Saturday, March 12, 2011

Azamara Quest Skips Osaka Call

Azamara Quest
Japan Closes
Ports of Call 
Impacts Azamara Quest

The devastating earthquake and the resulting tsunami that struck off the coast of Honshu, Japan yesterday, caused widespread death, injury, and damage leaving the country in a state of emergency. 
Azamara Quest was in Nagasaki, Japan at the time of the earthquake and resulting tsunami. It was on the Northeast side of Japan, in a protected bay far away from danger. The ship sailed into deep waters about an hour after the earthquake and was in no danger. The next scheduled port of call was Osaka, which is 38 hours sailing time from Nagasaki.

Azamara Club Cruises released the following statement today, as it cancelled the Quest's next port of call:

"The entire country of Japan is still assessing the extent of the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami. While initial reports suggest that Kyoto (Osaka) did not sustain major damage, we feel that the recent events and continuing aftershocks have the potential to seriously disrupt Azamara Quest's experience and our operations in port."

Cruise lines that have upcoming calls in Japan will be monitoring the situation and making itinerary changes as necessary.   We will provide updates as we learn of any changes.

Several cruise lines issued statements in the wake of the disaster  (read more here)


No comments: