Royal Caribbean International has agreed to compensate passengers left stranded in San Juan, Puerto Rico after their ship was forced to depart early to avoid Hurricane Irene.
The company has acted following criticism from passengers booked to travel on Serenade of the Seas which had to leave three hours early due to the hurricane threat.
Carnival Cruise Lines acted to assist 300 passers who missed the early departure of Carnival Victory with two nights’ hotel accommodation and flights to re-join the ship in Barbados.
Royal Caribbean said in a statement: “As a gesture of goodwill, and in recognition of the time they missed on board Serenade of the Seas, Royal Caribbean provided each guest who was not able to arrive to the ship before it departed San Juan but met the ship later, with a future cruise certificate for 30% of the cruise fare paid for their sailing.
“We are in the process of contacting those guests who were not able to sail with us at all to inform them of their compensation, and would prefer that the impacted guests learn of the amount directly from the line before it is disclosed publicly.
“We are compensating these passengers because we understand that this was an unusual situation, and we want to provide our guests with another opportunity to sail with Royal Caribbean International in the near future.”