The cruise line turned away after crew were denied visas has cancelled its upcoming season of expedition voyages around New Zealand.

Ponant said it had been forced to scrap the seven fully booked cruises after Immigration New Zealand refused to issue visas for 61 of 90 Le Lapérouse crew members because they were not considered critical workers.

The Government says the ship left Jakarta before its paperwork was finalised but the boat's owner believes it and the crew were given the all-clear to come.

The cruise line described the cancellation as “devastating”, saying it will disrupt the travel plans of more than 650 New Zealanders and result in up to $6 million in lost income for New Zealand businesses.

Ponant’s Asia Pacific chair Sarina Bratton said the Immigration NZ ruling on visas, despite the director-general of health giving Le Lapérouse permission to come here, called into question the future viability of expedition cruising around New Zealand and processes would need to be reviewed before the company would return.

“We have done all of this in good faith, there was no way any company would have gone to the lengths and the expenses of travelling 3600 nautical miles if there was any doubt about the operation proceeding.

“Unless there is a change of policy, it will be very difficult for any operator to manage the commercial and operational risks that are being imposed.”

Le Lapérouse turned around 200 nautical miles off the New Zealand coast last week and headed to New Caledonia after 29 technical crew were granted visas but 61 staff in “hotel” type roles were not and negotiations with Immigration NZ to reverse that decision were unsuccessful.

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A Government spokesman confirmed that the company had requested a border exception, which would have allowed them to apply for visas and that the exception was denied.

Last week Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi was critical of Ponant for its tardy application for exemptions for crew who included masseuses, hairdressers and bar staff, while Ponant and its New Zealand agent argued the rules were changed at the last minute.

In an attempt to meet Immigration NZ requirements the company hastily tried to recruit a further 20 New Zealanders to fill passenger service roles deemed “not critical” but, Bratton said, 12 of the 14 applicants for hospitality jobs had no experience in the field and none had the necessary marine safety qualification.

So far the whole exercise has cost Ponant just under $2m and the company was now working out what to do with the crew who were due to begin cruises of Australia's Kimberley region in April.

The ship would remain off the coast of New Caledonia until a decision was made on where she would head next following the cancellation of the two-month New Zealand season.

Financial losses for the New Zealand economy included a $150,000 refit of the vessel due to be carried out by Titan Marine in Auckland, and several hundred thousand dollars in wages that would have been paid to 16 Kiwis contracted to work as naturalists and in other expedition roles.

Under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Maritime Border Order, the director-general of health can give foreign ships permission to enter New Zealand for refits or refurbishment, or to deliver a ship to a business, both of which applied to Le Lapérouse.

Bratton said the border order clearly stated the Ministry of Health was supposed to consult other agencies, such as Immigration NZ, and told the cruise line it was limited to carrying 100 passengers at a time.

New Zealand Cruise Association chief executive Kevin O’Sullivan said cancellation of the Ponant cruise season, which had been months in the making, was extremely disappointing and he wanted to ensure visas issues with Immigration NZ did not occur again.

“I get the impression they are trying to wriggle out of it and backtrack on what was quite clear in the decision from the Ministry of Health in December.

“The problem now is that the cruise lines will be looking to New Zealand [and asking], can we really trust government departments to do what they should be doing? So our reputation will take a hit because of a lack of trust in government processes.”

But a Ministry of Health spokesperson said two separate issues – the right to enter New Zealand and what happened after that – were being “conflated”.

The director-general of health’s permission for Le Lapérouse to enter New Zealand for a specific purpose was still subject to meeting any immigration requirements connected to that specific purpose.

“While discussing that permission, Le Lapérouse did indicate their desire to later operate domestic cruises and so the director-general included some additional requirements to their permission to enter related specifically to any such subsequent cruises.

“However those additional requirements are irrelevant until such time as the applicants achieve the specific initial purpose.”