Royal Caribbean informed guests booked on Explorer of the Seas that it will cancel scheduled August 2020 sailings in order to get some of the scheduled work done on the ship.
Explorer of the Seas was scheduled for a $110 million Royal Amplification that would have added a number of changes from bow to stern. However, the closure of shipyards and disruption to the supply chain around the world has delayed the work from being done on time.
Instead, Explorer of the Seas will undergo a technical dry dock only, where only routine maintenance work will take place. This is similar to what happened to Allure of the Seas as well, which is undergoing that work in Spain.
There is no word on if/when the other changes that were to be added to Explorer of the Seas will occur.
Emails were sent to travel agents and guests to inform them of the newly cancelled Explorer of the Seas sailings.
Guests on affected sailings have the choice of:
125% Future Cruise Credit to re-book a new cruise by December 31, 2021 for sailings departing on or before April 30th, 2022. This will automatically be issued by July 24th, 2020 via email if no action is taken.
Lift and Shift: If you prefer to move your existing booking to a 2021 sailing, you can take advantage of Royal Caribbean's new policy where the cruise line will price protect the original pricing and/or promotion on the same itinerary, length, product, and stateroom category as your original sailing within 4 weeks (before or after) of the original sail date in 2021.
You will need to contact your travel agent by June 25th to take advantage of this option.
100% Refund: if you prefer a full refund, you have until December 31, 2020 to request a refund and deactivate your certificate. You can expect to receive your refund 45 days after you submit your refund request.
If you made pre-cruise purchases, you can opt-in to receive an Onboard Credit in the value of 125% of the total Cruise Planner purchases on your reservation. Click here by June 25th, 2020 to request your higher value credit and we'll email you your credit by July 24th, 2020.
