Celebrity Cruises has cancelled 1 Carib. cruise

Jason · March 15, 2004

Celebrity Cruises will swap the itineraries of two sister ships, Infinity and Millennium, and use Millennium for two Panama Canal cruises on March 28 and April 11, previously scheduled on Infinity. The change will allow Infinity to enter dry dock to replace thrust-bearing units in its propulsion system. Consequently, the March 28 sailing by Millennium to the eastern Caribbean has been canceled. Once Infinity emerges from dry dock, the ship will adopt the Millennium itineraries for three sailings to the Caribbean on April 4, 11, and 18.

The two ships will return to their normal itineraries April 25."I want to apologize to all of our guests affected by this unexpected situation," said Jack Williams, president and chief operating officer of Celebrity Cruises. "The cancellation of a cruise always has an undesirable impact on our guests, so we always try to make decisions that will affect the least number of guests.

It's clear that swapping the itineraries of Infinity and Millennium will cause the least disruption for the majority of our guests." The cancelled sailing is a seven-night cruise, departing Port Everglades and visiting Casa de Campo, San Juan, St. Thomas, and Nassau. Guests booked on the cancelled sailing will receive a full refund and a voucher for a free Celebrity cruise to the Caribbean, of seven nights or less, that concludes before November 30, 2005, excluding Christmas and New Year's sailings.

Travel agents will receive full commissions, plus a $50 rebooking fee per stateroom when their clients reschedule their cruise. Celebrity has established a special Help Desk to assist guests and travel agents. That toll-free number is 1-888-837-5676. The cancelled cruise is expected to have a negative impact on the earnings of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. of $0.02 to $0.03 per share.

(Celebrity Cruises, www.celebrity.com, March 12, 2004)