Posted on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 by Martin Cox
CELEBRITY ECLIPSE approaching Southampton April 20, 2010. Photo copyright Patrica Dempsey.
Celebrity Cruise Line’s brand new 2,800 passenger CELEBRITY ECLIPSE has arrived at Southampton today, April 20. The first inaugural event scheduled for this week has been scrubbed so the ship can head to Spain to pick up British tourists stranded by the volcanic ash cloud that continues to linger over Northern Europe. CELEBRITY ECLIPSE will arrive in Bilbao early on April 22, embark about 2,000 people who have been unable to fly for the last five days and return them to Southampton late Friday, April 23. A separate event for the ship’s naming is still scheduled to take place at Southampton on April 24. Richard Fain, chairman of Celebrity Cruises parent company, Royal Caribbean International, said: “The events affecting air travel are completely unprecedented and it is in times like these that the global travel industry needs to pull together.”
Patricia
April 20, 2010 at 5:14 pm
She left at 8pm, blasting away merrily. Great having no planes because the horns aren’t drowned out! 2 hours later the airports opened!
David
April 20, 2010 at 5:37 pm
THREE CHEERS FOR ROYAL CARIBBEAN AND CELEBRITY !
bob
April 21, 2010 at 8:33 am
Some of these new ships barely look like ships and more like barges with hotels sitting on top. I’ve never been on a cruise ship in my life but I’d like to go at some point. It might be fascinating to be on such a huge moving object but part of me would rather cruise on something that looks more like a cruise ship instead.
Rob
April 21, 2010 at 10:28 am
A definate lack of news coverage of this happening anywhere on T.V. / Press.
No election publicity in this one for any party either.What was the point in sending the Navy to bring back 250 people when this one trip will bring back between 8 or 10 times as many people in one trip, definately more cost effective even if tte goverment had chartered the ship.
Dan
April 22, 2010 at 6:10 pm
I wonder how many of the stranded tourists who were picked up by ECLIPSE will now sail on a Celebrity cruise now that they have sampled the product.
Kudos for doing the right thing and great PR at the same time.
Michael Bund
April 23, 2010 at 1:39 pm
What a nice publicity stunt by Royal Caribbean. It is a shame that they did not show any customer care when they dump all their customers of the Splendor of the Seas on the 17. April 2010 at Venice Marco Polo airport. The streets of Venice were the following nights littered with unsatisfied and stranded Royal Caribbean customers. RC did not offer any assistance with accommodation and made it clear that it is the customers responsibility. They did not even check about the whereabouts of there stranded customers when flights started to operate again. Travel agent and UK Embassy checked if we managed to get home, but not RC. It is a disgrace the way we were treated.
Cindy
April 26, 2010 at 2:00 am
We were given free internet access for aprox 30mins before being forced to disembark, in Venice, at our “scheduled time” ( all flights were canceled ). We were given an incorrect contact number & advised there would be a rep to help with hotel arrangements at the airport….. there wasn’t. The ship sailed Sunday afternoon with the few passengers that made it in time.
I don’t understand the politics behind this decision…… We weren’t given the option of sailing for another wk with them, which would have generated more money for them ($7 a glass of beer, $31 a glass of wine) and created a better atmosphere for the booked passengers.
We booked the whole package thro’ R.C.L. We don’t have ref numbers for jet2 & yet they still maintain that jet2 are responsible.
We had to make our own way home, we had no idea how much staying put & waiting for flights would cost us.
Cindy
April 27, 2010 at 1:53 am
Sorry….. forgot to mention that we were on a Royal Caribbean cruise which is the parent company of the rescue ship “Celebrity Eclipse”.
Morris Mclauchlen
May 9, 2010 at 7:11 am
It is incredible how fragile our air transportation system is. Who would have imagined that a volcanic ash cloud could mess up air traffic the way that is has!