Two overnight crossings between Argentia, NL, and North Sydney, NS, on MV Atlantic Vision were canceled on Friday and Saturday after engine trouble on another vessel, MV Highlanders. MV Atlantic Vision has been withdrawn from the usual Argentia-North Sydney route to take over MV Highlanders, which regularly sails between Port aux Basques, NL, and North Sydney. “Our engineering teams have advised that repairs to MV Highlanders engine will be completed today and the vessel will return to service later this afternoon. This will allow Atlantic Vision to continue its crossings to Argentina tonight,” Darrell Mercer , a spokesman for Marine Atlantic, said in an email Sunday. Mercer said about 1,000 passengers were affected by the two canceled services and many of them had already passed through Port aux Basques. Mercer said the remaining customers will be rebooked on the next available Argentia sailing. Those wishing to cancel their booking will receive a full refund. “Those wishing to discuss alternative plans over the next two days are encouraged to contact our reservations team to discuss options,” Mercer said. “Unfortunately, with the large volume of traffic currently held up, any loss of crossings will result in delays for affected customers. We are working to minimize these delays, but capacity remains a challenge.”
Retention of headaches
For some passengers whose trips were canceled, like Terri Gulbrandson and her family, securing another reservation has proven to be a headache. Gulbrandson and her family took the ferry to Newfoundland from Nova Scotia on August 1 and were due to return on Saturday. (Terri Gulbrandson) The Nova Scotia family arrived in Newfoundland on August 1 in their truck and a camper for their first visit to the island. Gulbrandson, her husband, two children and mother were scheduled to return to Nova Scotia on Saturday’s ferry from Argentina. “The news release they put out made it seem like, oh, it’s no problem to just drive to Port aux Basques, which is 12 hours away or nine hours or something, and take a fast ferry across,” he said. “But when we called, we couldn’t get a reservation there until August 23.”
There is no work
Gulbrandson and her husband are both set to return to work, so extending their vacation would mean a loss of income and significant additional costs for the family. The family explored other options, including leaving with the truck and shipping the camper at a later date, but that would have cost them about $600 more, Gulbrandson said. In order for at least one of them to return to work, Gulbrandson said, she will return to Nova Scotia with her mother and daughter on Monday. Her husband and son will return with the truck and camper on August 22nd. Gulbrandson said they were fortunate to be able to keep their campsite for the extra days, but will be charged for the extra stay. He said that before the problems with the ship, the family thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Newfoundland. “Just kidding, I said I didn’t want to go home because it was so beautiful,” she said with a laugh.
