Ambassador Cruise Line has apologised to guests who witnessed a whale hunt as their ship sailed into port in the Faroe Islands.
The operator, which has a partnership with marine conservation charity ORCA, tweeted to say the arrival of 1,400-passenger ship Ambience into Torshavn on Monday (10 July) coincided with ‘the culmination of a hunt of 40-plus pilot whales in the port area’.
It added: “We strongly object to this outdated practice, and have been working with our partner ORCA, a charity charity dedicated to studying and protecting whales, dolphins and porpoises in UK and European waters, to encourage change since 2021.
“Sustainability is one of Ambassador Cruise Line’s core values and we fully appreciate that witnessing this local event would have been distressing for the majority of guests onboard.
“Accordingly, we would like to sincerely apologise to them for any undue upset.”
CEO Christian Verhounig said: “We are dedicated to supporting ORCA in their endeavours to collect data and to monitor whales and dolphins and we are extremely disappointed that his has happened after weeks of trying to open constructive dialogue with the Faroese Government and Visit Faroes on these issues.
“We continue to educate our guests and crew not to buy or eat any whale meat and stand against any profiteering from commercial whaling and dolphin hunts.”
Several Twitter users urged Ambassador to stop calling at the Faroe Islands.
One said: “The thing to do here is to commit publicly to never visit the islands again and to try to encourage other cruise lines to follow suit,” while another posted: “Take [Faroe Islands] off your port of call.”
A third wrote: “Don’t visit there until they stop this horrific slaughtering. Imagine enjoying killing these beautiful, intelligent and gentle creatures.”
Ambassador hasn’t commented on whether it will now remove the Faroe Islands from future itineraries.
Ambience is next due to call into Torshavn on 15 September this year during a 34-day Grand Canada Greenland Experience.
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The operator, which has a partnership with marine conservation charity ORCA, tweeted to say the arrival of 1,400-passenger ship Ambience into Torshavn on Monday (10 July) coincided with ‘the culmination of a hunt of 40-plus pilot whales in the port area’.
It added: “We strongly object to this outdated practice, and have been working with our partner ORCA, a charity charity dedicated to studying and protecting whales, dolphins and porpoises in UK and European waters, to encourage change since 2021.
“Sustainability is one of Ambassador Cruise Line’s core values and we fully appreciate that witnessing this local event would have been distressing for the majority of guests onboard.
“Accordingly, we would like to sincerely apologise to them for any undue upset.”
CEO Christian Verhounig said: “We are dedicated to supporting ORCA in their endeavours to collect data and to monitor whales and dolphins and we are extremely disappointed that his has happened after weeks of trying to open constructive dialogue with the Faroese Government and Visit Faroes on these issues.
“We continue to educate our guests and crew not to buy or eat any whale meat and stand against any profiteering from commercial whaling and dolphin hunts.”
Several Twitter users urged Ambassador to stop calling at the Faroe Islands.
One said: “The thing to do here is to commit publicly to never visit the islands again and to try to encourage other cruise lines to follow suit,” while another posted: “Take [Faroe Islands] off your port of call.”
A third wrote: “Don’t visit there until they stop this horrific slaughtering. Imagine enjoying killing these beautiful, intelligent and gentle creatures.”
Ambassador hasn’t commented on whether it will now remove the Faroe Islands from future itineraries.
Ambience is next due to call into Torshavn on 15 September this year during a 34-day Grand Canada Greenland Experience.
The post Cruise line urged to ditch Faroe Islands after passengers witness ‘distressing’ whale hunt appeared first on Travel Gossip.
Continue reading...
