MIAMI — Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has entered into an agreement to sell Legend of the Seas to Thomson Cruises in the UK. Legend will depart Royal Caribbean’s 25-ship fleet in March 2017 and immediately transition to its new owner.
Royal Caribbean will redeploy Rhapsody of the Seas and Vision of the Seas and the move will also require the cancellation of some sailings and the re-accommodation of others.
The current roundtrip Brisbane sailings departing on Jan. 6, 15, 29 and Feb. 8 will operate as scheduled on Legend of the Seas.
All scheduled sailings from Feb. 20, 2017 onward will be cancelled. This includes the summer season cruises from Venice as well as the balance of the Brisbane itineraries.
A series of three repositioning cruises will be offered beginning on Feb. 20 from Brisbane. This will include an 11-night sailing from Brisbane to Singapore, as well as a 10-night cruise from Singapore to Dubai and a 13-night sailing from Dubai to Barcelona.
Rhapsody of the Seas will transition to Venice for the summer season. Sailings from Cape Liberty, NJ will be cancelled.
Rhapsody will offer the full schedule of roundtrip sailings in fall 2016 and winter 2017 from Tampa as planned.
On April 29, Rhapsody will offer a 14-night Transatlantic sailing from Tampa ending in Barcelona.
On May 13, Rhapsody will offer a seven-night open jaw sailing from Barcelona to Venice.
From May 20 through the end of October, Rhapsody will offer a variety of seven-night roundtrip sailings from Venice.
With these newly introduced itineraries, all previously planned sailings from Cape Liberty will be cancelled.
At the conclusion of the Mediterranean season, Rhapsody will return to Tampa as planned and begin sailings on Nov. 19, 2017.
Vision of the Seas will offer four fall foliage sailings from Cape Liberty after completing northerly crossing from Copenhagen.
On Aug. 22, Vision will offer a 16-night Transatlantic sailing from Copenhagen to Cape Liberty with several calls in Denmark, Norway, Scotland and Iceland.
On Sept. 7, Vision will offer a 13-night open jaw sailing from Cape Liberty to Quebec City. The sailings departing from Cape Liberty on Sept. 20, Oct.1 and Oct. 11 will replace the previously planned sailings offered on Rhapsody and include calls in Boston, Massachusetts, as well as multiple ports in Maine and Nova Scotia.
Vision’s current fall Europe itineraries, including those departing from Venice from Aug. 22, 2017 through Nov. 17, 2017 will be cancelled.
To accommodate guests booked on the affected sailings, Royal Caribbean will provide vacationers with a full refund of their cruise fare, the opportunity to re-book on another Royal Caribbean ship as well as an onboard credit to use during the newly booked sailing.
Passengers who purchased airfare through Royal Caribbean will receive a full refund.
Guests purchasing their own airfare will be given a refund for their airline change fee. All refund transactions will be automatically processed back to the original form of payment within four to six weeks. Commissions for travel agents will be protected for all cruises that are fully paid.
Guests requesting more information are asked to contact Royal Caribbean International’s customer service team at 1-800-256-6649 or their travel agent.
For more information on Royal Caribbean International visit RoyalCaribbean.com.