woensdag 21 april 2010
Vulkaan cruise
Celebrity Cruises dispatches ship to Spain to rescue stranded vacationers
Thousands of cruisers affected by volcano.
Celebrity Cruises says it today is dispatching its newest ship, the Celebrity Eclipse, to Spain to rescue more than 2,000 British vacationers stranded by the ash-caused shutdown of flights across Europe.
The Miami-based line says it is canceling the first leg of inaugural celebrations for the 2,850-passenger vessel, scheduled to begin Thursday in Southampton, England, so the ship can take part in what is becoming a Continent-wide effort to repatriate thousands of waylaid citizens of various countries to their homes.
Celebrity says it is working with U.K. tour operators to arrange the repatriation. Some of the British vacationers the ship will pick up, on package holidays in Spain, have been stuck in the country since last Thursday.
Celebrity says the Eclipse, which arrived as scheduled in Southampton this morning, is immediately turning around to sail for Bilbao, Spain, where it will arrive early Thursday. After collecting the UK traveler, it will return to Southampton, arriving late Friday evening.
"The events affecting air travel are completely unprecedented, and it is in times like these that the global travel industry needs to pull together," Richard Fain, chairman of Celebrity Cruises and sister line Royal Caribbean, says in a statement. "Collecting stranded British and Irish vacationers is a fitting first mission for new ship Celebrity Eclipse – what better way for a ship dedicated to the U.K. to mark her arrival?"
Celebrity says in a statement that plans for the Eclipse beyond Friday remain fluid as "the situation regarding reopening air space continues to change . . . Celebrity Cruises will continue to make updates as circumstances evolve."
Still, the line says that for now, at least, it plans to go ahead with the naming ceremony for the Eclipse planned for Saturday in Southampton.
maandag 19 april 2010
Abonneren op:
Posts (Atom)
