The first leg of Celebrity Eclipse’s launch celebrations has been cancelled to allow the ship to pick up 2,000 Brits stranded in Spain.
Lavish celebrations aboard Celebrity Cruises’ newest vessel had been due to begin on Thursday April 22 following the ship’s arrival in Southampton at 9am today, Tuesday.
Instead the ship will spend only a few hours in port before heading to Bilbao.
On Thursday, instead of starting the two-night naming celebration cruise, the ship’s crew will welcome aboard the stranded travellers who have been stuck in Spain following the eruption of the volcano in Iceland last week.
The ship will then return to the UK, arriving in Southampton on Friday evening in time for its naming celebrations on Saturday, April 24.
Celebrity Cruises chairman and chief executive Richard Fain said: “The events affecting air travel are completely unprecedented, and it is in times like these that the global travel industry needs to pull together.
“Collecting stranded British and Irish holidaymakers is a fitting first mission for new ship Celebrity Eclipse – what better way for a ship dedicated to the UK to mark her arrival?
“We hope that guests initially invited to join the launch celebrations on April 22 will understand the change of plan, and we look forward to welcoming as many of them as possible to the naming ceremony on April 24 instead.”
Fain added the cruise line has been working with “major UK tour operators” to co-ordinate the rescue while plans for Celebrity Eclipse’s future remain “fluid” until commercial flying has returned to normal
The naming celebrations for the ship are planned to go ahead unchanged with Hampshire yachtswoman and breast cancer survivor Emma Pontin performing the ceremony on Saturday.
Celebrity Cruises is working to accommodate guests who were scheduled to join a two-night launch celebration sailing on April 22 on the two-night naming celebration cruise on April 24 and will contact all affected guests directly.
Over the last couple of days the closure of the UK, Irish and northern European airports affected around 6% of guests trying to join a Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean International or Azamara Club Cruises vessel globally.