Royal Caribbean is ready to restart cruises on the world's biggest cruise ship.
In a rare move, the cruise line previously canceled Icon's 7-night sailing that was set to leave on September 28th.
Now, Icon of the Seas is set to return to her scheduled sailings on October 5th, 2024.
The cruise line informed passengers and travel agents booked on the next sailing they've completed the necessary repairs.
"As you are aware, we were conducting unplanned maintenance onboard Icon of the Seas, and we're happy to share that it's complete!"
On September 23rd, guests and travel agents received word by email that the entire sailing was being canceled due to "unplanned maintenance."
The email did not specify what unplanned issue ended up affecting the ship, or what kind of maintenance was being done.
Icon of the Seas made major headlines as the world's largest cruise ship when she launched this year.
Surpassing Wonder of the Seas in size, length, and gross tonnage, Icon introduced a new class of Royal Caribbean vessels. At maximum occupancy, Icon carries 7,600 guests and 2,350—almost 10,000 people altogether.
The 248,663 gross ton vessel sails 7-night itineraries from Port Miami to the Eastern and Western Caribbean.
However, the cruise line informed guests that the ship would need to remain docked for several days for the necessary work to be completed.
"While our crew is working hard to address this as quickly as possible, there is still some work that needs to be done over a few days while the ship is docked," the email read.
Icon resumes sailings on October 5th
Just a week after Icon's unplanned maintenance, Royal Caribbean is confident that the ship is ready to return to the sea.
Guests scheduled on the October 5th sailing received notification that their sailing will proceed as scheduled, leaving from the Port of Miami on a 7-night Eastern Caribbean and Perfect Day at CocoCay cruise.
"The ship is ready, our crew have missed our guests, and we are looking forward to resuming our normal itineraries as of our October 5, 2024, sailing," the email read."
Read more: Two Royal Caribbean megaships in drydock at the same time
At this time, sailings are continuing as previously planned.
The planned cruise sails out of Miami and visits St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Thomas, and Perfect Day at CocoCay.
The cruise line went on to thank guests for being patient: "Thank you for your understanding. We look forward to seeing you soon."
Any further updates about sailings on Icon of the Seas will be sent to passengers.
Refunds for the canceled cruise
Royal Caribbean extended its apologies to guests on the September 28th sailing.
"We understand the disappointment this news may bring and we're truly sorry for the impact to your vacation plans."
Passengers scheduled on the cruise received a 100% refund, including all additional expenses, such as taxes, fees, gratuities, amenities, pre-paid packages, and shore excursions.
In addition to a full refund, Royal Caribbean also provided guests with a Future Cruise Credit worth 100% of the cruise fare.
Guests can use this Future Cruise Credit within the next 14 business days to purchase another sailing.
Essentially, passengers on the canceled cruise received all their money back, plus the equivalence of the fare to use toward another sailing.
As for passengers who pre-booked their travels, such as airplane flights, passengers who booked directly through Royal Caribbean had their flights automatically refunded.
Passengers who purchased plane flights and transfers separately were reimbursed by Royal Caribbean, up to $200 per guest for domestic travel and $400 USD per guest for international travel.
What was wrong with Icon?
With 18 guest decks and 2,805 staterooms, Icon is built with guest comfort in mind. She features multiple engines, some of which don't all run at once.
This allows to cruise line to rely on multiple venues if one system fails.
Nevertheless, the ship did have to be sent in for repairs, docking at the Grand Bahama shipyard to complete her maintenance.
Royal Caribbean never clarified what the unplanned issue is, but many cruisers speculate that it was some kind of propulsion issue.
Guests onboard the September 21st sailing of Icon reported that the ship began to slow does when repairs were announced.
She also skipped a visit to St. Thomas in order to get back to Miami in time.
Reddit user ArrogantAlmond posted from the ship: "I'm on Icon now, and we just got word that we're skipping St Thomas (which was Wednesday) because the ship has maintenance issues. We have to sail slower, so we need the extra day to get back."
Because propellers control a ship's speed, slower movement could indicate a problem with the vessel's Azipods, or propeller systems.
Propulsion issues aren't unheard for cruise ships.
Earlier this year, a cruise on Radiance of the Seas was canceled due to propulsion problems slowing the ship.
