Atlantis Says Caribbean Cruise Will Go On — And No Refunds 60 Days Before Departure
Atlantis, the LGBTQ cruise industry's biggest tour operator, may find itself in murky waters with guests booked on its southern Caribbean cruise, scheduled to depart on March 21 from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Atlantis has been closely monitoring developments and communicating with guests through the cruise's Facebook group page, but ultimately, the decision to sail or not will come from Celebrity Cruises.
Atlantis representative Johnny Yamamoto contacted booked passengers via Facebook and email on March 9, following up on a statement released by Atlantis President and CEO Rich Campbell, and the news rattled some who are questioning the safety of getting on a ship given the recent coronavirus cruise ship quarantines.
Things to Know
Atlantis will offer a full refund to guests who are from the "Don't Sail" list published by Celebrity. This information is evolving daily, with details at: celebritycruises.com/travel-alert.
Royal Caribbean (Celebrity's parent company) has announced a cruise credit, whereby customers can cancel up to 48 hours before sailing for cruises through July 31, 2020. A cruise credit will be applied through December 31, 2021. But that still may leave Atlantis travelers out of luck.
"Simply put, we don't have a fleet of ships or weekly departures to transfer bookings to, nor do we have a robust market to cover cancellations. The major cruise lines handle hundreds of thousands of passengers on hundreds of ships sailing every day," conveyed Yamamoto. "We obviously don't have that fluidity in the marketplace. Atlantis is a special event, similar to a festival or conference where our vendors and suppliers are paid years in advance in non-refundable terms. It either happens or it doesn't with no middle ground. Once again, in the extremely unlikely event of a cancellation, all guests would receive full refunds."
The U.S. State Department issued a foreboding warning this week, stating that "U.S. citizens, particularly travelers with underlying health conditions, should not travel by cruise ship."
Atlantis issued a Coronavirus Alert update on its website on March 9, stating:
"In order to provide our guests more flexibility in these uncertain times, we are modifying our cancellation policy to allow you more time to plan without concern of a financial penalty.
Effective immediately, any non-refundable amounts for cancellations made up until 60 days before departure may be applied in full towards another Atlantis vacation through December 31, 2021. That means that any deposits and payments you have made are protected until 60 days prior to departure. Once we are within 60 days of departure our regular policies apply."
The new virus, 2019-nCoV, wasn't officially identified until January 7, 2020. The first passenger aboard the Diamond Princess was diagnosed with the virus on February 1, 2020. According to Atlantis, passengers would have had to cancel by January 20 in order to apply the revised credit for the Caribbean cruise setting sail March 21.
Upcoming Atlantis cruises where the cancellation credit may apply include Virgin Caribbean Cruise (May 31 departure), Amsterdam to Barcelona Cruise (July 12 departure) and Rome, Greek Isles and Venice Cruise (August 8 departure).