Launch celebration delayed to aid stranded air passengers
LONDON – New cruise ship Celebrity Eclipse has cancelled the first leg of her launch celebrations – scheduled to begin this week – in order to assist UK holidaymakers whose return from their Easter break has been halted due to the impact of ash clouds from the eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland.
Cruise ships, coaches and ferries will be used also by Thomson and First Choice parent TUI Travel to bring stranded holidaymakers home.
TUI aims to transport home 5,000 out of 40,000 passengers stuck abroad due to the volcanic ash cloud which has closed UK airspace since Thursday.
Celebrity Cruises is working with UK tour operators to collect stranded holidaymakers affected by the airport closures and subsequent flight cancellations that have affected travellers in Northern Europe.
Celebrity Eclipse will arrive in Southampton as scheduled at 9:00 a.m.UK time today, and will depart this evening to Bilbao, Spain, where she is scheduled to arrive in the early hours of Thursday, April 22.
Stranded holidaymakers will embark the ship which will return to Southampton, arriving late on Friday evening.
This sailing will replace the activities planned during the two-night, round-trip launch celebration cruise from Southampton.
On its new operation, Eclipse will collect delayed holidaymakers – some by up to seven days – who were on package holidays with major UK tour operators. Over 2,000 travellers are currently expected to join Celebrity Eclipse in Bilbao.
Said Richard Fain, chairman of Celebrity Cruises and chairman and CEO of its parent company, Royal Caribbean Cruises, “The events affecting air travel are completely unprecedented, and it is in times like these that the global travel industry needs to pull together.
“Collecting stranded British and Irish holidaymakers is a fitting first mission for new ship Celebrity Eclipse – what better way for a ship dedicated to the UK to mark her arrival?
“We hope that guests initially invited to join the launch celebrations on April 22 will understand the change of plan, and we look forward to welcoming as many of them as possible to the naming ceremony on April 24 instead.â€
Ian Jarrett
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