So what happens when a cruise ship breaks down, do they call in the RAC?

So what happens when a cruise ship breaks down, do they call in the RAC?

That’s just what the passengers on the sailing of Celebrity Century asked late last week when their cruise was cut short because of ‘an unexpected problem with the rudders’.
The first we heard was when frantic customer called trying to arrange an alternative cruise so that they could enjoy their time, and to some extent before the wheels of Celebrity had turned to put in place alternative arrangements.

Now as far as I understand, and I have to say I am not mechanically minded, the rudders are key to ship keeping to a set course so I understand that Celebrity need to get the ship repaired quickly. So for safety reasons Celebrity cancelled the rest of the cruise so that the stricken ship could go to a dry dock in Marseilles for repairs and be ready for the next cruise 25th October.

So what about the passengers cruise, well all the passengers had to be off ship by 5pm on Saturday 16th so the ship could sail off for repairs, in the meantime Celebrity organised flights for those who had done a fly cruise package with them, or a coach transfer back to Barcelona if they wished to keep their existing flights and make other arrangements in Barcelona.

Those on cruise only must have been worried about what would happen to them, well Celebrity offered free phones and Internet services on ship so they could make alternative arrangements.

In addition all guests will get a full refund for the portion of the total fare for the sailing and a future cruise discount of 25% for sailings to 31st December 2011.

Although it must be disappointing, at least the cruise line has stood up to the plate here.

Thankfully things like this are few and far between, I have heard stories of a problem in the Baltic on Jewel of the Seas this summer and a P&O problem in the Adriatic, all of which were solved without cancelling the cruise fully just a small tweak to itinerary and perhaps a little on board credit from the cruise line.

So in difficult times the cruise line has proved that it can resolve the issue, its not nice to happen to you but they resolved it safely in the end.

If something like this has happened to you please let me know.