Visit of the MS Ambience, April 2024
Report and photos from Kelly Green.
The cruise ship MS Ambience arrived at Tristan da Cunha in the morning of the 10th April 2024 just after 6:00am.
MS Ambience close offshore in the morning
The ship came in close to the settlement, which gave passengers a good view, but unfortunately no landing operations were possible then due to the swell. However she went for a cruise around the island and came back a few hours later to see if conditions had improved
Close-up of the Ambience inshore, showing passengers lining the rails for a good view of the settlement,
while curiously the BBC News is shown on the outdoor cinema screen of her lido deck.
When the Ambience returned at 11:00am, operations were cancelled by the Captain. Even though the harbour was workable for islanders, the ship was not able to use her tenders to land passengers, and it was deemed unsafe for island personnel to board the vessel using her pilot ladder.
This was a sad disappointment for all the islanders as they had spent two days in preparation. All the shops had packed up enough items to take on board to sell to over 1000 passengers and 500 crew!
But safety comes first! We wish her safe sailing onwards to Brazil!
Bags and boxes of handicrafts, stamps and souvenirs ready to be taken on board the MS Ambience,
which alas did not happen on this occasion
The Post Office and Tourism Team has been getting lots of emails from passengers onboard wishing to send postcards. What the team will do is let them purchase these online and they can personalise the postcards on their behalf with their messages to relatives and friends. The team will then post them from the island with Tristan stamps and postmarks. Hopefully, that will cheer some people up!
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| Some of the stamps and souvenirs that would have been taken on board | |