The P&O Cruises ship Pacific Sun hit a storm 400 miles off the north coast of New Zealand back in July 2008, an incident which saw 42 people hurt. The ship was carrying a total of 1,732 passengers and 671 crew as it travelled back to Auckland from the islands of Vanuatu. Dramatic internal CCTV footage from the incident has emerged, giving an insight into what it must have been like on board whilst 25 foot swells and winds of up to 50 knots raged outside.
Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.
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11 Comments
Now where did my seat go? It looks hilarious, but unfortunately it can’t have been much fun for those hurt or scared witless!
Since when did taking a cruise qualify as an extreme sport?
Anyone know why they don’t have fixed furniture on board a vessel such as this?
I don’t think ships of that size and equipped with stabilisers are supposed to be affected like this.
Ah, OK… I can see how that would explain it. But you would still think that some rather simple adjustments could prepare a cruise ship for those times when extreme conditions do occur.
Wow what a wild ride. It reminds me of stories I’ve heard of the crossing from South America to Antarctica. I hope passengers were given some warning to “batten down the hatches” before things got really rough (assuming they had a way to secure themselves).
Is it possible the cruise line supressed the video’s circulation for over two years, or did a cruise line employee perhaps obtain an unauthorized copy?
Wow! over 20 retweets and lots of comments on this post. It’s going down a storm ;)
shouldn’t laugh ! but its actually fairly amusing ! they wont forget that cruise in a hurry ! I had a similar experience coming back from the Falkland islands in a flat bottomed Cunard liner !! a ship not designed for the seas in the South Atlantic !!
The workers were saavy and not moving around, but why the heck were those passangers running around likeidiots?
wow that was pretty extreme, the music added a nice touch to the video. i’v been in some pretty rough swells on ships but nothing as far out as that. i wonder how many injuries were sustained?
Wow!!!! This looks really scary! Has put me off going on a cruise I think. The lady looks like she really hurts herself at 0:47.
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Now where did my seat go? It looks hilarious, but unfortunately it can’t have been much fun for those hurt or scared witless!
Since when did taking a cruise qualify as an extreme sport?
Anyone know why they don’t have fixed furniture on board a vessel such as this?
I don’t think ships of that size and equipped with stabilisers are supposed to be affected like this.
Ah, OK… I can see how that would explain it. But you would still think that some rather simple adjustments could prepare a cruise ship for those times when extreme conditions do occur.
Wow what a wild ride. It reminds me of stories I’ve heard of the crossing from South America to Antarctica. I hope passengers were given some warning to “batten down the hatches” before things got really rough (assuming they had a way to secure themselves).
Is it possible the cruise line supressed the video’s circulation for over two years, or did a cruise line employee perhaps obtain an unauthorized copy?
Wow! over 20 retweets and lots of comments on this post. It’s going down a storm ;)
shouldn’t laugh ! but its actually fairly amusing ! they wont forget that cruise in a hurry ! I had a similar experience coming back from the Falkland islands in a flat bottomed Cunard liner !! a ship not designed for the seas in the South Atlantic !!
The workers were saavy and not moving around, but why the heck were those passangers running around likeidiots?
wow that was pretty extreme, the music added a nice touch to the video. i’v been in some pretty rough swells on ships but nothing as far out as that. i wonder how many injuries were sustained?
Wow!!!! This looks really scary! Has put me off going on a cruise I think. The lady looks like she really hurts herself at 0:47.