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Caribbean cruises cancelled and delayed
Royal Caribbean has cancelled three cruises and has made changes to three others in light of Hurricane Irma.
Guests already holidaying on Oasis, Harmony and Allure of the Seas will be kept out to sea until the storm, which is the size of France, has passed.
"Due to the unpredictability of the storm, we plan to keep all of our guests currently sailing on these ships safely out of harm’s way," said the cruise line.
It said its chief meteorologist, James Van Fleet, is closely tracking the storm’s progress and warned customers that two more hurricanes are following behind.
A Western Caribbean cruise on Allure of the Seas, and two Eastern Caribbean cruises on Harmony of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas, due to leave this weekend, have been delayed until next week and their itineraries altered.
Customers on cancelled cruises will be refunded the full price and will get a 25% future cruise credit, based on the cruise fare, if a new cruise is booked in the next 30 days.
Those on delayed sailings will get a 50% refund if they go ahead and sail, in the form of a refundable onboard credit, and an additional 50% future cruise credit.
Those unable to travel who need to cancel next week’s cruise will get a 100% future cruise credit.
"Pre-booked shore excursions will be refunded to your original form of payment, and you will have the ability to book excursions in our new port of call once onboard," said RCI.
Three other cruises, to Bermuda and the Bahamas, are being monitored.
Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Line’s voyages on September 8 and 9 have been scrapped out of Miami citing risk to the ‘safety of our guests and crew’,
Passengers booked on Norwegian Sky and Norwegian Escape are entitled to a full refund plus a 50% future cruise credit.
Carnival Cruise Line also cancelled two sailings out of Galveston, while Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream will head back to Port Canaveral earlier than scheduled and three subsequent sailings are cancelled.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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