Engine failure in Antarctica

Oceanwide Expeditions’ m/v Plancius departed Ushuaia, Argentina, with 74 passengers on March 29, 2012, for what was to have been a 38-day, end-of-season Antarctica cruise that would end at Cape Verde in the Central Atlantic, the ship then being repositioned to the Arctic for the summer cruise season.

On board were several of the world’s most-traveled people — numbers 3, 5, 36 and 81 (me); visit www.mosttraveledpeople.com — plus a large group of bird-watchers from the Netherlands.

The ship had relatively smooth sailing across the Drake Passage but ran into rough seas at its first scheduled stop, Deception Island. It reached the tip of Antarctica, but, with no other ships in the area from which to obtain accurate sea conditions, Plancius, in heavy seas, had to skip stops in the South Orkney Islands and fell behind schedule, arriving in the South Georgia Islands on April 8.

At 8 p.m. on the 9th, after we made two great shore visits at Bay of Isles, it was announced that the ship had suffered an engine power failure and would limp to the abandoned whaling settlement in Grytviken to assess it.

We reached Grytviken the next morning, and the staff at King Edward Point research station gave permission for the ship to tie up at their dock. We could go ashore during daylight hours.

The ship could not be repaired at Grytviken and would have to be towed by tug to South America. It took several days to find a ship that could repatriate the passengers.

On Grytviken, the ship’s expedition leader (Rinie van Meurs), guides and lecturers kept us passengers busy. On good-weather days, they arranged Zodiac trips to a penguin colony or hikes in the hills overlooking Grytviken. The King Edward Point staff opened the Grytviken Museum and gift shop two hours a day and let us use their Internet café. On bad-weather days, there were lectures.

We transferred to the m/v Us­huaia on April 19, and after five days we reached Montevideo, from which we could fly home.

Oceanwide Expeditions (US office in Houston, TX; 800/453-7245) paid for passengers’ transport to the airport in Montevideo and economy-class airfare home and canceled all our onboard charges for drinks and laundry.

For this cruise, I originally paid $11,040 through Advantage Travel & Tours (Poway, CA; 800/882-2098), which included airfare from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. Regarding cruise fare refunds for passengers, at this writing, Oceanwide has settled with me (I received a check for a certain amount) but is in negotiation with others.

With the unusual circumstances, the impressive leadership of Oceanwide Expeditions’ staff, the daily activities and the friendships made, being stranded in Antarctica with winter approaching was an experience I’ll never forget.

ED REYNOLDS
Woodland Hills, CA

ITN e-mailed copies of the above letter to Oceanwide Expeditions (usa@oceanwide-expeditions.com) and Advantage Travel & Tours (advantaget@aol.com) and received the following replies on June 25.

As indicated in Mr. Reynolds’ account, there was never any danger or life-threatening events. Everyone was safe and well accommodated at all times. The m/v Plancius is now fully repaired and maintained and in operation.

RIMA DEEB GRANADO, Director of Sales North America, Oceanwide Expeditions, 15710 JFK Blvd., Ste. 285, Houston, TX 77032

This was Advantage Travel’s first experience with Oceanwide. We were attracted to the itinerary because it allowed two or three days at difficult-to-visit destinations like South Georgia, Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena and Ascension Islands.

While the details of the settlement for the reimbursement of the canceled portion of the cruise remain confidential, I believe the reimbursement was fair. In attempting to act as mediator for our clients (and my wife and myself as full-paying passengers), I felt that Oceanwide Expeditions was dealing in good faith. The end result gave us confidence to book this company in the future.

BOB PARDA, Advantage Travel & Tours, 12625 Gate Dr., Poway, CA 02064