- Anthem of the Seas is suffering from technical issues.
- Anthem is unable to sail at full speed and will arrive late back to Sydney.
- The next scheduled cruise on the ship has been cancelled.
Anthem of the Seas has arrived in Eden after experiencing technical difficulties with an engine on a sailing to New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Royal Caribbean could not reveal how long they expect the ship to be in Eden for, however it is scheduled to sail out of Sydney on February 6.
The exact issue with the ship hasn’t been revealed.
Most disappointingly for cruisers, a 10-day sailing to New Zealand, has been cancelled. Anthem of the Seas is a large ship carrying up to 4905 passengers at a time, meaning plenty have missed out on their holiday.
Guests scheduled for the cancelled sailings will receive refunds as well as a 25 per cent future cruise credit. However, the future cruise credit has to be used within a year, which can create some complications, especially for international travellers.
Cruisers have also reported some confusion over what their compensation is. Cruisers have reported confusion in whether they have one or two years to spend their future cruise credit, with some reporting they were told one year and others reporting that they were told two years.
For those offered only one year to rebook, this is quite a tight timeline to coordinate travel, book time off and so on.
One cruiser said they would like an apology and more clear clarification on compensation.
“I would like to receive an empathetic formal apology from RCL about the cancellation and forward to everyone the same message as to what we exactly receive as a reimbursement/apology, rather than having to decipher what their emails mean.
“Some people have received a completely different offer to others.”
This particular passenger was set to travel in a group of 15 people, with family flying in from Adelaide as well as from overseas.
Cruise Passenger has seen emails that suggest cruisers may have initially been offered one year to book with their future cruise credit, and that was then extended to two years when the FCC’s were actually emailed out. Royal Caribbean did not respond when contacted for comment.
Another cruise, Janet Lindner shared: “There were Americans on that ship too who were at airports ready to travel to SYD over 20 hrs and finding out their cruise was cancelled. I was one of them.
“Talk about devastating plus I had a 2nd 6-day cruise booked after the 10-day for which I may lose my money even though I have travel insurance bc “I” cancelled it. Had to cancel 3 hotels, 5 outside excursions, Ubers pre booked, etc etc.”
Guests onboard the initial affected sailing in the South Pacific were sent the following note from Royal Caribbean.
The cruise had already experienced issues, with two of three ports being missed due to poor weather conditions and now the late arrival back to Sydney.
A cruiser onboard wrote: “One engine is not working so we are going a little slower than usual and we are getting into Sydney in the later afternoon rather than the morning. There’s no compensation or anything but 120 minutes of internet has been offered to make arrangements for our return home.
“We missed two out of three ports due to the weather and the one port we made it to was terrible weather. Ah well, it’s been an adventure.”
Cruisers onboard the ship have said they were told that Anthem of the Seas will head to Newcastle for repairs.
Cruisers who were meant to be on the next cruise to New Zealand will be given a 25% future cruise credit and a full refund.
Cruisers onboard still have two-and-a-half days to enjoy the ship on the way back to Sydney and make the most of their cruise.
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Good luck getting a further 25% off your next cruise I have a letter from the royal Caribbean stating to get 50% off next cruise due to mechanical problems on a trip to the Caribbean last year the ship had to turn around and come back to Sydney they have been giving me the runaround from November 25 till now feb 26 to give the cruise discount cruise credit is given BUT NOT THE DISCOUNT OF THE CRUISE COST VERY DISAPPOINTING NOT LOOKING TO BOOK WITH THEM AGAIN
We flew from Singapore to Sydney on Friday for the cruise to NZ that was supposed to leave on Tuesday. We were notified on Sunday. Tried to change tickets to go back home but the change costs as much as our original tickets, so we had to stick to Australia till 3 feb to get slightly cheaper change. Really disappointed.
i have read these comments above and it amazes me how people are so self-centered Kelly When you booked the family cruise did 1 or 2 people organize the cruise if so they would have been notified then it would be up to them to notify the rest of your party. Possibly the reason for the diversion to Tasmania do you think it could have been a safety factor if the forecast seas could have been 20 to30 meters high . Your safety would have been foremost in the companies mind
Mary ships are man made and these things do break down from time to time the same as your car
All old and limped cruise ship sent to Australia. Australia received a second or third class treatment. Not only Royal Caribbean cruise, Princess cruise is the same. The Carnival cruise use resold outdated ships too.
What a pity!
Annoying Australian.
There will probably be a slight flow-on effect to the 3 day Sydney-Sydney loop cruises that now often call in to Eden.
We saved for years to go on a cruise with them in 2018. We paid 18k for a family of 7 to cruise from Sydney to Vanuatu and Fiji. Because of weather warnings we turned and docked in Tasmania for 10 days in winter. We had to buy warm clothes in kmart to keep warm. We had NO refunds no discounts no apologies. Plus all the food was stale and was running low.
This was our first cruise ever ,
We booked 12 months ago,
This was a great 60 th birthday
Cancelled, 3 days before,I was so devastated,
There were 10 of us going
Now we have to wait for a refund
And it to late to book anything
We were also affected as we were booked on 27th.
Trying to book next cruise was a nightmare as staff weren’t even aware of the situation. So disappointed
We are booked on the cruise on the 13 February. Has that been affected.
There is a cruise Anthem of the Seas departing Sydney on the 13th February..Has that been affected . Concerned cruiser
I was supposed to be sailing on Anthem of the Seas tomorrow 27th Jan for a 10night cruise to N.Z. Our group of 15 booked this 2 years ago. Some coming from Canada, Adelaide and me from Sydney.
The notice of the cancellation wasn’t received by all of us which was rather disappointing. It was a total shock and extremely disappointing.
I can’t understand why there isn’t more media attention about this?
I imagine Royal Caribbean don’t want any media attention but over 4,000 people booked on the cruise have seriously been inconvenienced and we haven’t been offered any assistance to rebook. A $500 credit which needs to be used within 12 months is a poor reimbursement.
We are soooooo disappointed.