Jon Bricker
National Post

R.J. Frost, The Canadian Press

Fred Knorr of California looks for luggage after the Arcadia's passengers were ordered off in Sault Ste. Marie.

R.J. Frost, The Canadian Press

The company that chartered the Arcadia cruise ship says many passengers cancelled bookings after learning the ship had received a no-sail order because of sanitation problems. The no-sail order was later lifted.: (Photo ran in all editions except Toronto.)

A one-week Great Lakes boat cruise has been cut short for 121 passengers in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., after an announcement that the U.S. firm that chartered the trip has run out of money.

The cruise, which left Windsor on Saturday, was supposed to include a tour of Lake Superior with stops in Michigan and Minnesota, as well as Thunder Bay, before arriving in Detroit next Saturday.

Instead, passengers arrived by bus in Windsor yesterday, four days ahead of schedule.

The decision by Great Lakes Cruises, Inc., to cease operations, follows floods of refund requests by passengers upset over media reports last week that the MTS Arcadia cruise ship had received a rare failing grade for sanitation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was only the second no-sail order handed down since the CDC began its vessel sanitation investigation program in the mid-1970s.

"Our bookings have fallen down to a trickle since this stuff hit the press," said Barry Craig, co-owner of the Wisconsin-based charter company.

He said an overwhelming number of travellers who had booked on upcoming cruises cancelled their reservations after the CDC cited poor food refrigeration, a dirty kitchen and a failure to guarantee potable drinking water, in issuing the no-sail order last week.

The no-sail order was lifted on Saturday following an inspection in Windsor by the CDC, the U.S. Coast Guard and Health Canada. However, according to Mr. Craig, the damage had already been done to the cruise company's reputation and bank accounts.

"We reached a point where bookings became so scarce because of bad publicity that we no longer had enough guarantee of future income to meet our bills," he said.

The refund requests will likely mean bankruptcy for Great Lakes Cruises and its co-owners, Mr. Craig and his partner, Ralph Diehl. The company was recently hit with another wave of refund requests over a previous voyage.

According to Dave Bennitz, the senior consultant for Health Canada's cruise ship inspection program, the no-sail order was necessary in this case in light of repeated warnings about sanitation on the Arcadia.

He said a cruise ship must receive a score of 86 out of 100 points to pass a sanitation investigation. During a recent investigation, the Arcadia received a score of 59.

"It's very unusual to see a vessel score this low," Mr. Bennitz said.

He said there have been no complaints about health problems resulting from poor sanitation on the Arcadia, but cruise carriers need to be especially diligent about on-board sanitation.

"There's a lot at risk for them if they wind up having a food poisoning while they're on the water," said Mr. Bennitz. "It's up to them to keep the vessel in good order."

Great Lakes Cruises was founded in 1998. According to Mr. Craig, with the decision to charter the 367-foot, 224-passenger Arcadia, this was supposed to be a particularly successful year.

The ship was slated to be the first in more than 30 years to sail a full season on the Great Lakes.

"Enthusiasm was running very high until this series of negative publicity," he said. "We were handling bookings at a pretty good clip."

He claimed the Attika Shipping Company, the Greek firm that owns the Arcadia, did not tell the chartering firm about the poor shape the Arcadia was in. He added Great Lakes Cruises and its owners may now declare bankruptcy, depending on the outcome of arbitration with Attika Shipping.

Mr. Craig said the legal battle will also determine whether disappointed travellers will receive refunds.

"I wish we could write them all a cheque," he said.

I can't believe that any charterer would charter a ship without having been aboard her. If they hadn't seen the ship..well they deserve what they got. I don't block hotel space for our pax without having visited the hotels!!!

I'd be interested to know just how much they were charging pax for this cruise.

RDV1111:
you mention problems with Aegean 1: did you charter her? sail on her ? would you kindly share your experiences >> dack@dack.de

I have been in the business of cruise ships for a long time and the concept of getting a cheap low quality cruise when you pay a low price, simply does not need to be.

The economics involved in a larger +300 pax, cruise ship are such that even charging $75.00 a day, you can deliver a quality product from a facility, cleanliness,service and food and beverage perspective.

My experience is that you do not need to deliver nouvelle cuisine, but simple, honest, well prepared, food that entertains the taste buds, is hot when it's supposed to be and cold when it's supposed to be, will make most passngers very happy.

Good service is a by product of training and dedicated management.

Cleanliness is about having high standards and inspecting frequently.

In short, even an inexpensive cruise can be high quality if you have professional people dedicated to the task on board and ashore. You can do these things and still make money.

Let's take a look at what Arcadia probably involved for Great Lakes economically.

Charter: Maximum bareboat charter (no crew, just the ship) $5,000 a day (probably less)

Food: $10 - 12.50 Per Person per Day

Crew: $10 per person per day when full

Fuel: $8 per person per day when full

All other: $10 per person per day when full

So with 200 Passengers aboard, their daily expenses are 8,100, plus the 5,000 or 13,100, which is only $65.50 per person per day. Shore side costs, marketing, etc, over a season will add $10 per person per day, so put it up to $75.

If they are charging over $100 a day (which they were), they should be making very very good money. However, the second they get into a "cash flow" crunch, they shut down. This tells me someone put some very good cash in their pockets and then bailed when it looked like they were going to have to give people their money back.

As far as Golden Sun is concerned, I had some first hand experience with them when using the Aegean 1 last year. They are a very nice bunch of fellows, and truth be told, run OK ships, but they do not have a clue, nor do they care to, about our silly USPH and Coast Guard regulations. If you search the green sheets, you will find Aegean got almost as low a score as the Arcadia did when she was inspected two years ago.

Those prices you quoted for the other lines are brochure. I recently booked my parents on the Cape May Light... 7 nights $1395.00pp. Le Levant a couple of summers ago....... $1195.00pp...both include port charges.

Columbus is in a league of its own. But you can still get a 10% discount from any discount cruise agent.