Thursday, August 22, 2013

Bad to Worse for Celebrity Millennium Cruises

The ill-fated journey's of the Celebrity Millennium will come to an end for the month of August and September, as the Alaska Cruise line that departs weekly out of Vancouver cancels all future sailings on the Alaska tour for 2013.

As we outlined on the blog on Tuesday, the Millennium has had a troubled August, with frequent breakdowns, leaving passengers to have less than the anticipated exploration of the Alaskan coast.

In early August, the Millennium broke down near Seward, Alaska, this past weekend the vessel had it's mechanical issues near Ketchikan, resulting in the vessel returning to port to try and remedy the propulsion troubles that have dogged its travels through the month.

As Ketchikan public radio station KRBD outlines, that return to port seemingly left a good portion of the passenger base less than satisfied, with some on board making emergency 911 calls to the Ketchikan Police Department late Tuesday night, seemingly fearful that a riot was about to break out.

The cruise line is downplaying the issue, suggesting it was a case of mis-communication on events involving the vessels mechanical troubles. As for the future for the passengers, they be leaving Ketchikan by chartered flights arranged by Celebrity, they will receive a full refund for their current cruise and vouchers towards a future trip.

The mishaps of the vessel have made for a constant flow of contributions to the Cruise Critic website.

As for the Millennium, Celebrity announced that it will be taken out of service for the remainder of the Alaska Cruise season, with repairs to be completed in time for it's next shift in cruise destinations to
a number of ports in Asia.

Other items of note on the troubled cruise itinerary and the impact that it had on Ketchikan can be found below.

KRBD -- Millennium done for the season, port shuffles ships
KRBD-- Millennium cruise canceled, passengers to fly out
Vancouver Province-- Alaskan cruise cancelled after ship runs into maintenance trouble after leaving Vancouver
USA Today-- Second cruise in a day canceled after power problem

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