By
Cherie Rowlands |
P&O Cruises has cancelled all calls by Arcadia and Adonia to Argentinian ports in 2013, due to fears the ships will be refused entry or delayed.
The move comes after vessels flying the red ensign and associated with Britain, have – on numerous occasions during the past year, the company said – either not been permitted to call in Argentina, or have been severely delayed.
“Over the past few months we have been working with the Foreign Commonwealth Office and our local agents to gain assurances from the Argentinian Government that our ships will be allowed to call into their ports We have been unable to gain these assurances and the risk of being refused entry or being delayed is too high,” P&O said in a written statement. “As a British cruise company we cannot allow ourselves to be the subject of any political dispute or put our customers and crew into any situation where their enjoyment may be compromised. With this in mind, we have had to take the difficult decision to remove all Argentinian ports of call in 2013 from Arcadia and Adonia itineraries.”
Neither ship will stop at Puerto Madryn, Ushuaia or Buenos Aires in 2013, but calls to Buenos Aires, a turnaround port, will be replaced with visits to Montevideo in Uruguay. The 2,016-passenger Arcadia and 710-passenger Adonia will continue to call Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands.
Other lines sailing in the region and not ruling out itinerary changes include Princess Cruises, Holland America Line (HAL), Seabourn, Celebrity and Silversea. Princess has two Bermuda-registered ships operating and said: “We are aware that recent cruise itineraries have been disrupted in Argentina when ships featured a call at both the Falkland Islands and ports in Argentina, or when the cruise ship was registered within the British Flag Administration, such as Bermuda. As both Star Princess and Grand Princess are scheduled to call in the Falklands Islands and Argentina in the coming weeks, there may be an itinerary disruption that includes our call to Buenos Aires.”
HAL and Seabourn confirmed that information they received about demonstrations taking place in Ushuaia, Argentina, on 10 December, led to the cancellation of each of their ships -- HAL’s Netherlands-registered Veendam and Bahamas-registered Seabourn Sojourn -- on that day. Both lines cited insufficient assurance from local authorities in Ushuaia that their vessels would be able to enter and leave the port “in accordance with accepted maritime practices.”
Seabourn said: “Recent action in Argentina directed at ships calling in or planning to call at the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas have raised international concerns.” With further calls scheduled for Ushuaia, the company is continuing discussion with local authorities, while Holland America, Celebrity and Silversea are also monitoring the situation, with no immediate itinerary changes planned.