All change for the Celebrity Equinox

Celebrity Cruises have announced this week that the Equinox is being redeployed for 2017, originally due to sale around the Mediterranean she will now stay in the Caribbean following her winter season and will home port in Miami for the summer.

Now they haven’t announced the reason for this as yet, although I expect some will blame Brexit whilst personally I think it is more likely to do with terrorism and the impact that this has had on travel within Europe. Celebrity themselves have suffered this summer with both the Constellation and Equinox using Istanbul as an embarkation port which has been troubled from the start of summer.  Celebrity  put their customers first and redeployed some of the sailings  to embark in Athens which will not have been cheap for them. With a large American client base who will be increasingly unlikely to travel to Europe, I imagine they have chosen a ‘safer’ home to protect their business.
EQUINOX-At-Sea-16

The Celebrity Equinox has been on sale for 2017 since February this year and with their early booking campaign a number of customers will now be disappointed. However Celebrity are offering those guests effected a free transfer to another Mediterranean sailing (you will need to pay any difference in cost) or they will cover cancellation charges of up to £250/booking.

Fortunately for most sailings the flights are not yet on sale so hopefully most customers should not be out of pocket. However if you are due to sail her transatlantic sailing from Florida in April and have already booked your flights independently of Celebrity you could now be stuck with a one way flight to Miami.

Interestingly Celebrity have not advised all guests and travel agents of these changes, although they do have the new sailings from Miami available to book. Whilst I understand that there are economic reasons as to why they have had to do this, I am shocked that they are advertising the new sailings before everyone has been told that their holiday no longer exists. It can’t be nice to just hear about this on social media.

What do you think about this news? Should Celebrity have left their ship in the Med or are you excited about having a Solstice Class ship in the Caribbean all year round? Let me know your thoughts.

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About Me

I have worked in the travel industry for over 25 years now since beginning as a holiday rep on a campsite in France and I have a real passion for travel. I've worked in all aspects of the industry including sales, marketing and management and I've specialised in most products…

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