Cruise line delays ship ahead of expected severe storm in Britain over weekend

Monday, November 4, 2019

A leading cruise line has delayed one of its ships by three days which has wrecked the travel plans of thousands already on board or due to sail ahead of the severe storms expected to batter Britain over the weekend.

Royal Caribbean announced that its ship Explorer of the Seas  will not be calling at Vigo or La Coruna in Spain.Instead of docking in Southampton next Tuesday morning 5 November they will be spending extra three nights on board.

More than 3,000 passengers booked on a transatlantic voyage will depart three days late due to the ship’s late arrival back in the UK.

From Southamptn on Tuesday % November in the afternoon, Explorer of the Seas, was due to sail and cross the ocean in a week.

On 19 November, passengers had booked in the expectation of spending a full day in each of St. Lucia, Barbados, Dominica and Antigua.

On Friday 8 November the passengers have been informed that the voyage will start and will miss out all four Caribbean islands on the original itinerary.

A ‘future cruise credit’ will be issued to the passengers by the Initially Royal Caribbean, however, they are now offering refunds to anyone who decides to cancel.

A pro-rata refund of the cruise days missed will be offered to the passengers who wish to go ahead with the sailing. A credit note will also be offered to the passengers to the same value so that they can come back and sail with Royal Caribbean at the same time in the next two years.

Four storms have been carefully monitored with their chief meteorologist, James van Fleet, which has impacted the current Explorer of the Seas ailing which will be impacting their route while crossing the Transtalantic.

At different times the storms are large, growing and moving quickly and as one passes the other one is making its way into their path.

In order to avoid the bumpy journey they were forced to change their current itinerary.

The 11-night ‘Sunshine in the Canaries’ voyage has been extended to two weeks and the ship was currently off the coast of Morocco.

Some passengers complained that they run a small business and will have to cancel work and appointments.

At Malga  and Lisbon the ship will call additional on its way back to Southampton while passengers will be able to leave the ship in the Portuguese and fly home.

At £310 per person , Royal Caribbean has capped the payment for flights at an additional costs.

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