Luxury cruise ship pulled free three days after getting stranded in Greenland

Table Of Content

• Iceland & Greenland Explorer
• Luxury cruise ship freed after running aground in Greenland
• East Greenland, Scoresby Sund - Aurora Borealis, Including Long Hikes
• A Luxury Cruise Ship, Stuck Off Greenland’s Coast for 3 Days, Is Pulled Free
• Ocean Explorer cruise ship pulled free after running aground in northeast Greenland
• Stranded luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer has been pulled free at high tide in Greenland

"These passengers are currently in isolation. They are looked after by our onboard doctor, medical team and crew, and they are doing well," Aurora Expeditions said in a statement. She said the passengers were in good spirits and were being entertained by lectures and stories of expeditions by the crew. The company said in a statement the three passengers were in isolation and were “doing well”. The Ocean Explorer had been traveling toward Northeast Greenland National Park when it ran aground on Monday, officials said. Greenland is the world’s biggest island stretching approximately 2800 kilometres (1750 miles) from north to south. "Now it is exciting to find out what the condition of the ship is," Jensen was quoted as saying by KNR.

Iceland & Greenland Explorer

Since July 2023, Ocean Explorer is chartered by Aurora Expeditions (fleet/1991-founded Australian company specializing in Arctic and Antarctic cruisetours). In summer 2023, Ocean Explorer took over the Arctic schedule Svalbard Norway) of Greg Mortimer (drydocked after suffering propeller damage in East Greenland). Ocean Explorer's operations for Aurora Expeditions started on July 24th, with roundtrips from Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen Island (Svalbard Norway). They are looked after by our onboard doctor, medical team and crew, and they are doing well,” Aurora Expeditions said in a statement. "These passengers are currently in isolation. They are looked after by our onboard doctor, medical team and crew, and they are doing well," Aurora Expeditions said in a statement.

Luxury cruise ship freed after running aground in Greenland

The primary mission of the Joint Arctic Command is to ensure Danish sovereignty by monitoring the area around the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, including the Arctic Ocean in the north. Greenland is a semi-independent territory that is part of the Danish realm, as are the Faeroe Islands. The Ocean Explorer hasn’t been able to free itself since it ran aground around nearly 900 miles from Greenland’s capital, Nuuk.

East Greenland, Scoresby Sund - Aurora Borealis, Including Long Hikes

Many of the passengers were from Australia, as well as New Zealand, the UK, South Korea and the US. Steven Fraser and Gina Hill, a retired couple on board the Ocean Explorer, said passengers' spirits were high despite being stranded. "There have not been any injuries to anybody onboard, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull," it said. It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges.

A Luxury Cruise Ship, Stuck Off Greenland’s Coast for 3 Days, Is Pulled Free

The Ocean Explorer cruise vessel had been stuck since Monday in mud and silt in the Alpefjord national park, 870 miles (1,400km) north-east of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. A luxury cruise ship that ran aground in a remote part of Greenland with 206 people onboard has been pulled free by a fishing trawler. It has an inverted bow, shaped like the one on a submarine, 77 cabins, 151 passenger beds and 99 beds for crew, and several restaurants. “There have not been any injuries to anybody onboard, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull,” SunStone Ships said in a statement.

Ocean Explorer staterooms (a total of 77/including 15x single occupancy cabins and 10x without balconies) allow max passenger capacity 162. Most cabins (80% of all, excepting only Deck 3 cabins with Portholes) are with private, step-out balconies accessible from the living area via sliding, floor-ceiling glass door. 60% of all cabins can be booked with triple occupancy (accommodate a 3rd person on pull-out couch/sofabed). The major advantage of the patented "ULSTEIN X-BOW" design is the ship's ability to navigate with improved stability in comparison to traditional bow-design vessels. X-BOW vessels are less subject to vertical motions (induced by waves), continuing on course smoothly while maintaining high speeds. The ship's engines use less fuel, which results in reduced air emissions and fuel consumption.

Stranded luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer has been pulled free at high tide in Greenland

The ship is technically managed by Cruise Management International (Miami-based passenger vessel/fleet management company). The Ocean Explorer will be taken to a port to assess any damage, while the passengers will be flown home, said SunStone Maritime Group, which owns the cruise vessel. “There have not been any injuries to any person onboard, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull,” SunStone said in a statement. With a combination of the Ocean Explorer’s own power while being pulled by the research vessel, the cruise ship finally came unstuck.

Greenland is a semi-independent territory that is part of the Danish realm, as are the Faroe Islands. Earlier Thursday, Aurora Expeditions said that three passengers had become infected with COVID-19 on the ship. The name of the research ship was Tarajoq and it belongs to the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, a government agency.

Authorities said there have been no injuries aboard the Ocean Explorer and the incident does not pose a threat to the environment. A luxury cruise ship that has been stuck in the mud in Greenland since Monday has finally been pulled free. A luxury vessel that ran aground in a remote corner of Greenland, carrying 206 passengers, has been freed after being stuck for four days. About a tenth of the Earth’s surface is covered in similar sheets, nearly all of which are concentrated in Greenland and the Antarctic Continent.

Fishing trawler frees stranded luxury cruise ship in Greenland - Al Jazeera English

Fishing trawler frees stranded luxury cruise ship in Greenland.

Posted: Thu, 14 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

“We do have a couple of cases of COVID, but there’s a doctor on board,” Steven Fraser told the outlet, adding he contracted the virus aboard the ship. The grounded cruise ship might also get free on its own when the tide is high, Greenland television KNR reported. “Regardless, the most important thing for us is that everyone gets to safety,” Jensen said. Authorities have been in contact with another cruise ship in the area and it had been asked to remain nearby to assist should the situation develop. Yellow Sea trials (in East China Sea) started on January 22, 2021, and were successfully completed on January 27.

The ship is equipped with the maritime industry's latest propulsion and return-to-port systems, as well as dynamic positioning technology (by Kongsberg Maritime). These computer-controlled systems allow automatic maintenance of the position via 3x propulsion units - 1x Brunvoll bow thruster (output 880 kW) and 2x Scania FPPs (fixed-pitch propellers), plus 2x zero-speed retractable stabilizers (Rolls-Royce Aquarius). This allows stable floating while maintaining the necessary stability for launching watercraft - and without using anchors. The powerplant consists of 4x Wartsila diesel engines (output 1,08 MW each/total 4,32 MW), and 4x auxiliary engines (Ingeteam). On Aug 4th, Pacific Travel Partners submitted its bid (US$1,5 million cash offer) for Vantage Travel's assets (not the entire business) and on Aug 9th it won the auction. On Aug 22nd, Pacific Travel Partners officially acquired Vantage Travel's assets (intellectual property, customer list and prospecting).

On Wednesday, a research ship owned by the Greenland government unsuccessfully attempted to pull the ship off ground during high tide. "There have not been any injuries to anybody onboard, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull,” SunStone Ships said in a statement. Ocean Explorer's delivery was originally scheduled for January 2021, and the inaugural cruise for March 2021. However, the delivery to Vantage Travel was officially held on July 13, 2021, at CMHI's Haimen Shipyard. The boat then departed China for Manila Philippines (to be crewed), then continued to Valletta Malta (to get hotel staff and supplies) and to homeport Poole (England UK) for the inaugural season (starting late-August).

In an update Arctic Command posted to Facebook on Wednesday, it said the Tarajoq had arrived but failed in an early attempt to pull the cruise ship free at high tide. The Arctic Command had also called for a patrol vessel to aid the recovery of the cruise ship, but it was not on schedule to arrive until Friday. A luxury cruise ship that had been stranded in remote Greenland since Monday was freed Thursday with an assist from a fishing research vessel, Danish authorities said. The Bahamas-flagged cruise ship has passengers from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. It has an inverted bow shaped like the one on a submarine, 77 cabins, 151 passenger beds and 99 beds for crew, and several restaurants.

Cruise ship with 206 on board runs aground in Greenland - NBC News

Cruise ship with 206 on board runs aground in Greenland.

Posted: Tue, 12 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The ship's owner said several other vessels had rushed to the scene "and offered their assistance, which however, was not needed." It said it had also "arranged additional tug assistance in case it was needed, however, this has now been canceled." Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command (JAC) said in a statement that no one on board has been injured, and the ship hasn’t sustained any damage, according to Arctic Command Commander Captain Brian Jensen. “It’s a cruise that a lot of wealthy older people do because they can get out into these wilderness areas,” Fraser told the Australian news site. The earliest a vessel can reach the Ocean Explorer is Friday morning, according to Danish authorities. There was no immediate comment from the tour company that organised the trip, Australia-based Aurora Expeditions. The 104.4-metre-long and 18-metre-wide Ocean Explorer ran aground in Alpefjord, above the Arctic Circle in the Northeast Greenland National Park.