Indonesia port dispute forces cruise ship boycott
Celebrity Cruises says it has been forced to shelve plans for port calls in Bali and Komodo, Indonesia due to an unspecified ‘dispute’ with Indonesian port authorities.
As a result the Celebrity Millennium ship will instead call at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Bangkok, Thailand later this week along with an extended stay in Phuket.
Millennium is on a 14-night cruise from Singapore that had been scheduled to call in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Celebrity issued a statement which read: "We regret to inform our guests booked on the November 23 sailing onboard Celebrity Millennium that a dispute has arisen with local Indonesian authorities of a nature that we believe puts our legal and ethical standards at serious risk.
"Because of this dispute, we have been advised that local officials may either prevent guests from disembarking the ship in Bali, or prevent the ship from departing. We refuse to put our guests and crew at such risk.
"While we have escalated this matter to the national level with the Indonesian government, we regret to inform our guests that resolution is not expected until after their scheduled Bali itinerary stop, forcing the cancellation of the stop."
Guests who had paid for shore excursions in Bali and Komodo through Celebrity will be compensated with an onboard credit.
The credit may be used for any other onboard purchases or shore excursions at other ports of call.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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