RSSC Explorer fails New Zealand’s environmental requirements

[selbydo]

New Zealand passed requirements for cleaning ship’s hull’s to prevent invasive species from entering their territorial water’s in 2018.
We are currently on the RSSC Explorer for a 2 week cruise from Auckland to Sydney.
The sailing just before us was to start in Sydney and was to end in Auckland.
That sailing was denied entry into New Zealand waters due to RSSC Explorer hull Biofouling.
They retuned to Australia for a 4 day hull cleaning.
The passengers were given a refund for the cruise and 50% off of a future sailing.
When we boarded the Explorer on January 12, 2023 we understood that the ship was cleared to continue the scheduled itinerary.
After sailing from Auckland we were informed that the ship did not pass inspection and we would not be allowed to enter our first port of call.
The ship would require more hull cleaning.
The hull was cleaned and the captain announced that we would resume our scheduled itinerary.
January 17, 2023 we have been advised that we would not resume our original itinerary and we would miss 43% of the original ports of call.
RSSC new of the requirements and failed to comply to the standard set by New Zealand Authorities.

[pappy1022]

Sorry to hear that. I would be very upset because for me, this would be a once in a lifetime cruise and to think that Regent wasn’t aware of the new laws or didn’t clean their ship to the new standards is unacceptable. I think Regent is being fair with their compensation as long as it is total compensation including airfare, included hotels, paid for excursions, etc.

[Techno123]

Regent were aware and did have the hull cleaned, (apparently several times) by contractors recommended by the NZ authorities both off the coast of Australia and NZ so it will be interesting to eventually hear from Regent what actually went wrong. It is a huge shame for the people on this cruise and the previous one that in many cases 'a cruise of a lifetime' did not live up to expectations'.

 

The first set of cruisers seem to have been fairly compensated but not sure what is being offered to the people currently on board. If the companies hired to undertake the bio-fouling decontamination didn't do it properly, I hope they have good insurance 😜.

 

On other forums people seem disgruntled that other ships are being allowed to sail, for example, the Sounds and Explorer was not allowed to do so and are condemning New Zealand for their rules. However, Explorer has been sailing back and forth from South East Asia whilst other ships stay in the Oceania area so are much less likely to be bio-fouled by non-native species which is what the NZ government are so concerned about. Perhaps if Regent continue to sail this area it would be more cost effective to keep a single ship in this area only as this should mitigate the risk of bio-fouling from other areas. Maybe I need to suggest this to them 😜

[flossie009]

1 hour ago, Techno123 said:

If the companies hired to undertake the bio-fouling decontamination didn't do it properly, I hope they have good insurance

I would think that the divers carrying out the hull cleaning would charge hourly or daily rates, with no guarantee of the ship passing subsequent inspections.

It would be impossible for a contractor to price for the work to achieve NZ compliance without having previously carried out a full underwater survey of the ship's hull, being able to specify time as well as price and making risk allowances for weather & sea conditions at the time the cleaning was to be done. 

The companies doing the underwater cleaning work for Regent probably did the best they could given the time constraints & sea conditions.

 

 

It appears that Regent grossly underestimated the work required to clean Explorer's hull to a standard acceptable to the NZ inspectors.

Edited January 21, 2023 by flossie009

[Pcardad]

21 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

I would think that the divers carrying out the hull cleaning would charge hourly or daily rates, with no guarantee of the ship passing subsequent inspections.

It would be impossible for a contractor to price for the work to achieve NZ compliance without having previously carried out a full underwater survey of the ship's hull, being able to specify time as well as price and making risk allowances for weather & sea conditions at the time the cleaning was to be done. 

The companies doing the underwater cleaning work for Regent probably did the best they could given the time constraints & sea conditions.

 

 

It appears that Regent grossly underestimated the work required to clean Explorer's hull to a standard acceptable to the NZ inspectors.

Or the cleaning company grossly under-estimated the work required to clean Explorer's hull to a standard acceptable to NZ inspectors. We don't know which is true....but I know Regent's history and they tend to err in favor of their passengers. We have data on this all the way up to the previous Explorer cruise. I would suggest that their track record is solid and not consistent with a company that is cutting corners or one that fails to plan ahead. We will see.

[JohnM65]

My wife and I were on this cruise and it was our understanding that the hull was cleaned prior to entering Australian waters within the 30 days permitted. However, New Zealand said that they didn't recognize the cleaning company and we had to have the hull recleaned. From what I understand Regent may not have performed due diligence in selecting the cleaning company, but I am not sure if that is the case.  We sailed into a Bay in Australian waters and the cleaning crew that was recommended by New Zealand took two days to clean the hull and all was OK, we then proceeded to Auckland where we disembarked. As far as I'm concerned Regent complied with new Zealand's requirements with the cleaning crew they authorize. 

 

Regent did refund that portion of the cruise so we will apply it to the next cruise in September. I am sure Regent is going to take a lot of heat for this action, but I think we ought to wait until all the facts are in before we make our own admonishments. Regent will still be our primary/only cruising company.

[flossie009]

3 hours ago, Pcardad said:

Or the cleaning company grossly under-estimated the work required to clean Explorer's hull to a standard acceptable to NZ inspectors. We don't know which is true.

 

Unfortunately the outcome and impact on Explorer's itinerary is the same, whoever dropped the ball.

 

It is good that Regent appears to have been reasonably generous in the financial compensation offered but still a disappointment for those on the affected cruises.

[Pcardad]

Agreed, it is the same to the 700 people on board.. However, the cause makes a HUGE difference to the entire customer base. I am looking forward to hearing all the details when they are public.

[Techno123]

6 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

Agreed, it is the same to the 700 people on board.. However, the cause makes a HUGE difference to the entire customer base. I am looking forward to hearing all the details when they are public.

I agree - from a reputational point of view if it is Regent who have in Flossie's words 'dropped the ball' two cruises with the same problem which could have been prevented by Regent taking appropriate action, could be quite damaging ( and expensive). As we are boarding the Explorer later this year, I will be interested to hear the details also.

[pingpong1]

11 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

Agreed, it is the same to the 700 people on board.. However, the cause makes a HUGE difference to the entire customer base. I am looking forward to hearing all the details when they are public.

PC - I'll wager that we might never actually "know" the details at all.  My own observations over the years have been that Regent discloses very little to their "adoring fans" about the inner workings of the company...even when those inner workings, decisions, and policies can/do/did have significant impacts on their customers.  Regards.

[Pcardad]

15 minutes ago, pingpong1 said:

PC - I'll wager that we might never actually "know" the details at all.  My own observations over the years have been that Regent discloses very little to their "adoring fans" about the inner workings of the company...even when those inner workings, decisions, and policies can/do/did have significant impacts on their customers.  Regards.

That's true but a surprising amount "gets" out...even if it doesn't make it here or to FB.

[irishwitchy]

I’m on the Explorer right now and very disappointed, but making the best of it.  I would love to see New Zealand to publicly post the reports, dates, etc of each ship and what the inspection showed.   This would be great transparency for the cruise lines and country.   
 

I think most people aren’t knocking New Zealand and their efforts to protect, but I expect in 20 years it will be a mess just like the rest of the world.   I say this as the Emerald ash borer killed  my ash trees and the lantern Gypsy moth is doing its damage in the East coast of the US.  

[chengkp75]

17 hours ago, irishwitchy said:

I think most people aren’t knocking New Zealand and their efforts to protect, but I expect in 20 years it will be a mess just like the rest of the world.

Actually, since the IMO has already recognized the bio-fouling problem, and issued guidelines for ships everywhere (guidelines, not requirements), in 20 years I would expect to see many more areas of the world having adopted these guidelines (which is what the NZ regulations are) as regulations, if not a worldwide regulation via the IMO.  Ballast water management to control invasive species has already gone this route.

[irishwitchy]

7 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Actually, since the IMO has already recognized the bio-fouling problem, and issued guidelines for ships everywhere (guidelines, not requirements), in 20 years I would expect to see many more areas of the world having adopted these guidelines (which is what the NZ regulations are) as regulations, if not a worldwide regulation via the IMO.  Ballast water management to control invasive species has already gone this route.

I agree with your comments, let’s see what happens.