Leaking liner cuts Pacific cruise short

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Passengers boarding the cruise ship Pacific Sky at Auckland for a "Magical Memories" voyage in the South Pacific noticed workmen welding a metal section to the hull as they embarked.

The 46,000-tonne vessel appeared to be on a lean at Princes Wharf, allowing welders to work on the port side without dipping below the waterline, said one passenger.

Less than three days later, on Saturday morning, the 1470 passengers and 600 crew found themselves back in Auckland after the P&O ship turned back with what they were told were "technical difficulties".

What they were not told, but soon suspected, was that the ship was taking water - about 17 tonnes - possibly from the re-opening of a crack which P&O says was repaired before it left Auckland on Wednesday.

Maritime Safety Authority inspectors reported tonight that they had found other defects in the ship's ducting, including corrosion, and the possibility of a second crack.

The ship made an unannounced u-turn on Thursday night, about 30 hours into the voyage and halfway to Tonga, but the passengers were not notified until 10am the next day.

But many had twigged by then that something was amiss.

"We wondered why the sun was up on the wrong side of the ship," said Aucklander Annetta Anderson.

She said a crewman confirmed to her that the ship was leaking, but confided he was not meant to disclose this, for fear of causing panic.

Mrs Anderson said she was impressed by P&O's organisation of full fare refunds and a promised 25 per cent discount on a future voyage.

As a keen boatie, her only safety concern was briefly on Friday afternoon when the engines stopped, and her son, who was also on the voyage, pointed out to her that the pumps would not work without power.

But a tour operator questioned P&O's decision to let the ship leave Auckland after a delay of almost three hours for the earlier repairs.

He said he had been told by Australian passengers who arrived on the ship from a cruise around New Zealand that they got their feet wet from water in the ship's below-decks cinema, a claim the company denies.

Others aboard said they understood the cinema was closed because of water damage for the early part of the latest cruise.

One woman, on D-deck just above the theatre, told her husband on her return to Auckland that she heard water sloshing around below.

A P&O spokeswoman in Auckland, Theresa Platon, said last night that "at no time was water lapping at people's feet".

She denied that the captain had told one of a group of journalists on a free publicity trip that part of the ship's stabilising assembly might have come adrift, bashing the hull.

P&O Cruises managing director Gavin Smith said repairs were continuing at Babcock's Devonport shipyard and he expected the ship would be cleared to leave next Sunday.

He said the company decided to bring the ship back early to fix its ducting system, after making repairs before its departure to a small crack in the hull.

Mr Smith said the repairs were inspected by the Lloyds Classification Society before the ship set sail.

"No one was in any danger."

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/marine