Last month, we told you that the refurbishment of Royal Caribbean’s Empress of the Seas was taking longer than expected, leading to six cruises being cancelled. Well, (recent) history is repeating itself as this week comes news that the line is having to cut another seven sailings in order to finish the work being done on the ship’s galleys.
What’s The Problem?
In a letter send out to travel agents, Royal Caribbean explained that only after work on the refurbishment began did that realize that “more significant infrastructure and physical improvements across the ship’s multiple galleys and provisioning areas were needed to meet our high standards.” Translation: The kitchens were more of a mess than they’d originally thought.
“We decided that instead of simply repairing the five galleys,” continued the missive, “we would complete rebuild them, starting from scratch” at a cost of around $10 million.
Bad News/Good News
Of course, this news is especially troubling to folks who’d been booked on one of the originally-axed sailings, only to find that their re-booked trip has also been cancelled! But those folks will get not only a full refund, but also credit for a free cruise at a later date. Guests who were to sail on the April 25 or April 30th sailings who do not rebook will receive a full refund and a future cruise credit for half of what they’d originally paid to book passage. And guests set to sail on the May sailings will receive an onboard credit if they book another Royal Caribbean sailing.
