Key Aspects:
- Rough weather is slowing Liberty of the Seas’ return to Southampton, UK, which was scheduled for the morning of June 7.
- The Royal Caribbean ship will arrive roughly six hours late, delaying both debarkation and the next embarkation.
- Guests booked on the next voyage have been told to arrive at the cruise port three hours later than initially planned.
Rough seas are blocking Liberty of the Seas from returning to Southampton, UK, and the consequences will carry over to her next cruise.
The Royal Caribbean ship was supposed to return to her UK homeport on June 7, 2026, at approximately 6:00 a.m. local time to conclude her current 7-night sailing to Spain and Portugal.
But due to anticipated bad weather, the 154,407-gross ton ship will be forced to delay her arrival by approximately six hours. This will result in delays for both debarkation and embarkation for the following voyage.
“We are closely monitoring adverse weather along our route back to Southampton, England for our current sailing,” Royal Caribbean wrote in a letter, which is circulating on social media.
“With safety in mind, the ship is expected to be delayed in returning to the port by approximately six (6) hours and the terminal will be closed for embarkation until 2:30 PM,” the update continued.
According to the Met Office, Southampton is experiencing rain and wind gusts up to 28 miles per hour as of the time of writing, though conditions may be worse at sea.
Embarkation is Delayed By Hours
Because arrival and disembarkation will be delayed on June 7, embarkation for the next sailing has also had to be pushed back. This will be a 5-night cruise to Hamburg, Germany, and Zeebrugge, Belgium.
Cruise Hive learned that the next wave of guests have been told to delay their terminal arrival appointments by three hours. This means that 11:30 a.m. appointments would be pushed to 2:30 p.m., 12 p.m. arrivals would shift back to 3:00 p.m. and so forth.
Any guests who arrive earlier than their newly assigned time may be turned away. But at the same time, all passengers must be onboard by 6:30 p.m. and should arrive at the cruise port no later than 6 p.m.
“Arriving at the terminal earlier than your adjusted time will result in you being turned away until your new time. All guests should be checked in and onboard by 6:30 PM. So, plan on arriving no later than 6:00 PM,” Royal Caribbean advised.
Luckily, it does not seem like there will be any itinerary changes as a result of the delayed start.
Hamburg is about 560 nautical miles away from Southampton, but a sea day is scheduled for June 8 before the 3,634-guest ship is due to arrive on the morning of June 9. The sea day will allow the captain to make up for lost time.
The planned visit to Zeebrugge isn’t until June 11, and should certainly not be impacted by the delayed embarkation.
Not the First Itinerary Challenge
This isn’t the first itinerary change that guests of the current sailing have been forced to deal with. Shortly before the current cruise departed on May 31, the itinerary was reconfigured due to strikes taking place in Lisbon, Portugal.
The strikes were planned and were meant to push back against the government’s proposed labor code reforms.
“To ensure a smooth and enjoyable experience for our guests, we’ve made a few adjustments to our itinerary in light of planned strikes in Lisbon, Portugal,” Royal Caribbean wrote in an earlier letter, which was obtained by Cruise Hive.
The Freedom-class ship was supposed to visit Vigo, Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; and Bilbao, Spain; in that order. But because of the strikes, the order was changed to Bilbao first, followed by Lisbon in second, and Vigo last.
This was simply one of those sailings where forces outside of the cruise line’s control just wouldn’t give guests a break.
