Viking Orion accidents and incidents

03 February 2023Fire Accident

On February 3, 2023, while docked at White Bay Cruise Terminal in Sidney (NSW Australia) the ship reported a small cabin fire on Deck 5. The fire was discovered at ~8:10 am local time (~21:10 UTC) and was extinguished by the ship's crew within ~30 minutes.

A faulty electrical device reportedly caused the fire in the passenger stateroom and eventually affected two more (adjacent) cabins. Decks 5 and 6 were evacuated and all passengers (~600) plus ~250 crew were disembarked as a precaution. RNSW/Fire and Rescue teams were called to the terminal for thermal imaging to confirm that the fire was fully extinguished.

No injuries or pollution were reported, except for two passengers being assessed by paramedics but not ambulanced. The current voyage continued as planned.

The accident occurred at the beginning of the 14-day Australia to New Zealand cruise (itinerary Feb 2-16, from Sydney to Auckland) visiting Melbourne, Hobart Tasmania, Port Chalmers/Dunedin, Lyttelton/Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Tauranga, Auckland.

December 2022Structural and Technical Issues

During the holiday voyage in December 2022, the cruise vessel remained stranded at sea for five days as Australian and New Zealand port authorities denied it harbor entry/passenger disembarkation due to biofouling of the hull with marine fungi (algae and barnacles).

The accident occurred during the 14-day "Christmas and New Year Cruise" (itinerary Dec 22 - Jan 5, from Auckland NZ to Sydney NSW).

The originally scheduled call ports in NZ (Wellington, Lyttelton-Christchurch) and Tasmania (Hobart) were canceled. The ship first anchored off Wellington overnight (Dec 25-26) then sailed to Adelaide but was also denied entry. Instead, it anchored ~17 mi / 27 km off South Australia’s coast (near Victor Harbor, to the northeast of Kangaroo Island) where a boat with divers was dispatched to clean the underwater hull portion. It left the anchorage on Jan 1st, en route to Melbourne, where arrived on Jan 2nd as scheduled.

As compensation, all passengers received 50% of the fare paid in OBC/onboard credit.

Note: New Zealand has some of the world's strictest biofouling regulations as ~90% of marine pests arrive in the country on the submerged surfaces of the ships' hulls. In the period 2019-2022, ~6% of the international cruise vessels scheduled to call in NZ ports have been required to clean their hulls prior to entering New Zealand’s waters.