28 Hotel Rooms For 1,000 Pax

Passengers on the last sailing of Holland America's
Amsterdam got more shore time in the seldom-visited port
of the Falkland Islands than they bargained for. About
noon, the harbor master closed the harbor due to
unexpected high winds, halting Amsterdam's tendering
operations. The problem was that almost a thousand
passengers were still ashore. The winds didn't subside
until the next morning. Most places, this wouldn't have
been a major problem, but in Stanley, there are only 28
hotel rooms. Cruise News Daily detailed the heroic
efforts the local port agent performed to make sure all
Amsterdam's passengers had a place to sleep that night.

Stranding cruise passengers in Stanley has happened before. I was told
by a fellow passenger on the Ryndam as we approached Port Stanley that
he was on the identical cruise the year before when the ship had to
discontinue tendering operations after offloading about one-third of the
passengers. Heavy seas prevented the return of the pax for three days
during which time those on shore holed up in private homes and anywhere
they could find. They reportedly had a fine time due to the all-out
hospitality of the islanders but those on board were less amused as it
meant bouncing around for that period then missing the next stop
altogether (Puerto Madryn) because of the lost time in transit.

At the time, the flights out of the Falklands were only by government
aircraft and the whole year's total arrivals by air were something like
600+ visitors. There were that many stranded on shore at one time so the
ship had no alternative other than to wait out the storm.

Aloha

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 16:54:04 -1000, Mark O. Polo wrote:

Stranding cruise passengers in Stanley has happened before. I was told
by a fellow passenger on the Ryndam as we approached Port Stanley that
he was on the identical cruise the year before when the ship had to
discontinue tendering operations after offloading about one-third of the
passengers. Heavy seas prevented the return of the pax for three days
during which time those on shore holed up in private homes and anywhere
they could find. They reportedly had a fine time due to the all-out
hospitality of the islanders but those on board were less amused as it
meant bouncing around for that period then missing the next stop
altogether (Puerto Madryn) because of the lost time in transit.

At the time, the flights out of the Falklands were only by government
aircraft and the whole year's total arrivals by air were something like
600+ visitors. There were that many stranded on shore at one time so the
ship had no alternative other than to wait out the storm.

That plain sux.

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 16:54:04 -1000, Mark O. Polo wrote:

Stranding cruise passengers in Stanley has happened before. I was told
by a fellow passenger on the Ryndam as we approached Port Stanley that
he was on the identical cruise the year before when the ship had to
discontinue tendering operations after offloading about one-third of the
passengers. Heavy seas prevented the return of the pax for three days
during which time those on shore holed up in private homes and anywhere
they could find. They reportedly had a fine time due to the all-out
hospitality of the islanders but those on board were less amused as it
meant bouncing around for that period then missing the next stop
altogether (Puerto Madryn) because of the lost time in transit.

At the time, the flights out of the Falklands were only by government
aircraft and the whole year's total arrivals by air were something like
600+ visitors. There were that many stranded on shore at one time so the
ship had no alternative other than to wait out the storm.

That plain sux.