Royal Caribbean cruise leaves San Juan three days late

Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas finally departed San Juan on Wednesday morning on an abbreviated Caribbean itinerary to Antigua, St. Lucia and St. Croix.

The ship was stuck in port while propellers were replaced.

The Adventure had been scheduled to depart on Sunday on a seven-day cruise, its final one before going into a scheduled drydock for maintenance. But the ship encountered a repeat of propulsion issues that interrupted its previous cruise, when an oil leak was discovered while docked in St. Kitts.

The ship skipped calls in Aruba, Curacao and St. Croix, and arrived in San Juan behind schedule.

Passengers waited in long lines at the cruise pier in San Juan on March 23 to board the ship. A number of them turned to Facebook and Twitter to complain about a lack of information, water and food from Royal Caribbean during the wait.

Regarding the three days in port, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said, “The removal of propeller blades has taken a lot longer than expected, and this has been because of a number of technical challenges. Since Sunday, divers have been removing the 32 bolts attached to the four propeller blades. It has proven extremely difficult to remove these bolts.”

The cruise line is offering each passenger a full refund as well as a future cruise certificate for 50% of the fare paid for the March 23 sailing.

“Our single focus is to give our guests an outstanding vacation. Clearly, due to our technical difficulties, we have been unable to deliver the vacation that they had anticipated,” Royal Caribbean said.

Follow Gay Nagle Myers on Twitter @gnmtravelweekly.