Scotia Prince Cancels season due to mold

[Guest guest]

If you can't access the Click " Here " links, go directly to

http://www.scotiaprince.com/ 

2005 Season Cancelled

We are very sorry to inform you that we have been forced to cancel the 2005

season due to a lack of safe and appropriate facilities at the International

Marine Terminal in Portland.

In August 2004, Scotia Prince Cruises discovered dangerous levels of toxic

mold in the terminal facilities we lease from the City of Portland. As of April

1, 2005, the City has not made the facilities safe for our employees or

passengers. Shortly afterwards the Federal Customs and Border Protection

employees

also moved out of the building, apparently due to related health and safety

concerns.

Without safe facilities we cannot operate and the federal agencies cannot

provide border formalities and security checks, so we have been forced to cancel

the season.

Within hours of our announcement that the 2005 season was cancelled for

safety reasons, the City of Portland, publicly and without any warning to us,

unilaterally terminated our lease. This action has put the company in a

precarious

financial position and forced us to list our ship, the M/S Scotia Prince, for

sale or charter and layoff virtually all of our several hundred employees. We

do not know what the future holds, but at this point it appears highly

unlikely that we will resume service to Nova Scotia.

Please accept our apologies – we know this is an inconvenience for you, but

we were not willing to endanger the health of our valued customers and

employees through exposure to dangerous levels of toxic mold. The City’s

subsequent

actions have been terribly damaging to the company and our employees; however,

we stand by the principle of putting the health of our customers and employees

above all else.

Please also accept our gratitude and thanks for your patronage over the

years. We are proud to have been a memorable part of many spring, summer and

fall

vacations.

We have been receving many messages of support – if you are interested please

visit http://www.friendsofscotiaprince.com/ to share your thoughts and see

what others have to say.

If you are visiting our website because you’ve heard rumors of a service to

Nova Scotia aboard the MS Scotia Prince, we are sorry to say that we have no

information about this service as we are not currently in discussions to charter

the ship for a Nova Scotia route. The rumors have created a lot of inquiries

which we are unable to handle due to our reduced staff. Please don’t call or

email us about the route as we have no information and very limited capacity to

respond to inquiries. If we become involved with any service to NS, we will

let you know. Thank you for your interest and understanding.

While we are unable to operate, our partner hotels can still help plan a

wonderful Atlantic Canada vacation. Click HERE for a list of vacation properties

we recommend.

Click HERE for the Friends of Scotia Prince web site, which has more

information about mold, the season's cancellation, and our communications with

the

city of Portland.

Click HERE if you are reading this because of the rumors about a service

between Boston and Nova Scotia.

Click HERE for the letter to Scotia Prince Cruises employees regarding the

season cancellation notice.

Click HERE for the background since Scotia Prince Cruises discovered

dangerous levels of toxic mold in the city of Portland's International Marine

Terminal.

Execucard Certificate Holders

[Guest guest]

I urge you to go directly to this site. There's tons and tons of information

on it regarding the battle with the City of Portland, timeline of events,

links, federal government employees (customs) leaving this sick building, etc.

Well worth the trip!