Independence (of the Seas) Day

A few days ago, Royal Caribbean made the shock announcement that the much-loved Independence of the Seas would no longer be sailing from Southampton in 2020.

Cruise lines are obviously well within their rights to sail their ships in whichever area of the world they choose, but changing a whole season’s itineraries after they have been on sale for a while is not good news.

Independence has been a firm favourite with the British market until now and has loyal clients who book early to secure family cabins for the school holidays. I have sailed on her three times and been very happy on board. Those who paid deposits as soon as the cruises were on sale for summer 2020 now have a struggle to secure anything with the alternative lines with so many suddenly having to find another holiday.

The reason Royal Caribbean have given is that Independence is so popular in the Caribbean, where she is for the winter season, that they have decided to keep her there. They have spent a huge amount of money on their private destination, Perfect Day at CocoCay so maybe need as many visitors there to recoup their costs.

They have, of course, offered a full refund and  a 25% future cruise deposit based on the cruise fare that they had booked. With possibly over 4,500 passengers per sailing affected and now only Anthem of the Seas operating from Southampton, it is proving difficult to accommodate all the changes. Not everyone wants to, or can, fly so the other ships in the fleet are no use to them.

It will be interesting to see how this popular cruise line retains the loyalty of the British market after this. It may be only one ship from their fleet but this change has made a big impact to many people over the past few days.

Has your cruise been cancelled and how are you feeling about it?