Bad weather forces cruise liner to turn back

Nearly 4,000 cruise passengers were forced to abort their day trip to Malta yesterday morning after strong winds buffeting the Grand Harbour forced the Costa Favolosa to head to Catania. The cruise liner’s captain Giulio Valestra decided not to risk the safety of passengers and crew and headed to the Sicilian coast after spending 45 minutes outside the Grand Harbour’s breakwater. Passengers aboard the liner spent another day of cruising before the Costa Favolosa docked at Catania at about 4pm yesterday. According to Malta Maritime Pilots Cooperation chief pilot Jesmond Mifsud, the redirection to another port was not common. “We’ve often operated in such weather – in fact, we’ve seen worse. The pilot advised the captain to keep tug boats on standby. However, after consulting with the owners, Costa Crociere, he decided against entering Grand Harbour and sailed to the next port on the itinerary.” Orange Travel Group, the sales agents for Costa, made arrangements to charter an aircraft to transport the 150 passengers who were due to disembark in Malta. They arrived last night. Arrangements were also made to fly out the passengers waiting to board the liner from Malta to Catania...