Celebrity Cruises canceled an additional voyage for its Celebrity Eclipse ship.
The reason for the cancellations is that sea life has attached itself to the vessel's hull while the Eclipse was sailing and has accumulated so much that it is now dragging the ship, forcing her to a lower speed.
In addition, the ship is not allowed to sail into a lot of the sensitive ecosystems in upper Alaska bringing with her sea life from the south (California and Mexico) where the Eclipse has been operating.
The email sent to booked passengers reads:
"Due to recent marine growth that has developed on the ship’s hull (a natural process that you might know as barnacle growth), and our commitment to following local environmental procedures we are putting Celebrity Eclipse into a dry dock for 7 days in order to safely and responsibly clean the hull."
Celebrity Eclipse will sail with a modified itinerary on May 15 from Vancouver (BC Canada) as planned but because of the lower speed, all ports of call will have modified (shorter) stays.
All affected passengers will receive a US$100 onboard credit on their ship accounts in order to compensate for the reduced port time which in some cases like Sitka (Baranof Island) has been cut by more than 50%.
The second voyage however that was supposed to be on May 22 will be canceled and Celebrity Eclipse moved to drydock.
For more Celebrity Eclipse incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.