We were woken at 6.00am to find the sister ship, Akademik Sergey Vavilov, moored next to our ship and we were told that we would be transferred across with our baggage at 8.30am.
When we got to the Akademik Sergey Vavilov we found that it was full of passengers who had finished their tour but had not been able to fly out of Pelly Bay the night before as the weather had been so bad. So we did not have cabins and were asked to go to the bar area and camp out there. The ship then left and headed for Pelly Bay.
We then had two shifts of passengers going for breakfast, lunch and dinner and were concerned what would happen if we all had to stay on the ship that night. Luckily for us, One Ocean had arranged for a charter flight for the 100 original passengers so after dinner they left and we took over the ship and their cabins as we would be leaving the next day.
The plan was for 2 aircraft to arrive the next day and take us back to Edmonton where we would be put in a hotel at the expense of One Ocean. We even got some free wine with dinner so the day did not end too badly.
What a nightmare, so unlucky, very sorry to hear the news!
Thanks Bill, we are back home now but it shows how unpredictable trips that far north can be as the waters are not well charted. All the best. John
Oh my goodness, all rather unfortunate, but I suppose always an adventure on the high seas. I can’t wait for the next instalment! I do hope everything works out….
What a start (or not) to completing the bucket list! Hopefully you will get the chance to do this again soon. What an amazing couple of days though, and a few dinner-table stories. After all, how many other people have been grounded in the Northwest Passage!
Hi Nicole and Jeremy, disappointing as it was right at the start but we intend to go again so we will have to see what One Ocean the operator comes up with. Apparently it has happened before that these trips have been cut short due to engine failure, bad ice, etc but not grounding. It’s all over the papers here in Canada and we understand Australia too. All the best to you both. John