Will Princess offer a refund for change of itinerary?

[A.S.]

We are scheduled to leave Saturday for Bermuda, but it's not looking too good due to tropical storm Sandy.

 

I have a question. Is it a practice on Princess to offer refunds before boarding if the ship is rerouted? We have no desire to go to Canada. I have heard of this being done, but can't recall what line it was.

 

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

[KirkNC]

I would hazard a guess of no, they may give a partial refund, kind of a goodwill gesture. They did that when we missed a UK port but it was only $75/pp.

[Shogun]

Hi There

 

They will refund any port faxes or fees, but that is all,

 

if a number of ports missed then they may offer something like a future cruise credit

Princess contract allows them to change things as and when they need to , with out cost

 

yours Shogun

[A.S.]

I guess I should specify that this is a 4 day cruise only going to Bermuda.

 

One day in Bermuda, and that's it. I guess we can still hope and pray it gets there.

 

Thanks for the replies.

[caribill]

I think the OP is asking about a complete change of itinerary, not a missed port.

 

In this case the OP has booked a cruise to be a 4 day Bermuda sampler (one port in Bermuda, the only port on the cruise) and is afraid the itinerary will be changed to head north to Canada instead. (The best the ship could do is make it to Halifax and back if this indeed happens.)

 

So the question being asked is "If the cruise goes north to a chilly Canada instead of south to a warm Bermuda, is there any compensation?"

[baggal]

A few years ago bad weather was predicted for Bermuda. There were three lines leaving from the NYC area (Carnival, RCI, NCL maybe others) but only RCI decided to change to itinerary from Bermuda to Canada. The storm never materialized in Bermuda but the weather in Canada was miserable and cold. People had packed for Bermuda not Canada. The ship's store ran out of sweatshirts!

 

Initially, the only thing RCI offered was a glass of wine at dinner. But there was such an uproar on the ship, and afterward, and bad publicity, that RCI eventually (well after the cruise was over) gave something like a 50% credit toward a future cruise.

 

In this case, swapping Bermuda for Canada is not the same as switching one Caribbean island for another. But read the fine print in your cruise contract, the line reserves the right to change the itinerary.

[jaynak]

Nope sorry! Last year we were booked to go Canada New England on the very day Hurricane Irene was to hit New York our departure port. The rumour was we would leave early and head for Bermuda! Except we didn't want to go to Bermuda!! Lucky for us we did leave Red Hook early to avoid Irene and had a fabulous Canada cruise. So fabulous I took the 10 day version this year!

 

I hope you get to go to Bermuda but if you're 'stuck' going to Canada maybe you can make the best of it!

[OCruisers]

In this case, swapping Bermuda for Canada is not the same as switching one Caribbean island for another. But read the fine print in your cruise contract, the line reserves the right to change the itinerary.

 

This is absolutely true.

 

Fares are "rock bottom cheap" this time of year on many cruise itineraries. There is a reason of it. :rolleyes:

 

Most who take advantage of this understand they may end up going elsewhere on their cruise.

 

Hopefully, you'll enjoy being on the ship and to where you have your port stops. :)

 

~~~~~~

[A Sixth?]

Just my opinion, but since you arrive in Bermuda 8 am Monday, and as Sandy is a Tropical Storm not a Hurricane and as she'll be well north of Bermuda by Sunday night Monday morning, I bet you're going to Bermuda...

 

Depends on how fast Sandy heads north...

 

[RickEk]

And who knows... it might end up being a 4-day cruise to nowhere...:p We were actually booked on this cruise, but ended up canceling... the airfare was too much for such a short cruise. Of the two cruises I've taken that have stopped in Bermuda, only one actually made it... I was worried what would happen if the ship couldn't make it..

[Pam in CA]

When you book and pay for a cruise, you've paid for your cabin, food, entertainment, etc. That doesn't change if the itinerary changes. Princess provides what you've paid for so no refund other than port charges.

 

If the itinerary change is due to mechanical or other reasons caused by the ship or Princess, you would get a partial refund depending on how much of your ship and onboard experience was provided. If the itinerary change is due to Mother Nature, don't expect a refund of any kind. If you get one, that would be nice but not required of Princess.

[pms4104]

If Princess has to re-route, I question whether it would be to Canada ... our evening news indicated Sandy may head up the East Coast, making Canada not such a good option.

 

And, as others have stated, Princess reserves the right to make itinerary changes, so refunds or dramatic compensation likely would not be forthcoming.

[Astro Flyer]

We had a Mexican Riviera cruise changed to a CA Coastal due to the H1N1 situation. I was happy with the change but for those who wanted a warm weather cruise they were very disappointed. There was nothing that Princess could do after the US government said postpone any non-essential travel to Mexico. I didn't expect any compensation however they gave everyone a credit equal to half of the price paid for our cruise towards a future cruise...it was hard to wipe the :D off my face!

[caribill]

If Princess has to re-route, I question whether it would be to Canada ... our evening news indicated Sandy may head up the East Coast, making Canada not such a good option.

 

 

The choices from NYC on a four day cruise are limited as the ship must stop in a foreign port if it stops anywhere else.

 

So the choices are:

a) South to Bermuda

b) North to Canada

c) A cruise to nowhere

[5:00_Somewhere]

The choices from NYC on a four day cruise are limited as the ship must stop in a foreign port if it stops anywhere else.

 

So the choices are:

a) South to Bermuda

b) North to Canada

c) A cruise to nowhere

 

My hubby and some friends are booked on this cruise, too (I have to work), and we were discussing the whole Sandy thing this evening. In addition to the options mentioned by caribill, there's an additional consideration: on many of the current predictions of the storm track, it appears quite likely that Sandy will be walloping NYC on Tuesday/Wednesday, just when the Caribbean Princess would be trying to return to port, not to mention trying to make the turn around for its repo cruise to Ft. Lauderdale. Could be significantly more risk on the tail end of the cruise than on the actually cruise itself. I can't help wondering whether there's a chance they'd cancel this little short jaunt altogether under those circumstances, in order to avoid the risk to passengers, crew and the ship, not to mention the possibility of mucking up their repo. Just a thought. Will be interesting to see how the storm tracks over the next few days.

[Keith1010]

You can alway count on the port taxes to be refunded. Of course they will try to find a substitute port.

 

Keith

[Iamcruzin]

This is absolutely true.

 

Fares are "rock bottom cheap" this time of year on many cruise itineraries. There is a reason of it. :rolleyes:

 

Most who take advantage of this understand they may end up going elsewhere on their cruise.

 

Hopefully, you'll enjoy being on the ship and to where you have your port stops. :)

 

~~~~~~

 

The only problem is that this 4 day cruise was booking for more than some 7 day cruises I have been on during non hurricane season. I know because living in NY and knowing how the weather is this time of year I was waiting for a last minute sale. I even blocked out time at work hoping to be able to go. Last year this ship sailed on the same weekend during the only snow storm we had all winter.

[Carolyn R]

The thing is there are a lot of people on the current 7-day sailing to Canada that are doing b2b and b2b2b cruises so I don't think they will cancel the cruise. We may however be delayed getting back into Brooklyn if the storm goes up the east coast and we might get an extra day out of it. If I were prone to seasickness, I would cancel this cruise as I know the seas will be very rough.

[5:00_Somewhere]

The thing is there are a lot of people on the current 7-day sailing to Canada that are doing b2b and b2b2b cruises so I don't think they will cancel the cruise. We may however be delayed getting back into Brooklyn if the storm goes up the east coast and we might get an extra day out of it. If I were prone to seasickness, I would cancel this cruise as I know the seas will be very rough.

 

OOOO, very good point: there's nothing that says they can't just adjust the repo cruise sailing, though I've a feeling THOSE passengers might not be too happy if they're unexpectedly stranded in NYC in the middle of a hurricane pre-cruise. On the other hand, there really wouldn't be an "ideal" scenario in such a situation, so it's inevitable that one boatload of passengers or the other is going to be inconvenienced. I haven't looked at this repo, but have done the repo cruise out of NYC in the past and know they're typically longer than 7 days. I have to confess that I'm fortunate not to suffer sea sickness, so I would actually sort of enjoy this scenario. Yes, I'm a little twisted but, hey, it's one more day aboard ship. :D Maybe I should boot one of our friends and go, after all. ;)

[sunsetbeachgal]

The repo cruise is a ten day cruise...goes to some Caribbean islands and ends up in Ft. lauderdale. I have a friend sailing on that cruise and she was told by someone at Princess (she called them with a customer service issue) that is is not full..

[hannibal54]

My GF and I are also on this cruise. She doesn't like it when the seas are rough and I haven't told her about Sandy yet. This will be our first Princess cruise and first time to Bermuda. I know that I would be disappointed to miss this port. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed, and yes I will tell her about Sandy today.

[MoonPet]

The only problem is that this 4 day cruise was booking for more than some 7 day cruises I have been on during non hurricane season. I know because living in NY and knowing how the weather is this time of year I was waiting for a last minute sale. I even blocked out time at work hoping to be able to go. Last year this ship sailed on the same weekend during the only snow storm we had all winter.

 

I remember that! 10/30/11. My parents were on that cruise (to FLL) and I did the BVE with them. I have fantastic pictures of their balcony furniture covered with snow!

[Di Princess]

Halifax, Nova Scotia is WONDERFUL. Be sure to see the Titanic Museum. They had a big hand in caring for most of the survivors. Peggy's Cove and the Lighthouse (most photographed lighthouse in the world).

 

My DD, S-i-L, and 2 GrandBabies (11 and 13) were on the Farewell Season of the Old Pacific Princess to Bermuda. Baby came back to my cabin and said, "Grama, isn't this fun? Just like riding a horsey." Yeah, right. On the way back, we hit the tail end of a Hurricane. I complained to the purser the next day that I had been thrown off the toilet, into the shower. She said that I was lucky because she had been thrown OUT of the shower. At least I had clothes on.

 

Enjoy your cruise, wherever it takes U - avoid the hurricanes.

 

Fair Winds & Following Seas.