Stranded Arctic cruise passengers head home

Passengers trapped aboard a cruise ship bound for the Northwest Passage were returning home Monday, three days after their vessel ran aground on an uncharted rock off the Nunavut coast.

The MV Clipper Adventurer went aground Friday evening while making its way from Port Epworth to Kugluktuk, Nunavut.

None of the passengers was injured, but they were forced to stay on the ship until Sunday, when a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker arrived to ferry them to Kugluktuk. The coast guard said there were 128 passengers aboard.

Cedar Bradley-Swan, co-owner of the vacation company Adventure Canada, the passengers congregated in the community hall in Kugluktuk. They arrived at the Edmonton International Airport on Monday afternoon.

"We never really felt threatened and we're very happy to be here," said Elizabeth Richard of Quebec City.

But other passengers spoke of feeling fear immediately after the ship went around.

"I clung to my neighbour," said British tourist Barbara Saunt. "That's all I could tell you because we didn't know what had happened and could only imagine the terrible worst."

Whitehorse resident Alice Cyr said the noise made her think the ship was caught up in an explosion or an earthquake.

"There was that moment of fear because you couldn't imagine what that terrible noise was but as soon as the ship ground to a halt, I mean it just clicked, "We've hit something,'" she said.

Both Saunt and Cyr said the ship's crew took good care of them. They also had praise for the coast guard staff.

"Well done, the coast guard. They were exceptional. Absolutely exceptional," Saunt said. "Canada can be proud."

'Keen to come back'

Matthew Swan, the CEO of Adventure Canada, was on board when the ship got stuck.

"We were on a single line track here that indicated we had 68 metres of water directly under us when we found ourselves on a rock," Swan said earlier.

"It's a part of the world where you do your best, but there are blank spots on the map."

The cruise ship remains grounded — a big disappointment for passengers who were waiting in Yellowknife. It was to be their turn to sail the Northwest Passage but now they are heading home.

Murray Waghorn travelled from southern New Zealand to Yellowknife and was ready for the voyage.

"I think all of us are keen to come back and do it," Waghorn said. "But whether we get the opportunity — who knows a year out where our lives will be?"

Author Margaret Atwood was to be a lecturer on the Clipper Adventurer.

"We certainly plan to do the trip next year — a lot of people we're with have said the same thing," she said.

"It's the Northwest Passage, and it is a trip on which you are likely to see the most whales, seals, other things like that."

"We don’t own this ship. We charter her," Bradley-Swan said. "So the owners are sending in a crew today to assess the situation."

The owners will decide whether to try to move the crew off the boat, or sail it to port for repairs, she said.