Just because they CAN, why ARE THEY????

[Merion_Mom]

I'm a night owl. I check my booked cruises all the time, just in case there's a price drop. Last night, around 1 a.m., I couldn't get into RCI's website. No big deal. I know that they often do website maintenance at that hour. I finally got on to check my upcoming Explorer cruise, and guess what they were doing?

 

CHANGING IT FROM A WESTERN CARIBBEAN ITINERARY TO AN EASTERN CARIBBEAN ITINERARY!

 

Now, the Voyager has been doing this itinerary for over a year. RCI is sending Voyager to the Mediterranean next summer, and the Freedom will be sailing out of Miami. So, they moved the Explorer to Bayonne (ok, "Cape Liberty"), doing alternate 5-day Bermuda sailings with alternating Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries. EXCEPT THAT THEY JUST CHANGED THEM ALL TO EASTERN.

 

AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH. This ship is about 80% booked. Why are they doing this to all of us???? I called my "George" at RCI, and the "official" BS is the usual line: they can't get berthing permits. Yeah, right. They've been cruising this route all this time, and suddenly the ports are denying them landing rights?????

 

No big deal, right? WRONG! I booked this because we have ALREADY sailed ON THE EXPLORER to the EASTERN CARIBBEAN TWICE. I wanted to sail the Western itinerary because.............because............because.............IT IS THE ITINERARY WE DIDN'T GET TO SAIL LAST DECEMBER BECAUSE USAIR SCREWED US OUT OF OUR JEWEL CRUISE!

AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

 

Thank you for your kind attention. Please console me now.

 

Carol

[sueinphilly]

Consider it some kinda omen Carol. Cancelled flights, itinerary changes......

 

Is there another ship doing the itinerary you want during the same time period?

 

Aren't you happy that SWA didn't let you book flights yet that you might now want to change?

 

Trying to find a bright side for ya!

 

 

 

 

 

I

[MrsKnuts2]

All I can say at the moment is WOW :eek:

[superjerryw]

AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

 

Thank you for your kind attention. Please console me now. Carol

 

I believe you left out the "R" and that should be

 

AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

The cruise is not until next year. If I were you I would just cancel it. Why sail on an itinerary you don't want to do. There are plenty of ships and other cruise lines that sail where you want to go.

[sk8man]

I believe you left out the "R" and that should be

 

AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

The cruise is not until next year. If I were you I would just cancel it. Why sail on an itinerary you don't want to do. There are plenty of ships and other cruise lines that sail where you want to go.

 

Exactly, just cancel it.

[ckrobyn]

AAAARGH!

 

I feel for you - I really do. I would be pissed in a big way if that happened to me :mad:

[BobBeaSea]

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!!! Bad run of luck Carol.....see if you can change your cruise....why did I say that, of course you are going to check. GOOD LUCK!!!

[Sam of the Seas]

So sorry, hon. I know what a hard time you have had....you deserve the cruise of a lifetime..

 

Thinking of you,

Sam (of the female variety)...

 

:)

[yogimax]

Glad you are taking this so calmly... just curious, how did USAIR screw you out of a cruise?

[cathykb]

Oh Carol - so sorry about this.

 

At least you have one place to vent. I hope it all works out for you.

 

Cathy

[raerae]

Carol,

The Mariner does the Western. Maybe you can switch to that ship. We got r/t airfare to Orlando from PIT on USAir for $176pp for our Dec. cruise.

Sorry about your bad luck. I like the Eastern but, I too, like the change of itinerary.

Good luck.

Cindy ;)

[BonnieNYTX]

Take a deep breath. Cancel your booked cruise and as everyone else advised, book another one at the same time going to the Western Caribbean. Good you found out well in advance to cancel and make alternate plans. I can only imagine how you felt when you found out the itinerary was changed. Totally PO's!! When was RCCL going to notify you anyway?

[Murphy]

Actually, I'd wait at least a week before you do anything if your cruise is that far out. Last year we sailed to Hawaii. I had it booked almost 18 months in advance. I had cars rented for all islands and a couple excursions booked on my own. About 6 months out, the website showed a change in itinerary. They had reversed 2 of the islands. I thought something was fishy with the change as this now meant 2 RCCL ships and a Celebrity ship would all be in KONA on the same day. Not that that can't happen... but I felt it was unlikely. Called RCCL, and they gave me a similar song and dance. "Had to change for various technical reasons... yes, it was changing... we are 6 months out, sorry charlie". So, I rebooked the car rentals and excursions that were impacted.... Yes, you guessed it. A week later all was changed back to the original itinerary. Maybe you will be as lucky and this is just a snafu that will resolve itself. I hope so for your sake.

[rienreiter]

Merion Mom:

 

I had the exact same thing happen to me last week so it looks like RCI may be in the process of changing some intineraries.

 

In April, I booked the Radiance out of Miami next January 2nd; an eastern Caribbean itinerary. It was perfect because we were going to visit San Juan so had a chance to spend a day with relatives there, as well as St. Maarten and St. Thomas. Well, two weeks ago my TA sent me a new confirmation document as the price had dropped. The following day, I just decided to look at the new paperwork (by coincidence) and noticed a different itinerary (western) and thought it must be a mistake (none of us have a desire to do western). Went online and sure enough, itinerary changed from eastern to western. Called RCI and the rep. said that the itinerary had been changed but he did not know why or when. My TA also received the same explanation.

 

So what did I do? I cancelled the cruise with RCI, booked a longer cruise with Princess instead (yes, eastern Caribbean), got a bigger cabin, bigger ship, and still managed to save $300 per passenger. For a group of 6, we ended up saving $1800 between all of us together.

 

I am just looking at this itinerary change as their loss and my win. Sometimes, things happen for a reason.

 

Look around for something else that better suits your needs and tastes. Don't go on a cruise that is not exactly what you want.

 

Regards,

[MBeamTX]

I know this is no comfort, but it may actually be true that they cannot get berthing permits. We are on HAL's Westerdam in November, and there are 10 OTHER ships in port with us at Grand Cayman. How in the world will they handle 11 ships - something like 20,000 or more passengers! - tendering into one island?

 

It seems to me there are many more choices of ports on an Eastern itinerary than there are on a Western, so the change makes some sense to me. We actually prefer the Eastern, so if HAL switches us, we'd be thrilled! (We booked this cruise because of date, price and ship; the ports are always secondary to us.)

 

I hope that you can work something out and get the cruise you really want.

Susan

[Cruising89143]

I think that someone may be trying to tell you something.:) As stated above this may be an omen. I can understand your frustration though. You would think that RCI would have annouced this earlier when the new itineraries were announced.

[MadCnty]

Carol... I think you answered your own question with your opening statement... I know that it's no consolation, but just remeber that any day @ sea is better than a day @ work and you still have your BB cruise (worth 4 C&A credits I might add...:D ) I too would be "upset", but hopefully this time you will actually be able to cruise... And I bet your flying Jet Blue...:rolleyes:

[Merion_Mom]

Thank you, thank you, everyone. Most of you had me chuckling out loud with your suggestions and comments.

 

Let me respond to a few:

 

1.sue, my fellow philadelphian: one of the big points of this cruise was NO AIR FARE. A quick run up the ol' NJ Tpk, and we're in Bayonne. When my son and I did a quick getaway to NYC earlier this month, the car's steering wheel almost yanked itself out of my hands trying to get me to exit at 14C instead of going up to exit 16! So, no SWA conflict here - that's for getting us to the Sovereign in December.

 

2. jerry, my jersey neighbor: no, no R. I'm not a pirate. :D

 

3. bunches of you: cancelling and rebooking something else: no one is doing the western caribbean out of one of our driving ports: philadelphia, baltimore or NJ/NY. This cruise was perfect because:

a. we could drive to it

b. we could cruise on a great, giant, activity-laden Voyager-class ship

in a highly desirable affordable cabin (1688)

c. it was an itinerary we want to do

 

4. yogimax: I wish I could find the link, but here's goes a brief summary: we were booked on the Jewel of the Seas for the New Year's cruise, leaving Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, December 26. USAir had MEGA problems all Christmas weekend, losing tens of thousands of pieces of luggage, and cancelling HUNDREDS of flights, leaving thousands of passengers scrambling to find alternate flights. Ours was one of the cancelled flights. They cancelled it at the last minute. Because there were ALREADY thousands of other people like us, trying to fly into Florida, there were NO seats available until TUESDAY from ANYWHERE in the Northeast to Florida. We finally found three seats on a Jet Blue flight from JFK in NYC to Fort Myers, I rented a car to drive us from Fort Myers to Key West, which was the Jewel's first port of call, found a limo driver who could get us from Philadelphia to JFK in time for our flight (which wouldn't get us to FL in time to get our ship, but we figured we could catch up in Key West), and called Royal Caribbean to tell them that we wouldn't be able to board in Fort Lauderdale, but HOLD THE CABIN because we'll meet you in Key West. Got all that, yogi? OK, then RCI says, NO, you can't do that, because of this arcane US law generally referred to as The Jones Act. And THAT is how we ended up spending the last week of 2004 in Merion, Pennsylvania, instead of in Jamaica and Mexico and the Cayman Islands.

 

5. raerae: I know that other cruises do the western Caribbean itinerary, but they leave out of Florida. Even if I COULD book a flight for $176 pp, there are three of us, we'd need a hotel room for one night..............it's like jacking up the price of the cabin $650 at a minimum.......and that makes the price come out above even.......BUT that's for a 7 day cruise - this is a 9-day - so it's a BIG price difference.

 

6. murphy: I don't really expect any change, but I'm *not* doing anything right this minute. We need to have a family council anyway.

 

7. rienreiter: This really DOES suck, doesn't it? I have looked at Princess - believe me, that's the first thing that went through my enraged mind. I can't make it work, financially. I'm glad that YOU actually saved money this way, but I can't.

 

8. Thanks, gordon. <sigh> Maybe you're right. Maybe all of the people on board that ship better change their plans.......this may mark that cruise as doomed, doomed, doomed. ;)

 

9. MadCnty:

And I bet you're flying Jet Blue...

LOL!

 

Carol

[cruzelovr]

Maybe you can keep this one booked and you can hope that a hurricane forces you to go the Western route... The way things have been going this season, it's not too far outside the realm of possibility... Or your Western could've gone Eastern because of weather. I know you're very disappointed about the itinerary change, as I would be... You could switch ships, etc. they gave you a lot of time to change your plans... or not, anyway.

 

Enjoy it, and enjoy waiting for it, that's half the fun... maybe even more.

[crookedhalo]

ummm not really sure where in PA you are, but have you thought of Grandeur out of Baltimore? It runs the Western route and sails out of Dundalk between June and October I believe.:)

 

DH and I are looking @ September '06 on this one. Much the same reasons - we live 2 hours from the terminal and would love to save airfare:cool:

 

Good luck either way:)

 

Karen

[Merion_Mom]

... You could switch ships, etc. they gave you a lot of time to change your plans... or not, anyway.

Lots of time between now and the cruise, YES, but way after we booked it, back when fares were cheaper. If I went to re-book on another RC ship, I'd have to pay current prices, which have gone UP since I booked!

 

CATCH - 22 !!!!!

[Marykatesmom]

Carol,

 

Best of luck!!! I'd be really, really, angry too. I'm a serious planner and that sort of thing wouldn't sit well with me at all.:)

 

Hope everything works out.

[TEXASMUNK]

Western C requires more fule usage. Staying in the Eastern C saves tons of money

[nosnobunny]

Lots of time between now and the cruise, YES, but way after we booked it, back when fares were cheaper. If I went to re-book on another RC ship, I'd have to pay current prices, which have gone UP since I booked!

 

CATCH - 22 !!!!!

 

Would RCI not consider switching you to another of their ships in the same cabin cat. at no additional cost to you and call it even? Surely at this point, there must be cabins available. After all, this mess is their doing.

Beth

[DPurcell58]

Trying to pull up prices today on the Aug 25, 2006 sailing of the Explorer out of Bayonne. Everything, even RCCL, is coming up empty. Could this be sold out already??????