No biggie but I was surprised Princess denied our route deviation request to disembark in Lisbon, three days before the cruise ends. Yes, we understand it is within the cruise line's right to reject deviation request, and sometimes they do, and in our case they did. Yes Princess asks that deviation request be submitted 30 days or so in advance but Princess will act on requests closer to the embarkation date (and even when pax are onboard). No, it is not a problem for us as Princess approved our disembarkation one port/one day earlier, in Cadiz. No, the Jones Act does not come into play. We often request route deviations and disembark (days) early if it suits our travel needs. Yes, sometimes the ship misses the deviation port due to weather or other issues, and it's on us to adjust our plans. Yes we pay full fare and staff gets tips for all days (we book Premier package). No, Princess does not prorate a fare if pax departs early.
I guess my question is: Isn't it odd that Lisbon would be denied and Cadiz would be approved? If you had to guess, wouldn't you think (Immigration) officials would be staffed in Lisbon, and the request for disembarkation in Cadiz would be a problem (b/c officials aren't available)? Yes, I am assuming it was an Customs/Immigration issue and I could be way off with my guess of why we received a "Sorry, nope" to Lisbon. Here's what Princess said in their email (Princess's wording is why I assume it's related to having no officials on hand to OK our disembarkation). Finally, when we received the "Sorry" email I immediately contacted Princess to request the deviation to occur one port earlier, and it was approved in less than 18 hrs. And no, I didn't see anything in our booking that indicated exactly why the request was denied.
Please be advised that your request for deviation from the scheduled cruise itinerary has been denied. The reason for denial is noted in the passenger's booking.
In most circumstances a request is denied for one of the following reasons:
Governmental restrictions
Operational reasons
Requested port does not support embarkation/disembarkation
Request will violate the Passenger Service Act