Floating Festivals has announced all three music charter cruises on Anthem of the Seas in 2021 have been cancelled due to a fall out with Royal Caribbean International.
The charter company behind the popular Sail Away with Jane McDonald, Throwback, and Stages Festivals announced all three September sailings would be rescheduled for 2021, after it was necessary to cancel the planned 2020 dates back in June.
Royal Caribbean initially agreed to postpone the sailings to next year and worked with the company in providing a statement to affected guests, however Floating Festivals has revealed Royal Caribbean recently took the decision not to move forward with the planned deferment and continued to promote its own 11-night Food & Wine Experience cruise on 12 September and a 9-night Super City Break cruise on 23 September. These cruises were both due to travel at the same time as the three festivals on 12 September, 19 September and 23 September.
A statement displayed on the now-blank Floating Festivals website read “Royal Caribbean presented Floating Festivals with a new Contract. The new contract had terms that were not acceptable to Floating Festivals.
“Despite repeated attempts by Floating Festivals to negotiate reasonable terms, Royal Caribbean was not prepared to concede & this resulted in the cancellation of the cruises by Royal Caribbean.
“As of today, Royal Caribbean hold significant funds from Floating Festivals for both the cruise and pre-purchased packages. Lawyers acting on behalf of Floating Festivals are working to secure the return of these funds in order that these can be returned to our loyal customers.
“The actions of Royal Caribbean mean that we can no longer continue with Floating Festivals in 2021.”
Over the next few days, Floating Festivals will be advising guests booked on the festivals the next steps on how to claim their refund.