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The skipper of the ferry that left about 80 people stranded on a Waiheke Island wharf early last Sunday refused a manager's request to make another trip to collect them.
Ferry company Fullers told the Weekend Herald the skipper had been interviewed as part of the company's review of the incident and had confirmed he had declined to go back.
"The duty manager asked him to go back and he refused," Fullers chief executive Doug Hudson said.
"I don't know why [and] I'm not prepared to second-guess that, whether it was just concerns about the crowd or whether he was just being belligerent. It would have meant working an extra two hours.
"Naively, I guess, we have worked on the premise that in the past the skippers have gone back, have just done the right thing."
There was nothing specific in skippers' contracts that would require them to go back, Mr Hudson said, but there was an unwritten understanding that such things were part and parcel of the job.
Previous refusals to sail were related to safety, generally concerning bad weather.
Among the stranded passengers was a pregnant woman and parents of young children who were expected home by babysitters.
The passengers were picked up almost eight hours later by the first scheduled morning ferry.
The ferry servicing Devonport was still operating at the time the passengers were left behind and could have been sent to pick them up, although it was a much slower boat.
Mr Hudson was not sure why this ferry was not sent.
Fullers is putting on extra ferries to ensure it can cope with the crowds expected to attend the Waiheke Wine and Food Festival today and the opening of the Whakanewha Regional Park on the island tomorrow.
Operations manager Ian Greenslade said a back-up ferry would be on standby in case it was needed to cover evening demand from Waiheke.
