Updated 5:46pm - Royal Caribbean International announced that Allure of the Seas would be taken out of service for a week to perform repairs on the propulsion system, resulting in the cancellation of the February 23, 2014 sailing. The repairs will be performed at the Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport.
The propulsion problem has manifested itself in the ship having to sail at reduced speeds over the last several weeks on its eastern Caribbean itinerary. (The weeks it sails to the western Caribbean are unaffected because of shorter distances.) On those weeks, the itinerary is modified to reduce port times in Nassau and St. Thomas, thus giving the ship more sailing time to cover the distances. Allure of the Seas will continue to operate that modified itinerary on sailings to the eastern Caribbean through February when it will be repaired.
Passengers booked on the canceled February 23 sailing will receive a full refund or the option to sail on select itineraries at the same rate.
Complete details will be in today's issue of Cruise News Daily.
