MIAMI – Thousands of families who had their hearts set on setting sail on the world’s largest cruise ship found out that their dream vacation had suddenly been canceled.
Royal Caribbean said it is keeping the Icon of the Seas docked for what it called “unplanned maintenance.”
Interestingly enough, that very ship is currently at sea, but it’s bad news for the people who booked two years ago, who found out two days ago that the cruise that was supposed set sail two days from now will not be happening.
Brooke Anspach dropped thousands to fly her family down from Ohio and set sail for seven days on the largest cruise ship in the world. She says her 3-year-old son was probably the most excited.
“He would just talk about airplane, airplane, and boat, and was so excited,” she said. “I was pretty much packed on Tuesday when I found out.”
“Unplanned maintenance” is what the cruise line says forced the cancellation, something that occurs with all new ships, according to a company spokesperson.
What that unplanned maintenance is for, they could not say, but we know it forced the Icon’s current voyage to skip a stop in St. Thomas and instead, to Coco Cay in the Bahamas.
Passengers onboard will get a day’s refund, Local 10 News was told.
Royal Caribbean said full refunds and full cruise credits are being processed.
They’re also helping with partial reimbursements for flights and change fees.
“Most of my frustration is that I can’t rebook the vacation I had at the price that I had it,” said Anspach. “Our vacation is gone.”
Icon of the Seas returns to Miami on Saturday from its current voyage and is expected to be down for about week for that maintenance.