Anticipation and excitement over the arrival of Queen Mary 2 on Saipan turned to anxiety and disappointment Thursday after the luxury ocean liner called off its planned passenger landing at the Smiling Cove Marina due to high winds and rough seas.<\/p>\n
The captain of the 1,132-foot long vessel made the decision to cancel the port call, advising passengers and crew members that they will not be allowed to disembark as the rough weather was causing 6- to 8-foot swells with 1 to 2 feet of white caps, and 15- to 20-knot winds\u2014making it unsafe to carry the ship\u2019s 4,000 passengers to shore by batches aboard \u201ctenders\u201d or boats.<\/p>\n
CNMI Homeland Security special assistant Marvin K. Seman, safety and security coordinator for the Queen Mary 2 arrival, and Commonwealth Ports Authority Port of Saipan manager Mary Ann Q. Lizama confirmed in a news briefing yesterday at the Boating Safety Office that all these \u201ccontributing factors\u201d were taken into account in making the decision. <\/p>\n
Seman said their team planned for all contingencies, except for this situation where they had no control over.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know everybody was looking forward to it but it\u2019s just sad that the weather was not in our favor. I just wish Mother Nature was nicer this year,\u201d said Seman, adding that even the Emergency Management Office issued a small craft advisory to warn mariners against rough seas.<\/p>\n
Touted as the \u201cmost magnificent luxury ocean liner ever built,\u201d Queen Mary 2 is owned by U.K.-based Cunard Lines. It arrived on Saipan waters at 4:45am, anchoring about a mile and a half from the shore at 5:15am but left at 10am, seven hours ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n
Cunard Lines also owns Queen Victoria, the 964.5-foot cruise ship that docked on Saipan in 2009 and brought over 2,700 passengers and crew members to the island.<\/p>\n
CPA\u2019s Lizama disclosed that it was the Queen Victoria\u2019s successful visit that inspired Queen Mary 2 to include Saipan in its itinerary. \u201cThey graciously brought it to our attention that they wanted to explore Saipan,\u201d she said, noting that this is the first cruise ship to arrive on Saipan and not disembark passengers.<\/p>\n
Seman said that Queen Mary 2\u2019s visit required 19 months of planning and preparation, including the last and most eventful three to four days needed for site preparations done by over 50 key members of the task force created especially for the ship\u2019s visit. <\/p>\n
Upon the arrival of Queen Mary 2 early yesterday morning, Seman said a five-member team composed of himself, CPA and Public Health officials were on board the launch boat Carolinian to conduct an assessment.<\/p>\n
Seman noted that they had to wait until daylight \u201cto get a visual and to try to explore the possibility of sending out the passengers\u201d using tenders given the wind and sea conditions. <\/p>\n
\u201cI agree with the captain\u2019s decision because the conditions were pretty rough. It will be a dangerous situation if the tenders don\u2019t perform well so they\u2019re not going to risk the safety of their passengers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Seman, who was among the privileged few to go aboard Queen Mary 2, welcomed the ship officials on behalf of the Saipan community. He described the liner as a \u201cvery majestic and grand\u201d vessel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like an entirely different world inside Queen Mary 2,\u201d said Seman. \u201cNo matter how rough the seas were outside, you wouldn\u2019t feel it when you\u2019re inside the beautiful ship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seman said the Queen Mary 2 task force stayed up until 10pm the night before to secure the Smiling Cove Marina, not only for the ship\u2019s passengers and crew members but also for the 18 food and arts and crafts vendors that set up shop in the area as early as 5am yesterday.<\/p>\n
About 13 local performing groups were also on standby at the marina but they, too, were dismayed at the cancellation. Around 9am, only task force members and one or two vendor staffers were seen at the site to put away their stuff.<\/p>\n
A food vendor manager who wished to remain anonymous said their staff prepared breakfast menu for 200 persons and brought it to the site as early as 6am.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing because it would mean income loss for us,\u201d said the manager. \u201cBut it was nature that caused it and nobody could have predicted that. We just have to charge it to experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joeten finance manager Claudia Tenorio Adriano said in a separate interview that she and five more employees were at the Smiling Cove as early as 6am along with six seven-passenger mini-vans to provide free shuttle service to the ship\u2019s passengers and allow them to do their shopping at Joeten stores.<\/p>\n
Adriano said their stores\u2014the Hafa Adai Shopping Center in Garapan, Joeten Superstore in San Jose, and the Joeten Susupe Center\u2014all opened at least an hour earlier than usual to accommodate the early shoppers from the ship. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it\u2019s very understandable that the captain\u2019s concern is the safety and well-being of the passengers, we\u2019re just really sad that it had come to this because we and a lot of other vendors made a lot of preparations to set up. We\u2019re just really sad that the passengers missed out on the beauty that Saipan has to offer and the hospitality that we were ready to show them,\u201d she told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
Adriano, who said that this is the first time that they took part in welcoming cruise passengers, assured that they will still take part in any similar events in the future. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to deter us from trying to do this again in the future. When the next cruise ship is ready to come back, we\u2019ll be ready again to provide free shuttle service for the passengers,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Instead of welcoming tourists, elected officials and agency heads who were at the marina yesterday morning ended up talking to vendors who were unable to sell their merchandise.<\/p>\n
Acting governor Eloy S. Inos, who was on site at about 8am, said in a statement that the administration understands the \u201ctough decision\u201d the Queen Mary 2 captain had to make to cancel this part of the cruise, which resulted to passengers missing out the chance to tour the beautiful island of Saipan, enjoy local cuisines, and bring home local mementos.<\/p>\n
Inos acknowledged the \u201cquick response\u201d and \u201cunderstanding\u201d of vendors, government agencies, entertainers, and the rest of the community who got involved in the preparation for the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch effort went into getting a representation of the community ready for the ship\u2019s arrival and we thank all of them for their cooperation and participation,\u201d said Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Perry Tenorio. \u201cI am sure that they share our disappointment but we hope that they will avail themselves again the next time the Queen Mary calls to port here in the Northern Marianas.\u201d<\/p>\n
CPA\u2019s Lizama pointed out that Cunard Lines has expressed interest that it will return to Saipan once again.<\/p>\n
Queen Mary 2 will be heading to Osaka and Nagasaki in Japan, Shanghai and Hong Kong in China, then to Phu My in Vietnam and Laem Chabang in Thailand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anticipation and excitement over the arrival of Queen Mary 2 on Saipan turned to anxiety and disappointment Thursday after the luxury ocean liner called off its planned passenger landing at the Smiling Cove Marina due to high winds and rough seas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}