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Dozens of Australians stranded on a cruise ship with thousands of other tourists will finally arrive at their final destination two days later than planned after their ship broke down mid-voyage.
Melbourne couple Steve and Karen Dermietzel are among 111 Australians aboard Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas for a seven-night voyage around Japan.
But their vacation plans were thrown into chaos after the ship spent two days docked in Yokohama due to “unplanned maintenance.”
To make matters worse, the 4,500 passengers on board were confined to the cruise ship while it was docked in port and were unable to disembark to explore the city or catch an early flight home.
Passengers also reportedly had their passports confiscated when they boarded for the first time at the Chinese port of Shanghai last Saturday.
The cruise ship is understood to have left Yokohama and is scheduled to return to its final destination, Shanghai, on Monday, two days after its arrival.
The Dermietzels can’t wait for the trip to be over.
‘They will not allow us to enter Japanese land. “It’s strange because in the last 16 days we’ve been on Japanese soil on five different occasions,” Steve said. Seven news.
Steve and Karen Dermietzel were among the 4,500 cruise passengers stranded on the Spectrum of the Seas.
Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas is expected to end its final voyage on Monday
His wife added that a lack of communication between the crew and the cruise operator added to the nightmare, forcing Dermietzel to say he also emailed the Australian embassy in Japan for help.
“However, they do not give us enough information and blame Royal Caribbean saying that it is being handled by the head office and therefore, due to US time, there is also a time (lag),” said the lady. Dermietzel.
The couple added that the company’s compensation offer of $600 per passenger to rebook a disrupted trip was not enough to cover the costs, which they hope to recover through insurance.
“The people on the ship here say that Royal Caribbean is dealing with this at their head office in the US and of course with the time difference, it’s not fantastic,” Ms Dermietzel told the Herald of the sun.
‘I’ve done about eight cruises before, but this was the worst. “I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
Steve and Karen Dermietzel were forced to take selfies on a cruise ship while docked in Yokohama.
A Royal Caribbean spokesperson previously said the delay was due to “unplanned maintenance.”
“We performed unplanned maintenance, adjusted our current itinerary and canceled our upcoming trip,” the spokesperson said.
“We apologize to our guests for the inconvenience and are contacting them directly.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Royal Caribbean for comment.