The Celebrity Eclipse picks up stranded passengers

tcInaugural celebrations on a brand new £500-million Southampton cruise ship have been put on hold so she could head to Spain to pick up British tourists stranded by air delays caused by volcanic ash.

The 122,000-tonne Celebrity Eclipse is due to leave the city tonight en route to Bilbao.
The luxury vessel was to be in port before a two-day launch cruise starting on Thursday but the crisis caused by the Iceland volcanic eruption changed plans.

It is thought that tour operators requested the voyage to pick up around 2,000 stranded Britons desperate to get home.
Even though British airspace is likely to open, the backlog will take days to get through.
Eclipse, which can carry 2,850 passengers, will make the journey and get back to Southampton late on Friday.

The ship will arrive in Southampton as scheduled at 9am today and will depart in the evening. She is scheduled to arrive in Bilbao in the early hours of April 22.
Stranded holidaymakers will embark throughout the morning and Eclipse will return to Southampton, arriving late on Friday evening.

A spokeswoman said the sailing would replace the activities planned during the two-night, round-trip launch celebration cruise from Southampton.  My colleagues at cruise.co.uk were supposed to be joining the Ship but now it is going to be re scheduled.

Some of the delayed holidaymakers have been stranded for up to seven days and many were on package holidays with major UK tour operators.
.
The naming celebrations for the ship are planned to go ahead unchanged, and Celebrity Eclipse will be named by Hampshire yachtswoman and breast cancer survivor Emma Pontin on April 24.

Celebrity Cruises said it was working to accommodate guests who were scheduled to join a two-night launch celebration sailing and it would contact all affected guests directly.

Those travelling back will do so in luxury.

Apart from a real lawn measuring nearly half an acre, the ship has the usual facilities including bars, 10 restaurants, a casino, a theatre and swimming and spa pools.
Prices for a 14-night Spanish Mediterranean cruise onboard the new Celebrity Eclipse start from £1,479 per person based on a July 24 2010 departure.