Itinerary Change for Royal's Trans-Atlantic

Here is the text of the letter:

Dear Princess Guest:

 

We hope you have been enjoying your time onboard Royal Princess and are looking forward to taking in the beautiful sights and great weather of Ponta Delgada today.

 

Thank you for your patience while we have managed the adverse weather conditions during our voyage. As the safety of our guests and crew is our highest priority, severe weather can sometimes disrupt our planned itinerary. When this occurs and we make the necessary decision to change our plans, we share in your disappointment.

 

In recognition of these circumstances and as a gesture of goodwill, each guest will receive $200 USD as a refundable onboard credit applied to your shipboard account. The onboard credit may be used toward all purchases in the bars, boutiques, photo gallery and art auctions, as well as spa treatments and shore excursions.

 

Please know that we deeply appreciation your understanding of the situation. On behalf of the officers and crew of Royal Princess, we look forward to serving you for the remainder of our voyage together.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Captain Tony Draper

Royal Princess

It's also interesting that it's phrased as being prepared for distribution in the morning but was not delivered until right before we went to dinner.

Very likely the letters were given to your steward to distribute in the morning as they came off the press while steward was already part way through servicing their cabins. Rather than have to backtrack to the cabins already finished they just waited until the evening service when they started fresh with every cabin.

To me that’s nice compensation for something that is 100% weather related. Plus it’s refundable so if you don’t spend it you will get a check in the mail after the cruise.

We have been on a cruise within the last few years where the disruption compensation was higher ($100 per person onboard credit plus 50% refund of base fare as future cruise credit), however the disruption was a combination of mechanical (post dry dock propulsion issue) and weather.

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$200 pp refundable OBC is pretty generous. In April, when, due to weather conditions, the Royal missed LeHavre (a disembarkation port for us and 400 other people, and an embarkation port for 400 other passengers taking our places), and went straight to Southampton, I don't think they gave anything to those who weren't scheduled to disembark in LeHavre.

People like us who were scheduled to disembark, and who had both insurance and Princess Air (again, like us), were made whole for any out-of-pocket expenses we had getting to intended destinations (for us, Paris) AND were given a 25% pp Future Cruise Credit.

But, to my knowledge, those who were not actually scheduled to disembark, but missed their planned excursions to Paris, Normandy, Giverny, etc. were only refunded for their unused Princess excursions. So, glad to see they did better for all of you.

Very likely the letters were given to your steward to distribute in the morning as they came off the press while steward was already part way through servicing their cabins. Rather than have to backtrack to the cabins already finished they just waited until the evening service when they started fresh with every cabin.

Could be but all the steward had to do was put the note in everyones mail slot.

BTW who puts the patter in the slot in the evening? Seems to come out after steward is finished with turned down service.

I’m glad the captain made the change for the sake of safety and comfort. I understand they don’t do this lightly. And so far, I’m impressed by how much communication we’ve received. We got the printed notice about the new itinerary less than an hour after the captain’s announcement. (By the way, we'll have five days at sea between the Azores and NYC, not six. I miscounted earlier.) Cruise director Matt O talked about the changes after last night’s performance as well.

 

I am most disappointed to be missing Bergen. I guess we’ll have to book a cruise specifically to Norway next year. So far, I have not heard many complaints from our fellow passengers. That may change as we go out and about the ship today. Our tablemates said they’d been to Vigo several times. One woman remembered the wonderful oysters they have there. She’s already looking forward to having them again.

One stop in Norway isn't enough. We did a 14-night Norway cruise last summer and it was amazing.

The $200 pp refundable OBC was enough for me. I am disappointed not to have gone to Bergen this year, but I’m glad we had two beautiful days in ports and smooth seas so far rather than rainy days in port and rough seas during the crossing. At the Captains Circle party this evening, the captain mentioned that we would have had bad weather in Bergen and Belfast and probably would not have been able to sail into Newfoundland. And he mentioned that’s after practicing sailing the ship five miles in reverse each of the past cruises over the summer as the ship went into Belfast. He said that tomorrow morning and afternoon should be smooth as well, but that the weather might start getting worse late afternoon or early evening.

I guess one factor in my satisfaction is that everybody is getting the same amount instead of a percentage. It works out a lot better for those of us in inside cabins than those in balconies and suites. So far, I have not run into anyone who had nonrefundable plans for any of the ports. Even someone with tickets to the Titanic museum said he was getting his money back.

It's the cabin stewards who deliver the Patter each evening. Sometimes it's after turn-down service.

I'm already thinking of taking a cruise specifically to Norway next year. We'll have to see what DH's work schedule is if he continues going back on part-time temporary contracts. His next one starts in mid October and goes almost until Christmas. I'm still going to look for bargain prices on cruises and will go without him if I find one that's affordable as a single.

The $200 pp refundable OBC was enough for me. I am disappointed not to have gone to Bergen this year, but I’m glad we had two beautiful days in ports and smooth seas so far rather than rainy days in port and rough seas during the crossing. At the Captains Circle party this evening, the captain mentioned that we would have had bad weather in Bergen and Belfast and probably would not have been able to sail into Newfoundland. And he mentioned that’s after practicing sailing the ship five miles in reverse each of the past cruises over the summer as the ship went into Belfast. He said that tomorrow morning and afternoon should be smooth as well, but that the weather might start getting worse late afternoon or early evening.

 

I guess one factor in my satisfaction is that everybody is getting the same amount instead of a percentage. It works out a lot better for those of us in inside cabins than those in balconies and suites. So far, I have not run into anyone who had nonrefundable plans for any of the ports. Even someone with tickets to the Titanic museum said he was getting his money back.

 

It's the cabin stewards who deliver the Patter each evening. Sometimes it's after turn-down service.

I'm already thinking of taking a cruise specifically to Norway next year. We'll have to see what DH's work schedule is if he continues going back on part-time temporary contracts. His next one starts in mid October and goes almost until Christmas. I'm still going to look for bargain prices on cruises and will go without him if I find one that's affordable as a single.

Neal,

Maybe we can be roommates and share a cabin? Or at least coordinate to take same cruise. I have a similar situation to yours: DH still works full-time and doesn't really want to use vacation days for a Caribbean (unless it's a total steal of a fare) when we have 2 TA's and an Aus to Asia booked for 2019 and early 2020 for which he'll need the days. But, I will be coming out of supervising early voting, and will need a non-touring Caribbean cruise in November or early December to decompress.

Nancy

The $200 pp refundable OBC was enough for me. I am disappointed not to have gone to Bergen this year, but I’m glad we had two beautiful days in ports and smooth seas so far rather than rainy days in port and rough seas during the crossing. At the Captains Circle party this evening, the captain mentioned that we would have had bad weather in Bergen and Belfast and probably would not have been able to sail into Newfoundland. And he mentioned that’s after practicing sailing the ship five miles in reverse each of the past cruises over the summer as the ship went into Belfast. He said that tomorrow morning and afternoon should be smooth as well, but that the weather might start getting worse late afternoon or early evening.

 

I guess one factor in my satisfaction is that everybody is getting the same amount instead of a percentage. It works out a lot better for those of us in inside cabins than those in balconies and suites. So far, I have not run into anyone who had nonrefundable plans for any of the ports. Even someone with tickets to the Titanic museum said he was getting his money back.

 

It's the cabin stewards who deliver the Patter each evening. Sometimes it's after turn-down service.

I'm already thinking of taking a cruise specifically to Norway next year. We'll have to see what DH's work schedule is if he continues going back on part-time temporary contracts. His next one starts in mid October and goes almost until Christmas. I'm still going to look for bargain prices on cruises and will go without him if I find one that's affordable as a single.

Since the weather is obviously out of Princess control that is a very generous amount of obc.

Probably shouldn’t cruise during the height of hurricane season then.

But that's when westbound TAs happen.

But that's when westbound TAs happen.

I know that but was just responding to a comment someone made about being extremely unhappy and ticked off.

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We just received a letter from the captain about an additional goodwill credit.

Dear Princess Guest:

 

We hope you are enjoying your time aboard Royal Princess.

 

We wish to again apologize for the weather-related issues that have disrupted your cruise vacation, and thank you for your patience and understanding.

 

In addition to the $200 onboard credit already received, we will be extending each a guest a Future Cruise Credit equal to 20% of the cruise fare paid on their 15-day voyage as an additional gesture of goodwill. For those guests booked on the 16 or 27-day voyages, you will receive a Future Cruise Credit for 20% of the cruise fare paid for the affected portion of your cruise. The credit may be applied to any future Princess cruise booked by the end of December 31, 2019 or any existing booking not yet paid in full and is non-refundable and non-transferable. Although not a replacement for the missed ports, it is our sincere hope that the Future Cruise Credit will help you to create new cruise memories with us in the near future.

I checked my Princess account tonight and can see the "voyage goodwill" credit on my account. Looks like it was posted yesterday.