More drama for Pacific Pearl

The luxury Auckland-based P&O cruise ship Pacific Pearl has run into more drama on the high seas.

It is reported that during a cruise on Thursday of last week a large 3 metre wide chandelier fell through the ships open atrium three storeys down to a café area situated below. No one was injured during the incident but just hours earlier the room had hosted guests at a champagne waterfall event.

P&O spokesman David Jones said “the company was investigating how the chandelier broke from the ceiling and that the reassuring thing was that there were no passengers or crew anywhere near the area when it happened”.

The chandelier was installed during the Pacific Pearl’s recent multi-million pound refit. This incident is one of a reoccurring pattern for the Pacific Pearl. She had an unlucky maiden voyage in December when a seriously ill passenger had to be air lifted from the vessel near the Great Barrier Island and passengers recently complained about non flushing toilets and the lack of drinking water when the ship encountered stormy seas.

This most recent incident is rare but it is extremely fortunate that there were no injuries or that anyone was killed.