Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Fans demand ‘real reasons’ for ‘Welcome to Jamrock’ cancellation

Published:Sunday | February 23, 2020 | 12:20 AM

The crowd at Welcome to Jamrock Cruise 2017.
The crowd at Welcome to Jamrock Cruise 2017.

After a few weeks of advertising a new leg of their sold-out music cruise from November 30-December 5, organisers of the highly ­anticipated Welcome to Jamrock Cruise have cancelled that date. Their statement, issued via social media earlier this week, cited ­unforeseen ­circumstances as the reason.

Passengers who had already made ­payments were promised a refund in full, but that did not stop anxious fans who had been anticipating the cruise from ­expressing disappointment. Even though they were promised a full refund, some fans demanded a proper ­explanation for the cancellation, pointing out that “unforeseen circumstances” was way too vague. “Technically, this post isn’t even an apology, it’s an ­announcement. No ­apology for the inconvenience, ­disappointment, or confusion caused to others,” one comment read. “I think that all of us who booked the cruise deserve a better explanation than “unforeseen circumstances”, another read. When The Gleaner tried to get detailed reasons for the cancellation, we were told that aside from the statement issued on social media, organisers had nothing ­further to say.

The newly added cruise was supposed to be the first of an unprecedented back-to-back performance from Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley and US rapper Nas. Their appearance was scheduled to mark the celebration of the 10th anniversary of their Distant Relatives album. That ­performance is still expected to happen on the original voyage set for December 5-10, 2020.