January 5, 2004 -- Royal Olympia Cruises' saga of partial bankruptcy continues. On December 17, the ROC subsidiaries that control Olympia Voyager and Olympia Explorer filed for Chapter 11 protection, and on December 22 callers to the line's New York reservations center were told that the ships' winter and spring sailings had all been cancelled. According to line spokesman Jim Lawrence, those statements were a bit premature.
"Nobody practices for this kind of eventuality," he says. "Basically, it was a failure of internal communications."
This much is known for sure: In addition to the earlier December cruises that were cancelled, ROC has just scrapped Olympia Voyager's upcoming January 2 cruise. Also, subject to ongoing discussions between the line and its creditors and further action by the District Court of Honolulu, both vessels are restricted to calls at U.S. ports. Olympia Voyager is currently in St. Thomas and will return to Port Everglades, FL, on January 2, with its passengers. Olympia Explorer is being held in Los Angeles pending further developments.
According to a Federal Maritime Commission statement, "In the event that Royal Olympia Cruises cancels or fails to perform its scheduled voyages, a mechanism to reimburse passengers has been established as required by law and FMC regulation. We have been informed that refunds will be made to passengers for all voyages that are canceled or aborted." Passengers booked on upcoming sailings should be advised that until the line officially cancels a sailing, cancellation penalties enumerated in the ticket contract may apply. Stay tuned or consult your travel agent for further news.
The bankruptcy proceedings do not apply to Royal Olympia's other subsidiaries and vessels, which continue to operate as usual. Watch this Newsletter for future updates as we watch the situation play out.
Royal Olympia: 800/872-6400, www.royalolympiacruises.com.