Hundreds of Barbadians booked to cruise on the Carnival Fascination for the next three months have had their plans smashed.
Carnival Cruise Line yesterday announced the cancellation of all Carnival Fascination cruises from October 15 through January 28, 2015.
The e-mail from the cruise line sent shock waves through the local travel agency business yesterday, stating in part:
“We are writing today to let you know that we have been asked by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to support the relief and rebuilding efforts and Carnival Fascination has been chartered to provide housing for relief workers in the US Virgin Islands. This means the ship’s departures from October 15, 2017 through January 28, 2018 will be cancelled.”
The cruise line advised travel agents their clients would “receive a full refund of their cruise fare, as well as air purchased through our Fly2Fun programme, pre-purchased shore excursions, beverage packages and Fun Shop items”.
Director of cruise at the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., Cheryl Franklyn, described Carnival’s decision “to lend the Fascination to the rebuilding effort “as honourable.
She said that given Barbados’ “very strong” cruise performance to date, “we are still in a position of growth over last year and we should still end 2017 well ahead of 2016”.
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