(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - Celebrity Cruises announced late Tuesday night the remainder of Celebrity Millennium's seven-night Alaska cruise is cancelled due to a mechanical issue making it necessary to perform unscheduled repairs. The mechanical issue also forced the cancellation of four other cruises on the 965-foot ship that were scheduled for August 23, August 30, September 6 and September 13.

The 2,138-passenger Celebrity Millennium made an unscheduled return to Ketchikan, late Sunday due to a problem with one of its two propulsion units, and a fix has yet to be found, the line says.

The Celebrity Millennium is pictured while docked at Berth 4 in Ketchikan under a rare full moon Tuesday night. This month's full moon, which rose on Tuesday (Aug. 20), is not just a Blue Moon - it's also the Full Sturgeon Moon, the Full Red Moon, the Green Corn Moon and the Grain Moon. August 20th's full moon qualifies as a Blue Moon because it's the third full moon in a season with four (most seasons have only three).
Photograph by CARL THOMPSON ©2013

Celebrity Cruises has arranged charter aircraft to fly the Millennium passengers home from Ketchikan today (Wednesday) and has sent 30 members of its guest services team to the ship to assist with the process.

Celebrity Cruises said in a statement late Tuesday night the company will provide its passengers with a full refund and all monies paid will automatically be processed back to the original form of payment within the next three weeks. Celebrity Cruises will also provide the passengers with a cruise certificate for a future cruise on Celebrity Cruises.

"We are deeply sorry that we were unable to deliver the Celebrity cruise vacation that our guests anticipated," the line said in the statement.

"Our engineers, along with expert consultants from the motor's manufacturer, and our Marine Operations team in Miami, have continued working around the clock to resolve the mechanical issues onboard Celebrity Millennium," Cynthia Martinez, director of global corporate communications for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., told Cruise Critic. Royal Caribbean is the parent company of Celebrity.

"Together, they have been doing everything they can to fully determine the root cause of the problem. Regrettably, as of this time, they have been unable to find a satisfactory solution that would enable the ship to continue with its sailing," Martinez told Cruise Critic.

The seven-night Alaska sailing began last Friday, with the ship leaving Vancouver, British Columbia.

Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

Sources of News: 

Celebrity Cruises

Cruise Critic
http://www.cruisecritic.com

SitNews ©2013
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska

Articles & photographs that appear in SitNews may be protected by copyright and may not be reprinted without written permission from and payment of any required fees to the proper sources.