RC May Hawaii cruise last minute changes by RC

[A&L_Ont]

Thanks Chief. Your countdown for the tanker would have been a little nerve racking. Glad you got it arranged, with a bit of time to spare.

[Clarea]

As always, thanks very much for the detailed explanation Chief.

[steveru621]

6 hours ago, frank808 said:

No gambling sailing within the hawaiian waters.  Ok to open casinos outside hawaiian waters. Ncl pride of america does not have a casino due to sailing hawaiian waters.

 

The casino will be open when you leave HNL.  I just checked the Compass from our last trip.

 

Your itinerary is different than Radiance, but there will be other nights when they are in international waters.

[directortk]

From the NPS: “Beginning in May, 2018, the lava lake that existed inside Halema‘uma‘u crater disappeared and lava flows from Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater have ceased. There is no molten lava or lava glow to see anywhere in or out of the park. https://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/lava2.htm

[euphscott]

17 minutes ago, directortk said:

From the NPS: “Beginning in May, 2018....

 

Scroll further down for a more recent update:

 

Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 9:50 AM HST

Activity Summary: Kīlauea Volcano is not erupting. Rates of seismicity, deformation, and gas emissions have not changed significantly over the past week.

Observations: Geophysical and geologic data indicate no significant change with volcanic activity. Low rates of seismicity continue across the volcano, with earthquakes occurring primarily in the summit and south flank regions. GPS stations and tiltmeters continue to show motions consistent with refilling of the deep East Rift Zone magma reservoir. Sulfur dioxide emission rates from the summit and from Puʻu ʻŌʻō remain low. These rates have been steady over the past several weeks.
 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

On 3/6/2019 at 3:56 AM, uksimonusa said:

It's normal for ships to be inspected when they arrive at a new US homeport, never knew they had to be inspected when just visiting a US port

Ovation has never sailed in the US. Her previous sailings have all been in Asia. 

[hcorey]

I received my email reply. Same stock answers as was given to everyone else. They said compensation was fair. I guess we just have to grin and bear it. I do think it was a bait and switch. I guess my diamond plus status will stay there. We will now be looking at other cruise line. No more loyal to Royal.

[travelplus]

On 3/5/2019 at 7:19 PM, pattyg01 said:

We received this notice today about our upcoming cruise.

Dear Guest:

We have an itinerary change to share with you for our upcoming Ovation of the Seas, May 2^nd, 2019 cruise.

We must conduct two separate inspections, the Certificate of Compliance and an annual exam, to comply with U.S. Coast Guard regulations. Both are required by the U.S. government to continue sailing.

In cooperation with the Coast Guard, to minimize impact to your vacation, these exams will be conducted over two sailings: the previous one and this one. The inspections are anticipated to take three consecutive days and we must remain alongside the pier till completion. As a result, we will replace Kailua Kona, Hawaii with additional time in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii. Unfortunately, we’ll be unable to visit the Napali Coast, but were able to shift the time that we sail past the Kilauea Volcano to a more suitable time. We are sorry for the inconvenience this causes and hope you take advantage of the opportunity to get a taste of Honolulu both during the day and at night.

Additionally, because of this disruption to your holiday, we’re adding a refund in the value of one day of your cruise fare paid to your onboard account during your cruise. You may use this credit anywhere onboard and if you don’t use it, it’ll be refunded back onto your credit card on file. Below, please find our updated itinerary.

 

They say they will refund us for one day but this actually changes our cruise quite a bit. two stops are gone and we are staying another day in Honolulu but we are already staying there before the trip so we really don;t want another day in Honolulu. The unfotunate thing is that we can no longer cancel our flights or our airbnb's because this notice came so last minute. We are thinking the cruise but we see no way out at this point. 

ANy advice at all will be much appreciated.

Thank you.

 

I am sorry this took place. Perhaps you can negotiate a redo cruise with Royal in addition to this one or a Future Cruise Credit in the amount of the missed ports. I am surprised Royal did not know about this inspection earlier and inform you and offer the difference in airfare or refund of airfare for a new cruise. 

 

I think you should get 30 percent off the cruise or see if Royal can pay for Interisland Flights from Honolulu to Maui then to Kona with hotels and then fly back to Honolulu in time to board the cruise.  Also see if Royal will cover any tour expenses/transportation and meals.

 

Interisland Airfare is reasonable. In the worst case if Royal won't cover this go ahead and book Interisland Flights. Southwest just introduced interisland flights as does Hawaiian and Mokulele airlines. 

 

You can fly into North Maui Airport and Kapalua. 

 

I would book Interisland Flights and even a Resort on Maui  then fly to Kona  and back to Honolulu. Kauai is another option. 

 

Also another option in Honolulu is to rent a car and stay at the Disney Aulani or a Hotel in Downtown Honolulu. You could go to the Polynesian Culture Center and go to La'ie.  Turtle Bay is another beautiful area as is Pali. Kaneohe has a nice beach.

 

Make the best of it!

Hope this helps.  

[mayleeman]

Does travel insurance cover this type of changed itinerary?

 

 

[John&LaLa]

22 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

Does travel insurance cover this type of changed itinerary?

 

 

 

A couple do, as I recall

[mayleeman]

I checked Expedia. OP is correct about inter-island flights being higher. There isn't anything cheaper than $150 to $200 for 1 or 2 day round trips.

 

I would suggest taking a small plane or helicopter tour. My son is with the Marine Osprey squadron on Oahu. His videos of their flights have convinced even my small-aircraft-petrified wife that we need a chopper tour when we visit this summer. The charter tours go to places a lot prettier. If you have only done land tours, I think you might actually end up grateful if you can work out seeing Hawaii from high!

[Pratique]

FYI If anyone is thinking of seeing the sunrise on Haleakalā, advance reservations are now required to enter the national park, but it's well worth it. Bring a jacket and gloves.

 

For the extra day on Oahu, rent a car, visit the Queen Emma Summer Palace and then go and get some Island Snow, 130 Kailua Rd, Kailua. Dinner on the rooftop at Buho Cocina y Cantina, 2250 Kalakaua Ave #525, Waikiki, then after-dinner drinks under the banyan tree at the Westin Moana Surfrider. That would be a pretty good day. 😎

Edited March 8, 2019 by Pratique

[QuickStar]

On 3/7/2019 at 2:35 AM, chengkp75 said:

I don't believe this was a "surprise", but I do believe this was caused by the USCG, not RCI.  Over the last decade or so, the USCG has been reluctant to send their Marine Safety inspectors overseas to conduct mandatory inspections of US flag ships, so I doubt they would even consider doing it for a foreign flag vessel.  During the recent government shutdown, the USCG Marine Safety Division was virtually closed, and there were regulations promulgated to extend mariner's licenses because the exam facilities were closed, and to extend vessels' certificates of inspection because the inspectors weren't working.  Even after the shutdown, there is a backlog of licensing and inspections.  As a US flag vessel, we were trying to schedule our bi-annual Certificate of Inspection, which for a tanker only takes about 8 hours, and most of the USCG Districts we were calling at, could only agree to schedule us 4 weeks in the future, no weekends, or in limited cases on weekends if we agreed to pay the overtime for the inspector.  The problem was that as a tanker, we could not guarantee what port we would be in 4 weeks in advance, so we ran right up to our expiration date frantically trying to get inspectors scheduled.

 

Yes, RCI knew these inspections were coming.  The certificate of compliance inspection goes over the ship from top to bottom to see that it meets all safety requirements as mandated by SOLAS and other maritime conventions (MARPOL, MLC, STCW).  On ships that are intended for service in the US, this can be accomplished while still being constructed, and a lot of it can be done by plan review, but this costs, and if the ship was not intended for regular use in the US there is no need for it at construction.  The annual inspection is more likely the USPH inspection, which again, if the ship was not intended for use in the US, then the construction was likely not submitted to USPH for review to ensure compliance.  All of these will take quite some time to complete, and I suspect that it was not until just before the itinerary change was announced, that the USCG had notified RCI of when and where they would have inspectors available, and that RCI had to make arrangements to conform to this schedule.

 

I can remember when I worked for NCL, and the US flag cruise ships, which are required to have USCG inspections 4 times a year, could not get a quarterly inspection done for 5 months, because the USCG in Honolulu did not have the budget to fly their inspectors from Honolulu to the Big Island.

 

Unfortunately, Marine Inspection (a descendant of the Steamboat Inspection Service, and the main reason for passage of the PVSA) has been getting less and less of the USCG budget over the last few decades, as their mission evolves from marine safety and lifesaving to more and more drug interdiction, law enforcement, and anti-terrorism.

 

[QuickStar]

Thank you very much for this detailed explanation.  

[xpcdoojk]

2 hours ago, Pratique said:

FYI If anyone is thinking of seeing the sunrise on Haleakalā, advance reservations are now required to enter the national park, but it's well worth it. Bring a jacket and gloves.

 

For the extra day on Oahu, rent a car, visit the Queen Emma Summer Palace and then go and get some Island Snow, 130 Kailua Rd, Kailua. Dinner on the rooftop at Buho Cocina y Cantina, 2250 Kalakaua Ave #525, Waikiki, then after-dinner drinks under the banyan tree at the Westin Moana Surfrider. That would be a pretty good day. 😎

 

Bring a heavy jacket and gloves and wear lots of layers, when we were there we did the Maui Downhill excursion where we road bicycles down the mountain, while it was clear on top as we descended we went thru a cloud layer it was actually snowing, this was in October 2001.  It is beautiful.  If you can manage to time your trip with a meteor shower it is a spectacular place to view one from.  We were lucky the Orionids were at their peak the night we were there.  It was amazing.  Once in a lifetime thing.

 

Cold as heck.

 

jc

[LXA350]

On another note what is there to expect in passgner loads on the transpacifc from Sydney to Hawaii and on the Transatlantics, are the ships usually selling out most to all cabins? I guess, even if they sell out the cabins probably not at capacity as this is not necesary a cruise where you would see a lot of children etc?

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, LXA350 said:

On another note what is there to expect in passgner loads on the transpacifc from Sydney to Hawaii and on the Transatlantics, are the ships usually selling out most to all cabins? I guess, even if they sell out the cabins probably not at capacity as this is not necesary a cruise where you would see a lot of children etc?

All ships usually are filled to double capacity it's just that per day, re-positioning sailings are some of the cheapest. True, very few kids on longer repo sailings.

[twangster]

Curious how did Symphony avoid the 3 day at the pier inspection?

[Biker19]

Just now, twangster said:

Curious how did Symphony avoid the 3 day at the pier inspection?

Probably a combination of some inspections at the yard plus more inspectors available in Florida - oh, and lack of government shutdown at the time. 

[xpcdoojk]

Partly because we added a stop in Port Canaveral, so they could do part of the inspections, and then the next day in Miami.

 

jc

[mo&fran]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Curious how did Symphony avoid the 3 day at the pier inspection?

There is an earlier post by chengkp75 , who says ships being built for the US market are inspected while they are being built. There is a cost involved, and Ovation was not planned to be in the US, so that inspection was not done, hence the reason it is being done at the first US port call.

[ONECRUISER]

8 hours ago, LXA350 said:

On another note what is there to expect in passgner loads on the transpacifc from Sydney to Hawaii and on the Transatlantics, are the ships usually selling out most to all cabins? I guess, even if they sell out the cabins probably not at capacity as this is not necesary a cruise where you would see a lot of children etc?

I sail multiple Repo/longer sailings each yr, very few kids at times fewer then 10 even over a Holiday. Cabin's will be filled but many have single passengers, I've been in few 2bd/2ba as single. Being 53yrs old I'm in lower 10% of ages on Ship

[Thorben-Hendrik]

On 3/6/2019 at 11:57 AM, Salt Rocker said:

It is therefore our opinion that RCI have intentionally withheld these changes, until the last minute, to prevent mass cancellations.

Absolutely!👎

[Cel_cruise]

28 minutes ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

Absolutely!👎

 

If the coast guard doesn’t do the schedule until inside 30 days it seems unfair to make this assumption.  While I agree with you it probably feels better to blame RCI than to just roll with it - I don’t know if it’s fair to do that.

[gatour]

3 hours ago, Cel_cruise said:

 

If the coast guard doesn’t do the schedule until inside 30 days it seems unfair to make this assumption.  While I agree with you it probably feels better to blame RCI than to just roll with it - I don’t know if it’s fair to do that.

I agree

 

Whose knowledge do I value between Cheng or Thorben.  No question it is Cheng

Whose opionion do i value between Cheng or Thorben.  No question it is Cheng.  However in a rare case I do sometimes disagree with his end opinion.  I also respect him when he corrects my thoughts and adjust those thoughts accordingly.