Multiple choice time.
Which of these reasons do you think would be responsible for canceling a cruise?
a) Fire in engine room
b) Whale hits the bow
c) Lobster tails
d) Captain sleeps in
The answer is c.
Yesterday, the Celebrity Xpedition was supposed to leave on its regular, year-round weekly tour of the Galapagos Islands. The cruise was canceled by lobster tails and the one slated to leave next Sunday may be canceled, too.
According to CruiseCritic, Galapagos National Park has revoked Celebrity's license over "12 kilograms of frozen lobster tails that the ship was transporting out of season." Celebrity says the lobsters were purchased according to Park regulations. The Park agrees. The lobsters, however, were apparently not eaten according to regulations.
A new Park regulation stipulates that all tails must be consumed within five days of the end of lobster season. Celebrity was cited for the infraction on March 11. The new regulation was published on April 22. The license was revoked, and Celebrity was fined $2,000, at the end of May.
The passengers?
They're being compensated for the cruise cancelation: full credit, future credit for Galapagos cruise and partial or full refund for air fare.
The whole thing lends itself to a number of questions, real or silly. Did the Park go on a lobster tail hunt? Why would a regulation be published a week after it went into effect? If the lobsters are "frozen" why does it matter when they are served on a plate? Given that the most attractive rooms, inside (cheaper) and balcony (for obvious reasons) are sold out in perpetuity — or as far as cruise listings go for the Xpedition — could this be more about money than morals…or environmental concerns?
Any way you cut it, who could have imagined that any cruise would have a lobster by the tail?
Carnival Glory
7 nights
September 14, 2013
New York (return): Boston, Portland, Saint John, Halifax
Inside: $349
Cost per day: $49
www.carnival.com