Booked a W. Caribbean- got a Bahama cruise!

[tgr1116]

:mad: First of all let me say that I know that is not RCI's fault that Cozumel was hit by the hurricane. So please, no flames... Anyway, we are the ONLY Mariner sailing (12-18) that has not been re-routed to Cozumel, but instead going to an island in the Bahamas... their private island CocoCay, which is NOT in the W. caribbean!!! I, personally, have already sailed to the Bahamas, twice, and at 1/3 the cost and had NO desire to return anytime soon. That is why my family decided to take a W. Caribbean cruise this year, for (1) warmer weather in December... (had bad experience in the Bahamas before in winter months) and (2) visit new ports. Up until 2 weeks ago we were still scheduled to go to Cozumel. The all of a sudden we were re-routed to CocoCay and THEN other ships were returning to Cozumel!!! I am, needless to say, very unhappy with this port. Any other W. Caribbean stop would have been OK with me, but not the Bahamas! Has this happened to anyone else... I mean booking one area and receiving a totally different one? I know itinerary changes happen all the time, but to different zones? I am afraid that my warm, W. Caribbean vacation we have been planning for a year will turn into another cool disappointment for my family! RCI basically said "tough luck" and offered no explaination for the choice of ports other than Cozumel was already full capacity? How could that be if we were already scheduled there that day?:confused: I am so done with RCI... back to Carnival for me where they gave everyone a credit for missing a port and full refund for a day missed due to a hurricane! (and by no means had to- just good customer service) Thanks for letting me vent... just wanted to see if this was common practice or if we just got a raw deal?!!

[cruisinfanatic]

:mad: First of all let me say that I know that is not RCI's fault that Cozumel was hit by the hurricane. So please, no flames... Anyway, we are the ONLY Mariner sailing (12-18) that has not been re-routed to Cozumel, but instead going to an island in the Bahamas... their private island CocoCay, which is NOT in the W. caribbean!!! I, personally, have already sailed to the Bahamas, twice, and at 1/3 the cost and had NO desire to return anytime soon. That is why my family decided to take a W. Caribbean cruise this year, for (1) warmer weather in December... (had bad experience in the Bahamas before in winter months) and (2) visit new ports. Up until 2 weeks ago we were still scheduled to go to Cozumel. The all of a sudden we were re-routed to CocoCay and THEN other ships were returning to Cozumel!!! I am, needless to say, very unhappy with this port. Any other W. Caribbean stop would have been OK with me, but not the Bahamas! Has this happened to anyone else... I mean booking one area and receiving a totally different one? I know itinerary changes happen all the time, but to different zones? I am afraid that my warm, W. Caribbean vacation we have been planning for a year will turn into another cool disappointment for my family! RCI basically said "tough luck" and offered no explaination for the choice of ports other than Cozumel was already full capacity? How could that be if we were already scheduled there that day?:confused: I am so done with RCI... back to Carnival for me where they gave everyone a credit for missing a port and full refund for a day missed due to a hurricane! (and by no means had to- just good customer service) Thanks for letting me vent... just wanted to see if this was common practice or if we just got a raw deal?!!

If you've read this board for awhile, you'll find that rerouting does happen. If you think it happens only with RCL and not Carnival, you are wrong. The companies do what they have to do to continue with a scheduled cruise no matter what. I don't believe that RCL cut anyone's cruise by a day and offered no compensation. The reason as many ships can't go to Cozumel at this time is because the assigned dock is gone.n You are going to Grand Cayman (western caribbean), so you can't say they've changed "zones". You say you've pd 1/3rd the cost? Don't think so.

[racephoto]

I'm afraid you're going to get a lot of replies telling you to "suck it up" and "be happy you're on a cruise".

 

I sympathize with you as the itinerary is generally the primary reason I book any cruise. But changing one port on a 7 day cruise does not equal a %66 reduction in value, IMHO.

 

The short answer is, yes, it happens more frequently than I ever thought it did, no, they don't have to give you a reason or compensation, and yes, it's your right to no longer give your business to a company that you feel treated you shabbily.

[madforcruising]

:mad:... Has this happened to anyone else... I mean booking one area and receiving a totally different one? .....I am so done with RCI... back to Carnival ....

 

As you stated yourself itinerary changes happen all the time.

 

Yes there has been cruises in the past that got a completely different area to cruise too. I remember last year when cruises out of NY to the Caribbean were rerouted to Canada/New England. Also a complete different area.

 

I´m sorry for your disappointment and wish you good luck with Carnival in the future.

[jwlane]

we are the ONLY Mariner sailing ... that has not been re-routed to Cozumel, for the choice of ports other than Cozumel was already full capacity? How could that be if we were already scheduled there that day?

and you could have answered many of your questions yourself. It's my understanding that no Voyager class ships have returned to Cozumel, yet. True, you were originally scheduled to go there, but Cozumel's "capacity" is not what it was 3 months ago. The piers are gone, so all ships must tender.

[racephoto]

By the way, they change itineraries up to the last minute......if it looks like Coz is doing better handling increasing numbers of pax you might go there yet. And the other thing is, plenty of people will be ecstatic with the private island It doesn't matter which port they substituted, SOMEONE would be unhappy.

[corina27]

Before you give up on Royal Caribbean you should know that Carnival is also changing some of thier sailings from Cozumel also.Its my understanding that they can only take a few ships in Cozumel because they are tendering them in.On our cruise we didnt get to go to Cozumel due to the hurricane and ended up going to Veracruz.:eek: :)

My advise would be for you too look into what the ports you are now going to have to offer.The ports of call boards have some great info.

[FrankiRN]

You are pretty lucky that you have a heads up and can plan for the change. I sailed the Enchantment 11/17, supposed go to Coz, and a day into the cruise we were notified by the Capt. over the speakers that we were being rerouted to the Bahamas. We've also been to the Bahamas tons of times. Well we tried to book excursions in the Bahamas and were told we had them, then we got there and found out once in port that they had been cancelled, a Carnival ship had presidence as they over booked the excursions early. So we ended up in the Bahamas with no excursions and decided to spend the day at Senior Frogs. The other port they changed us to was Freeport, which has absolutely nothing to do as we both don't care for shopping. So anyway, we pretty much said what the hay, sucked it up, and just went with plan B which was walk around and have some pool time on the ship. My point is, this happens a lot more than you think, you read about it on the boards, but no one cares til it happens to them. I've been on enough cruises to have learned to fly by the seat of my pants, which wasn't true when we started cruising. Start looking for independent tours in your new ports now, or even do pre booking on the RCCL website for some of their excursions, and make up your mind to have a ball. That's all you can do.

[PhinsAndGills]

I was on the Mariner sailing 11/20 - would have LOVED to go to a port, we were at sea instead. I completely understand that you're upset, I originally was, too. However, Captain Johnny on the Mariner answered all questions completely and we ended up having a GREAT time at sea. My advise, ask once you're on board if you're still curious. I got the best and most complete answers right from the source. Captain Johnny was very accessible and open to questions. Let us know how it turns out.

[1corona4u]

You are pretty lucky that you have a heads up and can plan for the change. I sailed the Enchantment 11/17, supposed go to Coz, and a day into the cruise we were notified by the Capt. over the speakers that we were being rerouted to the Bahamas. We've also been to the Bahamas tons of times. Well we tried to book excursions in the Bahamas and were told we had them, then we got there and found out once in port that they had been cancelled, a Carnival ship had presidence as they over booked the excursions early. So we ended up in the Bahamas with no excursions and decided to spend the day at Senior Frogs. The other port they changed us to was Freeport, which has absolutely nothing to do as we both don't care for shopping. So anyway, we pretty much said what the hay, sucked it up, and just went with plan B which was walk around and have some pool time on the ship. My point is, this happens a lot more than you think, you read about it on the boards, but no one cares til it happens to them. I've been on enough cruises to have learned to fly by the seat of my pants, which wasn't true when we started cruising. Start looking for independent tours in your new ports now, or even do pre booking on the RCCL website for some of their excursions, and make up your mind to have a ball. That's all you can do.

 

That's true. I was on this same cruise. I was kind of expecting us not to go to Coz. But even though I had not made plans to do anything elsewhere, I still had a great time in Freeport, and Nassau.(I AM a shopper, LOL) I decided to go to Atlantis in Nassau, something in all the hundreds of times I have been there, I had not done before. It was great!!

 

You just have to roll with the changes. If you go into this being mad, you will carry that through the entire cruise. I understand that you wanted western, but it ain't happening. For only misisng 1 port, I'd blow it off. (If I'm reading right)

 

Hey Franki, at least we got 2 ports instead of 1, and they didn't even charge us the extra port charge.:)

 

You just have to make the best of it. Oh, and one more thing for the Op, you're going to be spending more time in the waters of the western Caribbean, than you are in the Bahamas, so it's still a western cruise.

[goodml]

Happened to us last year on the Jewel western itinerary after hurricane Ivan I believe. Grand Cayman was not back to full service yet after the hurricane and were only allowing a limited number of ships. We found out a few weeks ahead of time and decided that we would just taxi over to Atlantis and have a look around and then after, we just went back to the ship. We too have been to the Bahamas many times and weren't interested in going again but c'est la vie. It happens and we ended up having a beautiful day weather wise - high 80's and sunny - so it was good. Funny thing is dh and I booked a quick Bahamas cruise leaving next week on the Majesty just because we wanted a cheap getaway. We likely won't even get off the ship in Nassau this time because we love being on the ship when hardly anyone else is. I know it's a disappointment but there's really nothing you can do about it so you'll have a better time if you just make up your mind that you're going to make the best of it. Safe travels to you.

[Smooth Sailing]

When we booked our 10/30 NCL Sun cruise we were leaving out of New Orleans and had 4 ports and 1 day at sea on both ends. We ended up going out of Houston with 2 ports and 2 days at sea on both ends - would have loved going to any port - not 4 days at sea.

[negc]

As someone has already pointed out to you, Cozumel's capacity to handle cruise passengers is less than it was when the ship was originally scheduled to go there. Hurricanes did a lot of damage to the ports in the western Caribbean this year, so you shouldn't be surprised to find itinerary changes. There are also limits as to the alternative ports a ship can visit on a 7 day itinerary, not only because of the distances involved but also because of the competition from other lines who have also had to change their ports of call.

We have been on cruises when ports of call had to be changed at the last minute or just a few weeks prior to our cruise and in every instance the cruiselines have done their best to make our trips enjoyable. On one cruise alone, political unrest in Haiti caused us to visit Nassau instead of Labadee, and high seas forced us to skip Coco Cay altogether. The ship and the cruise were terrific. On another, we visited Freeport instead of Labadee. Prior to our visit there was much consternation and disappointment voiced on these boards but, perhaps because we had lowered expectations, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Grand Bahama Island.

You seem to have already decided that the weather in Coco Cay will be too cool but I bet that if you check out the average temperatures for the area, you may find that there is an equally good chance that the temperatures will be quite warm. There are few guarantees in life and perfect weather is certainly not one of them.

If you haven't passed the date for final payment, and this change bothers you that much, cancel the cruise and find something more to your liking. If the deadline has passed, you have little choice to accept the situation and try to make the best of it. If this one change ruins your trip, I'm afraid it is because you let it.

[MGoBlue2]

Didn't you make this exact same post before (which ended up getting deleted)?

[shirleygr]

We missed Coz on our 11/7 Enchantment cruise and had a day at sea instead. I like lots of port days, so I wasn't thrilled. But we had a really relaxing day and got to check out some of the ship we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise with only one seaday. I have found often times things you don't want or plan on work out for the better. Of course, a big part of that depends on your attitude going into this. Don't start your cruise with a chip on your shoulder. Have a CocoLoco and lounge on a beach chair. It may be too chilly in the water to swim or snorkel, but it will feel great to have the sun on your face and a cold drink in your hand. We found CocoCay to be the highlight of our Jan cruise last year. Remember, a day on a cruise is still better than a day at work.

Hope you have a really great time.

[MGoBlue2]

As someone has already pointed out to you, Cozumel's capacity to handle cruise passengers is less than it was when the ship was originally scheduled to go there. Hurricanes did a lot of damage to the ports in the western Caribbean this year, so you shouldn't be surprised to find itinerary changes. There are also limits as to the alternative ports a ship can visit on a 7 day itinerary, not only because of the distances involved but also because of the competition from other lines who have also had to change their ports of call.

We have been on cruises when ports of call had to be changed at the last minute or just a few weeks prior to our cruise and in every instance the cruiselines have done their best to make our trips enjoyable. On one cruise alone, political unrest in Haiti caused us to visit Nassau instead of Labadee, and high seas forced us to skip Coco Cay altogether. The ship and the cruise were terrific. On another, we visited Freeport instead of Labadee. Prior to our visit there was much consternation and disappointment voiced on these boards but, perhaps because we had lowered expectations, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Grand Bahama Island.

You seem to have already decided that the weather in Coco Cay will be too cool but I bet that if you check out the average temperatures for the area, you may find that there is an equally good chance that the temperatures will be quite warm. There are few guarantees in life and perfect weather is certainly not one of them.

If you haven't passed the date for final payment, and this change bothers you that much, cancel the cruise and find something more to your liking. If the deadline has passed, you have little choice to accept the situation and try to make the best of it. If this one change ruins your trip, I'm afraid it is because you let it.

The 12/18 cruise is a five day, which makes it even more difficult to come up with alternatives.

[FJTinSC]

Not to mention, if you look at the route you were scheduled to take, you would be passing the Bahams any way. So making a stop there is on route as planned. the ship does not have to divert way out of the way to provide you with another port of call!

[PhoenixCruiser]

I would much rather stop at CocoCay instead of Cozumel!!! And, Cozumel is probably still in bad shape, not much of a vacation if you ask me :D

 

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[mark290]

Plenty of time on a five day to stop at Costa Maya, Belize, Progreso and many other alternate ports. None of these are owned by RCCL but I'm sure that had nothing to do with it.

 

The day after the hurricane it was quite evident the docks were toast. The explanation is that Voyager class ships are to big, the life boats cannot be used to tender. RCCL should have booked an alternate West Caribbean port immediately to keep with the spririt of the ports passengers paid for.

 

The water in Coco Cay will be colder than the West Caribbean, that is fact. The air temp has a greater chance of being cooler than the West Caribbean. Granted it could be 80 degrees but it could also be 80 in Orlando or Milwaukee for that matter. Where would you rather place your bets for warmth? Don't forget it is now possible you will not get into either port because you have to tender in. How many people have had Coco Cay cancelled because of weather ? I know I have more than once.

 

I'm sure the person who posted will have a great time because they are on a cruise as they originally stated. They did not need any of you to suggest they roll with it or go into the cruise with a positive attitude.

Address the issue at hand. How kind for some of you to give your tips on how to still enjoy the cruise. Your insight was so very original and I'm sure that the OP will now enjoy their cruise so much more.

 

RCCL could have gone to a West Caribbean port. They did not have to and they chose not to. Because they can does not make it right.Do not say they could not have found a West Caribbean port to accomodate the ship.

 

Of course this person will have a good time but not only could it have been better it could have been closer to what they had purchased.

 

I do not think the way RCCL handled this is unique to them but again that does not mean it was handled properly.

[1corona4u]

Plenty of time on a five day to stop at Costa Maya, Belize, Progreso and many other alternate ports. None of these are owned by RCCL but I'm sure that had nothing to do with it.

 

The day after the hurricane it was quite evident the docks were toast. The explanation is that Voyager class ships are to big, the life boats cannot be used to tender. RCCL should have booked an alternate West Caribbean port immediately to keep with the spririt of the ports passengers paid for.

 

The water in Coco Cay will be colder than the West Caribbean, that is fact. The air temp has a greater chance of being cooler than the West Caribbean. Granted it could be 80 degrees but it could also be 80 in Orlando or Milwaukee for that matter. Where would you rather place your bets for warmth? Don't forget it is now possible you will not get into either port because you have to tender in. How many people have had Coco Cay cancelled because of weather ? I know I have more than once.

 

I'm sure the person who posted will have a great time because they are on a cruise as they originally stated. They did not need any of you to suggest they roll with it or go into the cruise with a positive attitude.

Address the issue at hand. How kind for some of you to give your tips on how to still enjoy the cruise. Your insight was so very original and I'm sure that the OP will now enjoy their cruise so much more.

 

RCCL could have gone to a West Caribbean port. They did not have to and they chose not to. Because they can does not make it right.Do not say they could not have found a West Caribbean port to accomodate the ship.

 

Of course this person will have a good time but not only could it have been better it could have been closer to what they had purchased.

 

I do not think the way RCCL handled this is unique to them but again that does not mean it was handled properly.

 

Talk about patronizing.:rolleyes:

 

Maybe the reason they can not go to another port is that there are OTHER ships scheduled to those ports, and there will not be room. Ever think of that? How many ships do you think Belize, or Costa Maya can handle, at the same time?

 

This is not just about RCI going to their own island, ther are many other things to connsider. Thanks for the narrow-minded, un-informed opinion.

 

Oh, and by the way, we are talking about ONE day, out of a 5 day cruise, and as I mentioned earlier, this cruise will spend more time in the western Caribbean WATERS, than it will anywhere else.

[Enchantment 04]

This is a 5 day Western caribbean cruise, not a 7 day. But the OP is acting like they are getting re-routed to china! The ship will still be in the Western Caribbean for a large part of the cruise (two days at sea, grand cayman). This is a risk you take whenever you book a cruise, hurrican season or not.

 

And you've already posted this a few times!

[PhoenixCruiser]

And you've already posted this a few times!

 

Correct :D Don't you know that the hurricane was RCI's fault :eek:

 

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[Enchantment 04]

Don't you know that the hurricane was RCI's fault :eek:

 

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The hurricanes are always RCI's fault!:D

[unowho6]

Just my 2 cents worth, I've been on 4 cruises and have lost a port on three of them. It happens, the last one was 2 weeks ago on Explorer of the Seas. We lost San Juan after we had to double back towards Nassau for a helicopter medivac of an ill passanger.

[goodml]

I'm sure the person who posted will have a great time because they are on a cruise as they originally stated. They did not need any of you to suggest they roll with it or go into the cruise with a positive attitude.

Address the issue at hand. How kind for some of you to give your tips on how to still enjoy the cruise. Your insight was so very original and I'm sure that the OP will now enjoy their cruise so much more.

 

 

Whew, thank goodness the op has you then since you and your knowledge are so vastly superior to the rest of us.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: