A pilots’ strike prevented numerous people from continuing their journey on Svalbard. By coincidence, some of them no longer continue their journey in the air, but on the water.
The cruise line Tui Cruises took several air travelers who were stranded there on Spitsbergen on board the cruise ship “Mein Schiff 3”. The shipping company had previously been informed by a shore excursion partner that there were several travelers in the Spitsbergen region who were unable to travel further due to a pilot strike on the Scandinavian airline SAS, a Tui Cruises spokeswoman said on Sunday the German Press Agency in Hamburg.
Around 120 people accepted the offer of a cabin on the ship, including seven children under the age of 14. The ship was due to start south on Sunday evening. The spontaneous trip costs the passengers including food and drink around 100 euros per night, as the spokeswoman said. She was initially unable to say to what extent these costs would be borne by the airlines.
According to the information, the “Mein Schiff 3” has around 1580 cabins, some of them were not occupied on the current Norway cruise. The people who come from Australia, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, France and Germany, among others, are now accommodated in 80 of these cabins. You can disembark along the route. According to the information, most of them go with them to Tromsø. 16 guests stay on board until Bremerhaven, where the trip normally ends on July 17th.
Spitsbergen is part of the Norwegian archipelago in the North Atlantic, the Svalbard. This is located in the Arctic Ocean, consists of more than 400 islands and has around 2500 inhabitants.
