Royal Caribbean has had to cancel cruises after announcing it has sold Legend of the Seas to UK-based Thomson Cruises.
A spokesperson from Royal Caribbean Cruises International in Singapore said the line is compensated and offering full refunds to passengers who are unable to rebook on a different itinerary.
“To accommodate guests booked on the affected sailings, Royal Caribbean will provide vacationers with a full refund of their cruise fare, the opportunity to re-book on another Royal Caribbean ship as well as an onboard credit to use during the newly booked sailing,” said the spokesperson.
“In addition, vacationers who purchased airfare through Royal Caribbean will receive a full refund. Guests purchasing their own airfare will be given a refund for their airline change fee. All refund transactions will be automatically processed back to the original form of payment within four to six weeks
The line announced it would bring forward Legend’s repositioning cruise from Brisbane to Asia to February 20, 2017 which will mark the vessel’s final sailing in Australia after 10 years.
Legend of the Seas is the only ship in the Australasian Royal Caribbean fleet that can operate out of the current Portside terminal in Brisbane. Other larger ships use the temporary berths at Fisherman Islands on the eastern side of the Gateway Bridges.
With the sale of Legend of the Seas, Royal Caribbean say they do not have a ship that can berth at Portside on a regular basis required for home porting.
All onward itineraries in Asia and Europe on Legend of the Seas will also be affected. Two additional new sailings will be offered from Singapore to Dubai (3 March 2017, 10 nights) and Dubai to Barcelona (13 March 2017, 13 nights).
Rhapsody of the Seas will then replace all of Legend of the Seas’ scheduled cruises in the Mediterranean from June to October 2017, with identical itineraries and departure dates, sailing from Venice, Italy.
Legend of the Seas debuted in 1995, and home ported at Portside Wharf, Hamilton in Queensland for the 2015/16 summer season, with a second season to follow from November 2016. Her final Australian sailing will depart Brisbane on 20 February 2017.
