The cruise industry seems to be its worst enemy sometimes and Celebrity trips He is again a prime example of that The company just had to cancel an additional Celebrity Eclipse cruise.
This time the reason for cancellation is rather strange Marine life attached itself to the hull of the ship While Eclipse was left and accumulated so much that it is now towing the ship, forcing it to a slower speed.
In addition, the ship is not allowed to navigate the many sensitive ecosystems of Upper Alaska bringing with it marine life from the south such as California and Mexico where the ship has been floating around, doing nothing for the past months.
Celebrities just noticed this problem – one week before the eclipse is supposed to kick off the Alaskan season from Vancouver. The Pacific Coastal sailing that was supposed to start the eclipse season since early January has been canceled (it’s booked at that). And now this.
The email sent to the booked guests reads:
Due to the recent marine growth that has developed on a ship’s hull (a natural process you might know as barnacle growth), and our commitment to following local environmental procedures, we are putting the Celebrity Eclipse into a dry dock for 7 days for the safety and security of cleaning the hull responsibly. …
What celebrities do now is that ECLIPSE WILL Sailing with revised itinerary on May 15 Outside Vancouver as planned but due to reduced speed, all ports of call (shorter) stays will be adjusted:
The ship is going at lower speeds than usual, and we have to adjust that in our ports for the timing of the calls. This will result in a shorter time spent on all communication ports. Many of our shore excursions have been affected and their timeframes have changed or been cancelled.
All affected guests will receive a $100 onboard credit on their ship accounts to make up for significantly reduced port time that in some cases like Sitka has been cut by more than half.
Guests now experience the following:
- Tuesday, 5/17 – Sitka – New Ports Timings: 2:15pm – 6pm [previously 11 am to 8:30 pm]
- Wed, 5/18 – Hubbard Glacier – New times: 11:30am to 2pm [previously 9:30 am to 2:30 pm]
- Thursday, 5/19 – Juneau – New port times: 9am-6:30pm [previously 7:30am to 8 pm]
- Friday, 5/20 – Ketchikan – New Port times: 2-5pm [previously 2:00pm-8:30 pm]
Sitka port mod is really bad. Hubbard Glacier is also sad to see it transformed so much. Juno and Ketchikan… well I don’t think there’s much to lose but it does eat into the flight schedule.
The second cruise that was supposed to be on May 22 will be canceled The eclipse moved to the dry dock. the problem!
when talking about barnaclesmost of them saw it stuck to the rocks on the shore, but it formed on sea ships as well:
They can actually form fairly quickly, but a ship that is at idle is like a magnet for them to come in in droves and these things are heavy. If you chop the ones shown in this picture in a bowl and weigh it really down. Now expand that up to the size of a cruise ship.
Of course one has to wonder why this comes as a surprise to an experienced cruise line. When the ship does not move as much as the eclipse has not moved for a long time, this process is a natural consequence. The eclipse was supposed to be observed long ago and relevant measures taken.
I’m currently at Celebrity Solstice and spoke to the hotel manager yesterday when this topic came up. He mentioned that Solstice had just completed dry dock and that this exact procedure as well as a hull drawing was done after Solstice had been out of business for about two years, although he moved a bit and made his first trip to Hawaii recently.
The question arises why this was not pursued earlier as the solstice did? Seems like complete neglect on the part of celebrities. You should know the company better and then voluntarily let something like this happen.
Conclusion
Customers and travel agents have been notified that there will be adjustments to the first two sailings of Celebrity Solstice Alaska out of Vancouver, with the first itinerary on May 15th having been adjusted in relation to port times and the second sailing will be canceled entirely as the ship has been moved to a dry dock. Assuming there are no further issues, Eclipse will continue the Alaskan season as scheduled.
For some reason, I get the impression that Celebrity is focusing a lot of attention on the launch of their new luxury ship with a lot of PR hype but not paying much attention to their existing ships. The Solstice I’m currently using also had months to be seaworthy, but the first thing I discovered in the Aqua Class cabin was a broken shower unit in the bathroom.
