Many people are wary of sailing on a new cruise ship during its first year. That's because cruise ships often experience technical problems early in their lives that don't happen once everything settles in.
It's hard to know if that's more myth than reality, but Icon of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's second newest ship which has only been sailing since January, had to skip a stop on its current cruise.
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The ship, the largest cruise ship in the world, was reportedly experiencing issues preventing it from traveling at its normal rate of speed. That forced the captain of Icon of the Seas to skip a planned stop in St. Thomas and head back to Miami.
Guests on the impacted sailing received an onboard credit equal to one day’s cruise fare to make up for the inconvenience, according to a letter delivered to guests’ staterooms. The ship did still make its planned Sept. 27 stop at Royal Caribbean's Perfect Day at CocoCay private island before docking in Miami as scheduled on Sept. 28.
Image source: Daniel Kline/ComeCruiseWith.com
Icon of the Seas needs repairs.
In addition to the changes to its last sailing, Icon of the Seas has canceled its planned Sept. 28 weeklong cruise. Passengers booked for that trip were given a full refund and a future cruise credit equal to what they paid for the cruise.
While Royal Caribbean (RCL) has not commented publicly on the state of Icon of the Seas, a Come Cruise With Me reader onboard shared that the ship will head to Freeport for repairs.
The expectation is that the repairs will be made and that only one sailing will be canceled, but that's not guaranteed.
"Best I can get, I talked to five staff and supervisors, they had a fire onboard a little while back, and this time the generators went down. They plan to fix it in one week and go back into service," shared an onboard source who was not authorized to comment publicly.
The repairs are not difficult, but there is a potential problem.
"They are shipping parts from Europe to Freeport so if it goes as planned back in service one week but they have made mention of a slight possibility it could cancel the following cruise as well. The decision won’t be made until early next week once they get to Freeport," the source shared.
It is widely expected, however, that only one sailing will be missed.
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While the ship is being repaired "crew members will be given liberty and use of amenities of the ship and also, can go into town for food and drinks with friends," the source added.
Royal Caribbean shared a statement on its plans for Icon of the Seas.
“We are conducting unplanned maintenance and have adjusted our itinerary for two sailings. We apologize to our guests for the inconvenience and will be communicating with guests directly.," a spokesperson shared in response to a request from Come Cruise With Me.
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