Celebrity Cruises cancels Celebrity Apex itineraries due to 2024 drydock

Celebrity Cruises has cancelled four cruises aboard Celerity Apex between October 23rd, 2024, and November 23rd, 2024 so that the ship can go into drydock.

The four cancelled cruises include an 11-night cruise from the UK to the Canary Islands, a 13-night repositioning trans-Atlantic voyage to North America and two week-long Caribbean departures.

In a statement, Celebrity Cruises didn’t specify the nature of work to be done on Celebrity Apex, which was delivered in 2020 and entered service in 2021. By 2024, she will have been in service for three years, and marine classification societies require ships to be drydocked every three to five years.

With shipyards seeing unprecedented demand for drydock work following the reopening of the cruise industry after the pandemic, Celebrity Cruises likely decided to jump at the opportunity when a slot opened up.

“These sailings must unfortunately be redeployed to accommodate an earlier drydock schedule,” said Celebrity Cruises in a statement. “Due to this change in dock availability, we must cancel bookings and reaccommodate guests to alternative sailings.”

“We know how precious your time is and never intended to complicate your vacation planning, so we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this causes,” the cruise line added.

Passengers whose cruises have been cancelled will be able to re-book on a choice of comparable sailings, Celebrity said, at the protected/lowest available rate, or they can book any other Celebrity Cruises departures at real-time prices and receive an onboard credit of $200 per standard stateroom and $400 per suite.

Full refunds for flight reservations will not be offered, but passengers can opt to cancel their cruise reservations altogether.

Celebrity Apex is now set to offer a new 12-night trans-Atlantic crossing departing on November 9th, 2024, as well as a one-off 9-night Caribbean cruise on November 21st, 2024, before she resumes her previously published Caribbean itineraries.

The 2,900-guest vessel is a sister to the Celebrity Edge, and the second in the cruise line’s Edge-class series of ships. Like her sister ship, she features the iconic Magic Carpet restaurant on her side, the immersive and experiential Eden Restaurant, the Rooftop Garden up top and the heart of the ship, the Grand Plaza.