Millennium Scrubs Rest of Troubled Cruise; Next Cruise Also Cancelled

OceanAngel · July 9, 2007

An unsuccessful effort to repair cruise ship Millennium's damaged propellers while docked at Rome's port of Civitavecchia with a full load of passengers growing more unhappy by the day led to a belated decision to cancel the rest of the cruise and seek a drydock.

Celebrity Cruises on July 8th gave up on efforts to repair the ship and continue on with the last part of the cruise, and passengers said they had been informed they would be assisted in flying home from Rome or transferred by bus or train to Venice to catch flights July 12th, when the ship was to have reached that destination.

Amazingly, there was no announcement from Celebrity -- and not a word posted on its website Sunday -- either on the cancellation of the current cruise, or whether the Millennium's next Mediterranean cruise would sail from Venice July 12th as scheduled

But Celebrity officials privately confirmed Sunday night that the July 12th cruise also has been cancelled, and passengers booked on that cruise will receive a full refund plus a credit for that same amount toward a future cruise.

There was also no immediate word on where Millennium would enter drydock for work on a damaged blade that will not come loose from its port propeller.

For passengers on the aborted cruise, things have been going from bad to worse since July 2nd, the second full day of their 12-night cruise from Barcelona to Venice, when the cruise ship somehow drifted onto submerged rocks while anchored off Villefranche, damaging a number of propeller blades.

Able to travel at only half-speed following the accident, Millennium cancelled a scheduled call at Livorno (the port for Florence), and limped into Rome's port of Civitavecchia, where divers from the United States, Norway and the Netherlands met the ship to make underwater repairs.

As each day passed, additional port calls were cancelled -- Naples, the island of Santorini and Athens.

The line finally informed passengers that repairs would be completed by late on July 7th, and the ship would make an unplanned stop at Corfu as well as a scheduled visit to Dubrovnik en route back to Venice.

However, unexpected problems in changing one of the propeller blades kept the ship from sailing on the 7th. Late on the 8th, passengers were given word the balance of the cruise had been cancelled.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said passengers aboard the ship were being given a full refund of the cost of their cruise, and were also offered a variety of free bus tours to Florence, Pompeii and Sorrento (four-to-five hours each way) while stuck in Civitavecchia.

The spokesperson also said Celebrity would pay return airfare from Rome for passengers who had booked their air separately from their cruise.

http://www.cruise-ship-report.com/News/070907.htm