NZ volcano tragedy: prayers and tears silence celebration as Ovation of the Seas returns

As the Ovation of the Seas cruise liner sailed across the Tasman Sea bound for Sydney, its nightspots were eerily quiet.

Cruise passengers Michelle and Greg Fawkner arrive back in Sydney on Monday. Picture: Jane Dempster

As the cruise liner Ovation of the Seas sailed across the Tasman Sea bound for Sydney on Sunday night, its typically buzzing nightspots and live-performance venues were subdued and eerily quiet.

Instead of collecting drinks from one of the ship’s seven bars to toast the final night of their journey, the 4000 grief-stricken passengers were handed hastily compiled pamphlets about mental health services available in Australia.

Josua Joubert, who had been on the cruise as part of a family holiday, said Royal Caribbean had tried to maintain a vacation vibe after 16 fellow travellers had been killed in New Zealand’s White Island volcano eruption last Monday, but it had been impossible to forget the faces no longer on board.

“The Royal Caribbean staff tried to continue with the cruise, the live music and performances, but it’s difficult to sit there and enjoy yourself when you know these people just lost their lives,” Mr Joubert told The Australian as he disembarked in Sydney on Monday morning.

The disaster struck five days into the cruise. There had been time enough in those first few days for many on the cruise to befriend those now lost, with Mr Joubert saying his daughter had met at least one of the victims, Zoe Hosking, 15.

“It’s heartbreaking,” he said, adding it was “extremely reckless to even consider operating” a tour when a warning had been issued.

A common criticism from disembarking passengers was the lack of communication from crew in the aftermath of the eruption. “Some of the passengers went to the guest services to start a petition to demand to know what was going on,” Mr Joubert said.

“We were actually kept informed by what we heard from friends and family back in Australia and what we saw on TV. They knew some of the stuff that we didn’t.”

Others said the days that followed were “sombre”, and silence regularly fell across the massive ship as many passengers prayed and wept.

Honeymooners Greg and Michelle Fawkner narrowly escaped the disaster after finding they were too late to book the popular onshore tour as it had already sold out.

“We didn’t quite know what was going on, we didn’t really know what had happened on White Island (at first),” Ms Fawkner said.

“We actually first heard about it from family contacting us to see if we were OK.

“Once the captain did the announcement, the whole ship went quiet, it was really eerie.”