Over 100 Australian cruise ship passengers who had their itineraries thrown up in the air due to a broken-down ship that was stuck in Japan are finally on the move again.
The Spectrum of the Seas was planned to return to Shanghai on Saturday following a seven-day cruise stopping at multiple ports in Japan.
However, due to what Royal Caribbean called “unplanned maintenance”, the ship was moored at Yokohama for several days more than planned.
The ship was set to depart for Shanghai on Wednesday, arriving on Saturday.
Instead over 4000 passengers, including 111 Australians, were told they would not be returning until Monday.
On Sunday a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean said the ship had left Yokohama and would be arriving in Shanghai on Monday as promised.
Australians Steve and Karen Dermietzel said last week that their passports were with the crew and they were not allowed off.
“They won’t allow us onto the Japanese land. It’s weird because in the last 16 days, we’ve been on Japanese land on five different occasions,” Steve said.
The Dermietzels said travellers had been frustrated by a lack of communication from the cruise operation.
“They don’t give us enough information though, and they blame Royal Caribbean saying it’s being handled by head office and therefore due to US time, there’s a time-(lag) as well,” Karen said.
The company offered $600 per passenger to re-book disrupted travel.
The Dermietzels said it was not enough to cover their costs, but they were backed by insurance.
The cruise launched in Shanghai last weekend, stopping at ports in Kobe, Osaka and Yokohama.
A spokesperson for the Royal Caribbean said it was sorry for the delay.
“We apologise to our guests for the inconvenience and are communicating with our guests directly,” the rep said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was aware a number of Australians were travelling on the vessel which was delayed by “unscheduled repairs”.