Rough seas in Europe throw off schedule for Royal Caribbean cruise ship

[mercedes]

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas is back in Barcelona today after an eventful 12-day Western Mediterranean sailing that began a day late, hit not one but two weather systems with strong winds and high seas, and ended a day late back at Barcelona.

The late arrival has left the 2,112-passenger ship a day behind schedule for its next cruise – a 12-day Eastern Med sailing that was supposed to embark yesterday and is now rescheduled to embark today.

The initial delay of the Oct. 13 sailing was caused by damage to two portholes from the previous cruise, which also encountered rough weather. Because of that delay, a call at Cannes, France, was moved to the end of the sailing, but because of the repeated bad weather the ship never got there.

Passengers on the Oct. 13 sailing were given onboard credit for the missed port.

Meanwhile, because of the ship’s return to Barcelona a day late, Royal Caribbean rebooked all those on air/sea packages on new flights and offered those who had made their own travel arrangements reimbursements of up to $200 for the airfare changes, a Royal Caribbean spokeswoman says.

Passengers arriving for this week's cruise on the ship were advised of the one-day delay and told not to show up at the vessel until today. Those passengers with flights into Barcelona were picked up at the airport and taken to Barcelona hotels, fed, and transferred to the ship, all at Royal Caribbean's expense.

Due to the delay, Royal Caribbean is cancelling upcoming port calls at Villefranche (for Nice), France, and Livorno (for Florence), Italy. The ship is still scheduled to visit Greece, Turkey and Italy. Because of the lost day, passengers will receive onboard credit of $200 to $400, the Royal Caribbean spokeswoman says.