Arvia accidents and incidents

24 December 2023Crew / Passenger Injuries and Overboards

On December 24, 2023 (Christmas Eve), a P&O Cruises charter flight (operated by Malta's Maleth Aero) transporting passengers from Bridgetown (Barbados) to Manchester (England UK) was diverted to Bermuda (L.F. Wade International Airport) due to sudden and strong turbulence.

The intense turbulence resulted in injuries to 11 passengers. The flight was chartered by P&O UK to bring numerous cruisers home for the holidays. Unfortunately, the incident extended the Bermuda stay through Christmas Eve, Christmas Day (Dec 25), and much of Boxing Day (Dec 26).

Maleth Aero's aircraft was carrying a total of 238 passengers (225 cruisers plus 13 crew members) from P&O's ship Arvia. Injuries sustained only the cruise travelers.

Despite exploring all available flying options, MS Arvia's passengers had to stay overnight in Bermuda and were accommodated in local hotels. A replacement aircraft arrived in the UK during the early hours of December 27th.

The home flight (Barbados-UK) was for guests who ended Arvia's 14-day "Caribbean Cruise" (itinerary Dec 9-23, roundtrip from Bridgetown) visiting island destinations in the BVI (Tortola's Road Town), Dominicana (La Romana), the Netherlands Antilles (Philipsburg St Maarten), Antigua (St Johns), St Kitts (Basseterre), Martinique (Fort-de-France) and St Lucia (Castries).

25 December 2022Structural and Technical Issues

During the maiden voyage, the ship was beset by technical issues.

On December 27, 2022, the ship's Master (Captain Robert Camby) addressed all passengers via the PA/speaker system and apologized. A spokesperson for P&O UK also officially apologized for the "IT and connectivity issues" causing "dining issues and restaurant delays" on Christmas Day (Dec 25th).

Issues reported by the customers (on social media platforms) and by some major British media outlets online included booking errors (mixed up or missing dinner reservations), long queues at both the Reception Desk and the restaurants (reportedly, hundreds queuing in the hallways during dinner time) and food delays (~2-2,5 hours), poor quality WiFi and lack of Internet and cabin TV programming, cabin entry issues (some of the staterooms' keypads in the hallways fell off), laundromat floodings (due to leakages from the washing machines).

MS Arvia was on the 14-day inaugural cruise (themed "Canary Islands New Year", itinerary Dec 23 - Jan 6, 2023, roundtrip from Southampton) with call ports in Portugal's Madeira (Funchal/Dec 27), Spain's Canary Islands (Santa Cruz de Tenerife/Dec 28, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria/Dec 29), Arrecife Lanzarote/Dec 30), Cadiz-Sevilla (Jan 2) and Lisbon (Jan 3).

08 September 2022Fire Accident

On September 8, 2022, while undergoing the final stage of construction (at Meyer Werft's yard in Papenburg) a minor fire broke out in the ship's swimming pool equipment room. The vessel was out of the drydock and berthed on the shipyard's outfitting quay.

The accident reportedly occurred during welding work. All workers were evacuated. No injuries or significant damages were reported.

The fire was reported at ~1:30 pm (11:30 UTC) and extinguished approx 2 hours later. The firefighting measures were conducted by Meyer Port's fire brigade assisted by fire trucks dispatched from Papenburg.

Arvia ship's construction works continued by schedule.

July 2022Fire Accident

In July 2022, the German police started an investigation of two fires that broke out on the cruise ship (on July 9, 2022) being still under construction at Meyer Werft's yard in Papenburg (Germany).

Both fires were small and occurred on July 9, 2022. The first fire was inside a nearly completed passenger stateroom, while the second one was in a storage room (opposite to the cabin) where workers found a rubbish bin with a burning garbage bag.

A security guard suffering from smoke inhalation was hospitalized. Papenburg's fire brigades along with the Meyer Port's fire brigade arrived at the scene and quickly extinguished both fires.

The initial property damages were estimated at ~EUR 60,000.

Florian Feimann (spokesman for the shipbuilder) said that the cause of the fire was being investigated in all directions, that Meyer Werft is working closely and fully with the police and that the vessel's delivery date and the construction schedule are not endangered by the accident.

The police commented that arson couldn't be ruled out. The investigation was started by the Emsland/Grafschaft-Bentheim police and later, for tactical reasons, was handed over to the police in Lingen.

MS Arvia was at the final construction stage and scheduled to start passenger shipping operations on December 9, 2022 (Maiden Voyage).