Cruise lines' COVID cancellations shock travelers as some ships pause

Table Of Content

• A 3-year around-the-world cruise was supposed to set sail in a week. But there's still no ship.
• A European cruise line has canceled its 2022 around the world cruise due to an 'unavailability of ports'
• Year World Cruise Abruptly Canceled 2 Weeks Before It Was Scheduled to Set Sail
• Remember that 3-year-long cruise? It’s been cancelled, 1 week before departure
• Jumping ship

Life at Sea didn't respond to a query about what prior unrest they were referring to that could have impeded the completion of the transaction. "It would not have been possible to carry [the 2022 world cruise] out due to there being too many ports still facing restrictions as a result of the pandemic," the company said. MSC did not immediately respond to Insider's request to elaborate on said "restrictions," but ports around the world are currently facing congestion issues amid persistent and crippling supply chain delays. Cruise lines have begun canceling itineraries scheduled to call on the Middle East as the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip escalates. “The three ships will transfer directly to Europe without any passengers on board and avoid transiting through the Red Sea. Each brand is offering affected cruisers a variety of compensation options, depending on the circumstances and whether their voyages are already underway.

These Cruise Lines Are Temporarily Departing the Red Sea - TravelAge West

These Cruise Lines Are Temporarily Departing the Red Sea.

Posted: Mon, 26 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

A 3-year around-the-world cruise was supposed to set sail in a week. But there's still no ship.

The company said that anyone requesting a refund will get one, and that it will reimburse travel expenses related to the cruise. In exchange, passengers — or residents, as the company called them — were promised a long list of amenities, including an onboard hospital and doctor. Some cabins could host cats; travelers were also promised high-speed internet, free dining, alcohol and laundry service, and "enrichment seminars."

A European cruise line has canceled its 2022 around the world cruise due to an 'unavailability of ports'

The original itinerary mapped 1,095 days of travel, heading from Istanbul to Europe and then to South America and the Caribbean. One passenger from the failed cruise, however, is feeling more than inconvenienced. "People got their hopes up once again only to be dashed a few days later - I'm surprised no one in the group has had a heart attack," said one would-be passenger. A third, speaking just before the cruise was confirmed as canceled, said they were feeling "let down, deceived and betrayed." The affected ships, which include Costa Cruises' Costa Toscana and Costa Deliziosa; Princess Cruises' Island Princess; and AIDA Cruises' AIDAbella, AIDAblu, and AIDAprima, along with P&O Cruises' Arcadia. Silver Moon's February 11 departure from Mumbai to Singapore remains, as of this writing, unaffected.

Year World Cruise Abruptly Canceled 2 Weeks Before It Was Scheduled to Set Sail

“We’re at a complete loss as to what to do or where to go without having our money,” he said. Witman says the company has begun the refund process, accepting her requests for other expenses to be paid, from airfare to the costs of foreign visas. Witman, who owns a marketing agency named Clever Lucy, was planning to work remotely aboard the ship, using its Starlink internet service. And as a single woman, she had been looking forward to exploring the world with a group.

Life at Sea Cruises and Miray Cruises did not respond to specific questions from CNN, but sent a statement from Ugurlu addressed to passengers citing "investor withdrawal" causing "challenges" to the project. The letter was sent to CNN November 21 and spoke about a potential upcoming cruise date - despite the cruise having already been canceled. Holmes told stranded Life at Sea passengers that if 60 or 70 of them "transferred" to the new company, they would be able to "get something going" by the first week of December, and already had approval from the HLC board to do so. "I had the next three years of my life planned to live an extraordinary life, and now [I have] nothing. I'm having a hard time moving forward. "We choose not to because we have promised you a larger, newer vessel," he wrote.

I spent half a million dollars on a three-year cruise, but the ship never turned up. Still, always be positive - The Guardian

I spent half a million dollars on a three-year cruise, but the ship never turned up. Still, always be positive.

Posted: Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Life at Sea had promised customers a renovated vessel with “world-class” amenities, including a business centre, a library, a 24-hour on-call hospital with free medical visits and education classes for adults. There were also promises of a state-of-the-art wellness centre, multiple dining options and philanthropic initiatives that guests could register for. “There’s a whole lot of people right now with nowhere to go, and some need their refund to even plan a place to go — it’s not good right now,” a passenger who wanted to remain anonymous told CNN. Now, Life at Sea is promising customers repayment for the minimum US$115,500-per-person package, saying that monthly refund instalments would begin mid-December. It has also offered to pay accommodation until Dec. 1 and flights for those who had already made their way to the departure destination in Istanbul ahead of time.

This sailing will then accompany MSC's sold-out 2023 world cruise aboard the MSC Poesia, which first went on sale in 2020. Celebrity Apex was en-route to Haifa before altering course to dock in Limassol, Cyprus. Life at Sea Cruises initially announced the three-year voyage in March and took on additional passengers in June.

Jumping ship

On Sunday, Miray Cruises issued a statement in Turkish, denying that the cruise is canceled. Instead, the company said the voyage is postponed — and it blamed a lack of enough passenger bookings, rather than problems finding an appropriate ship. They would spend roughly 300 days at sea, 795 days at port and have 413 overnight port stays, Chief Operating Officer Ethem Bayramoglu of Miray Cruises, the Turkish parent company of Life at Sea, said in that online session. The following day, Life at Sea’s former CEO, Kendra Holmes — who had resigned just days before the sale fell through — informed guests that the cruise was canceled. Holmes relayed the information in a 15-minute video given to passengers, one of whom provided it to CNN. Passengers who signed up for the headline-making voyage — which was originally due to depart from Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 1 and visit seven continents, 135 countries and 375 ports — received news of its cancellation on Nov. 17, CNN reported.

In Warmer Climate, A Luxury Cruise Sets Sail Through Northwest Passage

But after twice delaying the initial Nov. 1 departure date, it cancelled it altogether on Nov. 17, reports CNN. That’s leaving many passengers without a place to call home and some stuck in Istanbul, from where the cruise was set to depart. When the Life at Sea cruise line failed to purchase the German cruise ship AIDAaura, seen here in 2020, its plans for a worldwide cruise embarking in November began to unravel.

Terms of the deal help illuminate the would-be passengers' financial and logistical plight. Under its 12-month payment plan, the first draw came due one month ahead of the sail date. Some passengers reportedly only learned of the cancellation after arriving in Turkey. Those customers are now scrambling to make new plans for where they will live for the next three years — and to extract refunds from the cruise line. The intense fallout is drawing comparisons to infamous debacles such as the Fyre Festival — the "luxury" music festival that was more like a "disaster relief area." "As we navigate these challenges, we are actively working on creating alternative plans for the future, ensuring an unforgettable experience for our valued community," it concluded.

Life at Sea’s three-year world cruise has officially been called off by Miray Cruises. Representatives for Life at Sea Cruises and Miray Cruises did not immediately respond to CNBC Make It's request for comment. But it seems that it was the company's focus, not the public's, that was the problem. Witman says she also shipped boxes to have on the cruise, back in early October. "Having a like-minded community of people that all were interested in travel at the ready was really appealing to me," she said. Along the way, they would explore wonders of the world, visit UNESCO World Heritage sites and have plentiful chances to go diving and snorkeling, the company said.

Throughout 2023, Life at Sea has wooed travelers with its advertised three-year around-the-world cruise on the MV Lara, a ship. Life at Sea is also promising to pay for the hotel rooms and return-trip airfares for passengers in Turkey. "Still waiting for my refund. And now you've gone belly up?" a woman who identified herself as a Life at Sea customer said recently on the company's Instagram account. "Some people read the headlines and think, 'Oh, that was a scam,' but I really did my homework before I put a deposit down," Keri Witman of Cincinnati told NPR. "We are going to be following summer the entire time that we go around the world," then-Life at Sea CEO Kendra Holmes told prospective passengers in a Zoom webinar in September.

He added that the company could, in theory, launch the cruise on the MV Gemini, Miray's smaller ship which it had originally planned for the voyage, before deciding it was too small. "There's a whole lot of people right now with nowhere to go, and some need their refund to even plan a place to go - it's not good right now," said one passenger, who wished to remain anonymous until they get their promised refund. Cruise lines had initially canceled ports of call in Israel like Ashdod and Haifa following the attack on Israel by Hamas in early October. Now, with the conflict showing no signs of resolving, some cruise lines have begun making sweeping changes to current and upcoming deployments in the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf. Some brands, like Princess, are re-routing ships away from the conflict areas and opting to travel around the horn of Africa.

In his message, Ugurlu also confirmed that the cruise was canceled because the company could not afford the ship. In the meantime, Life at Sea's erstwhile CEO, Kendra Holmes, who resigned last week, claims she's planning to offer a new long-term cruise with a different company. Passengers who were initially set to sail on the 2022 world cruise will receive priority booking for the new 2023 world cruise aboard the Magnifica. Guests who move their now-canceled cruise to 2023 can also book a free sailing between January 1 and May 3, 2022. Some passengers booked on itineraries in the region, however, are making alternate plans. Affected departures include Celestyal's "Three Continents" voyages sailing aboard Celestyal Journey on October 21, 28; November 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2023.

Organizers have scuttled a heavily promoted three-year cruise, which promised to let remote workers (and more) travel the world for $30,000 per year, saying the company has no ship on which to ferry those adventurers. But responding to a social media comment about that same statement, the company sought to clarify that its other operations are unaffected — and in doing so, it stated, "The cancellation in question is related to our 3-year world tour project." And rather than portioning the cruise for sale in smaller stages, the company required customers to commit to the full three years. The cheapest packages started at $196,000 for a single traveler, and $231,000 for couples, according to the company's website. On Nov. 19, two days after Holmes’ announcement, guests received another message, this time from Vedat Ugurlu, the owner of Miray International, who also stated that the cruise would not be departing, per CNN.

When the cruise missed its planned departure date, the company promised to resolve lingering issues. Many are stuck in a tough position, having spent tens of thousands of dollars on the now-canceled voyage that may take months to get reimbursed — and, in some cases, having sold or rented out their houses ahead of the cruise. Some would-be cruise passengers were in Istanbul, where the ship was originally scheduled to depart from, when they received news of the cancellation, per CNN. On March 1, cruise line Miray International, which owns Life at Sea, officially started accepting bookings for the first-of-its-kind world voyage aboard its MV Gemini ship, but later decided that the vessel was too small for the cruise. On Nov. 17, Life at Sea revealed to passengers that the inaugural cruise was canceled, and that it had no ship, CNN reported.