted by tomorrow’s cancellations due to Cyclone Gabrielle.

“We appreciate the patience of our customers, and we will open our bookings as space becomes available.”

Bluebridge spokesperson Will Dady said they were working with affected passengers to rebook them for as soon as possible. They hoped to resume sailings by Wednesday morning.