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Port dispute forces cruise boycott
Celebrity Cruises says it has been forced to shelve plans for port calls in Bali and Komodo, Indonesia, due to an unspecified ‘dispute’ with Indonesian port authorities.
As a result the Celebrity Millennium ship will instead call at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Bangkok, Thailand later this week along with an extended stay in Phuket.
Millennium is on a 14-night cruise from Singapore that had been scheduled to call in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Celebrity issued a statement which read: “We regret to inform our guests booked on the November 23 sailing onboard Celebrity Millennium that a dispute has arisen with local Indonesian authorities of a nature that we believe puts our legal and ethical standards at serious risk.
“Because of this dispute, we have been advised that local officials may either prevent guests from disembarking the ship in Bali, or prevent the ship from departing. We refuse to put our guests and crew at such risk.
“While we have escalated this matter to the national level with the Indonesian government, we regret to inform our guests that resolution is not expected until after their scheduled Bali itinerary stop, forcing the cancellation of the stop.”
Guests who had paid for shore excursions in Bali and Komodo through Celebrity will be compensated with an onboard credit.
The credit may be used for any other onboard purchases or shore excursions at other ports of call.
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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