MS Roald Amundsen accidents and incidents

August 2024Structural and Technical Issues

On August 25, 2024, HX announced that the scheduled 7-night relocation voyage from Halifax to Boston will be shortened to allow a drydocking for unscheduled technical maintenance and urgent repairs before the Antarctic deployment for the winter (2024-2025).

The affected itinerary (September 14th) was reduced to 5-night (ending in Boston two days earlier). It originally included as call ports Sable Island, Lunenburg NS, Eastport ME, Boothbay Harbor ME, Castine ME, Bar Harbor ME and Provincetown MA.

To all affected passengers, HX offered a 2-night hotel in Boston, a choice of free land excursions and free hotel-airport transfers, plus an FCC (future cruise credit) equivalent to 35% of the amount paid for the shortened voyage to be used for new HX cruise bookings.

16 May 2024Structural and Technical Issues

CruiseMapper-emailed report from John Scala/received May 12th)

Please note. MS Roald Amundsen has technical problems. The May 16th cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage has been cancelled entirely. Presumably the return cruise from Anchorage has also been cancelled. I know because I was meant to be on May 16th cruise.

The canceled Alaskan voyage was the 12-day "Alaska and British Columbia Cruise" (itinerary May 16-28, Vancouver to Seward/Anchorage) with scheduled visits to Inside Passage (May 17), Misty Fjords (May 18), Wrangell (May 19), Petersburg (May 20), Tracy Arm Fjord (May 21), Haines (May 22), William Henry Bay and Point Adolphus/Chichagof Island (May 23), Sitka (May 24), Icy Bay (May 25), Cordova (May 26), College Fjord/Prince William Sound (May 27).

According to the vessel's AIS data, it arrived at the Panama Canal Anchorage (Port Balboa/Panama's Pacific side) on May 10th, and remained there for 5,5 hours (13:12 through 18:49 UTC). Before the planned Alaskan deployment, the ship was operating in South America and left Port Valparaiso (Santiago de Chile) on April 3rd.

There is a possibility that Hurtigruten has canceled Roald Amundsen's entire Alaskan program.

(CruiseMapper-emailed report from Sally B/received May 15th)

Update on technical issues for HX Hurtigruten Roald Amundsen.

The email received for Hurtigruten stated that "During a scheduled maintenance stop in Panama, a technical issue was identified with the ship. Regrettably, the repairs will prevent MS Roald Amundsen from arriving in Seward in time for your expedition."

No further clarification has been forthcoming as to the nature of the technical issue. The departures for the 16th May (Vancouver northbound to Seward) and 29th May (Seward southbound to Vancouver) have both been cancelled. We were supposed to be on the 29th May departure. We have been booked on the 9th June sailing (Vancouver northbound to Seward) and so assume all problems are expected to be rectified by then.

Hopefully this will be the case and compliments to HX Hurtigruten for helping us reschedule our booking.

31 July 2020Cruise Illness / Virus Outbreaks

(Coronavirus outbreak) On July 31, 2020, Norwegian media first reported that 4 crew on the Hurtigruten ship Roald Amundsen tested positive for COVID-19. The ship departed Tromso on a 7-day Svalbard cruise with 170 tourists. On July 31, the boat docked back in Tromso and all passengers were allowed to disembark.

During the voyage (departure July 24), two of the crew showed flu-like symptoms, quarantined on the ship for several days, then in Tromso ambulanced, tested and confirmed positive. The infected were hospitalized at Tromso's Universitetssykehuset Nord-Norge (UNN - University Hospital of North Norway). In a press release, the UNN stated that the hospitalized are "foreign nationals".

The shipowner Hurtigruten commented that the Coronavirus testing was routine (crew-only) and that all the ship's remaining staff-crew (158) are currently quarantined onboard and will be tested. Hurtigruten added that all passengers on the last voyages - departures July 17 (209 pax) and July 24 (177 pax) were contacted by the company and informed (via SMS) about the incident. The next scheduled departure was cancelled (July 31, 7-day roundtrip from Tromso to Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen Island / planned arrival on August 4).

The Norwegian health authorities required that all passengers and crew from the July 24 voyage enter quarantine. On August 1, Hurtigruten reported that a total of 33 crew test results (the 4 hospitalized plus 29 new) returned positive for COVID-19 after the ship's entire staff (162) had been tested. Later that day, the number of infected grew to 36 (of whom 32 Filipino). On August 3, a total of four passengers (from both cruises) tested Coronavirus-positive. Hurtigruten cancelled Roald Amundsen's all scheduled departures through August 31.

On August 3, Hurtigruten temporarily suspended all expedition cruises (on the ships Roald Amundsen, Fridtjof Nansen and Spitsbergen) until further notice. The decision didn't impact Hurtigruten’s Norwegian coastal ferry operations. On Aug 7, the NIPH (Norwegian Institute of Public Health) reported that the number of infected grew to 62 (41 crew + 21 passengers). All infected passengers were Norwegian residents. On August 20, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases grew to 71 (29 passengers plus 42 crew).

Note: Hurtigruten became the world's first ocean cruise company to resume passenger shipping operations (on June 16) when the ship Otto Sverdrup (Finnmarken) departed from Bergen to Kirkenes. Roald Amundsen resumed voyages on July 17 with 7-day roundtrips to Svalbard from Tromso.

19 February 2020Other Incidents

On February 19, 2020, at 4:14 pm (Antarctica time / GMT+13), under the command of Captain Torry Sakkariassen, the cruise ship reached the ice edge at 70-degree south. This was the furthest south location reached by a Hurtigruten vessel in the company’s 127 years of passenger shipping operations.

Next table list the 18-day "Chilean Fjords, Antarctica and Falklands" cruise roundtrip from Valparaiso.

The voyage was priced from ~USD 7400 (EUR 6830) per person.

28 November 2019Crew / Passenger Crimes

On November 28, 2019, the ship's departure from homeport Punta Arenas (Chile) was delayed due to robbery ashore. A group of robbers stole ~200 pieces of luggage by hijacking the truck that transported the bags to the berthed cruise vessel.

The hijacked vehicle was later found, but without the passengers' luggage. None of the passengers were robbed, but 15 decided to cancel the voyage to Antarctica. Hurtigruten assisted the affected passengers by supplying them with clothes and necessary items for the cruise, which fares started at ~USD 5500 pp (~EUR 4900).

The incident occurred at the beginning of 18-day "Chilean Fjords, Antarctica and Falklands" fly-cruise" (itinerary November 28 - December 16) roundtrip from homeport Valparaiso (Santiago, Chile flights to/from departure port Punta Arenas) and visiting destinations in Chilean Patagonia, Drake Passage (transit), Antarctica (Half Moon Island, Brown Bluff, Cuverville Island, Antarctic Peninsula, Neko Harbour, Wiencke Island), Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and Magellan Strait (transit).

26 February 2018Other Incidents

The vessel was scheduled for delivery in July 2018. However, due to financial problems, Kleven Shipyard (Ulsteinvik Norway) delayed the delivery to Hurtigruten, rescheduling the inaugural cruise for May 3, 2019 (leaving from Lisbon Portugal). Hurtigruten's official statement was issued on February 26, 2018.

On May 24, 2018, Hurtigruten announced that Fridtjof Nansen's launch would be also affected (pushed back) due to Roald Amundsen's delayed launch and "the complexity of the construction". Fridtjof Nansen's Antarctica cruise schedule (2019-2020) was added to MS Midnatsol.

All booked customers received full refunds (cruise and reimbursements for canceled flights) plus booking discounts on alternative Hurtigruten expedition cruise itineraries.